What has the EU ever done for my … survival chances?

EU grants back many researchers in the UK, in fields from personalising breast cancer treatment to using stem cells to repair heart attack damage

Surgeons have a favoured tool for removing breast tumours. The electrosurgical knife does not cut so much as burn. It uses an electrical current to vaporise tissue, so blood loss is minimised. The challenge for the surgeon is to remove all the cancer and leave only healthy tissue behind.

Zoltan Takats, a Hungarian researcher, came up with a striking improvement. He hooked an electrosurgical knife to an instrument called a mass spectrometer. Now, when the surgeon uses the knife, it sniffs the fumes from the seared flesh and tells the surgeon in real time whether the tissue is cancerous or healthy. It makes for better precision.