I wish this post was announcing a brilliant new cure for the common cold. After making it almost through an entire winter season in which each of my friends was hit at some point with some nasty virus or another, and after spending 9 days in a car on a roadtrip with my companion who contracted some whopper of a cold or related virus, I am now also needing Sudafed. Drat.
But this post is not about me. Per se. It's more to just throw an idea out there and see if anyone takes me up on it ...
Lately I've been reading a lot about some of the brilliant kids who have won various competitions, like the Intel Science Talent Search. These kids are freaky smart ... I love it! They have renewed my faith and optimism in the American education system as well as the future of the country. I just wish that there were more of them.
In any case, the prizes of fantastic scholarships are clearly great motivators (these kids would likely be tinkering and researching even without the prizes, but I'm sure the prizes play a part in it).
So far, no scientists have come up with the cure for the common cold. Drug companies have researched the issue, knowing that they'd have a gold mine if they could find a cure. My answer?
Let's turn the kids loose. They have fresh ideas, untainted ways of looking at things, and just might be able to see something that their elders have not yet found. Perhaps an enterprising university - Harvard, JHU, Duke, Princeton, or Stanford, for example - should put out there an offer of a four year, free-ride scholarship if someone finds a cure for the common cold. You'd have kids working like mad on it (heck, I would have).
I know, I know. There are far more pressing problems in the world that need to be solved or cured. But this might help solve one of the great scientific questions of the last 50 years or so - is there really a cure for the very common cold? It could lead to advances in other viruses, too.
But sigh ... somehow, I have little faith that someone will hear my plea through my sneezes. Achoo!
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