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Towards an Exercise Pill
aztektum among many other readers sent us news that medical researchers have developed two drugs that can build muscle tone in mice without exercise. While such an advance may inspire dreams of a "couch potato pill," the article mostly talks about other medical uses, should the drugs prove safe and effective in humans. The doctor in charge of the research is working with sports authorities to develop a test to detect the drugs in athletes. "Researchers at the Salk Institute in San Diego reported that they had found two drugs that did wonders for the athletic endurance of couch potato mice. One drug, known as Aicar, increased the mice's endurance on a treadmill by 44 percent after just four weeks of treatment. A second drug, GW1516, supercharged the mice to a 75 percent increase in endurance but had to be combined with exercise to have any effect. 'It's a little bit like a free lunch without the calories,' said Dr. Ronald M. Evans, leader of the Salk group."
Stand in line for a pill to make me muscular, or stand in line for the new iPhone?
At least the iPhone won't leave me as soon as I talk.
How do you get the couch potatoes to the pharmacy in the first place?
How much does the pill weigh? You can damn well bet I am not going to move my hand to pick up more than 8-10 grams.
If this drug works as advertised & has no dangerous side effects, why wouldn't *everyone* including athletes take it? I realize that this would be an unfair advantage in the present, but I'm talking about after 20+ years of testing.
There is a war going on for your mind.
What about the type of muscle tissue found in the heart? Could this be used to help rebuild a heart that's been weakened by a heart attack?
would it work on gerbils? ...
--- Richard Gere
Not the full extent of the movie, but in one way the same. more powerful by doing nothing. Also, must be noted: good for astronauts when coming back to earth from long "exposure " to microgravity. muscle distrofy
Sounds to me like a lead in to the next Batman movie.
Quid Pro Quo, nothing more, nothing less.
Isn't the biggest problem (ok, biggest technical problem) with in vitro meat the fact that the muscle tissue that it grows can't get any exercise and is therefore soft and textureless?
Couldn't this help with that problem?
Technoli
I've said it before, but I'll say it again: Never in history has there ever been a better time to be a mouse!
Well, the death rate for liposuction is about 19 deaths per 100,000 operations. (Note, this compares with a death rate of only 1 death per 100,000 elective surgeries, so it is rather poor).
If the pill actually works, and eliminates liposuction, that is quite a few lives saved, not to mention plastic surgeons that are freed up to do the "burn remedies and birth defects that are the reason we got into this buisness" (cue eyebrow raise here).
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
Once they develop pills for big dicks, fashion sense, personality, and odor elimination, Linux development will cease!
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
medical researchers have developed two drugs that can build muscle tone in mice without exercise
The New Scientist article says
Also, it isn't two drugs either one of which do the trick, but two drugs taken together. Not a good summary at all, if the NYT article says the same as the NS article.
mcgrew's razor: Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greedy self-interest
Presuming that this will be safe for use in humans, could this be one of the missing keys for space exploration? I'm imagining Joe Astronaut wakes from his month-long slumber on route to Planet X. His muscles have atrophied over this time, but by using these pills and doing some remedial exercise, he is ready to face the perils of the alien planet in days!
I 3 the future.
Roughly half my comments are never submitted. You may be reading the better half...
Steroids?
This isn't based totally on science, just the assumption that anything too good to be true usually is.
There are a couple of principles I might be getting wrong here, please correct me on that.
1. Mammalian hearts all tend to have a lifespan of x number of beats. The slower the heart beats, the longer-lived the critter is. This explains why small, jumpy rodents tend to have short lives and something like a whale is long-lived. This x number seems to be fairly consistent across species.
2. Scientists have shown that restricted calorie diets in mice will lengthen their lives and they believe this will hold true for humans as well. The more you eat, the sooner you die.
3. Exercise has more components than just body movement. Muscles are strengthened through use by the tearing of muscle fibers and the healing process of repairing those tears. There's been talk of direct electric stimulation of muscles to prevent atrophy, first brought up for long space voyages, later depicted in the first Matrix movie when they had the freshly decanted Neo done up like a pin-cushion.
