We don’t know much about his prognosis, though a letter from his sister says he’s “feeling OK”. Allen came down with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma back in 1983 and beat it, and we’re all hoping he can do it again. [TechFlash]

Yesterday, Sony Foundation teamed up with some of Australia’s favourite entertainers to kick off a major fundraising drive for people who fall into this age bracket. Guy Sebastian, Jessica Mauboy and Australian Idol finalists took over Woolloomooloo Wharf in Sydney, delighting guests with their performances. The priceless opportunity to meet and greet the Socceroos was also auctioned off at the one-off event.

If you think that young adults have the best chance of survival, you’d be wrong. At the age of 16, when young cancer patients are shoved into adult wards, survival rates for some cancers are halved. In the last 25 years, “there has been virtually no improvement in survival outcomes for the 15-30 age group,” says Sony Foundation’s Executive Director, Dr Louise Messara. Sony Foundation aims to turn this around by building specialised hospital wards that will provide age-appropriate services for people who fall into this age bracket.

Sony Foundation, in collaboration with CanTeen, hopes to raise $15 million. You can help them reach this goal by buying a customisable virtual builder or donating at Buy-a-Builder.

For the last 16 minutes and 27 seconds I’ve been watching this video in absolute awe. It’s the story of John Kanzius who designed, built and tested a machine (on himself), all in hopes of curing his leukaemia.

Good God, I’m happy that this story is finally coming out, but it’s so heart wrenching to see Kanzius’ struggle, desperation and utter drive to find a way to zap leukaemia despite doctors’ cautions to the very end. [CBS via Make]

The thing about electroscalpels is that they put off gaseous ions, which, besides being something you shouldn’t breath in, it so happens are perfect for being analysed via mass spectrometry — a method of identifying molecules based on their mass and change. A spectrometer pulls in the fumes from the electroscalpel, and analysis of the chemical sample happens almost instantly, allowing surgeons to, in near real time, “draw a map and say this part is healthy liver, that is connective tissue, this is adipose tissue, that is cancer” according to Zoltán Takáts, a Justus-Liebig University professor who came up with the idea.

Like any other technology-driven medical advance when it comes to cancer, it’s not cheap to implement: The electrosurgery setup alone is $US8000, while the mass spectrometry setup is $US120,000. I wonder how much the first medical tricorder is gonna cost. [Technology Review]

The team devised a sensor system made from nine chemiresistors that could respond to the biomarkers by altering their electrical properties. The chemiresistors were assembled from gold nanoparticles that are 5nm in diameter and functionalized with different organic compounds that allowed them to sense the biomarkers.

When the researchers exposed the sensors to untreated breath samples, they obtained readings that clearly distinguished between the exhalations of healthy patients and those with lung cancer. Regardless of the humidity of the breath, the gender of its source, or their smoking habits, the sensors were able to detect the lung cancer biomarkers. The sensors were also capable of working with a wide range of concentrations, and the process was reversible, meaning the nanoparticles can be reused.

It’s not clear if the new breathalysers can detect the cancer in its early stages—the study focused on stage-3 or stage-4 patients—but it’s a significant step forward in detection nonetheless. Next time you get pulled over on your way home from the bar a DUI may not be the worst news you get. Harsh. [Ars Technica]

A 62-year-old tourist was trying to enter the United States when he was stopped at customs to have his fingerprints scanned. This was a problem for both him and the customs agents, for he had no fingerprints.

The man, dubbed Mr. S in news reports, was detained for hours as agents checked to make sure he wasn’t some sort of sneaky criminal or terrorist. But no, it turns out his fingerprints were removed without his knowledge.

He was taking capecitabine, a follow-up drug for chemotherapy for cancer of the head and neck. One of its side effects is inflammation of the palms and soles of the feet, which can cause peeling and bleeding of the skin and, eventually, can cause fingerprints to vanish.

Mr. S had been taking capecitabine for three years when he decided to visit relatives in the States, at which point his prints were gone. Luckily, he was eventually allowed to enter the country and visit his relatives once the officials determined that he wasn’t dangerous. [ABC News]

Ideal for small places like a car, the $US55 machine claims to sterilize the air with its environmental Ion Oxygen Hydronium function. Haha, OK. But it’ll still kill you. [Product Page via Red Ferret]

Cigarette smokers understand the damage they’re doing to their bodies. That’s why “shocking” anti-smoking ads like these blackened lungs won’t do anything to stop them.

At this point, everybody fully understands what cigarettes do to people. Yet smokers don’t care, they just like smoking. Maybe we should just respect that instead of grossing everybody out with a pair of blackened lungs that double as cigarette lighters. Every time someone uses them to light up, they’re just laughing in the face of this well-meaning campaign. [Street Anatomy via Boing Boing]

While both companies saw explosive growth from when they were founded (both in 1962) until just a few months ago, when the retail sector imploded, the way in which they expanded was markedly different.

Whereas Wal-Mart spread from a central point like your traditional virus, Target was more like a metastasising cancer, beginning in the central U.S., like Wal-Mart, and then popping up in targets of opportunity wherever there was good business.

And now, just like Wal-Mart, they to have a Gizmodo writer comparing their stores to something terrible that can invade the human body. Victory! [FlowingData]