
Longitude Prize – £10 million fund to help solve the greatest issues of our time - dazbradbury
http://www.longitudeprize.org/?hn
======
alexholehouse
As someone who works in dementia research (...), I can't help but notice the
total absence of any well defined target for the challenge, which makes it,
for a goal-oriented objective process, a poor choice.

 _" If Dementia wins the vote, the challenge for Longitude Prize 2014 will be
to develop intelligent, yet affordable technologies that revolutionise care
for people with dementia enabling them to live truly independent lives."_

This reflects the fact that there's not an obvious solution to the dementia
problem - yes, there are good big picture targets like this, I'm not sure how
well this translates into day-to-day operations.

Beyond this, should we be focussing resources/time/money on conditions which,
fundamentally, are a byproduct of a high quality of life for a minority of the
worlds population, or should we, perhaps, be focussing on ensuring clean
drinking water for everyone, or developing antibiotics. I feel like dementia
is somewhat incongruous with the other problems presented, but I suspect it
might do well because it's so prevalent in the lives of the specific
population voting for this.

------
exratione
The same old blind spot in place with respect to aging I see. The cause of two
thirds of all deaths worldwide, more than 90% of all deaths in the first
world, and the largest share of suffering and medical expensive, all of which
falls most heavily on the poor of course.

But actually do something about it in this age of biotechnology and rapid
progress in medicine? No, never.

The organizers point to age-related dementia as one of the potential items,
but strangely not to attempt or incentivize any work to fix the problem at all
through medical research. They treat dementia as a result of aging as a given,
something set in stone, a thing to be made marginally better with palliative
treatments and accommodations, not fought with medical science in search of
cures.

Craziness.

The world drowns and dies in this blind spot related to aging and age-related
conditions.

------
ars
I was expecting trite problems, but only one of them (flight) was, the others
are real, and difficult.

Although two of them (water, food) are not problems in discovery but in
execution. Enough money or attention? Problem solved. This means there will be
no one to award the prize to. Plus food is actually just a subset of water.

That leaves 3, and all of them are medical, which is interesting if you are
thinking about what to learn in school.

(Flight is silly to include because if you want to stop pollution (of all
types) stop China from burning coal, you can eliminate flight completely and
it wouldn't make a dent.)

~~~
netcan
The importance of the Flight challenge is debatable, I suppose but it _is_
defined well. That's important.

 _" If Flight wins the vote, the challenge for Longitude Prize 2014 will be
set to design and build a zero or close-to-zero-carbon aeroplane that is
capable of flying from London to Edinburgh, at comparable speed to today’s
aircraft."_

If you don't think its environmentally valuable, at least it's valuable as an
engineering challenge.

The definition of the Food challenge is much poorer:

 _" If Food wins the vote, the challenge for Longitude Prize 2014 will be set
to invent the next big food innovation, helping ensure a future where everyone
has enough nutritious, affordable and environmentally sustainable food that
people want to eat. A successful solution will demonstrate benefit at a small
scale now and show projections of the potential environmental and social
impact of scaling up to provide for millions of people."_

If no one had seen a potato before, growing a field of them could presumably
win this challenge. It would be easy to demonstrate on a small scale and make
the case for scaling up. The whole problem is scaling up with all the
political & economic hair that goes with it. We're pretty good at cheap
calories.

I disagree about Water:

 _" creating a cheap, environmentally sustainable desalination technology."_

Clearly defined and would have many high value implementations including many
humanitarian ones. The only knock on it is that I think there is sufficient
economic incentive that a £10m prize won't make much difference. I could be
wrong though.

------
lazyant
I guess the name comes from
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_prize](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longitude_prize)
, btw the little book "Longitude" [http://www.amazon.com/Longitude-Dava-Sobel-
ebook/dp/B003WUYE...](http://www.amazon.com/Longitude-Dava-Sobel-
ebook/dp/B003WUYE66/) is a fantastic read about that topic

------
Gustomaximus
One I would like to see is cheap/clean energy in a system that transports
well. Arguably this would solve both food and water issues. IMO an affordable
and acessable energy breakthrough could have more impact on the world than
anything else on that list.

Also I suspect a challenge like this is more open the the amateur hacker (like
those gravity lamps) than most of these. This seems important if trying to
crowd source solutions.

~~~
acchow
Energy definitely solves water (thanks to desalination). Food is a (wealth)
distribution problem. Very different.