My assumption is that this drug will turn out to be something like steroids. Do steroids work? Absolutely! All other conditions being equal, the athlete who uses steroids will typically outperform the athlete who remains clean. Of course, the one who remains clean will also retain important things like testicles, non-lactating breasts, and a future.
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
Seriously - Someone who is a lazy fat ass, will just be a lazy fat ass with better endurance after taking these pills.
Maybe they could combine them with Alli and some meth. Motivation (my butt is leaking!), energy, and endurance, all in pill form.
This pill may make it easier physically to get in shape, but the physical part isn't what keeps the Orca-style fatties of the world from losing weight. Their problem is a total lack of motivation.
How is this that different from stimulants or steroids?
I skimmed the article but didn't notice anything on the method of action. It just said, "Hey look at what our magical pill can do."
I could probably take ephedrine and exercise and get the same effects.
So would some expert like to chime in?
Does it raise heart rate? Blood pressure?
Does it alter mood? "Roid rage" and all that?
Buckle your ROFL belt, we're in for some LOLs.
My thought on first seeing this was you could use this for extended space flights add in something for bone density loses and the first guy to walk on mars won't need a walker.
I want a pill that will improve critical thinking skills! And logical reasoning ability!
And while we are at it, lets make it inhance one's capacity for impartial objectivity when making important decisions.
I would spend my entire life savings on this stuff just to dump it in my city's tap water.
One can dream...
This might be practical for space travel, to help stave off muscle atrophy. Not sure what to do about the bone density issues, though. Another pill?
'It's a little bit like a free lunch without the calories'
Isn't that a bit like. . . no lunch at all?
Now we can happily sit in front of our desktops for all day long, then take a pill before going to bed :)
Nerds always try to beat super heroes in a nerdish way.
Brain vs. Muscle which one wins?
So now modern medicine/technology already allows us to tan without sun, whiten our teeth with lasers, cure impotence, prolong our days without sleep, control anxiety, maintain our cholesterol... and now we don't even have to get off the couch to get exercise? I hope they prescribe these in Pez dispensers because someone is going to pass out trying to open a standard prescription bottle.
While I can see medical uses for this, I think this goes way too far for the average person. What happens when someone's fat and calorie intake increases while this pill makes them fit? "Gee, I don't know why George died of a heart attack at 34. He was taking 3 Aicar pills a day, so he was in great shape."
The drugs activate at least one of the chemical pathways triggered by resveratrol, a substance that also showed increased endurance in mice. Resveratrol is found in red wine though in amounts probably too low to significantly affect muscle.
This lends weight to the thought that Resveratrol triggers a bunch of pathways that increases life span and enhances health. Of course, the catch of all of these "health in a pill" solutions is that they just point the body in the right direction. Sure, your muscle population may shift to a higher metabolic state, but if you sit around, you won't burn many more calories.
I've been getting into the habit of running six miles a day and am amazed at how much energy it takes. I've been in pretty good shape, but there's nothing like burning an extra thousand calories a day to get rid of the last of that abdominal fat.
"Being muscular" is only one of the health benefits of regular exercise. The physical motions stimulate a release of built-up toxins throughout the body, as well as support the functioning of various parts of the immune system (we really didn't evolve to sit around all day). Oh and sweating is also an important means of expelling built-up toxins.
So people who take the pill instead of exercising will be muscular but still not very healthy. People who augment the pill's use with regular aerobic exercise (full-body stuff but not necessarily needing heavy weight resistance) will be the ones who get the most benefit.
And, of course, you could combine the pill with intensive weight training, and heap so much muscle on your skeleton that it can't bear the load...giving you joint problems of all varieties, but that is an entirely different concern.
Employers will be adding it to the water cooler.
