Win a prize...

AndySir · Post by **AndySir** » Thu May 22, 2014 10:50 am

I certainly haven't seen any shortage of funding - big Pharma is big, but not the entirety of biomedical research funding. I'm not even sure it's true they're refusing to put money into research, it would seem to open the door for a myriad of profitable narrowly targeted antibiotics. Where did you get that from?

A little unnerved, but not surprised, by the hostility to technological solutions on this board. Sounds like you fear a complete reliance on innovation to solve these problems, but I worry you're letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. There are useful advances we can make here which will help, and lamenting that they won't solve the ultimate problem seems as foolish as complaining that a solution to the longitude problem wouldn't stop shipwrecks.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » Thu May 22, 2014 11:21 am

Andy, you're right: the bigger problems are the enemy of the smaller. If we don't tackle climate change, then tickling a few relative outliers won't really help, will they?

cubes · Post by **cubes** » Thu May 22, 2014 3:42 pm

It's not technological solutions I'm against, it's the questions they are suggesting just don't seem either important enough or defined enough.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » Thu May 22, 2014 9:58 pm

Just been watching the Horizon programme. Desalination gets my vote.

Post by **clv101** » Thu May 22, 2014 10:07 pm

biffvernon wrote:Just been watching the Horizon programme. Desalination gets my vote.

Yes - that seems to promise the greatest positive impact.

emordnilap · Post by **emordnilap** » Fri May 23, 2014 9:32 am

clv101 wrote:
biffvernon wrote:Just been watching the Horizon programme. Desalination gets my vote.
Yes - that seems to promise the greatest positive impact.

Ah yes but would that help re-open the Cargill meat processing factory in Texas, discussed on Years of Living Dangerously?

I hope not.

extractorfan · Post by **extractorfan** » Thu Jun 26, 2014 9:13 am

So finding a "solution" to the antibiotic resistant bacteria gets the vote.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28027376

Antibiotic resistance seemed to be natures solution to another problem to me.

I agree about a method of cheap desalination being a more noble and possibly achievable mission...