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Humans Could Regenerate Tissue Like Newts By Switching Off a Single Gene

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ride22
Posts: 28 - Karma: 10
Gotta love stumble, thought this was pretty crazy and decided to share it with you guys.

http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-03/humans-could-regenerate-tissue-newts-switchin-single-gene


It was just posted yesterday, but I searchbarred hope it's not a repost.
Mar 17 2010 3:22AM
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jibbinc.
Posts: 3355 - Karma: 2,497
Rowen i see your online, please drop the b&
Mar 17 2010 4:12AM
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RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25443 - Karma: 13,844
That was just retarded. Not ban worthy.



Cool article. Last I heard they were having issues with a lot of the mice getting cancers and uncontrolled cell growth, but promising research for sure.
Mar 17 2010 4:36AM
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Freeheel4real
Posts: 909 - Karma: 95
"However, in the p21-free lab mice there was no cancer surge as one might expect,"
Mar 17 2010 5:19AM
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SketchySwiss
Posts: 393 - Karma: 43
maybe no cancers but more apoptosis (= cell programmed suicide) and other cell defects. Inhibit the activity of gene that controls if DNA was correctly duplicated during synthesis (p53) is pretty risky. I don't know if I could rather prefer cancer than a bunch of really uncontrolled mutations and a regrowthed leg!? I was wondering if some people were into this on NS!? NICE POST
Mar 17 2010 6:58AM
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RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25443 - Karma: 13,844
There are a few people, intelligent discussion is just rare nowadays.
Mar 17 2010 7:52AM
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RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25443 - Karma: 13,844
.... a world without organ donations and transplant lists?
Mar 17 2010 8:21AM
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RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25443 - Karma: 13,844
We're already living in that world, humanity can do all of those things to an extent.

Whys it the wrong direction?
Mar 17 2010 8:29AM
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iLLbiLLy
Posts: 2865 - Karma: 2,631
one of my professors had a theory that one day genetic minipulations would split the human race into two sperate sub species based on wealth.  Meaning advancedments in science would allow for all sorts of gentic changes to be choosen by the parents before birth  (eye color, IQ, removal of defects, muscel bulk, metobolism, etcs).  Of course this procedure of engineering your baby would be extremely expensive and only available to the rich.  These select individuals would most likely be compelled to interbred with others like themselves.  Thus eventually creating a race of super-rich, super-humans that would most likely assert control over the rest of the population.  Sounds like a sci-fi movie but i think the theory might not be as outlandish as it sounds.
Mar 17 2010 8:49AM
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VT_FLO
Posts: 3806 - Karma: 147
well the improperly mutated cells would be the ones going through apoptosis presumably. Those would be your cancer risk cells. from the article it seems like recognition of cellular mutation would rise, causing  more to go through apoptosis, which isn't a bad thing at all. I might have read it wrong, i've been on a non stop study binge since last tuesday
Mar 17 2010 10:27AM
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VT_FLO
Posts: 3806 - Karma: 147
yea if america were communist or socialist it would be the government families and scientists. However, these superhumans in our america are going to be those dumb sluts from Beverly hills most likely.
Mar 17 2010 10:28AM
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Dr.NS
Posts: 640 - Karma: 19
sounds like brave new world and 1984, in the sense of having divided classes based on genetic superiority. the brain control and strictly maintained lifestyle may be next? you never know...
Mar 17 2010 10:46AM
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Tasche
Posts: 5422 - Karma: 99
you are a disappointment.

Technology hopefully can save us from humanity, its easy to see the doomsday situation of the merger of humans and technology (the singularity as some scientists call it) its much harder to take a practical look. Look at the internet, you fucking tool, it has drastically improved the lives of people all over the world and was never limited to the wealthy.

In 25 years computers will be thousands of times more powerful than the human brain and will be seamlessly integrated into human life. Genetics and nanotechnology will give us the ability to cure every disease as well as have no life span. We will live forever. Carbon nanotubes and room temperature super conductors will give us the ability to travel and colonize distant planets. Humanity will become one, fuck countries, fuck war, fuck poverty, fuck greed, fuck every other human emotion that breads the unspeakable horror that our race is capable of. We are just scratching the surface of what science and technology can offer and already there are people like the kid I quoted above who would rather be afraid and ignorant about the future than embrace it.

