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Super Strength Substance Approaching Human Trials
kkleiner writes "You may remember Liam Hoekstra, the baby apparently born without the myostatin gene, and consequently sporting 40% more skeletal muscle than his peers. Using gene therapy, NCH scientists have been able to get follistatin (a myostatin blocker) to promote phenomenal muscle growth in macaque monkeys. NCH is now working with the FDA to perform the preliminary steps necessary for a human clinical trial. Is this the prelude to a super-strength gene therapy for all of us?"
Is this the prelude to a super-strength gene therapy for all of us?
No, the clinical trials will begin but one of the test subjects will realize that they are now stronger than his fellow man and the only thing keeping him a cut above the rest is the drug. So he (or she, both sexes are equally evil) will taint the other subjects' follistatin with cyanide, killing them all. Then the super villain transformation into The Sinister Strength will be complete and they will emerge from the carnage at the clinic to hoard all the remaining follistatin. We have only one hope, that our hero Liam Hoekstra arrives on the scene early enough to put an end to The Sinister Strength ... refresh Slashdot next week to find out.
My work here is dung.
And what would we do with this super strength? Personally, the heaviest thing I ever need to lift is the occasional DB server.
I for one welcome our new super-strong Macaque Monkey overlords!
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
I, for one, welcome our soon-to-be Macaque monkey overlords with my open puny-muscled arms.
Well damn, now no one will buy my super mutants if they can be one :(.
>MadDoc
-1 is for flame bait and trolls, not because you disagree with someone.
My dwarves are going to be 100% more terrified when the monkeys have super strength!
All Elphaba needs to do is graft some wings onto those macaques, and she's all set!
No. It will be used clinically for people who have muscle growth problems. For athletes, it will remain a banned substance.
At least she won't smell musky and have a 'stache.....
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
No, not all of us.
Just soldiers and government agents.
Technoli
If you thought the German swimmers looked like men during the 80's and 90's just wait till this kicks for human use.
One of the problems with wanting to lose weight is by the time you become a large tub, you no longer have enough muscle to move around and exercise. Now you can take this drug, have enough power to start working out and not feel like you are dying when you are starting out, which may increase the positive feedback effect.
Tsukasa: All I really want, is to be left alone...
so is this the new diet drug? Americans already take in too many calories, it would be very trans-human and very cool if we just altered our muscle mass instead of shrinking our calorie intake.
We have a world food distribution/shortage problem as it is. Imagine SUPER STRONG STARVING Humans.
http://www.ashtreehill.com/the-hungry.html
Often wrong but never in doubt.
I am Jack9.
Everyone knows me.
Imagine being able to go from 100 kilos to 180 - a pretty significant gain. I don't see how the likes of the Army or Marines could pass something like this up.
For some reason I was really hoping to see some pictures of buff Monkeys.
Take what ye can. Give nothing back!
...why are all of these rated so Low? The Score dude doesn't appreciate good humor?
The odds are against general use of the treatment in humans. What about domestic animals though? 40 to 60lb turkeys or 2,500lb cattle. Chickens the size of turkeys? Anything to squeeze another buck out of domestic livestock.
Seems like there is probably a reason we have myostatin and if you disable it, other health problems may result. We're just don't know what they are yet.
Further, it seems like the people most interested in taking this drug would be bodybuilders who already have a low body fat percentage...they have little fat to burn and now this reduces the ability to metabolize their muscle tissue. I could foresee that a small medical problem involving the digestive tract could turn into a complete crisis if they cannot get the energy they need to fight an infection from their own tissues when they need it most.
Hoekstra SMASH!!!!
Science advances one funeral at a time- Max Planck
Seriously, if we had soldiers that were 40% stronger, that would be a huge advantage. They could carry more gear, or more powerful weapons, and be considerably more effective than "normal" soldiers. The Air Force already has done trials on drugs that allow pilots to stay awake for days without side effect(a little tangent here - I'm surprised IT departments have not done this yet for Admins and programmers). You have got to think the Army and Marines would be VERY interested in this if it is viable.
One group of people that might take advantage of this treatment would be the elderly. Diminishing muscle mass is a major issue. I use to joke about my Mother-In-Law being mean enough to hunt Bear with a Switch; some how that doesn't seem funny any more.