Nice idea, but I'm not going to hold my breath. My chosen sport is cycling, and I like to ride long distances, the faster the better. If, on top of the training I do, this pill improves my endurance and other attributes similarly to what it did in mice, and it does that with no life-threatening side effects, then I might consider it. However every "miracle drug" that has ever come along has always come up with some long-term side-effects that shorten life spans or even kill you outright. I'll stick to my workouts and training rides for now, thank you very much.
Although I run 5K at least 4-5 times per week and try to do at least a couple of hours of weight lifting per week, I still think that self righteous "eat less, exercise more" preachers are a bunch of jerks.
Every food or weight related story on Slashdot brings these jerks out of the woodwork. They build up their self esteem by criticizing others. Like an anorexic or a bulimic, they have nothing important to be proud of so they build their self esteem on their weight and feel superior to people who are heavier than they are.
Without resorting to a puritan religious justification, how can you argue that a task "should" be difficult? If it's easier for me to be fit than it is for you, does that make you "better" than me?
If a pill can make it easier for you to lose weight and has no adverse effects why shouldn't you use it? Only a religious jerk demands that people should suffer more than necessary.
If one person enjoys rich creamy deserts and another person enjoys basketball how can you attribute "moral" superiority to one or the other. They're both doing things they enjoy. There's absolutely no moral implication that one of those things tends to increase weight and the other tends to decrease weight.
Well, you have to realize that everything in your body is chemistry. No more, no less. All the feedback loops in your body, including "oi, we're doing lots of contracting here, we need more muscle fibers!" or "oi, we're suffocating here, let's have some more blood vessels!" are based on chemical signals. Some chemicals are produced, whether solely as a dedicated hormone/signal, or as a by-product of the cell's normal functions (e.g., CO2.) Some protein binds to them, and does something else. A lot of them regulate the expression of some genes to produce more or less of some other protein, or trigger cell division.
So, yes, if you just force a bunch of cells to divide, you'll get what you wrote.
On the other hand, if you fake the signal which says, basically, "oi, we're doing lots of contracting here, we need more muscle fibers!", you'll get just that. The body doesn't and can't distinguish between the real thing and a faked substance which binds with the same proteins. (Which is why tobacco, marijuana, etc, work, for example. They too bind to some proteins which were meant for something else, but the body can't differentiate between its own canabinoid signals and the THC from hemp.)
Mind you, it doesn't need to be perfect. If the other signals aren't perturbed, the body will still use its other feedback loops for stuff like building blood vessels there or for how many mitochondria it needs there. So you may have some thick muscles, but without the thick veins of real body builders, since they only have to feed those muscles in an unused state. Which isn't a problem, since, well, they do get as much oxygen there as they actually need. You might get faster tired than a real athlete, as a result, though.
But anyway, to cut this rant short and actually answer your question: yes. It would very much help with that.
A polar bear is a cartesian bear after a coordinate transform.
The number of people who can get their stomach stapled and become obese again makes me think there's little hope for a pill to fix the problem for everyone. It will just increase the number of calories one can eat.
Sounds like this may be a useful treatment for astronauts... I wonder, with the issues they face in long-term weightlessness.
I would think using these drugs would only be cheating in sports if they build muscle mass past what can be achieved through exercise. I don't think anyone should really be concerned if they helped athletes get to the same level, just with less effort. My only concern is if use of the drugs can put an athlete at a state beyond what they would have been able to attain.
This came out long ago. It's called a TENS machine. Hook yourself up and passively be made into a beef-cake.
TFA doesn't say the word "tone" unfortunately and there is a difference. My son was born with Hypotonia which is low muscle tone. When I read the summary I got a little excited thinking this could help him out going forward.
Basically the tone of the muscle is the elasticity of the muscle (this is from memory when the Dr.'s were explaining this to us after he had been diagnosed). It has little to nothing to do with strength and, due to his condition, makes him more prone to hernias and similar problems (he was born with a hernia which was hidden by a communicating hydrocele).
Those with low muscle tone are more flexible (so add that to your GF requirement list :)). My son can touch his shin bone with the top of his foot (try it) as well as do complete splits, etc.
