Hello everyone and welcome back to the Gamerman Weekly! I’m gonna sound like a semi-regular hotel maid with this next phrase, but, another little bit of housekeeping. So, even though I love the new and experimental fields of science, like Genetics, Social Sciences, Bio-Mechanical Engineering, Astro-Engineering, etc… I don’t really *cough* know…. that much about science. Despite my lack of knowledge, my passion for experimental science is larger than a neutron star!

Failed attempts at being punny aside, my main goal with this section of the GW is to inspire others to have the same passion. I feel that with science being under attack from a lot of fronts, mostly lack of general attention and understanding, more needs to be done to inspire others to be awed by the advances in modern experimental science. Most of the pieces I do will expand greatly upon what the advances I report on will mean in the future, so that whatever milestone I talk about will seem greater than what laymen would consider minimal. Some may call this sensationalism, to others it may be reckless endangerment to the progress of science, I consider this tactic an advertisement program that could mean millions more people will take modern science more seriously.

After explaining the chemical make-up of this GW section, time for some science.

Now, some of you may remember the long times past of 2014 and the internet storm sensation that was the Ice Bucket Challenge. Perhaps you started doing it yourself, or nominated others in your circle of friends, or beyond to partake in the act of dumping ice water from a bucket over your head, and then donate a sum of money to the ALS Association that researches the debilitating Moto-Neuron Disease for a cure. The Association raised altogether $100 Million plus.

So, because of this rapid increase in awareness and funding, the timeline for finding treatments for Moto-Neuron Disease has been pushed forward in many significant areas. In fact, just this July, a major breakthrough in research has taken place. Researchers have decoded multiple stands of DNA of the disease, and in terms of researching for a cure, the reality of it is light years closer.

Some of you may be asking “That’s all they did with that much money?!? What’s the point?” I’ll explain. Whenever a new disease is discovered, that discovery is published and sent to hundreds of thousands of medical researchers, along with samples, to start finding treatments and/or prevention steps. The first milestone in finding treatments and cures for any malady is decoding the genetic sequence of said ailment. Once that is done, scientists can start looking for trigger genes within the disease to destroy it. That kind of treatment is done through introducing new anti-bodies into the system that attacks the disease at the genetic level.

In other words, this disease could be a worry of the past in as little as 20 years! To many, this may seem un-reasonably long, and I won’t deny that I swear a little bit of my allegiance to that camp. But also, this news and breakthrough I feel should re-ignite that feeling of “We got this!” Regardless of how small an achievement in modern science seems, each one holds the potential to be the panacea for many of the world’s problems, that’s what I want the general public to see in modern science, its abounding potential.

Thanks for reading this everyone, see you next week for another GW. It will be our first foray into the Fringe. I’ll bring you in, but can you make it out…

--G