NEWS FROM IRELAND
AMAZING IRISH INVENTION HELPS CANCER VICTIMS
The winner of the James Dyson Award for international Students who create works of global importance in medicine and stainability has this year been awarded to an Irish woman from County Limerick.
The competition attracted over 2000 entries from around the world but it was the remarkable invention of a scalp-cooling apparatus by 24-year-old Olivia Humphreys that topped the list.
'Athena' is the name given to the invention which looks like a space-age helmet but is in fact an apparatus to assist with the cooling of the scalp, particularly when undergoing Chemotherapy.
Massive Hair loss after Chemotherapy has long been a problem for cancer sufferers and while there are other scalp cooling therapies available they are very expensive, painful and inconvenient. The Athena by contrast, is affordable, comfortable and portable.
The device weights about 3Kg and can be used before, during and after Chemotherapy to cool the scalp, preventing hair loss and allowing for quicker regrowth. Olivia Humphreys was inspired by her mother who had cancer in 2019:
'Using a Peltier computer cooling fan system, a diaphragm pump, my mum’s old suitcase, and my dad’s plane battery, I was able to create a strong proof of concept to gather valuable feedback to develop the concept.'
It is estimated that a fully usable unit would cost in the region of 1000 Euro. A far cry from the 20,000+ bill usually experienced.
James Dyson was impressed:
'You can wear it while you travel, you can wear it in the car to and from hospital, you can use it at home – it’s a low-cost alternative available to everybody, with the potential to make a real difference.'
WITH AN ELECTION IMMINENT CLIMATE CHANGE ISSUE IS.......
nowhere to be found
OPINION: In a trend that seems to be replicated around the world it seems that when an election is about to occur then the usual issues of immigration, the economy, health-care, etc. are all that really matter to voters.
You might be forgiven for thinking that the effects of climate change would be top of the list. After all, this IS an existential threat to the very existence of humanity.
Really though? Is it really?
Well the answer to that last question is 'yes!', especially given the obvious climate-change-caused catastrophes that are becoming more and more common as the months and years roll by.
Voters just don't seem to care. What they clearly do care about most is not what manner of physical planet their children or grandchildren will inhabit but rather how they themselves will benefit from their vote (ie, in their pockets).
And unfortunately
the three main political Parties who are expected to dominate the upcoming Irish General Election have all received a 'Grade E' from an examination of policy manifestos by 'Friends of the Earth'.
Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin are regarded as 'weak' in respect of 'genuine, transformative climate action'. The smaller political parties (ie, those with little chance of being in Government and of little influence should they somehow get there), fare much better on the 'Friends of the Earth' scorecard. Most of these Parties are Socialist in nature.
So the Politicians who score a Grade E will top the poll. Fair enough. After all, it was current T.D. Danny Healy-Rae who declared during a Climate Change debate in Dáil Éireann in 2016:
'God above is in charge of the weather and we here can’t do anything about it'
Right so, that is that settled.
Phew!!! What a relief. For a moment there I thought that we would actually have to do something.
That we all (ie, you, me, those guys over there), would have to change our
indiscriminate polluting, fast-fashion buying, petrol-guzzling, air-mile holidaying, coal and gas-burning lives so our kids and the next generation might be able to enjoy some semblance of a healthy existence.
But it is all going to be ok because the Irish body politic has the answer. It is up to God apparently, so we are all off the hook.
Cool.
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