Accidental Find May Lead To a Cure For Baldness 404
kkleiner writes "Science is full of stories in which great discoveries are made by accident: the discovery of radiation, the discovery of the universe's shape through x-ray detection, and now perhaps the cure for hair loss. At the time they returned to the cages to find that their bald mice had miraculously grown their hair back, the scientists at UCLA had no intention of curing baldness. Originally, theirs was in fact a study aimed at reducing the harmful affects of chronic stress. The unanticipated side effect of their treatment could prove a boon to balding men and women everywhere, not to mention to the drug company that delivers the cure to them."
Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? (Score:5, Insightful)
This treatment works by restricting a hormone that helps regulate our stress levels. Isn't it maybe a bad idea to go fucking around with that just because we want a full head of hair?
Just a thought.
Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Socialists find the answers that Capitalists ca (Score:2, Insightful)
> Just to poke my anti-socialist friends with a stick, I find it interesting that a publicly funded institute happened apon this discovery and not a private corporation.
Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? (Score:5, Insightful)
Err, stress literally kills. The hormones it produces are toxic. A significant amount of people are stressed all the time and its only made worse by the 24/7 society.
Unlike our hunter-gatherer ancestors, we aren't sitting in the sun all day. We're not getting a short high stress event (killing an animal) and then relaxing the rest of the day. We're not getting this level of downtime anymore and chronic stress is common. Heck, Americans barely get vacation days.
Your society, your city, your processed food, your vitamin enriched food, the vaccines in your blood, etc are all technology that has nothing to do with how evolution shaped us for so long. Of course, we should be addressing stress, the same way we address horrible urban conditions with germ theory, cleaning, better sewage, soaps, and antibiotics.
Its a luddite position to think that your body and mind are well suited for modern living and anything controlling that is "unnatural." Its a luddite who says we shouldnt be playing with this. This pandora's box was opened long ago. Appeals to "the natural man" are a fallacy for this reason.
Adding relaxation techniques into your life can make such a significant change its not even funny. Its incredible how much stress we take for granted. Its not normal, its not healthy, and it is a problem. I'm very excited by this research. I hate the idea that its 100% socially acceptable to be a caffeine addict workaholic, but once we start talking about relaxation, downtime, stress, etc suddenly we're all so careful!
Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? (Score:2, Insightful)
Up the bum, no harm done.
Re:Socialists find the answers that Capitalists ca (Score:5, Insightful)
Or perhaps "capitalist societies" and "socialist societies" don't exist outside of textbooks, because real societies always contain some degree of each?
Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? (Score:4, Insightful)
Caffeine addict workaholics make soft-drink manufacturers, Starbucks and CEO's very rich.
The only one that gets rich when you learn tai chi or some other stress reduction technique is you. And it's not the kind of "rich" that our society generally recognizes.
Won't someone think of the money, er animals! (Score:5, Insightful)
PETA will have a field day with this one, what with causing artificial stress in the mice to the point where they start losing hair? Think of their self esteem, think of premature heart attacks and strokes...
The trauma to female mice .. when they see these bald mice returning to the general population with great big pompadours and new-found confidence, "Hey, Baby, come over to my corner of the cage tonight and we'll split some cheese."
Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? (Score:5, Insightful)
Our predecessors had an average life expectancy approaching 80 years did they? That's right: if I keel over with a stress induced heart attack or stroke at 40 years old, I've still lived longer than the stress free peoples you're talking about. What's your point?
Re:Socialists find the answers that Capitalists ca (Score:2, Insightful)
I have a better idea, let's turn anything into a political discussion for no reason!
Oh wait, that's right, we only say that when it's not a socialist who's turning something political.
I notice that the American brand of leftism (which is a type of ends-justify-the-means authoritarianism the way they want to manifest it) is very, very good at presenting itself as a mainstream representation of what the plurality of people want. It likes to portrays itself as "the" default position, with every other idea being a minority who dissents. The fact that most mainstream media personnel are sympathetic to it (Fox being a notable exception) helps make this seem plausible without a doubt. The truth is that even if you consider the false dichotomy of "left vs. right" to be valid, it's more like 50/50 in terms of representation of the general population. Not that this does us any good, however. That neatly lends itself to divide-and-conquer strategies which are used because they work, while everyone seems to downplay the fact that individuality and personal liberty is on the decline.
Sometimes I can almost envy those who desire more government power, more micromanagement of daily life, more authoritarianism, more pointless overseas conflicts, and more double standards when it comes to corporate rights versus individual liberties. I don't really envy them and in fact I consider them to be something like Soviet-style brainwashed (inflict or allow a trauma and then implant a suggestion, find a crisis and rush to solve it, problem reaction solution, thesis antithesis synthesis for those who are learned) ... but at least they get to watch the news and feel like they are getting what they want. I really wonder what that feels like.
Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? (Score:3, Insightful)
Meh, million of women mess around with their hormones every month just as a method of birth control, even though much more successful methods exist, and even though many
should probably be using other methods anyway to protect against diseases. Most people have no problem with stuffing their body full of chemicals, especially when it's prescribe by a "doctor" or in a tasty meal.
That should be non-manogamouse!
Re:Cosmetic cures no one really needs (Score:4, Insightful)
Your argument applies to anything a person buys beyond whatever he needs to keep alive.
I reject your morality that demands that I consider anyone else superior to my own life. I cordially invite you to drop dead.
Re:Uh, don't we maybe NEED that hormone? (Score:3, Insightful)