stayinbedgrowyourhair:

jakke:

all-the-lights:

amymariani:

New Drug Can Treat Almost Any Viral Infection By Killing the Body’s Infected Cells

Whoa. 

This new drug can work against viruses like antibiotics work against bacterial infections, according to the whizzes at MIT. Again, whoa. 

You know why there’s no cure for the common cold? Because it’s a virus. AIDS? Mono? Viruses. A cold you can ride out, but AIDS eventually catches up with you.

The drug, called a DRACO (Double-stranded RNA Activated Caspase Oligomerizers), works by targeting double-stranded RNA only found in viruses. It was tested against 15 viral infections and worked against all of them, including the common cold, the flu, H1N1 and polio — freakin’ polo!

“In theory, it should work against all viruses,” says Todd Rider, a senior staff scientist in Lincoln Laboratory’s Chemical, Biological, and Nanoscale Technologies Group who invented the new technology. (Quote taken from MIT).

One more time, WHOA!

[via popsci]

I like science.

If anyone is interested in reading the published paper that corresponds to this research, it’s open-access here. Reassuringly, this looks like it was funded entirely through public funding, and the institute itself owns all the patents on previous work on the subject. So that’s about as close as you can get to a guarantee that if this actually turns out to be feasible as a drug for humans it’s relatively likely to end up being used as such. Good work, MIT.

shiiiiiit

1. letclarity liked this
2. eldanis liked this
3. animateher reblogged this from -faceted-nerd- and added:

   aatombomb:jakke:all-the-lights:amymariani:...We live in the fuuuuuture! But, seriously,...

4. cursedfrogurt reblogged this from wherestheoffbutton
5. wherestheoffbutton reblogged this from jakke
6. yoursolidground liked this
7. youruncoolgentleman reblogged this from cant-be-bothered
8. autrespays liked this
9. hilker liked this
10. greenycrimson reblogged this from apiphile
11. keitheric liked this
12. wherestheoffbutton liked this
13. mydearestginger liked this
14. punsta5 reblogged this from letterstomycountry
15. bqz liked this
16. spilledsalt reblogged this from au-nat-urelle
17. missshirley liked this
18. spr4wl liked this
19. philmill reblogged this from happypyrodance and added:

    Not necessarily simple, but extremely elegant and well thought out. Reading through the article and the research (and...

20. canucks-at-heart liked this
21. viviano reblogged this from letterstomycountry
22. letgo-dwork liked this
23. ashashangri reblogged this from ivyandthewall and added:

    These drugs sound amazing! I can’t believe that they seem to work even against ssRNA viruses like rhinovirus. I hope...

24. aryuuwatitdu reblogged this from cant-be-bothered
25. atomiczebra liked this
26. junkiie liked this
27. acalc reblogged this from zeitvox
28. zulu-bunsen liked this
29. silentaj liked this
30. andrewhartwell reblogged this from letterstomycountry
31. melodicuspondicus liked this
32. indescribableme liked this
33. indescribableme reblogged this from redbeanice
34. macmankev liked this
35. hootlord liked this
36. withasperity reblogged this from inkstrangle
37. jelenedra reblogged this from ohaugustine
38. vitojohn liked this
39. batmanwyatt-humandisaster reblogged this from -faceted-nerd-
40. inkstrangle reblogged this from emberkeelty and added:

    I did a quick check, and yeah, everything seems to work out—legitimate paper from legitimate peer-reviewed journal, and...

41. ashashangri liked this
42. purplepatch reblogged this from emberkeelty
43. idreamtiwasabutterfly liked this
44. emberkeelty reblogged this from aeromachia and added:

    I can’t tell for sure, but the article itself and the website it’s published on both look fairly legit.

45. ohaugustine reblogged this from apiphile
46. mathcat345 liked this
47. theebster liked this
48. selchieproductions liked this
49. vissarionobitch liked this
50. batmanwyatt-humandisaster liked this
51. Show more notesLoading...