Re:Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifesp...
by anigbrowl on Thursday December 15, 2016 @08:59PM
(#13190462)
Thanks so much. I don't know why news headline writers are so insistent on bullshit, when they could have taken a cue from you and said 'gene therapy increases mouse lifespans by 30%,' which would have been just as short and interesting but vastly more honest.
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Re:Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifesp...
by lvs on Friday December 16, 2016 @01:16AM
(#13191443)
Not quite. The actual article title is far more correct than either the clickbait headline or your headline:
"In Vivo Amelioration of Age-Associated Hallmarks of Progeria by Partial Reprogramming" (my addition)
Re:Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifesp...
by bjelkeman-again on Friday December 16, 2016 @01:46AM
(#13191547)
But that is really hard to understand for a non-specialist. Means nothing at all for me.
Re:Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifesp...
by lvs on Friday December 16, 2016 @03:48AM
(#13191957)
Well, I'm quite sorry to hear that, but the paper was written for specialists, and its results are primarily interpretable by and relevant to specialists. Why exactly it made it into a press release and news articles is completely inexplicable when analyzed within the bounds of the work.
Re:Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifesp...
by ptero on Friday December 16, 2016 @05:54AM
(#13192381)
A popular science, or even general news type reviews of current research are very valuable. However, in the unavoidable simplifications, they do need to keep the main findings correct, not expand into outlandish claims for clickbait
Re:Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifesp...
by bobchops on Friday December 16, 2016 @05:23AM
(#13192272)
I think the fact that the subjects suffer from Progeria (a syndrome that causes early ageing) is significant. There are other effects of ageing (such as damage to DNA in mitochondria from oxidative stress reducing a cell's ability to generate energy) that may not be displayed early alongside other symptoms of progeria and that this treatment would not do anything to alleviate.
Re:Scientists engineer mice genomes to lengthen their lifesp...
by patall on Friday December 16, 2016 @03:27AM
(#13191874)
I do not want to be too picky but I do not think the term gene therapy applies here. A gene therapy is when you give the organism a gene as a treatment, like giving a normal medicine. Here, the genes are included from the beginning and only activated like with normal medicine.