BF2S Forums D&ST - Science

Kmar wrote:

presidentsheep wrote:

Feynman>anyone I can think of. Including Sagan.

No not really. Sagan did much more to bring Science to the masses. Books, movies, the most watched Science series of all time. The cosmos was about much more than one area of Science (astronomy). It went over the entire history of Science.

Ecstasy could be modified to treat leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma, according to chemists at the University of Western Australia.

Associate Professor Matthew Piggott and his team have published papers showing compounds similar to the drug MDMA - also known as ecstasy - have been shown to kill cell lines derived from blood cancers.

The team has previously modified MDMA to try and find a treatment for Parkinson's disease.

But Professor Piggott stresses the drug as it exists now should be avoided as a cure for anything, as the dose required to have an effect is itself deadly.

"To be honest, if we could use ecstasy to treat cancer, I think we should do it. The side-effects of MDMA are minimal compared to curing someone of cancer," he said.

"But I reiterate that MDMA cannot cure someone of cancer."

Professor Piggott says his team has made a number of key modifications to ecstasy as a precursor to developing a treatment.

For a start, its psychoactivity has been removed, while its potency against cancer cells has been boosted 100-fold.

"For a cancer treatment, I guess if there are some psychoactive effects, I mean, if it cures you, who cares?" he said.

"But for other types of treatments like Parkinson's disease people don't want to be high all the time."

He says while his compounds look like ecstasy, they are structurally different.

"It's kind of like buying a Corolla from a car sales yard, and then you start modifying it, you put on a spoiler and you put on some mag wheels and you change the engine," he said.

"You've got something different from what you start off with."

But Professor Piggott says though his trials have been promising, it would be a long time before modified ecstasy is a treatment option.

"Before you even look at human trials, it would be at least five years, maybe five to 10," he said.

The research from the University of Western Australia, in collaboration with the University of Birmingham, was published in the journals Investigational New Drugs and MedChemComm.

Shahter wrote:

what, you'd rather have more people toasted alive in another challenger or columbia?

Shahter wrote:

Kmar wrote:

Shahter wrote:

what, you'd rather have more people toasted alive in another challenger or columbia?

Yes. I absolutely would. Actually no. I'd prefer something like te Soyuz 11, or maybe even Soyuz 1. Those analogies would be much more appropriate.

you wish.

Shahter wrote:

Wtf are u on about?
I'm just saying there's only one real method now and it sucks.

yes, it does. you know, maybe you should spend less on bombing poor bastards on the other side of the globe and more on developing something as reliable as soyuz for yourself.

Kmar wrote:

Maybe you should change the record, or stick to the subject? We are working on a new heavy launch system as a matter of fact.

Shahter wrote:

Kmar wrote:

Maybe you should change the record, or stick to the subject? We are working on a new heavy launch system as a matter of fact.

maybe you should have closed your glorious shuttle program after you developed that new system? you know, maybe even divert some resources spent on that madness you have going in middle east towards keeping an actual worthwhile program going until you had something to switch to, huh?

Shahter wrote:

now you are stuck with "evil ruskies" and you've nobody but yourself to blame.

Shahter wrote:

find the word "evil" in my post above then we'll talk.

Cybargs wrote:

Spark wrote:

interesting to say the least

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2011-08-31/m … er/2862632

Ecstasy could be modified to treat leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma, according to chemists at the University of Western Australia.

Associate Professor Matthew Piggott and his team have published papers showing compounds similar to the drug MDMA - also known as ecstasy - have been shown to kill cell lines derived from blood cancers.

The team has previously modified MDMA to try and find a treatment for Parkinson's disease.

But Professor Piggott stresses the drug as it exists now should be avoided as a cure for anything, as the dose required to have an effect is itself deadly.

"To be honest, if we could use ecstasy to treat cancer, I think we should do it. The side-effects of MDMA are minimal compared to curing someone of cancer," he said.

"But I reiterate that MDMA cannot cure someone of cancer."

Professor Piggott says his team has made a number of key modifications to ecstasy as a precursor to developing a treatment.

For a start, its psychoactivity has been removed, while its potency against cancer cells has been boosted 100-fold.

"For a cancer treatment, I guess if there are some psychoactive effects, I mean, if it cures you, who cares?" he said.

"But for other types of treatments like Parkinson's disease people don't want to be high all the time."

He says while his compounds look like ecstasy, they are structurally different.

"It's kind of like buying a Corolla from a car sales yard, and then you start modifying it, you put on a spoiler and you put on some mag wheels and you change the engine," he said.

"You've got something different from what you start off with."

But Professor Piggott says though his trials have been promising, it would be a long time before modified ecstasy is a treatment option.

"Before you even look at human trials, it would be at least five years, maybe five to 10," he said.

The research from the University of Western Australia, in collaboration with the University of Birmingham, was published in the journals Investigational New Drugs and MedChemComm.

I thought ze germans figured that out?

"Given the great success we've had on these three tests, I think we're close to calling the design good," said Charlie Precourt, vice president and general manager of ATK space launch systems. "If we're successful at that, we could be saving quit a bit of money for the government."

Last edited by Spark (2011-09-13 19:25:48)