- HIV/AIDs
- Cancer
- Tooth regrowth
It feels like it won’t ever be done for some reason
- Cancer
- Tooth regrowth
It feels like it won’t ever be done for some reason
Depending on the type of cancer, we now have cures or treatments that stave off death for years.
My wife has a rare type of cancer with not much research thrown at it, and even her type of cancer went from a median time of survival measured in months to several years.
(Should have taken better care of it when I was younger and not ignored the massive hole that was growing in it. Chalk it up to a bad dental experience as a child and 25+ years of avoiding dentists as a result...)
Just in case you need someone to, y’know, empathise with you.
I have a lot of people in my life who don’t understand why I don’t just go to the dentist
I'm pleased that I found a good dentist and I've been able to overcome my anxiety. I recognize that I'm lucky in this regard.
I was also lucky in that, aside from this one problem tooth, my oral care regimen in my 26 years of not having regular dental care were sufficient to prevent any further issues. I expected to come out of that first checkup with massive problems (even though I'd never had any pain or issues) and I was pleasantly surprised.
All in all I think I'm very lucky. I tried to take care of my teeth on my own, and largely succeeded, but I do wish I'd taken care of this one problem tooth before it was too late.
Cancer treatment varies by type of cancer but many have dramatically improved outcomes.
That said, the progress has indeed been miraculous. A great example of the capabilities modern medicine.
One-and-done HIV protection in infants - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44736988 - July 2025 (First author of the paper even commented here at the time: "labanimalster - First author here. We solved a 30-year problem in gene therapy by leveraging neonatal immune tolerance. A single AAV vector injection encoding HIV antibodies achieved 89% success in newborns vs 33% in 2-year-olds, with protection lasting through adolescence. This could transform HIV prevention in regions where maintaining regular medical care is challenging. Happy to answer questions about the science or implications.")
US FDA approves Gilead's twice-yearly injection [lenacapavir] for HIV prevention - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44312729 - June 2025
there are more articles about advanced tumors being shrunk to nothing than before (based on my personal monitoring)
+ Alzheimer’s cure
+ Hair regrowth
...they were persistent vaporware or scams, then suddenly they were real and everywhere. Hopefully that happens for the others too?
They've had those for decades. It's called meth.
Plenty of cancers have become manageable with the advent of immunological treatments.
Tooth regrowth seems to be the most complicated of those three, which isn't even surprising, given that it is basically organ regeneration.
Also, everyone has teeth issues, whereas hair issues are mostly limited to a subsection of the population (older males, and not even all of them).
Those men will pay lot of money to get back their hair though.
If I not mistaken it was Bill Gates who said more money is spent in hair regrowth research compared to vaccine to prevent diseases like malaria which kills thousand of people.