from Hacker News

Peter Thiel Is Very, Very Interested in Young People's Blood

by jerryhuang100 on 8/1/16, 4:16 PM with 18 comments

  • by red_blobs on 8/1/16, 4:46 PM

    The title seems very derogatory and the article seems like a hit-piece, when they mention that he's a Trump supporter.

    How about also mention that the Google founders are investing just as much money in an anti-aging cure:

    http://www.digitaljournal.com/life/health/google-founders-in...

  • by bertiewhykovich on 8/1/16, 5:43 PM

    My girlfriend spent a couple of years in a lab that studies blood factors in aging -- parabiosis was an important aspect of their methodology.

    A couple of notes:

    1) Parabiosis does not refer to infusions of young blood. Parabiosis specifically refers to the surgical joining of two organisms. This technique is employed in young blood experimentation because the amount of blood that must be exchanged to achieve substantial results would be impractical via transfusion.

    2) Young blood research, having established that blood factors in aging do, in fact, exist, currently focuses largely upon isolating and reproducing those factors. While the desperate may pursue actual young blood transfusions -- which, recall, are incapable of providing enough blood to achieve a material result, and are fraught with other risks -- the product that is eventually brought to market will, presumably, be synthesized in a chemical plant.

  • by Aelinsaar on 8/1/16, 4:33 PM

    Mr. Thiel must have read about the "sewn mice together" study. I think it's nice that primitive and atavistic fears about vampiric aristocrats may actually end up having some small basis in reality.

  • by jgill on 8/1/16, 7:28 PM

    There's a vampire association in here somewhere...

  • by antiquark on 8/2/16, 12:44 AM

    Finally there's a way for the millennials to pay off their student loans.

  • by amai on 8/2/16, 1:48 PM

  • by saranormous on 8/1/16, 9:47 PM

    this area is "strangely underexplored" because it could encourage the exploitation of desperate young people. to be fair, this market already exists (donors already earn money for plasma donations), it's just about whether or not a new use case dramatically grows the market