We had to get him orthotics to help his ankles support his weight as he grew. This, fortunately (for him...not for us parental units), has NOT slowed him down. He's currently five and very active...loves to be outdoors and catch bugs...but I digress.
Anyway...thought I'd point that difference out.
The best use is for bed ridden hospital patients. Being able to have patients maintain muscle mass is one of the most difficult things when treating patients with Chemotherapy for example. This drug will revolutionize the field of physical therapy. Shorter rehab times means less time spent in hospitals and big savings. Every over crowded hospital in America should be investing in this research.
The article says that they're using PPAR-delta to change the muscle tissue to the high endurance kind. It also says that one of the things that PPAR-delta can be used for is to instruct cells to burn off fat but it doesn't really say that they're using it for both purposes. So my question is: are we they going to be left with a bunch of people with good muscle tone that are still fat because they didn't exercise? Also, I'd like to point out that we can't even safely make something taste sweet. Why would anyone think something that has this sweeping effects like this is going to be safe?
Real geeks read Cell (with pictures)
DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2008.06.051
http://www.cell.com/content/article/fulltext?uid=PIIS0092867408008386
AMPK and PPARÎ Agonists Are Exercise Mimetics
The benefits of endurance exercise on general health make it desirable to identify orally active agents that would mimic or potentiate the effects of exercise to treat metabolic diseases. Although certain natural compounds, such as reseveratrol, have endurance-enhancing activities, their exact metabolic targets remain elusive. We therefore tested the effect of pathway-specific drugs on endurance capacities of mice in a treadmill running test. We found that PPARÎ/Î agonist and exercise training synergistically increase oxidative myofibers and running endurance in adult mice. Because training activates AMPK and PGC1α, we then tested whether the orally active AMPK agonist AICAR might be sufficient to overcome the exercise requirement. Unexpectedly, even in sedentary mice, 4 weeks of AICAR treatment alone induced metabolic genes and enhanced running endurance by 44%. These results demonstrate that AMPK-PPARÎ pathway can be targeted by orally active drugs to enhance training adaptation or even to increase endurance without exercise.
Yeah, this may work as advertised. Taking a DECA & DURABOLIN steroid stack (I am a jock & nerd) will build muscle without weight lifting. That does not mean it is good for you. Also, as I saw on the news last night it *only* improves endurance (not the dirty kind). Overall health as of now did not seem to be effected.
Instead of ignoring the facts regarding drugs and basing your beliefs on ignorance, there are a HUGE list of issues that arise as a result of ignoring pharmacology in sport.
*Minor league versions of the sport are then required to take drugs. Impossible! you exclaim. The minors are for preparing/selecting for the majors. Part of your preparation now includes pharmacology because your performance will not vaguely resemble professional level performances without them.
*The system that feeds the minor league system is then required to take drugs. Pharmacology driven performances become the norm. How do you maintain a boundary between pharma/no pharma performances?
Very quickly this will become an issue of children taking performance enhancing drugs, which is already happening. Impossible! Well, then please explain how EXACTLY high school -> college football(u.s.) players balloon in size and weight in less than 1 year? And then the next jump from college to pro creates more impossible body metrics.
If you can't tollerate my complex reasoing, then look at sports pharma as a way to fix every game played. I can pick winners and losers by giving one team pharma X and giving the other pharma Y. I can pick a World Series winner at the beginning of the season just that easily. Impossible you say? Well ask Bjarne Riis about doping his way into a Le Tour victory.
I would like to know what the medical purpose of this pharma is and who is paying for the research. With EPO, there's a legitimate purpose.
http://www.maxineudall.com/2010/02/should-economists-be-sued-for-malpractice.html
I didn't take the pill yet, so I don't have the energy to RTFA.. but.. can someone support my laziness and tell me if this somehow gets around the problem of making the heart grow in size so that it no longer fits in the chamber, thus causing more stress on the heart, thus leading to that state known as 'death'?
I do not respond to cowards. Especially anonymous ones.
