Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Scientists Break Down Discoveries That Should Have Blown People's Minds More

A group of young people in a lab wearing lab coats, with one looking in a microscope.
people inside room

Reddit user CosmosisJones42 asked: "Scientists of Reddit: What's a discovery that should have blown people's minds but somehow got a collective shrug from the world?"

Certain scientific advancements continue to amaze people as much today as they did when they were first announced.

The invention of the lightbulb, eradicating polio and other illnesses, man landing on the moon, and Dolly the sheep.


However, certain scientific achievements were either overlooked at the time of their arrival, or remain unsung and undervalued to this day.

Despite fundamentally changing the world we live in.

Redditor CosmosisJones42 was eager to hear the achievements and breakthroughs that Scientists believe deserve far more attention than they were given, leading them to ask:

"Scientists of Reddit: What's a discovery that should have blown people's minds but somehow got a collective shrug from the world?"

Giving HopeToPeople Who Had All But Lost It

"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."- throwaway-94552

The Very Reason Some People Are Alive Today

"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."- CompanyOther2608

No Longer A Death Sentence

"My girlfriend has Hashimoto and her thyroid is basically non-existent anymore."

"She only has to take one small pill in the morning to live a normal life instead of being dead by now."

"Millions of people in this world take one small pill each day and are able to live with a disease that would have been deadly back in the day."

"I just wanted to clarify that there is no cure for Hashimoto and my partner is simply taking Levothyroxine to compensate for the thyroid."- Buchlinger

How Little They Knew...

"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."- Myburgher

Not This Time, Big-C

"Cancer immunotherapy."

"Drugs 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."- ghostofwinter88

An Ongoing Debate, But One Worth Having

"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."- __fallen_angle

Literally Giving Countless Children A Spine!

"Cereal fortification in the 1990s."

"It has saved so many babies from spinal deformities."

"It is my favorite study + outcome."- shelby-goes-on-redit

A Not-So Central Nervous System?

"Not a scientist but a student here- central pattern generators."

"Neuroscientists figured out that our spine can generate rhythmic movement patterns (such as walking) without brain involvement."

"This is currently being explored for treatment options for spinal cord injury."

"A local researcher with a lab dedicated to this came to my neuroscience class last semester and did a guest lecture on it."

"He thinks we’re within 20 years of people paralyzed from SCI being able to walk again with an electric implant."

"I think about this at least once a week and have never heard this mentioned by non-neuroscience people."- lateniteboi420

On Closer Inspection...

"I feel like the James Webb telescope hype came and went very quickly."

"I was very hype keeping up with how intricate and difficult it was to design, launch and deploy that marvel orbiting the sun."

"If something were to go wrong, very small chance we could fix it."

"The Hubble’s problems we could fix because it was in Earth’s low orbit and astronauts could get in there and fix it."

"Sh*t, while we’re at it, add Hubble to that list."

"And the Space Shuttle missions."- Golemo

Chaos Theory?

"CRISPR-Cas9 is actual Jurassic Park sh*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"

"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."

"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."- real_picklejuice

The Beginning Of The Chain...

"PCR technology turned genetics into a productive science in a way that very few people realize."- remes1234

Still An Ongoing Battle, But Not The Plague It Once Was...

"I grew up in the midst of the AIDS crisis."

"It was twice as scary as covid and ten times as devastating."

"The fact that they essentially found a cure and AIDS/HIV is no longer a physical or social death sentence is overwhelming in the best way and the fact that it's rarely talked about is overwhelming in the worst way."- the_owl_syndicate

And Yet People Still Resist...

"Vaccines."

"Go to the Wikipedia page for smallpox."

"Look at the second word."

"We completely eradicated a disease."

"It's gone."

"Forever."

"Deadly illnesses seemed to be just a law of nature."

"But instead of finding a way to cope with it, we decided to just rewrite that f*cking law because we f*cking could."

"And now we have idiots who won't take them because some f*cker wanted to sell his measles vaccine and make a few lawyers rich."- Significant_Snow4352

Evolution...

"The fact that long ago there were several different species of humans who lived at the same time."- Daxl

And Easier On The Eyes!

"The invention of the blue LED."

"That sh*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."- Weak_Ad_7269

We live in an ever-evolving world where breakthroughs are made just about every day.

All of which deserve the same attention that only very few are given.

More from Trending

Andy Ogles; Zohran Mamdani
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images (left and right)

MAGA Rep Slammed After Calling For Mamdani To Be Stripped Of His Citizenship And Deported Over Rap Lyric

Tennessee Republican Andy Ogles was called out after he shared a letter he sent to Attorney General Pam Bondi urging her to denaturalize and deport New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani over a lyric in a rap song Mamdani released in 2017.

Mamdani ran a campaign centered around economic populism, arguing that the city, a global financial center, has grown unaffordable for everyday residents, citing soaring rents and grocery prices, and outlining policies aimed at reducing the cost of living.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @sarahdhammond's TikTok video
@sarahdhammond/TikTok

Graduate Goes Viral For Refusing To Shake Principals' Hands After They Did Nothing To Stop Her Being Bullied

For as often as U.S. schools declare that they will not tolerate bullying, maybe school systems need to be called out for not practicing what they preach.

TikToker Sarah Delaney recently caught her younger sister, a brand-new high school graduate, doing just that as she crossed the stage for her graduation. When her name was called, she gracefully stepped onto the stage and accepted her diploma before crossing to greet the school's two principals and several other school officials.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @dominiquelissa's TikTok video
@dominiquelissa/TikTok

Woman Recounts How Sauna Exploded Moments Before She Was About To Enter It In Wild Viral Video

Every once in a while, you come across a story that unlocks a new fear inside of you, and our latest just might be exploding saunas.

Tiktoker and wellness influencer Dominque Elissa recently stayed at a very secluded Airbnb where there was little to no reception, as well as no neighboring houses close by.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @angelicapueblas's TikTok videos
@angelicapueblas1/TikTok

School Sparks Debate After Limiting Graduation Crowd To A Single Clap Per Student

When families are preparing to attend their child's graduation ceremony, choir concert, or some other school program, many parents will brace themselves for the long hours and awkward moments.

But if the families at TikToker @angelicapueblas1's school had known what was coming, they probably would have preferred all of those things over what they got at their young students' school graduation.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @david.scott.203's TikTok video
@david.scott.203/TikTok

Mom-To-Be Sparks Heated Debate After Delaying Flight With Elaborate Pregnancy Announcement

We might all be able to agree that the prospect of having a baby can be an exciting thing, and making a pregnancy announcement is something to celebrate over—but is the announcement always worth the wait?

That was the question TikTokers were left asking after TikToker @david.scott.203 posted a video of a pregnancy announcement that might have gone on for a little too long.

Keep ReadingShow less