The Stanford University breakthrough stands to open new doors for research into fatal neurodegenerative diseases

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/52109808

The human brain is not a single organ, but two separate systems that evolved independently before fusing together, according to groundbreaking new research. … Armed with the knowledge of how hindbrain cells uniquely form, the team has successfully turned human stem cells into becoming functional hindbrain motor neurons in a lab for the first time.

  • Optional@lemmy.worldEnglish
    101·
    3 days ago

    Member that time ‘scientists’ discovered lymph nodes in the brain and it was like 2014 or something? And everybody was all, “Did you not think to look there, or . . ?” How did we get 20k years in and not know that.

    But, that’s the way the knowledge bounces.

    • phdepressed@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      25·
      3 days ago

      Because we fund basically jack shit of scientific investigation that is just for the sake of investigation. A vast majority of funding is purpose driven which puts big blinders on the field. Failure of this type of idea could easily end the career of a new investigator or postdoc.

      There’s a lot to rant about the state of modern research but a lack of funding is nearly always the biggest reason for why something seemingly obvious in hindsight wasn’t discovered earlier.