• Question: If you could discover anything in the whole world, what would you discover?

    Asked by anon-220356 on 10 Jun 2019.
    • Photo: Nina Rzechorzek

      Nina Rzechorzek answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      Figure out how brain cell clocks work so that I reprogram my chronotype (whenever I want, and whenever it suits me), without damaging my brain. This should allow us to sleep at times that are most convenient for us, and also help us to treat many brain disorders. In a nutshell – how to control biological time!

    • Photo: Kate Timms

      Kate Timms answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      I would love to discover a new treatment for preeclamsia and fetal growth restriction. Both of these are diseases in pregnancy which make the mum very sick (preeclampsia) and puts the babies life and health at risk (preeclampsia and fetal growth restriction).

      The mums often go on to develop heart disease and the babies also have a much higher risk of developing heart disease and diabetes much younger than people normally do.

      If we could find a treatment for these diseases, we would be able to help prevent thousands and thousands of people of developing things like heart disease and diabetes later in life. That would be a pretty amazing thing to do!

    • Photo: David Wilson

      David Wilson answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      Your liver has a truly remarkable ability to repair and regenerate itself. It’s the only visceral organ that can do this! If you had 75% of your Liver removed it would still grow back to it’s original size. If we could work out exactly why your liver can do this but other organs like your Brain, Lungs or Heart cant then that would be an amazing discovery!

    • Photo: Kaitlin Wade

      Kaitlin Wade answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      If I could discover something on this world, I think it would have to be something that gave us a clue about whether there was life on other worlds. That would be fascinating. It’s got nothing to do with my job or research but I would be fascinated to see something that lead us to understand whether there was intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.

    • Photo: Matthew Bareford

      Matthew Bareford answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      If I could discover anything in the whole world, then I think would discover a cure for Alzheimers disease and dementia. Cancer would also be a big one, but there are procedures and treatments to help with cancer already whereas for dementia and Alzheimers disease there is currently no cure for them at all!

    • Photo: Thiloka Ratnaike

      Thiloka Ratnaike answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      Although my research field is not to do with mental health, a lot of patients we see who are affected by rare or chronic conditions, do struggle with mental health problems. I would love to discover a truly all-encompassing treatment for mental health disorders. I would love to research the effects of mindfulness on brain biochemistry and demonstrate how exercising compassion changes the levels of neurotransmitters in the brain that can cause stress/depression/anxiety. Imagine discovering a method of meditation that could be practiced by everyone which could improve the lives and mental wellbeing of everyone!

    • Photo: Marianne King

      Marianne King answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      I agree with Matthew – I would want to find a cure for Alzheimer’s disease and other diseases with dementia. These diseases affect so many people and there aren’t any treatments or cures available. They devastate families and I would love to be able to help. As I don’t research Alzheimer’s directly I try to fundraise for charities that support research into dementia.

    • Photo: Rebecca Moon

      Rebecca Moon answered on 10 Jun 2019:

      Oh wow, so many options to choose from: a time machine, a teleporter, tasty foods that don’t make you fat. All off those would be pretty cool, but don’t think I’m likely to find the answers to any of those sadly.

      I have to take lots of blood as a doctor, and working with children, they aren’t always a fan of me doing that, so maybe a device to obtain blood samples in a completely painfree way, or another way of measuring the chemical composition of the body and blood without taking the blood out of the patient (like scanning through the skin of something). I think that would revolutionise the way we practice medicine.

    • Photo: Shobhana Nagraj

      Shobhana Nagraj answered on 11 Jun 2019:

      Great question! I would discover a way to apparate from one place to another (like in Harry Potter), so we wouldn’t have to use so much fuel for air travel and car journeys – this would help with climate change, save time, and money on travel!

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