There's a major application for this research in space travel. One of the major issues with long duration space missions is muscle atrophy. This could provide assistance in maintaining muscle mass on trips to and from Mars, as well as long duration Moon missions. Not to mention the potential eventual colonization of said worlds.
Could this be used to help fix the problem astronaunts have of losing muscle mass in weightlessness?
That would be awesome.
Also, getting modded so you absorb a small % of fat.
SO many great ways we could modify our bodies. If only I can be modded to generate electricity for my mobile devices*.
Please spare me the obvious matrix reference.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
Time to stock up on molotovs and pills for my safe room.
Ya know, I've seen A LOT of announcements here, like the ever-popular flexible displays that are always "just around the corner" since about 1996, but there's a reality about things like this.
1. It's not a guaranteed arrival. Nothing in here says you get, for example, to keep the use of your penis, or that you'll be able to take the medicine AND sleep at night.
2. This won't likely start a new race of uber-supermen as one might guess. What it *will* do is complicate Oylmpic candidates and other sport.
I hate to be Slashdot's wet blanket, but I'm an old man, and I've seen a LOT of these things come to nothing.
--- For a good time mail uce@ftc.gov
So this is what kicks off the Zombie Apocalypse...
While true that muscle burns more calories at rest and that a more heavier, more muscular person needs more calories than a lighter, thinner person I think most slashdotters are overestimating the effects. I mean the little hulk kid is growing too. All toddlers eat like little monsters. Anyway, a pound of muscle at rest burns 35 to 50 calories a day, so up to 500 calories for ten pounds of new muscle per day. So lets do some quick math. The average American male is made up of about 42% skeletal muscle, which at 185 lbs that is roughly 75 pounds of muscle. If you increase the muscle mass by 40% (Yes, I RTFA) that is about 30 lbs of new muscle. Pretty awesome when you think about it, but that still only burns an extra 1500 calories a day max. Most Americans overeat that amount anyway. I don't think anyone would be starving, they would just be harder and fitter. A big mac has over 500 calories to put that into perspective.
I think a more interesting question is what do you do if this is readily available, cheap and easy to use? Would you do it? What if you are an active amateur cyclist working your way up the local ranks? They guys are gonna love you coming in with your extra 30 lbs of muscle and storm by them up the local hill. Do we start over with all the record books? This isn't exactly roids but it isn't exactly a tough training plan that you earned your fitness with either.
It is not enough to succeed, others must fail. - Gore Vidal
How the apes got the upper hand.
If you could reason with religious people, there would be no religious people
Sure, they'll have super strength and big muscles. Only to find that their skeletons can't handle the strain, and they end up breaking their arms, legs and ripping tendons with every step.
When everyone is super - no one will be.
-ted
For example I take anabolic steroids to shrink my testicles, not gain muscle mass. Works like a charm, I'm no longer embarrassed at the beach.
http://www.frogview.com/uploadimages1/468f8326d09681.05978191frogview-gallery.jpg
What's the bet if this thing passes it becomes standard issue in military forces?
If you think that's bad, just wait until they get it to work on the elephants. I mean, after what happened to the fortress of Boatmurdered, it's like you need an Orbital Magma Cannon just to survive. And God help you when those damn fish show up...
It's just a pity that you can't really use the elf toilet setup (where you wall them in, build a roof over them, then flood out and drown the elves, with a nice drain to flush things out afterwards) on the monsters of the Glowing Pit...
For endurance sports, I suspect your performance is limited by your bodies ability to remove lactic acid from your system, in which case having 40% more muscle mass wouldn't help -- there would be 40% more lactic acid. For pure strength sports such as weightlifting this would be an advantage -- up until your muscles become strong enough to break your own bones or tear your own tendons. For body builders, using this would be a no-brainer. I've always advocated that, like snowmobile racing, all sports should have "unmodified" classes where enhancements are banned and "supermodified" classes where anything goes. Get caught doping, you (and your records) just get automatically moved into the supermod class.
I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
It would also be much harder to test for than steroid abuse;
This substance inhibits production of a regulatory protien; simply stopping use would return miostatin levels to normal, while retaining the bulked up mass. (It takes time for muscles to atrophy.)