Clean energy would also obviously solve the polluting airplane problem...

~~~
mikeyouse
Part of the food problem is the lack of water for agriculture in many
population-dense areas (but poor) areas. Providing extremely cheap water would
enable livestock and crop growth in a significantly larger portion of the
world.

------
gdewilde
Just some thoughts...

Dementia - Not a real solution but we force people to move often thereby
erasing their associative memories. Houses could stay in the family so that
one can grow up and grow old there, surrounded by objects triggering memories.
(think of them like checksums)[0]

Water - Use offshore wind turbines to throw water up in the air. Some
vaporises into clouds, the rest goes back with the salt. [1][2] (there is some
academic work on this that I cant find, it used a vertical axle turbine shaped
like an egg beater, the water was carried up the arms by the centrifugal
force)

Flight - Use air evacuated maglev tubes.[3]

Antibiotics - vibrate the body on the resonant frequency of the disease. If
something has a fixed shape it has a resonant frequency. When matched it makes
life unbearable for any single cell creature or virus. It cant dampen it's
vibrations anymore.[4][5] (10 cents per patient kind of profits)

Paralysis - I'm clueless about this one.

Food - Permaculture includes A self-maintained agricultural systems modeled
like natural ecosystems.[6][7]

[0] -
[http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2005/02/suzuki.aspx](http://www.apa.org/science/about/psa/2005/02/suzuki.aspx)

[1] - [http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/05/12/every-silver-lining-
ha...](http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/05/12/every-silver-lining-has-a-cloud/)

[2] - [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1251721/Pictured-
The...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1251721/Pictured-The-stunning-
micro-climate-sea-fog-created-Britains-windfarms.html)

[3] - [http://www.et3.com/](http://www.et3.com/)

[4] -
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1658030/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1658030/)

[5] -
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOXqXIG_WVM](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOXqXIG_WVM)

[6] -
[http://www.cultureofpermaculture.org/blog/](http://www.cultureofpermaculture.org/blog/)

[7] - [http://vimeo.com/19661805](http://vimeo.com/19661805)

~~~
dalke
Viruses don't have a fixed shape, so can't have a single resonant frequency.
Take a look at x-ray crystallography of virus structures - even for non-
eveloped capsid structures, there are many regions which can not be resolved.
Also, any resonant frequency will change depending on the local environment;
pH level, salt concentration, etc..

In any case, viruses are basically thermally coupled to a water bath, so while
a virus "can't dampen its vibrations", the water it's sitting in certainly
can.

Your [4] has nothing to do with the topic, that I can tell. I looked at your
video [5]. It doesn't have enough information to be meaningful. I didn't see a
control as the reference, and I didn't see what happens at other frequencies.
The presenter had to set an alarm because the amp was getting too hot and a 25
MHz radio source is basically a microwave oven - how hot was the water in the
slide? Simple heat would explain all of the observations.

