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26 Scientific Discoveries People Think Should Have Made Bigger Headlines
In our 24/7 news cycle, it’s easy to forget that just because something isn’t front and center in the media doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. As it turns out, things are being discovered and developed all the time, it can just be a bit hard to hear about.
Someone asked “Scientists, what's a discovery that should have blown people's minds but somehow got a collective shrug from the world?” and people shared their best examples. So get comfortable as you scroll through, upvote your favorites and be sure to add your own ideas below.
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#1
We basically “cured” most people of cystic fibrosis in the last five years. It is the most miraculous medical breakthrough I can think of, comparable only to insulin treatment for diabetics or the triple cocktail for HIV patients in the 90s. In the span of five years, thousands of cystic fibrosis patients saw their projected lifespans go up to normal. The treatments don’t work on every CF mutation, but they are incredible. The Atlantic published an article last year that made me sob.
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#2
I worked on the HPV vaccine. I helped prove you can give it to children and just eliminate that entire disease. Never gotta worry about that s**t again.
Nobody gives a s**t. Half the country apparently hates us for even doing it.
Espieglerie:
The HPV vaccine is a god [darn] miracle. I work in public health and it’s wonderful to see study after study showing plummeting rates of cervical, [rear], head and neck, etc cancers everywhere it’s been rolled out. I also did a grad school case study on the vaccine and it was cool seeing it start with, iirc, three of the worst strains of HPV and then scale up to the 9 valent.
#4
Don't know if it's been mentioned, but if you grew up in the 70s you heard a LOT about stomach ulcers k**ling people...it was blamed on stress, but one scientist figured out it was a bacteria and tested it on himself.
That guy needs a statue.
#5
I’m not sure shrug is the right word but mRNA vaccines are a miracle.
GoofinOffAtWork:
Yes they really are.
I'm just an average guy, not a scientist or dr, but this technology, just wow. A huge game changer.
Regrettably, half of society thinks vaccines are bad.
Heavy heavy sigh.
#6
Honestly, mapping the human genome was assumed to be impossible for decades until it was done in a few short years without the fanfare it deserved. An absolutely mind-blowing accomplishment.
Pabu85:
I’m alive because of genetic testing we were only able to do because of that discovery. I’m thankful every day.
#7
I read recently where South Koreas scientists found a way to revert a colon cancer cell to an almost normal cell which would eliminate the need for chemo. Early stages but wow, why aren’t we all over the moon and helping research?
#8
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells. Historically stem cell research used cells derived from embryonic sources. That raises tons of ethical debates. In addition, I believe it can cause issues with the body rejecting cells if they come from someone other than the transplant recipient.
Scientists then discovered that you could take ordinary skin cells from a person and expose the cells to certain transcription factors which effectively reprogram them into stem cells. From there the cells can be differentiated into specific cell types like cardiac cells, neurons, etc. An example usage would be to take a Parkinson’s patient who has lost 95% of the cells of the neuronal pathway involved in motor activity and other things, harvest their skin cells, convert them to stems cells, differentiate them into neurons and transplant them into the brain thereby recovering some of the deficits. It’s unbelievably fascinating stuff and blew my mind when I first learned about it. I don’t think they’ve even scratched the surface of its potential. Especially when you combine it with CRISPR to modify the genetics so you can potentially cure/treat all sorts of diseases.
#9
Cereal fortification in the 1990s. It has saved so many babies from spinal deformities. It is my favorite study + outcome.
#10
Not as crazy as other ones, but… as a type 1 diabetic I find it crazy that they can just make insulin hahaha. You’re telling me my organs can’t but somebody in a lab can just find the formula? Hahahaha.
#11
"Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty" (2012) by economists Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson.
Basically, these two men proved a causational relation between a country having well-funded institutions and country wealth. As in: they proved that strong and fair institutions CAUSE nation wealth. As in: having good institutions is the best indicator of future wealth (on national level).
While their book has been quite successful and their research won the 2024 nobel prize of economics, politics worldwide remain unchanged. Their research, which should singlehandedly disprove economical libertarianism and destroy the idea of preferring a "small government", has done little to stop the resurgence of these policies in recent times.
#12
I'm no scientist but I feel like the micro plastics in all our testicles and beyond the brain barrier was a shockingly non reaction.
#13
The doctors in London who proved cholera was bacteria in water- it wasn't the result of odours or bad smells as it were. Just by mapping where the cases were in relation to which street water pumps. Populace angry with them as one of the wells had the 'nicest' water.
Removed the pump handles. Cases went down then disappeared.
Until then cholera and many diseases ('malaria- mal means bad so bad air) thought to be the cause of air borne smells. Of course a few like TB are droplet carried.
#14
The DAA pills that essentially cured Hepatitis C 90% of the time. Lots of d***s treat the disease, but few ever cure.
#15
Not a scientist but it blows my mind we casually walk around with devices that can show us where we are within a few feet anywhere on earth. And how to get to anywhere else. GPS, led screens, lithium batteries and CPUs. Sometimes it’s the combination that creates something mind blowing.
