So what does this have to do with
DDNews? Adam then delved further into the biological impact of thenanosilver in fish and realized that it had a teratogenic effect on cells. Hereasoned that if he could better target the particles, it might be possible toreverse that effect and actually kill tumor cells.
In vitro, he was able to do just that with a variety of cancertissues—to the point where he is now, at the ripe old age of 19, working withresearchers at Toronto's
Hospital for Sick Children and
Princess MargaretHospital, as well as the
University of Calgary, to develop a treatment for neuroblastoma.
But didn't I just complain about success in a test tube?What excites me is not his discovery—although I wish him well—but rather, howhe got here. Adam took his interest in water ecology and made a scientific leapthat damned few others would have made. Put succinctly, his imagination worksin ways that few others can master, and we have to tap into that.
There is likely a whole world of Adams out there, and wehave to do everything we can to first recognize them and then support them inany way we can. They are unlikely to come from traditional directions, becausetheir ideas are not traditional, the connections they make are not traditional.And this will make them harder to identify, despite many of them no doubtstanding on chairs and yelling to all the world, "Look at this! Isn't it cool?"
People like Adam—whether 19, 49 or 79 years old—give me hopethat we are not doomed to the same old, same old. That serendipity andold-fashioned daydreaming still have a role in helping us understand outuniverse. That we have not lost our wonder for pure, unadulterated discoveryfor the sake of discovery.
For a few days, at least, this grumpy old tech has regaineda degree of excitement about what is out there and what is possible. It's agood feeling, and one that I wish for everyone out there.
Willis is the featureseditor of DDNews. He has worked at both ends of the pharmaceutical industry,from basic research to marketing, and has written about biomedical science foralmost two decades. 