A person could theoretically "Bulk up" with a traditional muscle building regimen coupled with short term use of this product, and have 40% more effect, discontinue use, and pass blood screenings with flying colors.
If I was the olympic judiciary panel, I would be very worried by this turn of events.
So, who's gonna be the new Captain America?
Can they test for this stuff? Have they tested the Yankees for this stuff?
... until the joint and bone strengthening pills are also available.
To a Lisp hacker, XML is S-expressions in drag.
So far everyone has postulated on this site that the main side effect, and the worst, would be the need to eat more. What about enlargement of the cardiac muscles? Larger hearts are prone to fail.
The photo in tfa is clearly a fake. The dumbbell is photoshopped in.
while you're busy arguing about this whole superhuman strength stuff, you're overlooking the fact that we currently have SUPER-STRENGTH MACAQUE MONKEYS running around. I for one welcome our Roided-Out Code Monkey Overlords.
Here's an executive summary as it seems few people read the article before posting:
1. Gene therapy increases muscle development
2. It is speculated that this will decrease life span because lung capacity is not increased to match the heightened oxygen requirements.
3. As such it will probably not be commercially available.
4. It will be used mainly to treat kids with MD and old people with degenerative muscle disorder (read: people who would die without it).
5. It also has use in the livestock industry as the animals are not only super-meaty but also super-lean.
6. Whether or not the military will use it to make super soldiers ala Fallout even though it might kill them early depends on your particular political leanings.
I hope this is helpful.
I saw a documentary about this. I think it was called: "Nazi Supermen Are Our Superiors".
Why will the artificially created person end up evil, while the naturally born child be ok? That is the cliche of course, because nature knows best right? I find the neoluddite underpinnings of the cliche to be disgusting. Its far more likely that a normal mature adult given superstrength would behave rationally, than a child who grew up stronger than everyone around them. The latter seems like a recipe for all sorts of neurosis.
refactor the law, its bloated, confusing and unmaintainable.
One of the details I recall from the story and discussion about super-baby was that if there was a way to make this happen in normal people, that it would be a bad idea because there is a limit to the amount of muscular growth possible and would result in a premature exhaustion of that potential. And I don't recall what the consensus actually was on the effects it could have on bone development and maintenance, but I can't imagine it would be good either.
The body is the way it is for good reasons. You can thank "god" for it or you can thank evolutionary forces. Whatever the case, I can't imagine that this is a favorable mutation to induce.
On the other hand, if it helps muscular dystrophy kids, I'm completely for it being tested on humans.
Refer to this pages at Wiki regarding the lack of Myostatin and it's effect in Whippets ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myostatin ), some have predicted the lack of Myostatin in Greyhounds may prove to be disastrous as Myostatin deficiency may give one more skeletal muscle, which may provide explosive force to be used instantly (like lifting weight, for instant), but easily tiring, thus lacking in endurance.
If there's no side effects (besides a massive case of the munchies), I'm a soldier, and it's an unfair advantage over my opponents, where do I fucking sign? Hell even if I'm not a soldier. If I'm ME (I train in kung fu) and I plateau on strength but I want to make sure to have an edge over guys taller than me in a fight, it's still not a bad idea if there's no massive side effects.
Basically, if you're competing in the dog eat dog nature sense instead of the "Let's all be fair" human sense, and this has no bad side effects, it's a no brainer. Particularly if the effects are reversible if food supplies become scarce later.
My career in the Army left me with a damaged back and knees, making it difficult for me to engage in meaningful exercise (or even stand for more than fifteen minutes). Among other complications, like joint stability, this also leave me fighting to control my weight.
Anything that can give me a leg-up on overcoming these problems would be welcome.
Regards;
It's actually vo2 max that is more indicitave of endurance performance not lactate threshold but that is just quibbling your point is well taken and I agree completely.
The "open" class is a good idea too. It really needs to happen now.
If only I can be modded to generate electricity for my mobile devices*.
Please spare me the obvious matrix reference.
Hey, you are The One who brought it up first.
When information is power, privacy is freedom.
I haven't read all 168 comments yet, but... It seems that bone mass and strength would not increase alongside muscle, which might cause one to break bones by lifting too much weight. Also, increase metabolism might cause more free radicals to be produced from electron transport, causing faster aging. Typically, decreasing the metabolism of lab animals leads to a significantly longer lifespan.
