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The following script is from "Boy Wonder" which aired on Oct. 13, 2013 [on 60 Minutes]. The correspondent is Morley Safer. Katy Textor, producer.
Pancreatic cancer is one of the most aggressive and deadly cancers, in part because often by the time it's diagnosed the disease has spread to other parts of the body. So when news broke last year that a test had been developed that might detect early pancreatic cancer, the research world not only took notice, it went into shock -- for the test hadn't been developed by some renowned cancer research institute, but by a boy wonder, a 15-year-old high school freshman named Jack Andraka. He then convinced an eminent cancer researcher to let him use his lab to develop his theory, all before he even had a license to drive. And while the test must undergo years of clinical trials, the biotech industry has already beaten a path to Jack's door.
Thank you for sharing this! It's interesting that in the 60 Minutes Overtime (http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504803_...-gifted-child-lessons-from-the-andrakas/), his mother is portrayed as really "laissez-faire". She says that she just dropped him off at the lab... but in her TED talk, we see how passionate and involved she really was:
The title of her talk is "Hijacking your child's education", and it's about how she worked really hard to find opportunities for her kids, and how she mentored them in inquiry and persistence and found the opportunities for them to do real research.
It's interesting that they chose not to homeschool, but were able to find ways to help their kids develop their talents.
Very neat. My mother died of pancreatic cancer about 12 years ago. It was caught too late for anyone to do anything about it (she died several weeks after she was diagnosed), so I'm glad there is some progress on this. Amazing that the progress comes in the way of a teenager!
It was an amazing interview! It's great to see kids like him have such a passion for science!
thanks for posting the links to her Tedx talks, jeimey and aquinas! I loved her talk and thought her recommendation of having your child start an idea journal was great!
