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How's Open Worm coming along? The connectome of C. Elegans has been known for years, and Open Worm tries to simulate it. [1] Not with enormous success. [1] htt

How's Open Worm coming along? The connectome of C. Elegans has been known for years, and Open Worm tries to simulate it. [1] Not with enormous success. [1] https://openworm.org/assets/OpenWormPoster_Celegans_Glasgow_2023.pdf https://openworm.org/assets/OpenWormPoster_Celegans_Glasgow_...

xandrius 2y ago
Like everything in science: we don't know until we know. No need to treat research like a business.
- cafebeen 2y ago
  Budgets are finite, and most science funding involves some decision making about how to allocate resources.
  - bboygravity 2y ago
    And you can't know where to allocate resources best until after the science is done (unless a field/group is known to scam).
  - xandrius 2y ago
    Although for what we know now, we definitely can't understand the territory without a map.
  - consf 2y ago
    [dead]
  - mr_toad 2y ago
    It’s a non-profit volunteer run project. People spend more money on stamp collections.
- beefnugs 2y ago
  You know you would have thought all the years and years of "donations" to "cancer research" there would be constant news stories about how we accidentally cured a bunch of ancillary medical problems, and wow its all free to everyone because it was from donations! Never heard a single story like this
  - ben_w 2y ago
    Human Genome Project and everything derived from it. IIRC, that was originally proposed as a cancer research project: "A Turning Point in Cancer Research: Sequencing the Human Genome" - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.3945817 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.3945817 Even without that I'm not sure why you think that's a good point — it's very easy to find serendipitous examples in medicine in general, e.g. viragra which was initially a heart treatment, or even thalidomide whose anti-cancer uses were suggested by the very birth defects that made it infamous. Specifically cancer research finding other things by accident: "Cancer researchers accidentally discover ‘cure’ for baldness, gray hair" - https://technology.inquirer.net/62453/cancer-researchers-accidentally-discover-cure-baldness-gray-hair https://technology.inquirer.net/62453/cancer-researchers-acc... "Cancer Researchers Accidentally Discover New Nylon Process" - https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a8135/cancer-researchers-accidentally-discover-new-nylon-process-13033053/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a8135/cancer...
    - dkarbayev 2y ago
      Was there any "productionization" of the "cure" for baldness & gray hair, after it was discovered 7 years ago? I reckon, there's a huge market for that cure.
      - hwillis 2y ago
        https://perfecthairhealth.com/why-krox20-isnt-a-miracle-hair-loss-cure/ https://perfecthairhealth.com/why-krox20-isnt-a-miracle-hair...
    - Animats 2y ago
- consf 2y ago
  [dead]

xandrius 2y ago

Like everything in science: we don't know until we know. No need to treat research like a business.

cafebeen 2y ago
Budgets are finite, and most science funding involves some decision making about how to allocate resources.
- bboygravity 2y ago
  And you can't know where to allocate resources best until after the science is done (unless a field/group is known to scam).
- xandrius 2y ago
  Although for what we know now, we definitely can't understand the territory without a map.
- consf 2y ago
  [dead]
- mr_toad 2y ago
  It’s a non-profit volunteer run project. People spend more money on stamp collections.
beefnugs 2y ago
You know you would have thought all the years and years of "donations" to "cancer research" there would be constant news stories about how we accidentally cured a bunch of ancillary medical problems, and wow its all free to everyone because it was from donations! Never heard a single story like this
- ben_w 2y ago
  Human Genome Project and everything derived from it. IIRC, that was originally proposed as a cancer research project: "A Turning Point in Cancer Research: Sequencing the Human Genome" - https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.3945817 https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.3945817 Even without that I'm not sure why you think that's a good point — it's very easy to find serendipitous examples in medicine in general, e.g. viragra which was initially a heart treatment, or even thalidomide whose anti-cancer uses were suggested by the very birth defects that made it infamous. Specifically cancer research finding other things by accident: "Cancer researchers accidentally discover ‘cure’ for baldness, gray hair" - https://technology.inquirer.net/62453/cancer-researchers-accidentally-discover-cure-baldness-gray-hair https://technology.inquirer.net/62453/cancer-researchers-acc... "Cancer Researchers Accidentally Discover New Nylon Process" - https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a8135/cancer-researchers-accidentally-discover-new-nylon-process-13033053/ https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a8135/cancer...
  - dkarbayev 2y ago
    Was there any "productionization" of the "cure" for baldness & gray hair, after it was discovered 7 years ago? I reckon, there's a huge market for that cure.
    - hwillis 2y ago
      https://perfecthairhealth.com/why-krox20-isnt-a-miracle-hair-loss-cure/ https://perfecthairhealth.com/why-krox20-isnt-a-miracle-hair...
  - Animats 2y ago
consf 2y ago
[dead]