[HN Gopher] Baldness? UCLA's New Molecule Could Revolutionize Ha...
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Baldness? UCLA's New Molecule Could Revolutionize Hair Growth
Author : Jerry2
Score : 30 points
Date : 2025-04-05 15:14 UTC (7 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (scitechdaily.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (scitechdaily.com)
| kylecazar wrote:
| On the one hand, this is obviously nice. I'm seeing more and more
| thinning as I age.
|
| On the other -- of course they founded a company and got backing
| from Google. People get to work on what they want to, and they
| should, but I feel the same way about esteemed cell biologists
| starting hair startups as I do brilliant computer scientists
| working on ad placement algorithms. There's a bit of a shame in
| there somewhere.
| hdjjhhvvhga wrote:
| But how else do they get the cure to the market?
|
| (Provided it works, there are several such announcements every
| year but the actual progress is mediocre.)
| ls612 wrote:
| Actual progress in biopharma is mediocre until it isn't. Just
| look at weight loss drugs for an example.
| Teever wrote:
| People always say that working on hair growth is vanity and
| that there are more pressing issues to work on but I disagree.
|
| Burn victims would like to have smooth skin with hair on it.
| Now I know this specific treatment probably won't help burn
| victims, but research on hair growth in general does.
|
| Ultimately medicine is working towards a fountain of youth and
| if R&D can develop a revenue source from people who want their
| hair to grow back it's a means to further fund that quest for
| the fountain of youth and a reduction in human suffering.
|
| It's not like people who buy toupees or hair transplants were
| going to otherwise spend their money on donations for burn
| victims.
| kylecazar wrote:
| I don't think hair regrowth is an unworthy research topic.
| wellthisisgreat wrote:
| It's wild to me that hair regrowth could be considered an
| unworthy goal, when hundreds of millions of people will get an
| enormous boost to their well-being and all kinds of psych
| issues. It may actually be more effective a depression
| treatment than a good portion of anti-depressants.
| kylecazar wrote:
| I don't think it's an unworthy goal.
| spacephysics wrote:
| I think this is a bit of an unfair comparison
|
| We could say better hair leads to better self expression,
| confidence, etc even if we say its purely an ego/vanity source
| (which i'd argue, isn't necessarily the case but for sake of
| argument lets say it is)
|
| Ad placement algorithms don't lead to a person's well being
| increasing, outside shareholders/business owners which is tied
| to monetary gain.
|
| _perhaps_ you could say better ad placement for XYZ ad that
| promotes ABC net positive outcome means the work is positive,
| but i don't see the inverse case with hair growth research that
| has high a magnitude of net negative outcomes on society as ad
| placement may have beyond:
|
| 1. Everyone gets better hair, so a lack of hair means societal
| pressure to conform
|
| 2. The treatment/therapy is patented, and prohibitively
| expensive where only the elite income brackets can afford it
|
| To say more concisely, theres much more potential for an ad
| placement algorithm that hyper performs to be net negative on
| society than a hair treatment that hyper performs to be a net
| negative on society
| yogurt-male wrote:
| Let me take a guess. You aren't bald, are you?
| kylecazar wrote:
| I'm not, and I'm glad that potential new therapies are being
| discovered.
| comrade1234 wrote:
| With this and penis pills we're right on track for Idiocracy.
| fleek wrote:
| God forbid men catch a break.
| gyesxnuibh wrote:
| Who catches breaks more than men?
| seydor wrote:
| As if quant trading is a better use of their time
| fred_is_fred wrote:
| My wife just finished cancer treatment and has been fighting
| hair loss the whole time. It's coming back very slowly and it's
| thin. Losing your hair isn't a men only problem.
| pengaru wrote:
| I'd certainly appreciate again having long hair to run fingers
| through while thinking...
| croisillon wrote:
| i thought the current administration was against gender affirming
| care?
| david38 wrote:
| I fail to see how this is gender affirming care
| ocular-rockular wrote:
| It's literally something that helps maintain a physical
| aspect associated with a person's gender. Granted, hairloss
| can happen to anybody, but baldness is highly predominant
| towards the male population.
| theGeatZhopa wrote:
| Give me! I want. Take my money.
| trafficante wrote:
| This isn't just good news for the oldies. Gen Z in particular
| seems at first glance to be balding earlier and at higher rates.
| I had no idea what the heck "Norwood" meant until some young
| Zoomer guy clued me in.
| eliaspro wrote:
| I want the opposite. I'm tired of shaving my head + beard and
| generally just find those hairs annoying to deal with.
| bequanna wrote:
| Next, let's regenerate cochlear hair follicles!
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(page generated 2025-04-05 23:02 UTC)