What this researcher has done is found a way to easily convert one type of muscle fiber "fast twitch" into a different kind "slow twitch" with a drug. The balance of these fibers makes the difference between someone who is decent at sprinting and someone who is decent at a marathon. Normally, training your muscles from fast twitch to slow twitch takes a long training regiment. Primarily, what has been contributed here is a better understanding of the underlying biochemistry. See this article on building muscle.
But note, this isn't going to make you healthier inherently. It'll just make it easier to do longer term, load-bearing workouts without getting tired as easily. You will still get winded just as easily. You will still have to sweat. Your legs will just tell you to stop a little later than normal.
You like splinters in your crotch? -Jon Caldara
Muscles don't matter very much if you don't have the neurological conditioning to make use of them.
It would be like having a 1000W amplifier with incorrectly set gain or an uncontrolled input voltage.
There are no karma whores, only moderation johns
True, to a limit. But at some price point, the drug will have to consider competition from cheap knockoffs on the internet.
We are talking about an ancient and fundamental metabolic subsystem in all eucharyote life for the past billion years. I suspect tinkering with it will affect lots of things. Thats why dieting is so difficult in an environment of plenty - hunger is such basic drive of life.
I believe the problem is that there are health consequences associated with steroids. So if baseball gets to the point you suggest, I basically have to be willing to accept the adverse health consequences of steroids in order to play baseball competitively.
You mean this is why MS won all these years?
Viagra
Apple Inc.'s entire product line
Sam E
Chronic Body Odor Support by Herbal Extracts Plus
My first Journal Entry ever, in 8 years! http://slashdot.org/journal/365947/aphelion-scifi-fantasy-horror-poetry-webzine
At some point in the near future, humanity is going to have to ask itself, should we be taking drugs to improve our abilities for non-medical reasons? Is there anything morally wrong with better life through chemistry? If so, what?
so I'd love to take a pill to jump-start me into a condition where I could do 30 pushups and feel fine instead of 10-15 pushups and have my arms feel like rubber. I always end up quitting because I feel like I can't exercise "good enough"
There's no such thing as a free lunch.
A free lunch without the calories? now youre just kidding yourself.
This pill already exsists.. Its called dexedrine, otherwise known as speed. Meth isnt a bad "exercise pill" either, providing you get it pure enough so the impurities dont drive you insane.
The fact that its not at all healthy to take drugs for something that you should be able to accomplish yourself should be considered. Exercise isnt just about losing weight, you would probably also have to take anti depressants and a whole host of other pills to get the same benefits that exercise accrues.
As a potential lottery winner, I totally support tax cuts for the wealthy
the fact that exercise has a positive effect on moods. Aerobic exercise has been proven to be as effective as taking an anti-depressant and in some cases, even better.
Are you pondering what I'm pondering...
Michael J. Ryan - tracker1.info
It improves on good-old pepper.
Bert
Aicar is a common research chemical, and all it takes is a click to purchase some Aicar. The price may prevent most people from using is as a nutritional supplement though..
All of this reminds me of a livestock study I read in Vet school, where pigs were genetically engineered to be more muscular in order to maximize the proportion of lean meats to sell to the public. Problem is, it came with some very bizarre side-effects, including the propensity for heart attacks. Any loud noise, and 20 pigs would drop dead in an instant. Seriously, you couldn't yell at the pig. The project was dropped because it wasn't very cost-effective. I wonder what kind of crazy side effects this pill would have, and worse yet, will people really care? I mean, how many men and women were willing to tolerate "uncontrollable bowel movements" in order to try the latest diet pill? The "brave new world" aspect to all of this is really creeping me out.
Affordable Health Coverage
Will this work for nasa in space as a way to keep fit in long space flight.
Dear Science,
/. Nerd
I'd love to be muscular and have better endurance, but I will never be willing to quit smoking and exercise, please get on this for me.
Sincerely,
Every
I knew Science would have my answer.
I like music
Yay, one step closer to the Super Soldier Serum. Hail Hydra.
- "That's just the kind of fuzzy-headed liberal thinking that leads to being eaten."