It depends on the sport. In many sports, raw muscle mass can be more of a detriment than a benefit. What's important is having the right muscle development, and the right kinds of muscle (fast twitch, or slow twitch.)
Look at pretty much any sport. With few exceptions, none of the competitive athletes will be build like body builders (even amateur bodybuilders.)
For example, most cyclists have strong slow-twitch muscles in their legs, and comparatively low upper body strength. Since the arms aren't used to pedal the bike, extra muscle weight there would actually drag them down as they try to climb a hill.
Same is true for martial artists... Most have a solid foundation of lean fast twitch muscle. Enough to move them, but not so much to weigh them down.
With that said, I didn't RTFA. It's not clear to me whether this medicine would cause the development of unwanted muscle for professional athletes.
I think a more interesting question is what do you do if this is readily available, cheap and easy to use? Would you do it? What if you are an active amateur cyclist working your way up the local ranks? They guys are gonna love you coming in with your extra 30 lbs of muscle and storm by them up the local hill
At some point, extra muscle becomes a hindrance, not a help. Sure, leg muscles are great, but when you have to cycle an extra 30 pounds of shoulder muscle up the top of a hill, it's going to be a drag on you and more work to get to the top of the hill.
I don't see this making a big difference in sports, except by making it easier to train. You can already maximize your body's potential with the training techniques we have, but this will make it easier to get through the initial fitness phase. Also I'm going to suggest that to become someone like Lance Armstrong, getting the muscles and endurance is easy compared to developing riding techniques (knowing how to climb, knowing how to pedal efficiently, etc). That takes serious work and effort.
One thing that should be investigated is how this affects the diet. With body building, the diet is one of the most important things. If you get your diet balanced correctly, the muscles will come almost effortlessly. But if your body isn't getting the nutrients it needs, you aren't going to grow muscles, even with steroids. I suspect if average people took a myostatin blocker without focusing on their diet, they would end up having more muscles, eating a lot more, and end up having just as much fat.
Qxe4
Noone seems to realize the other issues this might cause. Tendons and bones are not designed for muscles that are that strong. For instance NFL players alreasy have many issues because of their muscles.
Not to mention spots injuries like broken bones and concussions.
So is it a cream, or is it something you have to freebase?
#DeleteChrome
We can grow more food on the same animals. Perhaps not monkey meat though . . . . . . . Win Win.
Currently, our muscles grow in response to demand on them. Push it to its limits, and it grows towards new limits. This tends to mean that our muscles are fairly well balanced; if one group gets too strong, the opposing group will get stronger as well (to some extent). However, with this myostatin inhibitor, I don't see there being any control over how much each muscle group grows. Those Belgium Blue cows look like their butts have supersized with muscle. I can imagine WWF wrestlers using this stuff, but not body builders.
since steroid use is illegal, the gene therapy to get stronger muscles should be legal if it passes FDA tests, etc.
Every Baseball player will want it to always hit home runs and throw the ball farther.
Every Soccer player will want stronger leg muscles to kick the ball farther and run faster.
Every Professional Wrestler will sign up for it to look like a Greek God without using steroids and lifting a lot of weights.
I'll bet that even fat people will want it because a side-effect is losing weight and turning it into muscle.
Charles Atlas will be out of business as there is a cheaper and easier way to gain muscles other than "Dynamic Tension"(TM).
Some could say this could be the way to produce our own Super Soldier Serum and make our own Captain America Super Soldiers, by taking the skinny Steve Rogers and turning them into Captain America clones. I am sure the military will want this very badly.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
This only seems to affect muscles attached to bone.
How about muscle attached to boner?
So I'll ask the question no one else has.. Does the male and female sex muscles also increase by 40%? Just wondering..
Have you fscked your local propeller head today?
Ah, the old 'lactic acid' canard. Lactic acid as a cause of muscle fatigue was debunked years ago. Get with the program people.
http://www.mensfitness.com/fitness/203
Lactic acid does not cause muscle fatigue.
"How It Started: Research conducted nearly 100 years ago (on frog muscles, no less) suggested that lactic-acid levels within muscles increased with fatigue.