In any case, many things can kill microorganisms in vitro. The problem is
killing them in the body, without worse side effects - eg, how many human body
cells will be disrupted by the same process?

~~~
gdewilde
My interest in the topic is mere curiosity. So far, while it doesn't prove
anything, the skeptical side of the argument is mostly nonsense. While yours
isn't an exception I do have to say I've never seen a skeptic raise such
elegant issues. For completely uninformed conjecture yours is most admirable.
It reads as if you know what you are talking about (at least the medical part)

(I cant think of a nice way to say "conjecture", sorry about that.)

The link is there because physicists claim an optical microscope is limited to
Rayleigh criterion.[0] Their uninformed conjecture holds that Rife's
microscope[1] is not possible. After imagining the microscope not to exist it
of course follows "logically" that Rife could not adjust the frequencies to
those variations in shape and ph that you so elegantly pointed out.

But try telling that to the medical professionals looking though the
microscope? A bit like going to the airport to tell people heavier than air
flying machines are impossible. According to the physicists the further Rife
zoomed in the less credible he gets. Maybe I'm ignorant about the terrifying
consequences of accepting empirical observations physics?[2]

In short:

in 1931 Dr. Arthur I. Kendall, Director of Medical Research at Northwestern
University and Dr. Milbank Johnson of Pasadena Hospital. Dr. Alvin G. Frood,
President of the American Association of Pathologists joined Rife's research.
Moving microorganisms from prepared, diseased human tissue were photographed
and filmed. On November 20, forty-four doctors attended a dinner to celebrate
"The End To All Diseases" at the Pasadena estate of Dr. Johnson[2]

in 1932, Kendall speaks before the Assoc. of American Physicians at Johns
Hopkins University about the successes with Rife's methods and treatments.

In 1933, Richard Edwin Shope discovered the first mammalian tumor virus.

Also in 1933, Rife completes the universal microscope. Upgrading his
resolution claims from 17 000 X to a resolution of 31,000 times and a
magnification of 60,000 times.

In 1934, The first clinic is opened. A special University of Southern
California Medical Research Committee chaired by Milbank Johnson is formed to
oversee the research. Committee members are: Whalen Morrison, Chief Surgeon of
the Santa Fe Railway. George C. Dock, M.D. George C. Fischer, M.D., Children's
Hospital of New York, Arthur I. Kendall, Dr. Zite, M.D., professor of
pathology of Chicago University. Rufus B. Von Klein Schmidt, President of USC.
Also in attendance: Dr. James Couche of San Diego. Dr. Carl Meyer, Ph.D. of
the Hooper Foundation, SF. Dr. Kopps of the Metabolic Clinic in La Jolla. The
clinic is held at the Scripps Institute in La Jolla. Sixteen terminally ill
people are treated. Fourteen are cured in three months, the other two are
cured in six months.

In 1935, Dr. Milbank Johnson opens a second clinic with the same results.

In 1937, Dr. Milbank Johnson opens the third clinic with the same results.
Drs. Couche of San Diego, Gruner of Montreal are also having great success.

In 1938, Fourteen machines are built. Two go to England, one goes to Dr.
Richard Hamer of the Paradise Valley Sanitarium, one to Dr. Arthur Yale, two
to Arizona doctors, and eight to Southern California doctors. Dr. Hammer cures
an 82-year-old from Chicago of terminal cancer. Through this man, Morris
Fishbein, head of the AMA in Chicago learns of Rife and his work. Fishbein
visits Rife. Wants to buy in. Rife and his associates turn him down.

In 1938, The AMA indicts Rife for fraudulent medical practices. Rife wins the
case, the AMA is made to pay $200,000. During the trial and afterwards the AMA
visits all doctors involved with Rife. Those who didn't stop using the
Frequency Instruments lost their medical license.

Rife makes a career switch to alcoholism.

the end!

I know it sounds very dubious, I would stick with the radium therapy.[3][4]

You could try a web search for more information and/or check out
[http://www.rife.de](http://www.rife.de)

Good luck,

[0] - [http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/38146/optical-
mic...](http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/38146/optical-microscope-
magnification-limits)

[1] -
[http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C02E0D81131E...](http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C02E0D81131E13ABC4A51DFB767838A629EDE)

[2] -
[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1361863/Most-...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1361863/Most-
powerful-optical-microscope-world-soon-view-live-viruses.html)

[3] - [http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sN85jvTBETs/TVkdsnt-
HWI/AAAAAAAAAq...](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sN85jvTBETs/TVkdsnt-
HWI/AAAAAAAAAqs/Vs90gqw7_34/s1600/Rife-dinner.jpg)

[4] - [http://www.marketing-professionnel.fr/wp-
content/uploads/201...](http://www.marketing-professionnel.fr/wp-
content/uploads/2010/02/medicaments-communication-sous-ordonnance.jpg)

[5] -
[http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/01/Radium_therapy...](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/01/Radium_therapy_-_1913.jpg)

~~~
dalke
I don't understand why you've switched from discussing audio-modulated RF
energy for resonance induction to microscopes and some 80 year old history.

The basic premise - shaking a virus at its resonant frequency, where each
virus has its own frequency - doesn't make sense. On the other hand, what does
make sense is to induce vibrations in bonds. This is how microwave ovens
works.

The video demonstration you linked to is identical to what I would expect if
the RF source acted as a microwave oven heating up the liquid in the slide. In
order to be effective evidence that the effects are not due to heating, a
researcher must also keep track of the temperature across the slide and/or in
the view of the microscope. Since this didn't occur, it isn't convincing
evidence.