I imagine this could prove useful for treating muscular dystrophy and GSD.
I think you've got a point, though I would add that being perceptive of another person's needs and emotions makes one a good mate. Being overly emotional doesn't necessarily help.
My wife appreciates that I listen to her feelings, but she also appreciates that I will take action when she has a problem that needs solving - that's the protective, "masculine" side. I don't just cry with her about it.
It sure sounds like the movie. Krippke Virus will be Evans Pill instead.
I must agree. I have been very fortunate in the weight/muscle department. I'm a programmer, I don't excercise, I smoke too much, drink too much, and consist on a diet that would put most people in the hospital. I'm also 40, and have been treating my body with borderline contempt since... roughly age 8. Yet I look like this:
www.RexDevious.com
Other people I've met or know have to struggle constantly with their weight and muscle tone, and still fall well short of their goals. I can't even fathom what they must go through, the constant burden of watching everything they eat, the hours at the gym, and what it feels like to still be so unhappy with their appearance.
While I take my fortunate situation less and less for granted every day - it does seem to suggest that there *is* a way for weight and muscle issues to not be the enormous pain in the ass it is for so very many people. And no, the fact that this wouldn't be a problem for people if only they were impoverished does not make their suffering less real. I've been there myself, and still wished that those who had body image problems *and* money didn't have hurtful metabolisms.
So bring on the discoveries that help! The more we learn about controlling our bodies, the better.
Not to mention of course all the people who simply have no "natural" way of achieving these results. I've got a sister with MG - she can't exercise because her tendons are so shot they'll literally detach if she tries. I myself have Rheumatoid Arthritis, and am very limited in what exercises I could do if I needed to.
Kudos Paul, you've got the right attitude about preventing needless suffering.
In addition to the cybernetic cannon for the pitcher, I gave all my baserunners a laser sword and battled the second baseman when I wanted to steal second.
http://classicgaming.gamespy.com/View.php?view=GameMuseum.Detail&id=306
Dear all you assholes who said I should get off the couch,
While you were running, sweating, panting, and generally making yourself miserable--I was playing videogames. And soon, for all that hard work, you'll be in no better shape than I am.
SO WHO'S STUPID NOW, HUH?!?!?!
Yours truly,
The guy who had fun while you suffered
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
One smart pill, coming right up.
The doctor in charge of the research is working with sports authorities to develop a test to detect the drugs in athletes.
I really don't give a damn about the athletes; why shouldn't they take performance enhancing drugs if they like? What difference does it make whether they wreck their bodies with football or with steroids? Anybody who thinks that sports at the competitive level is healthy is dreaming.
All this handwriting about doping is just about sports money, not the athletes anyway.
Regardless of any other side effects this could have, it occurs to me once again that we're basically sabotaging our own physical evolution. How does survival of the fittest apply if there's no particular genetic requirement for being more fit than another?
I suppose in the future, our evolution will instead be tied to the amount of financial resources one has at their disposal, turning survival of the fittest into survival of the wealthiest.
What's the big deal?
They've been able to do this since the 50s. Right now, there are LOTS of different drugs you can take that, with no change in your exercise or diet regime will make you stronger and leaner.
If this drug works as advertised & has no dangerous side effects, why wouldn't *everyone* including athletes take it? I realize that this would be an unfair advantage in the present, but I'm talking about after 20+ years of testing.
It is the inevitable outcome of making a global change to a complex system. Even if all this drug does is globally increase muscle tone (unlikely), then you have to be concerned about increased muscle tone in places where you don't want it. Like the smooth muscles that control movement in your digestive tract. Hello constipation/diarrhea.
If we existed in a world where nothing had costs or consequences, then that's great. For example, if my .sig said "cake!" or "ball!", there would be (basically) no consequence.
But we do live in a world where things have costs and consequences. Even if a perfect muscle-pill was developed today, we've all grown up in the old world. Cake is relatively expensive to make, and (in excess) is not great for your health. Basketball is good for your health, and is really cheap.
