BLP update

I don't know how worthwhile it is to pursue this but here is part of a Medpage Today writeup:

Quote

That's when they introduced the Edison, which was a glue-dispensing robot. An engineer, a Theranos consultant, ordered this glue dispensing robot ... and then when it arrived he studied it. And he ordered off-the-shelf components to make a smaller version of it, and then he programmed his smaller version of the glue robot to use a pipette to essentially replicate what a lab scientist would do. It had three degrees of movement in this sleek case. So that was a big, big step down, in terms of the ambition, you know? From the microfluidic attempt to that was a huge step down. And she made it because they were getting nowhere with the microfluidic efforts.

And then they pivoted to the minilab in 2010, because the Edison could only do immunoassays. She, in early 2010, had gone to Walgreens and Safeway and told them "I have a machine that does all of the classes of tests." Of course, the Edison did not. Six months later, they had started to work on the minilab. Did she and her company try and work on technology? Absolutely. Did they ever get to the point they could match her claims? No, not remotely. And even had they gotten to the point where the Edison was reliable, it was just an immunoassay machine.

It wasn't a complete house of cards in that they did try to make her vision happen. But they never got close, and at the same time she claimed that they had. When you're lying that much about where you are with the science it does become a fraud.

https://www.medpagetoday.com/p…formationtechnology/73677

The claimed projected number of tests was in the thousands. The claims of accomplishment were around 250. In reality, none worked. All were immunoassays which inherently require only microscopic amounts of blood for testing even when used with a conventional autoanalyzer. As the article notes, when you take money on the basis of lies, that is fraud. Did Theranos stuff get closer to its claims than Rossi's ecat? Maybe a little. Were they more sincere? Some of the staff were. Personally, I think Holmes was mucho loco and that should be her defense.

The article continues:

Quote

She really did want to be a successful tech entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, and it developed into a fraud over time. She encountered setbacks, and refused to draw the correct conclusions. She glossed over problems and overpromised -- to investors, to the public and to the nation's doctors -- and it eventually got to a point 10-12 years in where the gap between what she claimed she had done and what she had actually done was enormous. Tantamount to a massive fraud.

At the height of her fame, she was constantly playing on people's heart strings. Her heartwarming story was that she had created this amazing technology that would make blood testing easier, faster, more accurate. And as a result disease would get diagnosed at an earlier stage, and fewer people would have to say goodbye to loved ones too soon. That was her catch phrase. If you go back and watch her on YouTube or in various public appearances, she used it over and over again.

But at the same time she knew that the company's blood tests were questionable. Her own lab director told her to delay the launch, told her they were having problems, and she brushed him off. She blithely ignored the potential impact on lives, even as she was playing up the notion that Theranos' technology was going to be lifesaving.

To this day she has not shown any contrition, or apologized to patients, or tried basically to make any amends.

Display More

Quote from seven_of_twenty

The claimed projected number of tests was in the thousands.

The source you referenced said "dozens." Not thousands. I do not think there are thousands of different kinds of blood tests.

As I recall from the book, the idea was to perform a suite of tests on a given sample. Perhaps not every test the machine was capable of. It might have been capable of more tests than it could perform on a single sample.

Your reference says:

"Theranos claimed that it could test for dozens of analytes in a single drop of blood, thanks to proprietary breakthroughs in microfluidics technology."

Dozens, not thousands.

"Then it all went south, in large part because of stories in the Wall Street Journal by reporter John Carreyrou, who found that Theranos had in fact made no breakthroughs, and results of a million tests on real patients' samples -- and probably many more -- were completely unreliable."

It says "unreliable." It does not say that all of the test were imaginary, and the machine did not work at all (the way Rossi's Doral test did not work at all). It says "no breakthroughs." As I recall from the book, they ended up trying to miniaturize and automate present-day techniques, rather than trying to invent new techniques. Miniaturizing and automation often leads to better products and lower costs. So, this was a worthwhile goal, although perhaps not exciting, and not worthy of a huge investment in venture capital. It was worthwhile, but they failed, and the machine was not reliable and could not be certified for clinical use. That sounds like a failed R&D project rather than an out-and-out scam. Granted, some aspects of it were a scam. Perhaps the distinction I make is indistinct.

The UK papers blame a "fake it till you make it" culture for Thereanos. That reminds me of a wonderful moment in "Castles in the sky" (the story of the invention of Radar) where they do it to secure funding when a demo fails. Other great moments include Robert Watson-Watt demonstrating what he thinks of professors at Oxford and Cambridge by playing a trick on one of them. Highly recommended if you haven't seen it..

https://www.amazon.com/Castles…ddie-Izzard/dp/B07C1C1JBS

"Castles in the Sky" looks interesting.

Here is a better link to the version you can rent:

https://www.amazon.com/Castles…die-Izzard/dp/B017S3HSD8/

Quote

Perhaps the distinction I make is indistinct.

No. It's plain wrong. Which is probably why you fell for Rossi and probably will fall for other scams in the future.

When someone takes money for deliberate lies, that's a scam. No other facts about it matter. That's the definition of a scam. And that is what the principals of Theranos did and that is why they are being prosecuted for fraud and could end up (probably will) with considerable prison sentences. Best efforts are not usually rewarded with trials, fines and prison. Sometimes I just want to scream: grow up!

Quote from seven_of_twenty

When someone takes money for deliberate lies, that's a scam. No other facts about it matter.

The researchers who did the actual hands-on work at Thereanos were not lying. They were sincere. They included highly trained, highly qualified people who thought the idea was promising. That is a fact, and it matters. The management at Thereanos was engaged in a fraud to some extent.

Quote from seven_of_twenty

Best efforts are not usually rewarded with trials, fines and prison.

This was the worst effort, not the best. If you think that innocent, sincere researchers are not sometimes persecuted and threatened with trials and fines, you know nothing about the history of technology and science, and especially you know nothing about the history of cold fusion. People have often been persecuted when they were right, not just when they were mistaken or inept.

Some of the brainier types are

commenting on BLP on this thread

on ECat World blog.

https://e-catworld.com/2019/06…rino-in-new-presentation/

BLP enthusiasts? What say?

Quote from seven_of_twenty

BLP enthusiasts? What say?

Too few information for me. I did not get what is different from other runs. Does the text mean they fed power in just for one second? That would be impressive because you can clearly see the heat generated. I dont think anything interesting will come out of BLP in the next year. As an experienced rocket engineer mentioned: they need to build a cooling system that avoids boiling to occur and that is able to remove heat as quickly as possible. That is going to take some time. And they need to find ways to better control the reaction to a desired power level. Showing these short burst tests is a step back in my eyes.

Quote from clarifier

Yeah, I started to favour those guys, now I see, they are crap.

To "indicate" that they "start" the device, they shaked the camera a little bit, then some gas came up, and I hardly doubt, this is really boiling water, and this gas + its source disappears after some seconds. Where is "persistently" ???

Boiling water would boil as long as the device is running.

I do not think, this, if something of the video is no fake and all is real, device has a COP > 0.

Display More

You saw mechanical movement in most videos in the last year. When the process starts some valves switch and pressure rises in the connecting hoses. That causes some movement and shaking if the camera is mounted somewhere with a mechanical connection to these hoses. Your point is ridiculous: they showed videos of melting reactors and molybdenium rods with arm wide holes in it and you think they want to impress us with a shaky camery?? Sorry, but there are so many valid objections against BLP - I think you can make better than that.

Not much say. Hot for a short time. But i want to see that full container boiling an data of enery in energy out, and consumed hydrogene and an estimate of how much electron volt that hydrogene generated, like after less power but longer time. They seam to search for very high power.