Cyber Heroes

Xiang Shan sat back on the chair, feeling that his feet were weak, as if he had just walked around the edge of an abyss.

Neither Yawgmoth nor Nyaguti noticed his mental activity at that moment.

This was the first thing that came to his mind.

If the signaling factors mentioned in Yawgmoth's Plan C can reverse the life cycle of the immune system, then...

Could it reverse the entire human life cycle? Directly achieve rejuvenation?

This idea exploded in his mind like a chain reaction, causing all kinds of questions.

It would be a good thing if the aging of Homo sapiens could be reversed. At this stage, if this technology is developed, it can also save more people and allow more people to meet the standard of "becoming a benchmark person".

However, this also raises new questions. The old people who are now in control will live longer. According to the agreement reached by several major powers on the Security Council, their status will be solid until 2055 - this trend has already taken shape. They can seize everything calmly, and then wait until the Security Council resolution expires, and then get the share that belongs to the benchmark people.

When new technologies break out, will they increase social unrest? Or let those old people live forever?

There are so many things that may be involved in this achievement. A pointer even appeared in Xiangshan's heart, sliding between "researching this technology" and "abandoning this technology."

But no matter which side it is on, it involves the fate of the entire world.

Fortunately, Yawgmoth said that such technology cannot rejuvenate people.

"...How is it possible to rejuvenate one's youth?" Yawgmoth continued to explain: "Ageing does not occur at the cellular level alone. On a more microscopic level, the accumulation of DNA damage, changes in telomere length, and more macroscopic On the other hand, the degeneration of the body's functional structure and functional decline cannot be alleviated by this method."

He waved his hand to Shan. fair enough. No one has to make a choice about this.

Xiang Shan held his head: "If you think about it this way... there seems to be no problem?"

"No, actually there is one." Niaguti picked up the tablet and quickly confirmed something: "The problem lies in the research and development cost. You should have noticed what Yog said about 'past experience'..."

Xiang Shan patted his head: "The 'Xiao Huan Dan' project? But isn't the Xiao Huan Dan project... progressing steadily? Dr. Tao has almost recovered."

"Well, progress is steady, but that's just steady."

The project aims to develop technology to repair nerve damage. In the process of human prosthetics, a large number of changes closely related to the "nervous system" will occur. Each modification has the potential to cause irreversible neurological damage. This project was launched to deal with this.

But progress has been slow.

No, it's not that it's really slow. In academia, it is not uncommon to work on a major project for ten years. But the R\u0026D institution of Superman Enterprise is a place where the best scientists in the world gather together, and the daily routine here is to "make revolutionary results."

This project has existed since the founding period of Superman Enterprise. After Dr. Tao Enhai joined in 2039, the resource allocation has increased, but so far it can only be said to be "progressing steadily."

"Actually, all the compounds currently used in the 'Xiaohuandan' project have only been successful in the peripheral nervous system. The central nervous system, especially the brain, is not progressing very smoothly." Niyaguti shook her head: "And the difficulty of this project will only be higher than the 'Xiao Huan Dan' project."

"Ah?" Xiangshan was shocked: "Is that so? The nervous system is more complex than the immune system, right?"

"The complexity of the nervous system lies in the larger structure of the neural network - you know this better than we do. And it is very pure at the cellular level, with only two categories: glial cells and neurons." Niyaguti shook her head. : "But the immune system... immune organs include bone marrow, thymus, lymph nodes, spleen, tonsils, etc. And immune cells throughout the body include lymphocytes, mononuclear phagocytes, neutrophils, basophils, Eosinophils, mast cells, NK cells...it is very diverse at the cellular level. The immune system can be said to be a 'liquid brain' distributed throughout the body, communicating information purely through chemical signals."

"In addition, changing the cell life cycle will inevitably touch some proto-oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes - this is also a topic that the Xiaohuandan project is still solving today."

"Proto-oncogenes" are a type of "underlying code" genes that are extremely ancient and conserved in evolution and may even be traced back to single-cell organisms. They have very critical functions such as promoting cell growth and activating the cell cycle.

Proto-oncogenes that mutate out of control are the "power source" of cancer, but under normal circumstances, they are the key to controlling cell growth and development. Without the initiation of expression of proto-oncogenes, cells will not grow or divide.

Reversing the cell life cycle will inevitably touch some proto-oncogenes.

——As for cancer...

"Grass, you are waiting for me here." Xiang Shan covered his head: "Neurons hardly divide after they mature. Tumors in the nervous system basically originate from various glial cells. But the immune system itself is very Can split..."

The immune system proliferates vigorously, proving that its own proto-oncogenes are quite active. Once the proto-oncogene mutates, it will enter a trend of rapid development of cancer.

It is not uncommon for immune cells to become cancerous themselves. And once immune cells become cancerous... whether it is leukemia where white blood cells become cancerous or lymphoma where T cells become cancerous, there is basically no possibility of it being benign.

Xiang Shan patted his head: "Ah... I see, that's it. Plan A and Plan B are both very mature technologies, and Plan D has nothing revolutionary. But this Plan C..."

"If Yog wants to cite 'past experience,' then the 'Xiaohuandan Project' also raises another issue, which is redifferentiation after dedifferentiation." Nia Guti said: "The existence of the Xiaohuandan Project is good. Several eliminated drugs. If the concentration of these drugs is too high, it may even directly reverse neurons into neural stem cells. And if these neural stem cells are redifferentiated, most of them will directly differentiate into glial cells instead of neurons."

"Calling a 'state at a specific point in time' is more difficult than simply 'reversing the life cycle'. The difference here is like 'clicking the replay button' and 'drag the progress bar to find the specific clip you want. '."

"In the Xiaohuandan project, this problem is already so difficult. You have to apply it to a more complex immune system at the cellular level..." Niaguti shook her head.

But Yawgmoth was confident: "I can solve this problem."

Xiangshan already understood why Yawgmoth had such a good attitude today.

"How much do you plan to spend?"

It's the beginning of the month, please give me a ticket.