Prehistoric Gene Reawakens to Battle HIV

Interesting. :-?

Article

Nice find, very interesting :)

It's essentially the same process used to awaken my telekinesis and prescience, though in my case it was initiated by extradimensional beings who appeared to me in the form of floating tennis shoes. We're making real progress.

Just in time, no more HIV patients to pester the scientists while they work on the Swine Flu vaccines!

:P

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Originally Posted by Taosaur

It's essentially the same process used to awaken my telekinesis and prescience, though in my case it was initiated by extradimensional beings who appeared to me in the form of floating tennis shoes. We're making real progress.

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They were beings of pure energy who's real form your mind could not comprehend.

The article and it's implications for human possibilities leave me in lost in thought. If these old junk genes were all active throughout the evolution of mankind for whatever survival purposes, I wonder... What would happen if we could manage to turn all of them back on again, all at once? How many of these junk genes were used specifically for the manufacture of anti-viral compounds? What do the others do? And I'll bet that something is there that would allow the appendix to begin functioning again, the way it used to in our distant past. What about an old gene that would allow for the growth of more receptors on brain cells that respond to growth factors? Could you imagine? Full recovery to brain damage, and an active response to spinal damage and paralyzation... I wonder, I wonder, I wonder...

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Originally Posted by Vader

What about an old gene that would allow for the growth of more receptors on brain cells that respond to growth factors? Could you imagine? Full recovery to brain damage, and an active response to spinal damage and paralyzation... I wonder, I wonder, I wonder...

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I wonder if all this has already been accomplished in some secret lab... :wtf:

:borg:

Maybe my nipples will squirt out milk

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Originally Posted by Invader

If these old junk genes were all active throughout the evolution of mankind for whatever survival purposes, I wonder... What would happen if we could manage to turn all of them back on again, all at once? How many of these junk genes were used specifically for the manufacture of anti-viral compounds? What do the others do? And I'll bet that something is there that would allow the appendix to begin functioning again, the way it used to in our distant past. What about an old gene that would allow for the growth of more receptors on brain cells that respond to growth factors? Could you imagine? Full recovery to brain damage, and an active response to spinal damage and paralyzation... I wonder, I wonder, I wonder...

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It is highly unlikely that genes of such survival value would have been selected out of our active genome. The loss of the production of retrocyclin was clearly not a great impact on the survival value of humans in Africa 100,000 years ago, as the HIV virus wasn't present in the human population at the time (it only made the jump to humans in the late 20th century). This is not a 'HIV killing gene turned on!' story as it is an 'old twitched off gene that had another use in our evolutionary past is incidentally useful in combating a present disease' story.

Retrocyclin isnt just useful in combating HIV. It also works against herpes and the flu.