Everybody who's sitting around on the couch, weighing 350 pounds, and eating cake all day, does so with the knowledge that the cake is expensive, and worse for their health (and others will likely pick up part or all of the bill), and yet they do it anyway.
The human body has had millions of years of evolution. It's not perfect, but its systems work pretty darn well most of the time, with zero downtime. Now, basketball and cake are modern inventions, but one is a lot closer to what our bodies were built for.
Decadence is not what we're built for. It's not what any biological organism is built for: tough conditions make awesome animals, physically and mentally.
The change here is a fundamental biological one: make life physically easy (sit around eating cake, and the occasional pill), but reap the benefits of a tough life -- its polar opposite.
There are really two reasons here. First, there's a much higher cost to society if we consist of cake-and-pill-eaters. And not just because it's more expensive to make cakes and pills, but because a society of people who depend on magic from others, instead of personal responsibility, is not a strong society. (What happens when you're presented with a problem for which nobody has invented a magic pill yet? If you don't have the willpower to put down the fork, how are you going to do anything else? I think it's no coincidence that you don't see any 350-pound CEOs of successful companies.)
Second, the ??? Principle: when something costs us, we justify it. This is like inventing Caltech-in-a-Can, and then chugging a 6-pack in front of a Caltech senior 2 days before finals week. Or "Yo-Yo Ma the Nasal Spray", and then upstaging him at a concert.
I'm not sure these are unrelated. It seems plausible to me that we've got the ingrained "don't cheat" rule because our ancestors know in their bones it doesn't work. A caveman who discovers a dead mammoth is the man of the month, but a caveman who can hunt small game year after year is the one whose genes you want. Lotto winners aren't the richest people today, either.
Fortunately, it probably won't be cheap and side-effect free, so we won't have anything to worry about (for at least a decade or two). Like breast implants: even when we figured out how to make them so they don't explode, they don't have the look-and-feel of the real thing. I can imagine somebody who took muscle pills to have big, strong muscles, but still not appear as balanced as a bodybuilder or as effective as a martial artist. He'll look totally fake: a cakeeater.
Urinary retention
Blurred vision
Constipation
Sedation (can interfere with driving or operating machinery)
Sleep disruption
Headache
Nausea
Gastrointestinal disturbance/diarrhea
Abdominal pain
Inability to achieve an erection
Inability to achieve an orgasm (men and women)
Loss of libido
Agitation
Anxiety
heh just kidding, but it's always at the end of the commercial for any new super duper amazing drug!
*plays the Apogee theme song music*
... this guy out soooo much.
(C'mon, laugh, it's funny! You were all thinking it. Don't lie...)
"Three eyes are better than one" -- Lieutenant Columbo
???
Man, that is like saying, "People found it relatively easy to build an airplane... AFTER the Wright brothers invented the fucking thing!"
Only in America would everyone see the "do nothing, get results" angle. WTF is wrong with the media today? This story comes along and what is the angle? What is the headline? Be a couch potato and get stronger. *sigh*
HELLO!!! The use of this pill (provided it actually works) has nothing to do with dieting or not exercising, but has everything to do with recovering patience. Say I'm 80 and I broke my hip in a fall. Normally I wouldn't have a chance in hell at rehabilitation...but with a solution like this all of a sudden me walking again isn't out of the question.
Jane Doe has been in a coma for X months. Her body is atrophied. The road to recovery has just gotten a hell of a lot shorter and cheaper.
John Smith has ha major surgery. Maybe a heart attack or something. Does this pill mean his heart will be stronger? Less likely of a repeat visit to the hospital?
It is lame that all the media and general public see in this is the diet, vanity aspect.
I feel sad for humanity.
-Mark
Dovie'andi se tovya sagain.
...because if it weren't, you'd be able to go to the grocery store, pick up a case of Ben and Jerry's and a box of exercise pills, eat both, and become more fit as a result. The universe just isn't that nice a place.
Yeah.. that'd be a good analogy if Apple invented MP3 players..