A researcher’s new take on stem cells | Hacker News Reader

A researcher’s new take on stem cells

nautil.us

43 pointsdnetesn8 comments

"Do the ethics of age reversal concern you?"

I dislike how that question is phrased, implying that the ethics of fighting aging are inherently concerning. If you really think through the ethical considerations of aging being a universal cause of death and the major contributing factor to cancer, alzheimers, and any other age related disease, the only "ethical" thing to do is fight against aging.

People never discuss the ethics of curing cancer because we have a clear moral imperative to do so, but the second the question turns to aging the waters are muddied. Questions about overpopulation, wealth concentration, etc. may arise, but are all thoroughly rebutted. Aubrey De Grey's original Ted talk does a great job of arguing against these concerns.

Maybe I am wrong. However, I think that ethical concerns over the fight against aging are not rigorously thought through. It's as if we constantly ask the question, "should we fight aging?" but when the answer is thoroughly answered "Yes" society (and very much so the media) don't remember the answer and its reasoning.

"A new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it." - Max Planck

Imagine stubborn, immortal scientific/economic/government/etc. leaders.

If you are interested in perusing some of the past decade of science on this topic, some links below. It is about equally devoted to looking at what happens in induced pluripotency versus what happens during embryonic development, induced pluripotent stem cells and embryonic stem cells being basically the same thing.

Elimination of damaged proteins during differentiation of embryonic stem cells https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1472508/

In Vivo Amelioration of Age-Associated Hallmarks by Partial Reprogramming https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2016.11.052

Mitochondrial Rejuvenation After Induced Pluripotency https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0014095

Aging vs. rejuvenation: reprogramming to iPSCs does not turn back the clock for somatic mitochondrial DNA mutations http://dx.doi.org/10.21037/sci.2016.08.09

A lysosomal switch triggers proteostasis renewal in the immortal C. elegans germ lineage https://doi.org/10.1038/nature24620

Any Rejuvenation Relevance for Roundworm Reproduction? http://www.sens.org/research/research-blog/question-month-16...

"Stem cells are the Gary Oldman of cell types."

Great analogy. I recall watching a film a few years ago with Gary Oldman in it, and not realising until the credits that it was him. Can't remember which one, unfortunately, probably because of my lack of stem cells.

EDIT: Might have been True Romance.

Not really. The internet is global.

The weakness in this analogy is that the stem cell itself does not transform into anything. What stem cells can do is, on division, 1) make a progeny cell with a different cell fate (i.e., a different cell type) and 2) self-renew (make another stem cell). Maybe you could say stem cells die in the process of giving birth to fraternal twins, one of which is a clone of the parent.

Our culture and our biology have serious compatibility issues, and getting worse by the day. I hope we can find our way out.

Life would've been great if that is possible

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