The Truth: "Lactic acid increases with fatigue because it's fueling your muscle contractions," says Chad Waterbury, a strength coach in Los Angeles. It causes the painful burning sensation in your muscles that makes you want to stop lifting, but your liver is also converting lactic acid into more energy, so it's actually helping to offset fatigue. Muscle fatigue is prompted by an accumulation of protons within the muscles, which is caused by the breakdown of glycogen, the stored carbohydrate that helps to fuel exercise."
In one study, animal muscles were injected with lactic acid and actually performed longer with less fatigue, thoroughly and forever debunking the idea.
Not a bad idea in the latter part, but the lactic acid buildup as a negative consequence has actually been debunked. Buildup of lactic acid is actually beneficial, and provides energy for extended exercise.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lactic_acid
They have gone too far! It is already too late now that the damage has been done.
I dont need extra muscle just a healing factor.
Now baseball will enter the myostatin era....
Is WADA looking at this yet?
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see a prescription version for people with a legitimate medical need. I would just hate to see it sold over the counter.
I'm probably going to get modded flamebait for this one, but here goes...
I work hard to keep my physique. I lift heavy daily. I choose what I eat very carefully, and I don't give in when I crave crappy food. I keep my beer intake to a minimum. I have earned the right to look the way I do.
Far, far too many people in this country just want something for nothing. They want the instant fix without any hard work, and this isn't limited to physical fitness. The idea that someone could pop a pill and suddenly look like a dedicated weight lifter makes me angry. It's like those damn diet pills you see everywhere. When the day finally comes that a diet pill really does work, I'll be furious.
Maybe I'm being too critical, but my opinion boils down to this: If you work hard at something, you deserve to reap the benefits. If you do not work hard at something, you deserve nothing.
Name...That...Autocomplete!
What if you are an active amateur cyclist working your way up the local ranks?
They'd be disqualified and disbarred from racing just as if they'd been using anabolic steroids, that's what would happen.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Using those numbers and average man with 75 pounds of muscle would burn 2625-3750 just from his muscle at rest, then add organ systems and actual work performed and an average man would need over 5000 calories (I'm assuming we're talking kcal here) a day...
I'm 186cm long and weigh 85kg, I have average or slightly above average musculature (I can do a pull-up from straight arms and do chest presses at 170 pounds), and I can still grow new muscle at a 2000 kcal diet.
Unless of course you are talking actual calories and not kcal, then the 1500 calories are nothing (a banana is about 100,000 calories).
i moderated in the myspace thread, so i cant comment there, and you don't have your email listed, but 5400 songs is what i had after a two years of dialup on napster/audiogalaxy back in my high school days. i think 30 gigs for a "serious" music collection is pretty small given all things considered.
moox. for a new generation.
So your argument boils down to "I worked hard and now there's an easy solution, it should be banned to make me feel superior."? I guess your really hate that using a computer no longer requires programming knowledge as well?
Also, what about the kid who grew up with parents who fed him/her shitty fast food every day and by the time he/she was old enough to realize it was the crappy diet turning him/her into a fatty he/she was already at that point where exercise was a lot harder than it would've been for someone who grew up in a family where mommy and daddy made sure they ate only healthy food, where monday, wednesday, friday and weekends were "hockey practice days" or "soccer practice days", where daddy would stand by the side of the rink screaming at them to perform better? How is the latter not an "unfair" advantage compared in regard to physical fitness?
/Mikael
Greylisting is to SMTP as NAT is to IPv4
of things that may go wrong
Well also consider this. What happens when everyone is either nice and skinny or super ripped? Our human nature is still to be competitive, so there will be plenty of us still striving to be physically better than the guy standing next to you. When does it end?
Your argument about how children are raised is pretty weak. There was always junk food available in my home growing up, and I turned out fine. My brothers on the other hand are morbidly obese. I chose to ask my parents to let me play ice hockey, and they did. Several players from my team came from the forceful parents who only served healthy food types of homes, and they all turned into fat slobs when they left for college. I know dozens of people who were terribly fat as children, and made the conscious choice to change themselves for the better. It's all about personal choice once you become an adult. Blaming your parents for making you fat once you've passed the age of 25 is complete and utter BS.
