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Three young scientists thing they have a way to defeat antibiotic resistance:
Three college-age scientists think they know how to solve a huge problem facing medicine. They think they've found a way to overcome antibiotic resistance. Many of the most powerful antibiotics have lost their efficacy against dangerous bacteria, so finding new antibiotics is a priority. It's too soon to say for sure if the young researchers are right, but if gumption and enthusiasm count for anything, they stand a fighting chance.
[...] Last October, Stanford launched a competition for students interested in developing solutions for big problems in health care. Not just theoretical solutions, but practical, patentable solutions that could lead to real products. The three young scientists thought they had figured out a way to make a set of proteins that would kill antibiotic resistant bacteria. They convinced a jury of Stanford faculty, biotech types and investors that they were onto something, and got $10,000 to develop their idea.
[...] "The way that our proteins operate, that if the bacteria evolve resistance to them, actually the bacteria can no longer live anymore," says Rosenthal. "We target something that's essential to bacterial survival." Bacteria have managed to evolve a way around even the most sophisticated attempts to kill them, so I was curious to know more about how the proteins these young inventors say they've found worked. "We're not able to disclose, unfortunately," says Filsinger Interrante. It's their intellectual property, she explains, that they hope will attract investors. "We think that our protein has the potential to target very dangerous, multidrug-resistant bacteria."
Peer review, meet news review.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Wednesday August 10 2016, @08:51AM
They may only be claiming to have something, using these newfangled IP laws to avoid demonstrating their stuff works.
If they use the proper businesstalk in their agreement, they can completely avoid responsibility that their thing even works at all, but guarantee they get paid.
They may be just fishing for investors.
You know how that game works... "Investment Counselors" pick up on this, and market this to unsavvy workers, retirees, anyone with money, and cut themselves a brokerage fee for placing the investor with groups like this. Then the thing goes south. The investors lose, but everyone else gets paid. The investor is left with reams of paper full of phrases like "unexpected results", "disappointing quarterly return", and whatever.
Many years ago, when I began to save for retirement, I also trusted a "Professional Financial Advisor" to help me. I ended up paying thousands of dollars for three-ring binders full of legalese describing how not only I lost my money, but how much of it went to the management and legal trades in my behalf "helping" me recover my losses.
Everybody got paid from my loss. Please do not repeat my failure. I had to go to work to get the money. They just shook hands and wagged pens.
I was naive and trusted the well-dressed man who used banking words like "fiduciary responsibility" and the like.
Those were just "feel-good" words to give me an illusion he was "on my side". In reality, he was just hocking up whatever words that would sell me on the idea of trusting him with my retirement funds.
My advice: First-pay off all debts. You can always borrow more money if you have equity. Its not cheap to do it this way though. But you are paying through the nose for anything you owe, but they won't pay you peanuts on your savings...
Second: Buy your own house. Rental makes your landlord rich, not you.
Third: As time goes by, you may have a little surplus. Put it back into your house with long-term improvements... especially if you can do it without tripping a property tax reassessment. Things like nice block walls, planters, anything that will last until you sell your house without deteriorating.
Education is an excellent investment. Not necessarily for the employment, but your own knowledge as to how stuff works. Its not cheap to have someone else to come out to solve your problems. Know how to fix stuff. Know how to build stuff. And, if employed, make sure you know how the stuff you have at work works. Otherwise, be a really top-notch ass-kisser.
Bad investments: In my case, the worst was what professional advisors advised. Next to that, it was my car. I can't really diss the car too much, as it was a good car and got me back and forth to work for forty years, but had I bought it as a monetary thing, rather than as a tool, I lost about half its value driving it off the lot.
Lesson learned, the next machine I bought I got from Craigslist, and I could re-sell it for what I paid for it a year ago. By that time, my knowledge of what I needed in a machine and Google's help in finding out what to look for was of great value to me. You do not want a problem-laden by design type vehicle, no matter how fancy the seats are or if it has power locks or snazzy logo.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 10 2016, @10:52AM
Unless you are going to put in a huge amount of time into it, there are only four things to know about investing:
1. Use tax sheltered accounts first (IRAs, 401k, etc) - you get an instant rate of return in the form of lower AGI or in some circumstances, a tax credit
2. Low cost index funds - Vanguard funds are hard to beat
3. Sell only as a last resort
4. Dollar cost averaging - don't time the market, don't panic during a crash or recession, don't sell because things are doing well - buy, buy, buy
If you wanna get fancy, read The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham - it is how Buffet got so rich. Read anything said or written by Warren Buffet.
If you left your money alone during the 2007-2008 recession, you would be up about %40 + dividends. If you were buying the whole time, you would be up much more than that, probably more than double.
TLDR; - Don't listen to financial advisors, index funds are VERY hard to beat, leave your investments alone, you can't predict the future - don't time the market