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Pyrrho · May 22, 2015 at 5:51 pm

(May 22, 2015 at 5:19 pm)francismjenkins Wrote:
(May 21, 2015 at 9:25 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: Why haven't you guys cured cancer already? You have been going at it for years, with millions of dollars, and people still die from cancer. If the government gave me millions of dollars, I could not cure cancer, too. In fact, I would be willing to not cure cancer for less money than you guys are taking.

...
It's not a conspiracy, cancer is just really complex. But the good news is, we're really close to having the ability to treat cancer at any stage, so now is the time that this country needs to urgently increase our investments in research.
...

There you go again, asking for money! And what have you to show for it? A lot of fancy equipment, and people still dying of cancer! It is one of the oldest cons there is, saying we are really close and just need a bit more. We believed you guys before, giving you millions, but you won't fool me anymore!

Angrboda · May 22, 2015 at 6:03 pm

Is cladistics an art or a science, or is there no rhyme or reason to it?

nihilistcat · (This post was last modified: May 22, 2015 at 8:06 pm by nihilistcat.)

(May 22, 2015 at 3:10 am)Alex K Wrote: ...

(May 22, 2015 at 5:51 pm)Pyrrho Wrote:
(May 22, 2015 at 5:19 pm)francismjenkins Wrote: ...
It's not a conspiracy, cancer is just really complex. But the good news is, we're really close to having the ability to treat cancer at any stage, so now is the time that this country needs to urgently increase our investments in research.
...

There you go again, asking for money! And what have you to show for it? A lot of fancy equipment, and people still dying of cancer! It is one of the oldest cons there is, saying we are really close and just need a bit more. We believed you guys before, giving you millions, but you won't fool me anymore!

My original post, like this one, was a joke, yet you answered it seriously. As for the money in the first post, I meant that a lot of money has been spent to try to cure cancer, not that every researcher was getting rich.

Cancer research has come a long way, today we can treat cancers that we were unable to treat in the past, indeed if caught soon enough, we can treat virtually all types of cancer, whereas in years past cancer was almost always a death sentence. So we have come a long way, and we do have much to show for it.

Research in all areas of medicine takes decades. Sometimes we discover awesome molecular biology tools completely by accident. And cancer biology doesn't exist in a vacuum. We depend on things like imaging technology, better molecular bio tools and techniques (like fluorescence or whatever), sequencing technology, etc.

We recently discovered a technology called CRISPR/Cas9 (segments of bacterial DNA used for gene editing), which may enable cancer researchers to actually edit away the mutations that caused the cancer (but this technology has only been used for gene editing since 2013).

BTW, I just realized that you were joking in both your responses, but I'm gonna leave this response because unfortunately there are many people who do feel that way (so maybe it's important for biologists to learn how to address that sort of concern).

(May 22, 2015 at 6:03 pm)Jörmungandr Wrote: Is cladistics an art or a science, or is there no rhyme or reason to it?

Cladistics is just creating phylogenetic trees, and it's definitely a science (a sub-discipline within evolutionary biology). In fact, with new genetic and bioinformatic tools, cladistics has become extremely rigorous and precise.

Pyrrho · May 22, 2015 at 8:44 pm

Why haven't you cured old age, and made us immortal?

nihilistcat · (This post was last modified: May 22, 2015 at 9:00 pm by nihilistcat.)

(May 22, 2015 at 8:44 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: Why haven't you cured old age, and made us immortal?

I'm eager to work on the problem Smile

(seriously)

I never quite understood why vampires always depict being a vampire as something undesirable. I mean, except for the needing to drink human blood part, everything else is awesome (immortality, eternal youth, super strength, etc.).

Pyrrho · May 22, 2015 at 9:03 pm

Not being able to go out in sunlight would be a serious problem. I don't want that to be part of your 'cure' for aging. Make sure you get it right!

nihilistcat · May 22, 2015 at 9:07 pm

(May 22, 2015 at 9:03 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: Not being able to go out in sunlight would be a serious problem. I don't want that to be part of your 'cure' for aging. Make sure you get it right!

Newer vampire movies have (in some cases) gotten rid of that unenviable feature Smile

Pyrrho · May 22, 2015 at 9:12 pm

The newer vampire stories are totally lame. Who wants to hear vampires talk about their feelings? You might as well watch a romantic movie, which has the advantage of eliminating the stupid bit about vampires existing.

So, if the only option is to be like some lame vampire in one of these newer stories or die, I'll take death. The whole point is to improve people's lives, not make them worse.

Anomalocaris · May 22, 2015 at 9:32 pm

Explain sex.

nihilistcat · May 22, 2015 at 9:38 pm

(May 22, 2015 at 9:12 pm)Pyrrho Wrote: The newer vampire stories are totally lame. Who wants to hear vampires talk about their feelings? You might as well watch a romantic movie, which has the advantage of eliminating the stupid bit about vampires existing.

So, if the only option is to be like some lame vampire in one of these newer stories or die, I'll take death. The whole point is to improve people's lives, not make them worse.

True Blood (HBO), The Originals??? Great shows (some of the best vampire shows I've ever seen, and I've been a vamp fan for most of my life).

You can also see them on Hulu and Amazon Prime.

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