"The Most Sci-Fi Thing I’ve Heard": 30 Times Science Peaked—And The World Just Shrugged

We basically “cured” most people of cystic fibrosis in the last five years. It is the most miraculous medical breakthrough I can think of, comparable only to insulin treatment for diabetics or the triple cocktail for HIV patients in the 90s. In the span of five years, thousands of cystic fibrosis patients saw their projected lifespans go up to normal. The treatments don’t work on every CF mutation, but they are incredible. The Atlantic published an article last year that made me sob.

I worked on the HPV vaccine. I helped prove you can give it to children and just eliminate that entire disease. Never gotta worry about that s**t again.

Nobody gives a s**t. Half the country apparently hates us for even doing it.

Espieglerie:

The HPV vaccine is a god damn miracle. I work in public health and it’s wonderful to see study after study showing plummeting rates of cervical, anal, head and neck, etc cancers everywhere it’s been rolled out. I also did a grad school case study on the vaccine and it was cool seeing it start with, iirc, three of the worst strains of HPV and then scale up to the 9 valent.

I grew up in the midst of the AIDS crisis. It was twice as scary as covid and ten times as devastating. The fact that they essentially found a cure and AIDS/HIV is no longer a physical or social death sentence is overwhelming in the best way and the fact that it's rarely talked about is overwhelming in the worst way.

cpersin24:

I'm a microbiologist and every time I taught the HIV/AIDS section i was still amazed at how fast we went from knowing nothing about this disease to today where we are testing vaccines and have treatments that keep infected pregnant patients from passing HIV to their babies or keep infected people from passing it to their partners. And we can allow infected people to live out their natural life. I agree it's amazing how this went from devastating to almost a non-issue in less than two generations.

Vaccines in general, the Covid vaccine was a goddamned scientific miracle.

This at the time it was extremely significant.

The eradication of Smallpox, one of humanity’s deadliest diseases. Nowadays it’s shrouded in a bunch of anti-vax b******t, should it ever come back there is no way we’d be able to eradicate it.

Similarly, in 2011, we eliminated Rhinderpest, a common infectious disease among cattle. To date, these two diseases are the only diseases in history to be eradicated worldwide and are no longer a threat to life.

I wish to also remind you that the *global* effort to eradicate one of the deadliest diseases in cattle cost $5 billion USD. Smallpox eradication was $300 million in 1967, accounting for inflation that’s about $2.8 billion USD.

A collective $7.8 billion to globally eradicate some of the deadliest diseases on planet earth.

Don't know if it's been mentioned, but if you grew up in the 70s you heard a LOT about stomach ulcers k**ling people...it was blamed on stress, but one scientist figured out it was a bacteria and tested it on himself.
That guy needs a statue.

I’m not sure shrug is the right word but mRNA vaccines are a miracle.

GoofinOffAtWork:

Yes they really frickin are.
I'm just an average guy, not a scientist or dr, but this technology, just wow. A huge game changer.
Regrettably, half of society thinks vaccines are bad.
Heavy heavy sigh.

My girlfriend has hashimoto and her thyroid is basically non-existent anymore. She only has to take one small pill in the morning to live a normal life instead of being dead by now. Millions of people in this world take one small pill each day and are able to live with a disease that would have been deadly back in the day.

Edit: I just wanted to clarify that there is no cure for Hashimoto and my partner is simply taking Levothyroxine to compensate for the thyroid. I am very sorry if I gave some people false hopes with my original comment.

Honestly, mapping the human genome was assumed to be impossible for decades until it was done in a few short years without the fanfare it deserved. An absolutely mind-blowing accomplishment.

Pabu85:

I’m alive because of genetic testing we were only able to do because of that discovery. I’m thankful every day.

I read recently where South Koreas scientists found a way to revert a colon cancer cell to an almost normal cell which would eliminate the need for chemo. Early stages but wow, why aren’t we all over the moon and helping research?

Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. Historically stem cell research used cells derived from embryonic sources. That raises tons of ethical debates. In addition, I believe it can cause issues with the body rejecting cells if they come from someone other than the transplant recipient.

Scientists then discovered that you could take ordinary skin cells from a person and expose the cells to certain transcription factors which effectively reprogram them into stem cells. From there the cells can be differentiated into specific cell types like cardiac cells, neurons, etc. An example usage would be to take a Parkinson’s patient who has lost 95% of the cells of the neuronal pathway involved in motor activity and other things, harvest their skin cells, convert them to stems cells, differentiate them into neurons and transplant them into the brain thereby recovering some of the deficits. It’s unbelievably fascinating stuff and blew my mind when I first learned about it. I don’t think they’ve even scratched the surface of its potential. Especially when you combine it with CRISPR to modify the genetics so you can potentially cure/treat all sorts of diseases.

Cereal fortification in the 1990s. It has saved so many babies from spinal deformities. It is my favorite study + outcome.

Not as crazy as other ones, but… as a type 1 diabetic I find it crazy that they can just make insulin hahaha. You’re telling me my organs can’t but somebody in a lab can just find the formula? Hahahaha.

"Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty" (2012) by economists Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson.

Basically, these two men proved a causational relation between a country having well-funded institutions and country wealth. As in: they proved that strong and fair institutions CAUSE nation wealth. As in: having good institutions is the best indicator of future wealth (on national level).

While their book has been quite successful and their research won the 2024 nobel prize of economics, politics worldwide remain unchanged. Their research, which should singlehandedly disprove economical libertarianism and destroy the idea of preferring a "small government", has done little to stop the resurgence of these policies in recent times.

I'm no scientist but I feel like the micro plastics in all our testicles and beyond the brain barrier was a shockingly non reaction.

The doctors in London who proved cholera was bacteria in water- it wasn't the result of odours or bad smells as it were. Just by mapping where the cases were in relation to which street water pumps. Populace angry with them as one of the wells had the 'nicest' water.

Removed the pump handles. Cases went down then disappeared.

Until then cholera and many diseases ('malaria- mal means bad so bad air) thought to be the cause of air borne smells. Of course a few like TB are droplet carried.

The DAA pills that essentially cured Hepatitis C 90% of the time. Lots of d***s treat the disease, but few ever cure.

Not a scientist but it blows my mind we casually walk around with devices that can show us where we are within a few feet anywhere on earth. And how to get to anywhere else. GPS, led screens, lithium batteries and CPUs. Sometimes it’s the combination that creates something mind blowing.

The invention of the blue LED. That s**t changed absolutely everything in electronics. The Blue LED allowed us the final piece needed to produce true "white" light. Paved the way for everything with a screen.

Cancer immunotherapy.

D***s like opdivo and keytruda have changed the game in cancer treatment. They are barely ten years old and most people don't know about them.