Must reads

• A December 9, 2014 North Carolina Public Radio article reported that "Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen is donating $100 million to greater research institute in Seattle to study how cells work." According to the article, "NPR's Jon Hamilton reports one goal of the Allen Institute for Cell Science is to explain why cells malfunction in diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's…These maps will include information about the anatomy and function of a cell. They will also show how processes inside the cell can change and become abnormal over time. It's those changes that are the hallmarks of cancer, Alzheimer's and many other diseases. And Horwitz says everything created at the institute will be publicly available."
• A December 8, 2014 Re/Code article reported that Tim Rowe, chief executive of the Cambridge Innovation Center, thinks that the next boom in the tech industry will come from the merger of tech and the life sciences. According to the article, "He argued that the next great corporate empires are more likely to emerge at the intersection of tech and life sciences, squarely in Greater Boston’s sweet spot, than from ever more variations on today’s consumer-tech themes. In other words, there’s a good chance they’ll form within walking distance of the Cambridge Innovation Center, if not within it. “It’s nice to have an app that’ll allow you to order pizza faster,” he said. “But something that allows you to beat Alzheimer’s is possibly going to have more value.”"

• A December 8, 2014 Verizon press release announced the 2014 Verizon Powerful Answers Award Winners including an app that could change how Alzheimer's sufferers communicate with caregivers and loved ones. According to the release, "Verizon is proud to announce the winners of Verizon's 2014 Powerful Answers Award, three in each of the following categories: education, health care, sustainability and transportation…Talkitt: This is my voice. Talkitt has created a voice-to-voice application that translates distorted pronunciation to understandable speech, filling a gap for the 1.5% of the population affected by speech and motor disabilities (over 100 Million people). Talkitt is a unique speech-based product designed to address multiple disabilities/illnesses including autism, Parkinson's, stroke, Alzheimer's and ALS to name a few, and to help family members, caregivers and friends communicate with loved ones." 
• (Related) A December 8, 2014 Roll Call blog post reported that the National Institutes of Health "is participating in the Interagency National Robotics Initiative, which supports innovative research on assistive robotic technology." According to Grace Peng, program director of rehabilitation engineering at the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, "Technology is becoming more and more adaptable in all areas of our life, from GPS in cars to speech recognition technology on smart phones...With these awards, we hope to encourage robotics researchers to think of new ways to apply their technology in the realm of health care.” Countries like Japan have been experimenting with the use of robots to assist Alzheimer's and dementia sufferers.