#16
The invention of the blue LED. That s**t changed absolutely everything in electronics. The Blue LED allowed us the final piece needed to produce true "white" light. Paved the way for everything with a screen.
#17
Cancer immunotherapy.
D***s like opdivo and keytruda have changed the game in cancer treatment. They are barely ten years old and most people don't know about them.
#18
I'm not a scientist, but I saw where scientists in Japan have found a way to grow teeth, which would eliminate the need for implants. In the not to distant future, you might see adults walking around with baby teeth.
#19
In the last couple of years they discovered an algae that had non-lethally absorbed a bacteria that produced nitrogen. It’s the birth of a whole new form of metabolism. The sprouting of a new trunk on the tree of life.
There are only 3 other known cases of an event like this in the history of life. And yet I barely heard anything about it.
The Japanese plastic eating bacteria got more coverage, but still not nearly enough.
#20
Published in late 2024 was a study showing that silicates played a catalytic role in the formation of amino-acids and proto-cells, taking a huge step in validating abiogenesis as the origin of life.
Basically, they redid the Miller-Urey experiment (which already showed simple organic compounds could emerge from inorganic compounds in conditions similar to early Earth), with a difference : in order to avoid external interferences, they coated the container with teflon and put it in a dark room.
What happened was...nothing. No reaction occured, no new compound were formed, contrary to the original experiment. Since the container in the original experiment was glass, they decided to add a few silicate pellets in their container and redo the experiment.
The results were even better than expected :
- they obtained fully formed amino-acids, not just simple organic compounds.
- among these amino-acids were the five that make up DNA and RNA.
- fully closed phospholipid chains, aka empty proto-cells, were observed.
#21
GLP-1s. It's nothing short of revolutionary. Not only does it stabilize blood sugar in diabetics, and promotes weightloss for obese people who have no luck with other treatments. It also curbs addictions to alcohol, smoking, even shopping. It has been shown to be protective for cardiovascular health, used for kidney failure. It's a treatment for certain liver diseases. And that's just what we have confirmed so far. In my book GLP-1s are right up there with penicillin and pasteurization.
#22
# The fact that bacteria can communicate — and have their own "language."
**→** ***Quorum sensing***
Scientists discovered that bacteria aren't just single-celled loners they actually communicate with chemical signals, vote on decisions, and act collectively when they reach a "quorum" (like, "Okay, now there's enough of us, let's release the toxins / form a biofilm / light up like in bioluminescence").
It's like social media for microbes. Literal **group chats** for germs. And it’s been happening on Earth way before humans even existed.
And we just… shrugged?
This has massive implications from understanding infections to rethinking antibiotics to designing new bioengineered systems. It’s like realizing ants build cities… but on a *molecular* scale.
#23
It seems relevant to this thread to inform everyone that in 1994, the invention of the year went to the widget in a can of Guinness that help carbonate a Guinness only when you opened it.
Second place was The Internet.
Sometimes the world doesn’t care because they don’t really understand.
#24
Back in 2016, when the results of the CTE brain analysis on former football players went up in JAMA and showed just how extensive and common these injuries are, it should have caused an uproar. And people were aware of it, to be sure, but it seems like most have chosen to just ignore it and assume it's someone else's problem, along with hollow justifications like "they knew what they were getting into" and "they get compensated well enough for that risk.".
#25
CRISPR-Cas9 is actual Jurassic Park s**t.
People who were born blind have had their sight regained due to genetic tinkering made possible by this biological tech.
Mosquitos can be eliminated, practically eradicating Malaria by editing the genes, which are then passed on to offspring, making them sterile.
Food can be, and has been, made more nutritious, as in the case of Golden Rice, producing more Vitamin A in impoverished countries.
It’s Gattaca in the flesh, and people just shrugged
Edit: A lot of people are asking "Why do I still have mosquitos? or Why hasn't this happened yet??" and I can say that this technology is still extremely nascent.
It's a massive achievement of humanity and another foothold in our ability to shape nature, but it is still inaccurate. Targeting specific genes in different species, let alone our own, is time-consuming and requires many trials to get right.
Targeting multiple genes, at the same time, is exponentially more difficult. Remember that genes are just DNA sequences at random events on the entire chain. And each sequence is rarely actually next to each other on the chain.
Some of you have also mentioned that we don't fully understand the effect this would have on not only one species but all those others that interact with whichever we were trying to alter.
In short.. It's incredibly high-tech, and with incredible technology comes incredible questions and incredible consequences that need to be considered before fully deploying.
#26
30 years ago, Japan developed a replacement for Saran Wrap or shrink wrap that was actually more durable and biodegradable. It failed test markers in America because 1) it was made out of shrimp shells 2) it had a pink hue 3) false belief that shellfish allergies would cause people to become sick 4) the packaging had shrimp 🦐 yes with the heads.
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