I suppose I just don't like the idea of fat, lazy people sitting around thinking "Oh I can have another dozen donuts, it's ok, smart scientists will figure out a way to make me skinny." It's like not working because you know you can get welfare from the taxes of the people who do.
Name...That...Autocomplete!
Not sure that would work.
Imagine something like Tour de France (aka. drug users on bicycles)...
"My modified bicycle beats your modified rider any time... Oh, that badge? It's Japanese, it says Hayabusa"
Actually, an article here on slashdot referenced research that challenged the conventional wisdom that lactic acid was a waste product; in fact, it is a source of fuel.
I'm too lazy to go looking for it though. Damn, when ctrl+t google site:slashdot.org lactic acid is too lazy, I'm really fucked. Well I searched for it, but didn't find it. Oh well.
So because you've done something the hard way, others shouldn't be able to do it the easy way when that becomes possible? How about you start using this if/when it becomes available to normal people and stop working harder than you already are to get the same results?
Even people that believe in pre-destiny look both ways before crossing the street.
I always read that you need to eat ~3500 calories to gain a pound of fat. You're saying that most Americans gain 3 pounds of fat every week. One of these two statements must be ridiculous. Is it yours?
I'm probably not explaining my thought process very well. Here's another shot at it...
Have you ever seen the episode of Futurama where Fry starts dating a Lucy Liu robot? They show an educational film titled "Don't Date Robots!" that explains if you could just hook up with a beautiful robot woman all day who didn't care what you looked like, what your personality was like, how smart or successful you were, or what your hygiene habits were like, you wouldn't be motivated to ever do anything else. Hell, if I could be a fat slob and buy myself a pair of Carmen Electra robots who didn't care if I brushed my teeth or not, I'd be one happy guy. When things that used to take effort to achieve are suddenly handed out, people become lazy and sedentary.
I know that's probably very abstract, I hope I'm getting my point across effectively.
Hard work is good, effort is good, trying to succeed and surpass is good. Expecting others to figure out solutions for you to avoid all of this is bad. But that's just my opinion.
Name...That...Autocomplete!
all sports should have "unmodified" classes where enhancements are banned and "supermodified" classes where anything goes. Get caught doping, you (and your records) just get automatically moved into the supermod class.
People would just compete in the "unmodified" class while trying to conceal their drug use; just like they do today. Either because the sponsor payments or the fame are.
You might even end up supporting stealth-drug development by creating events that promote increased investment into performance enhancing drugs. Some of that money will flow into the research on how to avoid detection.
I don't think anything would change. As long as there are any rules, people will try to break them to gain an edge.
Well also consider this. What happens when everyone is either nice and skinny or super ripped? Our human nature is still to be competitive, so there will be plenty of us still striving to be physically better than the guy standing next to you. When does it end?
Another possibility is that when/if it becomes easy for anyone to be healthy and fit it will no longer be a major source of "competition" and people will focus on other factors (although the initial reaction will probably be that some people will take the fitness thing too far in order to outdo everyone else).
Your argument about how children are raised is pretty weak. There was always junk food available in my home growing up, and I turned out fine. My brothers on the other hand are morbidly obese. I chose to ask my parents to let me play ice hockey, and they did. Several players from my team came from the forceful parents who only served healthy food types of homes, and they all turned into fat slobs when they left for college. I know dozens of people who were terribly fat as children, and made the conscious choice to change themselves for the better. It's all about personal choice once you become an adult. Blaming your parents for making you fat once you've passed the age of 25 is complete and utter BS.
No, it's not weak. Research has shown that obese children are a lot more likely to end up as obese adults, and a lot of obese children are obese because of their parents (what five year-old knows enough about nutrition to understand that candy bars are unhealthy if no one tells him/her this?).
And an individual with parents who made him/her stay fit up to age 18 has a "running start" compared to someone who was always "that fat kid", staying fit is a lot easier than becoming fit, so most likely there are lots of fat people out there who are a lot more motivated and try a lot harder to get into shape than you think, especially compared to those who were basically forced to stay super-fit by parents dreaming of their child becoming a world-class athlete.
I suppose I just don't like the idea of fat, lazy people sitting around thinking "Oh I can have another dozen donuts, it's ok, smart scientists will figure out a way to make me skinny." It's like not working because you know you can get welfare from the taxes of the people who do.
