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Ask HN: What are the greatest discoveries in the last few years?

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Re: Ask HN: What are the greatest discoveries in the last few years?

#71

Post by JoeAltmaier »

dragonwriter wrote: post #69
JoeAltmaier wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Its simple to do; there are billions sitting on the table. Somebody will do it, somewhere.

I think you overestimate the "simple to do" part in terms of actually implementing human therapies, but, in any case, crop and industrial bacteria applications are further along toward commercialization now (some of the former may actually already be commercialized), while human therapies may be among the eventual applications, its quite unlikely (and maybe already passed into "impossible") that they will be the firs…

But the point of this technique is, its dead simple. Identify a gene and cut it out. Or add one.

Re: Ask HN: What are the greatest discoveries in the last few years?

#72

Post by mod »

iamcurious wrote: post #38
rs232 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For some reason I believe that cosmetic gene modifications will be more readily accepted than GMOs.

Plus, it will end racism and make anime hair color a reality.

I'm not sure I agree with ending racism. Maybe you were being tongue-in-cheek.

I mean, presumably someday far in the future, everyone will have access to the ability to alter fully their entire genome.

I would think in the next XX years, though, there will be plenty of remaining distinguishing features beyond skin color, and more importantly, plenty of people without the money to make any changes.

Besides that, I'm hopeful that we'll still retain diversity, so I'd think we'll still have plenty of races for ignorant folks to hate.

When racism is done, we'll just continue hating for other reasons. I speculate class will lead the charge next.

Re: Ask HN: What are the greatest discoveries in the last few years?

#73

Post by AC__ »

Vampires! Technically speaking, parabiosis. Although it is not actually a new discovery at all, personally I'm convinced there are humans who have already transfused young blood plasma(as the linked article points out illegal stem cell transplants are common as well). Yeah, that's right, vampires.

http://www.nature.com/news/ageing-research-blood-to-blood-1....

Re: Ask HN: What are the greatest discoveries in the last few years?

#74

Post by AC__ »

AC__ wrote: post #73

Vampires! Technically speaking, parabiosis. Although it is not actually a new discovery at all, personally I'm convinced there are humans who have already transfused young blood plasma(as the linked article points out illegal stem cell transplants are common as well). Yeah, that's right, vampires. http://www.nature.com/news/ageing-research-blood-to-blood-1....

I went a massive life extension technology reading binge a few months back, IMHO it is, right now, possible to extend human life indefinitely.

Re: Ask HN: What are the greatest discoveries in the last few years?

#75

Post by ISL »

zt wrote: post #16

CRISPR for gene editing: "Since 2013, the CRISPR/Cas system has been used for gene editing (adding, disrupting or changing the sequence of specific genes) and gene regulation in species throughout the tree of life. By delivering the Cas9 protein and appropriate guide RNAs into a cell, the organism's genome can be cut at any desired location." (From Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR ) Edit: Hear a recent…

Thoughtful Nature feature on the subject: http://www.nature.com/news/crispr-the-disruptor-1.17673

Re: Ask HN: What are the greatest discoveries in the last few years?

#76

Post by cconcepts »

bgilroy26 wrote: post #70
cconcepts wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Truly extraordinary stuff. But does anyone else lie awake at night wondering why we can do amazing stuff like this yet can't provide everyone clean drinking water or enough protein to eat?

I don't. It is easier to control variables in a few laboratories than to control them in the entire world

Good point, on the surface the big world problems seem more straight forward because they're technically less complex. But they are much more than technical problems. Social, geopolitical etc...

Re: Ask HN: What are the greatest discoveries in the last few years?

#77

Post by Protostome »

beat wrote: post #59
Protostome wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would first want to see people accept GMO crops. Then I'll be willing to think of people going to the doctor to change their eye color.

The problem with GMO is that it's basically a vendor lock-in scheme for agribusiness giants. It's not a good engineering solution to the real food problems we face. Of course, the DONT EAT THE SCIENCE OR IT WILL GIVE YOU THE CANCER political nonsense is wrong. That doesn't let GMO off the hook, though. The problem it attempts to solve, on the surface, is increasing the productivity of monocropping. But productivity i…

We're GMOing crops long before the DNA revolution. Plants were selectively bred for certain qualities since the dawn of agriculture. None of fruits or vegetables we eat in the present (even without GMO) could be found naturally few hundred years ago. We were genetically modifying them without really knowing the mechanism.

There some ecological as well as regulatory challenges. That doesn't mean GMO isn't a solid approach to improving accessibility to high quality fresh food

Re: Ask HN: What are the greatest discoveries in the last few years?

#78

Post by pault »

AC__ wrote: post #74
AC__ wrote: post #73

Vampires! Technically speaking, parabiosis. Although it is not actually a new discovery at all, personally I'm convinced there are humans who have already transfused young blood plasma(as the linked article points out illegal stem cell transplants are common as well). Yeah, that's right, vampires. http://www.nature.com/news/ageing-research-blood-to-blood-1....

I went a massive life extension technology reading binge a few months back, IMHO it is, right now, possible to extend human life indefinitely.

Do you have a recommended reading list?

Re: Ask HN: What are the greatest discoveries in the last few years?

#79

Post by loup-vaillant »

AC__ wrote: post #74
AC__ wrote: post #73

Vampires! Technically speaking, parabiosis. Although it is not actually a new discovery at all, personally I'm convinced there are humans who have already transfused young blood plasma(as the linked article points out illegal stem cell transplants are common as well). Yeah, that's right, vampires. http://www.nature.com/news/ageing-research-blood-to-blood-1....

I went a massive life extension technology reading binge a few months back, IMHO it is, right now, possible to extend human life indefinitely.

Ageing has several causes, including the accumulation of clutter (basically poison) inside and outside of our cells. I'm not sure becoming a vampire is enough to overcome that.

Given the uncertainties, I'd still want to keep cryonics as a back up. (Though it looks unavailable here in Western Europe.)

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