Throughout history there have been those who embrace the future and those who do not, the latter is always forgotten.
Mar 17 2010 10:58AM
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matt.s
Posts: 2502 - Karma: 93
i did a speech on genetic modification on plants for a school project. one of the common errors was crossbreeding. what if you took a "super-human" and made it have sex with a normal person? what then?
Mar 17 2010 11:00AM
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OhMyBosh
Posts: 5056 - Karma: 171
You're so ignorant its incredible.
Mar 17 2010 11:03AM
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SkierTewes
Posts: 32 - Karma: 10
Great find, its always nice to find out all the amazing things we can do when playing with DNA. I've seen many articles about things like this, but i'm still waiting for someone to figure out how to change the DNA of only a selected area of your body. They don't say it in the article but those mice have to be bread with the p21 gene "knocked out". It will be one crazy day in science when they discover how to manipulate genes on a live person, gene therapies are close but it seems very hit or miss still.
Mar 17 2010 11:45AM
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Spinoza
Posts: 12763 - Karma: 3,846
agreed
Mar 17 2010 11:54AM
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Balgus
Posts: 474 - Karma: 14
you do realize your known as one of the dumbest/ most annoying people on this site.

you should stop posting for a while so people forget you.
Mar 17 2010 12:00PM
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McLeod
Posts: 1762 - Karma: 1,582
this is all amazing research and everything, but i feel like science should be focusing more on finding cures for diseases that are plaguing millions like cancer, AIDS among other things. other things i think they should be focusing on instead of being able to choose your perfect child are things like food manipulation and production so we can feed the millions of starving people.
Mar 17 2010 12:05PM
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Tasche
Posts: 5422 - Karma: 99
I used the internet as an example, and yes I do think you are stupid, or maybe just ignorant. You can't understand human progress because you are looking at it on a linear scale.

Read a book, here are some suggestions:

The Singularity is Near
Fantastic Voyage
Ray Kurzweil

Physics of the Impossible
Kaku

The Scientific Conquest of Death

These are just a few books, written by people who are very well respected and very educated and very intelligent. Much more so than anyone on NS. In fact you will have a very hard time finding anyone in the scientific community who disagrees, the philosophy you subscribe to is derived from unintelligent, religious leaders and politicians who know little about science and who are a DISAPPOINTMENT to the human race.
Mar 17 2010 12:17PM
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Tasche
Posts: 5422 - Karma: 99
Watched the whole video, I don't agree that more choices makes a worse society but I see where he is coming from. Has nothing to do with technology and a lot more to do with psychology so I don't really see how it applies to this debate.
Mar 17 2010 12:46PM
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Tasche
Posts: 5422 - Karma: 99
I don't understand why you think I am a hick. This is the internet and you can chose to believe what you want but I have traveled and lived in a lot of different places in North America, Africa, and Europe. And you are entitled to your own opinion, I am just disappointed by the fact that you can't see the advantage in technology.
Mar 17 2010 12:52PM
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Tasche
Posts: 5422 - Karma: 99
thank you for restoring my faith in NS. I do that a lot, make my first post really pissed off then think, wow that was dickish of me, then come around and be able to see the other persons perspective. You should really read The Singularity is Near, you will get a lot of faith in humanity.
Mar 17 2010 12:59PM
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OhMyBosh
Posts: 5056 - Karma: 171
protip: Science doesn't have an agenda (outside of gaining a better understanding of our universe).
Mar 17 2010 1:18PM
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Mr.Panda
Posts: 17711 - Karma: 564
And if we were to turn of that Gene we might not be humans anymore either.
Mar 17 2010 1:22PM
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prontocuts.com
Posts: 5244 - Karma: 42
dont see anything wrong with that
Mar 17 2010 1:32PM
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vermontsteez
Posts: 924 - Karma: 19
scratched the surface?
how do you know when and where technology ends... We could of reached our peak of advancements...
I know your going to say "yeah right, scientist find new technology everyday" blah blah blah... But just think about it...
 i think there is only so far that we are going to be able to go. And as for saving us from humanity... i highly disagree. Technology is taking over in a bad way... you'll see in 40 years when every bank,fast food,car wash, store,etc.  is computerized leaving millions upon millions jobless...i see it every where  already..and how is the internet not limited to the wealthy... how many 3rd world contries do you know with comcast super fucking high speed internet...i wouldnt call myself poor. but my parents still cant afford that bill upon others. shit is hitting the fan .. idk what is going to happen but we need someone to reconstruct.. or something.
Mar 17 2010 1:35PM
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Mr.Panda
Posts: 17711 - Karma: 564
BUT, but, no more Stacy Keibler or Jessica Alba!
Mar 17 2010 1:37PM
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Tasche
Posts: 5422 - Karma: 99
you are not basing your opinions on rational thought and you are obviously not in a scientific field so your opinion on technological advancement and technologies effect on society is void.