The "oh I can just get welfare" attitude is a lot less common than you think, and it's not like most of those with that attitude started out with it, from what I've seen it's something that comes with the 100th or so rejected job application, people just give up and say "fuck it, if no one wants me to work then I'll just sit here and watch TV".
/Mikael
Greylisting is to SMTP as NAT is to IPv4
HULK SMASH!
Really.
Now this is going to be good for people with wasting disorders and the like, but you know it's going to be used badly.
like me when I'm angry. AARRGHH.
Im more interested to know if this will allow for a cure/treatment for muscular dystrophy.
My friends heart started to go over the weekend and he is being fitted with a pacemaker today. Hes 19 years old and suffers from MD.
I would give everything i own for a little bit more.
http://craphound.com/makers/
... but the super strength part I'll leave to the monkeys, thank you very much.
-x- Sorry my bad English. I'll have him tarred and feathered. -x-
You can reduce lactic acid buildup easily by ingesting beta alanine. Beta alanine is a legal supplement that acts to increase the lactic acid buffer called carnosine. I use it all the time and it increases endurance substantially.
There's hundreds of machines, technologies, chemicals and medicines you implicitly rely on every day to save what required backbreaking labor in centuries past. I'm sure no pill is going to be able to completely replace exercise anyway.
This will make developing muscle mass easier, but it won't do the work on it's own.
At best: Drug + WoW = one mighty big mouse arm.
-Matt
The article also stated that Liam had to have a lot of protien, which makes sense if you are building excess muscle mass. Unfortunately your dream of converting Big Macs to bulging biceps is only 1/2 complete unless you can get extra beef rather than special sauce as part of your calorie intake. Empty calories alone probably aren't going to work.
Now then, your Whopper with a Protein Shake rather than that chocolate shake may do the trick.
Beefcake. BeefCake! BEEEEEEF CAKE!
- Sig
It wouldn't work. To lose weight, you need to take in fewer calories than you burn. When you do that, you will feel hungry. It doesn't matter if you're reducing your calorie intake by dieting, or increasing your calorie expenditure by using some new drug that increases your muscles mass. The hardest part of losing weight is having the discipline to not eat when you're hungry.
If it's a true shortcut to physical fitness/buffness, then why the hell not?
It's like saying that people who are immune to flu via vaccinations are "cheating" because they didn't tough out a bout with the flu to become immune.
Or that people who use Excel to do spreadsheets are "cheating" because they're not using graph paper or whatever.
Or that people who drive a car are "cheating" because they didn't walk.
Work SMARTER, not harder.
With the first link, the chain is forged.
Syndrome used technology, but his tech could be easily compared to this therapy.
His classic line delivered to Mr. Incredible seems most appropriate here: "...and when everyone is 'Super'... No-one will be."
It seems that once this is widely available, it won't really matter all that much as everyone will be 'Super'. We'll end up right back where we started, only more muscly.
Actually, what concerns me more is that we have become so good at making nutrient dense food that even if we completely stop producing myostatin we will STILL have Obese people. Just really strong Obese people.
Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
You then oppose farm equipment, calculators, and automobiles also?
If the future consists of popping pills to get great bodies, you're right, people won't appreciate the hard work it used to take to get into that shape. Because it no longer takes hard work to get into that shape.
I drive 18 miles to work every morning. I keep on trying to figure out ways to turn that into exercise, but it's just too far, and even on a bike will take too long. Walking would take me about 7 hours to get to work. Takes me about 20 minutes on a good day to drive there. Welcome to the modern age.
Also, it's not "Too many people in this country". It's HUMANITY. All of humanity want something for the least amount of work and effort to get it.
Democrats or Republicans. They are both taking us to the same place and they are not afraid of us anymore.
It's obvious none of these people saw the movie Troy. I'm thinking of the fight scene that introduces Achilles. Big angry guy vs smaller faster guy doesn't end well for the big angry guy. You can see it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_U1rq7keXTA
Works for me!
I hope mass-production never becomes available to normal people.
Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see it available for people with a legitimate medical need. I would just hate to see just anyone get things.
I'm probably going to get modded flamebait for this one, but here goes...