For what it's worth, near-field scanning optical microscopy has optical
resolution beyond the Rayleigh limit.

~~~
gdewilde
I just found this, I didn't even know it existed.

1998 - Low-level exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields: health
effects and research needs.
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9453702](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9453702)

2004 - Extremely low frequency electromagnetic fields as effectors of cellular
responses in vitro: possible immune cell activation.
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15352165](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15352165)

2009 - Amplitude-modulated electromagnetic fields for the treatment of cancer:
discovery of tumor-specific frequencies and assessment of a novel therapeutic
approach.
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19366446](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19366446)

2011 - Treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma with very low levels of
amplitude-modulated electromagnetic fields.
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21829195](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21829195)

2012 - Cancer cell proliferation is inhibited by specific modulation
frequencies.
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22134506](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22134506)

2013 - Targeted treatment of cancer with radiofrequency electromagnetic fields
amplitude-modulated at tumor-specific frequencies
[http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3845545/](http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3845545/)
Abstract: In the past century, there have been many attempts to treat cancer
with low levels of electric and magnetic fields. We have developed noninvasive
biofeedback examination devices and techniques and discovered that patients
with the same tumor type exhibit biofeedback responses to the same, precise
frequencies. Intrabuccal administration of 27.12 MHz radiofrequency (RF)
electromagnetic fields (EMF), which are amplitude-modulated at tumor-specific
frequencies, results in long-term objective responses in patients with cancer
and is not associated with any significant adverse effects. Intrabuccal
administration allows for therapeutic delivery of very low and safe levels of
EMF throughout the body as exemplified by responses observed in the femur,
liver, adrenal glands, and lungs. In vitro studies have demonstrated that
tumor-specific frequencies identified in patients with various forms of cancer
are capable of blocking the growth of tumor cells in a tissue- and tumor-
specific fashion. Current experimental evidence suggests that tumor-specific
modulation frequencies regulate the expression of genes involved in migration
and invasion and disrupt the mitotic spindle. This novel targeted treatment
approach is emerging as an appealing therapeutic option for patients with
advanced cancer given its excellent tolerability. Dissection of the molecular
mechanisms accounting for the anti-cancer effects of tumor-specific modulation
frequencies is likely to lead to the discovery of novel pathways in cancer.

~~~
dalke
In the late 1990s, with the rise of cell phones, people were worried that the
RF energy from the phones and towers, while low, might cause physiological
problems. The first paper specifically concerns this topic. Note that it says
"It was concluded that, although hazards from exposure to high-level (thermal)
RF fields were established, no known health hazards were associated with
exposure to RF sources emitting fields too low to cause a significant
temperature rise in tissue."

The second paper is because starting even by the late 1980s there was a
concern that the background 50Hz/60Hz EMF from power lines might be causing a
problem. There was a 1979 epidemiological association between power lines and
childhood leukemia. See
[http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/magnetic-f...](http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/factsheet/Risk/magnetic-
fields) for more details. This second paper presents a hypothesis for how that
mechanism might work, should it exist.

The third paper rings warning bells. For example, it references
clinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT00805337 but the research protocol was never
explained in the submission, and no research results were ever published
there. It was also registered at about the time the paper you pointed to would
have been submitted, so it feels like it was added because it was required by
the publisher, and not because it was a well-run clinical trial.

Also, frequencies like 10456.383 Hz are incredibly precise; to the point of
unbelievability. They don't show a plot of the signal as a function of
frequency, they don't have information about reproducibility, and they don't
describe control, since surely they should have RF interference from the
environment, and feedback effects from the equipment itself.

In any case, the last 4 papers all list B. Pasche as a co-author, and from the
conflict of interest section in one of the papers it says "Boris Pasche and
Alexandre Barbault have filed applications for patent protection and hold
patents related to electromagnetic fields amplitude-modulated at tumor-
specific frequencies as they relate to the diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
They hold stocks in TheraBionic."

Thus, they aren't really independent confirmations of some observed effects,
are they? Why did you list them all?

------
phkahler
Aircraft? It's funny they're worried about CO2 from aircraft when the water
vapor the emit has a much larger and immediate effect.

------
Thiz
Surprised not to see liberty in that list.

Liberty is the greatest issue of all times.

~~~
ivan_gammel
Is it possible to "liberate" women of Saudi Arabia, Sudanese refugees in Kenya
or political prisoners in Russia? The answer is generally "No". Unprepared
society will not maintain the necessary institutions and any political changes
enforced by foreign military will receive proportional resistance. There's no
"silver bullet" ideology or religious prophet who can turn entire population
of a country to the different path. This means that for liberating the world
you need to do some boring work by educating the ruling class and directing it
to the reforms that drive the economic growth to the point, when growing
educated middle class will demand the liberties inside the country.
Definitely, it's a political and organizational challenge, not the scientific
one.

------
nether
Not listed: the next Angry Birds.

------
lazyjones
You can tell by the lack of social issues that this is merely an initiative
for discovering billion-dollar business opportunities.

~~~
skrebbel
Which is pretty cool, right.

~~~
lazyjones
Maybe, but it's not "solving the world's greatest problems". One of these is
poverty and distribution of wealth.