Think about a VCR, 20 years ago they were $3k, now people can't give them away. In 10 years it is very possible if not probable that the internet would be free and ubiquitous. Technology is not "taking over" in any way, for every mindless job taken over by a computer 20 more high paying technology jobs are created, it is not technologies fault that these people with the mindless jobs never received an education to deal with the changing work place, that is societies fault. How is human time better spent, repeating a mindless task over and over or contributing to the future.
Mar 17 2010 1:46PM
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vermontsteez
Posts: 924 - Karma: 19
its not i agree. but you got to remember we are just humans living on a vast surface. Were trying to live our lives in hope something will come out of it. When in fact nothing is coming your way when your sitting 6 feet under. Not every person is as smart as some of the greats in history. Those "Mindless jobs" is what give people life.. they give people the key to life around here.. money. what do you want them to do ?? sit there and make our society look even worse.? Yes they could go to school actually pay attention and learn something but there is always going to be less advanced people needing those mindless jobs. what about them? they are apart of this race too. do we just leave them behind and say there not tech savvy enough to make it.. i guess what im saying is not everyone can contribute to the future.. i just dont think that they should be forgotten about cause i am one of those regular people. i might not know the cure for cancer or anything but i still want to live my life the best i can..
Mar 17 2010 2:06PM
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highindasky55
Posts: 624 - Karma: 32
lulz
Mar 17 2010 2:07PM
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musick13
Posts: 913 - Karma: 44
Whoa, What's with all of the hate?
Most of this stuff that you are talking about is extremely political, and if we can clone people and choose an unborn child's strengths and all that jazz, there will be a HUGE humanitarian aspect that will strangle the issue in red tape, and many like minded people will abolish said scientific practices. Actually cloning would raise an interesting issue, as according to our constitution no human being can be owned by another human being. Not having any control over a clone of yourself would be, ummm, creepy at best.
Having said that, allot of people might be very discriminant against the clones, leading to something similar to the Holocaust, locking up those born in test tubes instead of in the womb.(That was just my fantastic view of the human condition, generally, people are shit) The ability to regrow limbs, however, would be absolutely fantastic, cutting the need for donors and stopping human organ trafficking, while helping millions of unfortunate people who are missing limbs and other organs.
Mar 17 2010 3:52PM
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Tasche
Posts: 5422 - Karma: 99
I don't see the advantage in cloning as it is now. You would have a genetic replica if you needed a body part but would that really matter if you could just grow a new one with stem cells or other methods? I cant think of what else you would want to clone somebody for but I am sure people would think of reasons. There are plenty of clones walking around already as identical twins and there is no issue there.

I don't think people really understand the significance of Moore's law of exponential computing power. Given there are some limitation such as the limitations on wavelength size, limiting how many transistors you can put in a given area, but I am confident that we will overcome these obstacles. If you could create a quantum computer you could use pretty much any material and use electron spin for computation. A rock technically has tons of computing power, much more than any computer today but there is no way to control or read this information.

Computers will keep advancing on this exponential scale. And with more computing power problems get much easier to solve. There are no hard problems, just problems that require different amounts of intelligence. When we are able to directly connect our brains to this type of binary computing system our lives will change. Instantly access all human knowledge, communicate with anyone at any time, you would be able to integrate yourself with different sensors, perhaps worn in your clothes that could do anything from 3d mapping a room to measuring your heart rate. The possibilities are endless. We would see an exponential advance in human technology much like the internet boom. More data was transferred in the last 2 years than in all of human existence. And we would still maintain our humanity, do you lose any of your humanity when you use a computer? It is just a tool like anything else.

Sorry I was rambling there but just imagine what will happen and then multiply that by 100 because that is where we are heading.
Mar 17 2010 4:20PM
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skiierman
Posts: 28699 - Karma: -5,563
regenerate without scarring? but... but... what about mtv's show scarred??? that lead singer from papa roach would be without a job. FUCK SCIENCE!
Mar 17 2010 4:31PM
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Negro_Jesus
Posts: 1789 - Karma: 91
funny movie. but seriously we should be working on curing disease and stopping poverty and things like that. not trying to bioengineer our own children
Mar 17 2010 4:32PM
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ride22
Posts: 28 - Karma: 10
Yeah, I've been reading around about it too. And like you said as far as I know they don't have any idea how to simply "turn off" the p21 gene in humans. The mice were engineered to lack the p21 gene. So if instead scientists figured out how to essentially flip this gene on and off like a light switch so regenerative healing could be induced when necessary this would be absolutely insane.
Mar 17 2010 4:36PM
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Guavajelly
Posts: 197 - Karma: 34
Shit man i keep trying to explain people Moore's Law and other topics from The Singularity is Near, Ray Kurzwiel seems pretty spot on. We are currently in a lull in technological growth (which is a continuation of evolution), the current epoc started roughly with the industrial revolution which is the beginning of all modern technology and now we are at the end of this era. Soon a new exponential curve will begin and technology will sky rocket again to inconceivable levels eventually leading to the Singularity where AI will obtain the "human element" meaning they can learn by themselves. Once one computer can do this, there will be now bound to information. This is basiacly moores law and the singularity as i understand it, which i admit is at a kindergarten level compared to people write this stuff so i could have some of it wrong, but the idea is that technological evolution is just a continuation of biological evolution.

