[Hayvok]

> [Gila monster] venom helped to turn an obscure hormone into potent diabetes medications, and then into the most promising weight-loss treatments in history. We’re still discovering how much they’ll change our lives.

How many times have I heard someone complain about the weird things we spend our research dollars on?

You just never know what discovery or insight is out there, so we have to go look everywhere. Remember this the next time we’re voting to cut research dollars on some gross bug in a jungle you’ve never heard of.

[tw04]

I always wonder when I see things like this: how many cures are gone forever because the animal that could have shown us the path is now extinct?

It saddens me the number of folks on this planet that completely disregard animals and plants that they don’t get immediate enjoyment or sustenance from.

[xnx]

This is what upsets me so much about climate change. Humans aren't facing an existential crises, but millions of species of plant and animal are. Once gone, we'll never know what clever evolutionary secrets they contained.

[hackernewds]

Think of everything that has already been lost. Up to 90% of species in North America is already gone.

[fnordpiglet]

Humans aren’t facing an existential crisis *yet

[jdjdjdkdksmdnd]

exactly. nobody knows what some completely neglected or overlooked line of research will result in. this is why we should ban all research. its very possible that a seemingly innocuous research could result in AGI that will make humans obsolete and enable perpetual dictatorships and other nightmares. or result in a bomb that is very cheap and simple to make that unleashes enough energy to destroy the world in one shot, thus dooming us all. almost all of the worlds problems could be solved without new research. world hunger and war is not a technology problem. so doesnt it make the most sense to stop researching?

[phendrenad2]

Best way to get a quick cheap laugh is to accuse the pharmaceutical industry of only being interested in "bonor pills for old men". Probably doesn't work as well post-COVID but you can work that into the joke!