I work hard to make everything in my house. I practice carpentry and woodworking every day. I choose how I spend my time very carefully, and I don't give in when I'd rather do something else, like work on my physique. I have earned the right to live the way I do.
Far, far too many people in this country just want something for nothing. They want the instant fix without any hard work, and this isn't limited to having nice furniture. The idea that someone could pop down to a store and suddenly have their home look like a their furniture was made by a master craftsman makes me angry. It's like those damn "do it yourself kits" you see everywhere. When the day finally comes that a "do it yourself kit" can actually be assembled into really nice furniture, I'll be furious.
Maybe I'm being too critical, but my opinion boils down to this: If you work hard at something, you deserve to reap the benefits. If you do not work hard at something, you deserve nothing.
Some bring out the best in others, some the worst. Some bring out far more.
Speaking as someone who has dabbled (albeit briefly) in sport cycling, and who climbs a bit, I have to say "no". What you typically want is more efficient muscle: muscle that can do the same amount of work for less mass. You don't get this by taking 'roids. Most cyclists (and mountaineers) are always striving for lighter equipment, going so far as comparing ounce by ounce. So if you could drop a pound (a *huge* amount in cycling or mountaineering) of body weight, whether it be fat or unused/useless muscle, you would do it to stay competitive. There's a reason the stunt double for Stallone in "Cliffhanger" bulked up: it wasn't to be a better climber (he was already world class), it was to look like Stallone. Also, for endurance sports, any weight you can shave off is less weight you (and your skeletal system) have to carry for 25, 50, or 100 miles.
Nathan's blog
In the poorly studied naked hive primate, there is newly discovered taunt syntax pertaining to social dominance. The call "super" refers to illicit advantage in the race to kick the crap out of the nearest naked hive primate one rung below your own, and the call "loser" means "the simpering dupe didn't even call my testosterone fueled check raise".
In other news, the former mode of mock combat know as an "arm wrestle" now typically ends in shoulder dislocations, or worse. Status hierarchy persists unchanged, but taunting escalates as 200 pound weaklings hiding behind their mother's skirts look more pathetic than ever.
Well, you'd also have 40% more muscle weight to propel, so it really depends on how it affects the thrust to weight ratio. Does 40% more muscle translate to >=40% more thrust and/or endurance? Probably not, which means you're getting diminishing returns at best, or possibly even negative returns in the realm of self-propulsion. Weightlifting is an entirely different story, but there you need to worry about torn ligaments and tendons. Does myostatin play any role in regulating the growth of this connective tissue?
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
I guess your really hate that using a computer no longer requires programming knowledge as well?
Totally.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
Just a thought. Could this treatment or similar ones be used to help combat the negative effects of zero-gravity environments on humans.
Would be cool if we could use it to help keep our astronauts healthier or increase the duration of time they can survive in space.
Of coarse there are some other negative effects that would still pose problems for humans on long term missions but maybe some other discoveries are there way to help us with those.
Also why is there only a reply option when posting?
Strength makes it easier to do things. Strength makes things possible that less strength makes impossible, slow, or difficult. Strength make things fun (bicycling up a long, steep hill) that are a burden otherwise. Strength provides a larger margin of safety for any number of activities. People with good musculature (other things being equal) live longer than feeble people.
Health is always fashionable. Large muscles are indicative of health, and only the extremely large muscles of top level body builders are unattractive to a substantial portion of the populace. This is not a faddish thing; people's preference in body types tends to last from many years to a lifetime.
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I have a hard time responding to this because there are so many things wrong with it.
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No friend modern civilization, are you?
Do you not understand the concept of division of labor? A person produces what he's good at and gets paid for it. He takes his earned money and buys the best effort of someone else. Everyone is better off.
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Muscle fatigue is prompted by an accumulation of protons within the muscles
Protons, or H+ ions, are the acid.
Do you work hard to have 10 fingers? Do you work hard to have an able mind? Could it be that you are endowed with an ability to control yourself with food that others aren't? I find it quite hopefull that someday we will not be able to discriminate based on what we think is important. Imagine, dumb people could be smart, short people could grow, skinny people could be bulky, lazy people could be ambitious. The fact is that we should be able to decide our genetic tendancies for ourselves.
Did you actually read the comment I was replying to?
Some bring out the best in others, some the worst. Some bring out far more.