This is not something to necessarily fear but i do agree with P3t3r that this could also go horribly wrong. Everyone should watch GATTACA its about parents choosing Childrens DNA and the impact it could have on people that say were born just before it was readily available and now that their grown up they are not seen as "fit" as everyone else.

Ahhh my heads going to explode but its still so awesome to think about this stuff.
Mar 17 2010 5:16PM
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Tasche
Posts: 5422 - Karma: 99
ya I love this shit but I understand it only on the bullet point level.

As far as choosing your kids genetics goes, have you ever seen the movie Gattaca? I think it does a great job of predicting what might happen. It is crazy to think that in 40 years people could have wings, gills, and be 10 feet tall. Just little things, like I saw something on how birds lungs work, there is a one way flow instead of in and out like ours, and it is way more efficient. You could run for miles no problem with lungs like that, we just never evolved them.

(and I just realized that Gattaca only has A-C-T-G in the spelling, those clever bitches.)
Mar 17 2010 5:29PM
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Guavajelly
Posts: 197 - Karma: 34
Yeah i mentioned GATTACA(not yelling, its supposed to be all caps like a DNA sequence) in my first post, great movie and it precisely articulates P3t3r's concerns, which i also agree that there could be major consequences to what we do, but still i am nothing but bursting with excitement for what the future holds especially as Ray Kurwiel depicts it, basically everything we currently see as impossible with be commonplace and a new set of seeming unattainable events will be in place, which will one day also be overcome.
Mar 17 2010 5:45PM
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grifftang
Posts: 1277 - Karma: 14
holy shit! haha.



Mar 17 2010 5:54PM
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Aaaron.
Posts: 11817 - Karma: 903
Click for larger image
Mar 17 2010 5:57PM
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prontocuts.com
Posts: 5244 - Karma: 42
its not like ill ever meet them anyways




/cuts wrists



bring on the regeneration
Mar 17 2010 5:58PM
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shibby
Posts: 7088 - Karma: -19
Even for a troll post that is a fucking stupid thing to say.
Mar 17 2010 5:58PM
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Tasche
Posts: 5422 - Karma: 99
haha sorry, I read your post several times but missed the Gattaca part for some reason.
Mar 17 2010 6:00PM
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Freeheel4real
Posts: 909 - Karma: 95
Few people understand the impossibility of this concept.
Mar 19 2010 1:44AM
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RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25443 - Karma: 13,844
Enlighten us then on the secret agenda to which all scientists swear an oath to never reveal.
Mar 19 2010 1:58AM
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Mr.Panda
Posts: 17711 - Karma: 564
Illuminati.

That is all.
Mar 21 2010 2:16AM
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yellav
Posts: 10056 - Karma: 1,217
THE REPTILIAN SHAPESHIFTER ILLUMINATI BILDERBERGS OWN THE WORLD DUH! HUMANS ARE JUST A PAWN IN THE MASTER PLAN TO HARVEST EVERYTHING FROM OUR ABUNDANT RESOURCES PLANET EARTH PROVIEDES!!! DUH EVER WATCHED ALEX JONESLOZ>!>!>!
Mar 21 2010 2:41AM
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yellav
Posts: 10056 - Karma: 1,217
jkbutsrlsy


original thread topic is very interesting. im way not nerd enough to be into genetics but im glad some are and are making discoveries like this. theres a very good chance a way around the cancer will be discovered, and could very well make this a gigantic pivot point for the entire human race. this is very big.

its sad morons in this thread are shitting it up in "manmade" vs natural debate. looking to nature in most cases would be the path i would take, but, as a race we really know nothing of evolution past conscious awareness. why should we reject scientific processes because theyre not corroborated by past trends? take for example, sight as we know today. the eyeball was a complete scientific revolution, but since it was not present in previous generations it should be rejected?

this may not make sense right now considering its one AM on saturday night, and i'd really like to make a better post on this later; but hopefully some get the idea of my post.
Mar 21 2010 2:55AM
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OhMyBosh
Posts: 5056 - Karma: 171
I think if you look at it that way, then yes, of course there is sometimes an agenda. When i posted that science doesn't have an agenda, i was referring to science as "a system of acquiring knowledge based on scientific method, and to the organized body of knowledge gained through such research." (according to wiki).

Science =/= ethics. Science can open up a lot of paths for humanity, but its not up to science to chose which ones we take.
Mar 21 2010 6:37PM
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RudyGarmisch
Posts: 25443 - Karma: 13,844
But just because a option presents itself, like cloning, doesnt mean that the entire human population forgets its moral obligation and dives headlong into the new technology. Science opens new doors, society decides if we walk through them.
Mar 21 2010 6:56PM
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