The market goes up. The market goes down. The market goes back up again. Joy to fear and back to joy again.
Does it really mean anything?
I don’t know.
But what I do know is that in reality the ups and downs and sideways moves aren’t much more than noise, which only distracts you from the real purpose of investing – buying into businesses that could deliver you long and lasting wealth.
Take the biotech sector…
In understanding how technology works you need to ask a lot of questions. You need information – and lots of it – to form an opinion.
I work on this all the time. I always look for new information about technology. It could be information about how something works or why something exists. It might even be information about me…it’s all important. It’s partly because of my role finding the best developing technology stocks for Revolutionary Tech Investor readers, but if I’m honest it’s also down to my passion for the ever-growing possibilities.
As you may know, I had my DNA analysed by 23andMe some time ago. Since then the firm has come under fire from the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA), but that’s another issue. The fact is I got genetic information about myself. And importantly, it’s useful information.
Armed with this info, I can make smarter health decisions. I also use FitBit Aria body scales to track my weight, BMI and body fat percentage. Add to this a range of apps such as MyFitnessPal and Headspace. They are all designed to help me make smarter life decisions.
I do this because I want to be happy and healthy, so I use information about my genetics to help make decisions about my life.
Of course the other reason I do this is because I want to understand ‘why?’ By that I mean why is my biology the way it is? What can I do to do make things better, to live better? It’s an inbuilt curiosity about how I can use technology to combine it with my health and have a better life.
And this curiosity leads me to ask a lot of questions. A lot of the time these questions start with a few key phrases.
‘Why is that so?’ ‘What if…x…was possible?’ and, ‘Is there a better way?’
The world needs curiosity to drive technology, innovation and invention.
Think of it like this: if no one asked ‘Why can’t I pick up a device and speak to someone on the other end?’ we’d never have had the telephone. If someone hadn’t said, ‘Hang on, what if this telephone had no wires and I could take it with me anywhere?’ we’d never have had the mobile phone. And if someone hadn’t said ‘Why can’t we put a computer in these mobile phones?’ we’d never have had the smartphone.
I’m not the only person that takes this kind of approach to research and investigation. If it wasn’t for people asking ‘why’ and ‘what if’ we’d never investigate, never challenge anything. We’d simply exist.
Researchers and scientists also have similar curious mindsets. It’s an essential tool to solve some of the world’s big problems.
And as scientists question the norm they ultimately come across some amazing solutions to problems. In challenging the norm, not accepting something for the way it is, humanity advances through innovation and technology.
And one of the biggest challenges scientists have had for decades is the human body. What makes us, us? What makes my body the way it is? How does it work? What makes the brain work? What factors make you different from me, and us both unique from the other seven billion people on earth? But also, what makes us the same?
These kinds of questions are significantly more difficult to answer than pure computer based technology questions. This is due to the level of complexity biology and Mother Nature affords us.
Where a computer is a logical beast, made from hardware and run with software, the human body is a far more unreasonable structure. It’s the most complex machine on Earth – and, for all we know, in the universe.
And with that kind of unknown existing in front of us every day, of course it’s natural for scientists to want to explore ‘inner space’. This leads to research, and discoveries that are world changing.
Often this groundbreaking research leads to highly profitable companies. It presents a huge opportunity for investors. In fact, inner space could prove to be far more lucrative than outer space over the coming years.
Hopefully by now you know about the Human Genome Project. I’ve said previously this could be the biggest discovery/project that mankind has ever completed.
And the next biggest discovery/project will be the work from the Human Brain Project and the BRAIN project. Both are simultaneously trying to figure out how the brain works and to build a similar roadmap as to how all the neurons and connections fit together.
These brain initiatives are still some way away. If we thought the genome was difficult, the brain will be next to impossible. But that’s a discussion for another time.
But what is worth noting quickly is that scientists have just recently been able to simulate one second of brain activity. Amazingly, it took the world’s fourth fastest supercomputer 40 minutes to simulate that one second…but it’s a start.
Anyway, while devoted scientists work away on the brain projects, science hasn’t yet finished with the human genome.
Because once scientists had cracked the genome code, it sparked an enormous industry in life sciences using this knowledge to improve people’s lives.
Right now there are hundreds of companies and universities around the world devoted to figuring out how to use genetic science to cure diseases and make people healthier and help them live longer.
But in order to do that they need information about people’s DNA. And they need lots of it.
That’s where Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc. [NASDAQ: REGN] enters the picture. REGN are starting the biggest genetic study in the US over the next five years. In partnership with Geisinger Health System, combined they will analyse over 100,000 people’s DNA. Geisinger’s press release said,
‘Genetic research holds great promise to increase understanding of the causes of diseases, disorders, and medical conditions – including conditions that today have limited or no treatments available. By comparing genetic information against medical histories, Geisinger and Regeneron hope to eventually develop new means of diagnosing, preventing, and/or treating medical conditions – before they cause significant harm.‘
Now of course this isn’t the first mass DNA study that’s been done. But it’s certainly one of the biggest.
The hope is that the genetic information will be publicly available. Kind of like an open source project.
That means other scientists can use the results to assist in other genetic programs and therapies. Because Regeneron isn’t the only company involved in genetics or molecular biotechnology.
Companies right here in Australia are doing some fantastic things to help with disease prevention and cure. Some of them are even involved in ‘regeneration’, meaning the rebuilding of damaged body parts, such as heart tissue after a heart attack.
The takeaway from all this is that with information like this available in the field of genetics we’re that little step closer to finding potential cures for disease and illness of almost every kind.
So the next time someone tries to tell you how terrible things are now, stop them in their tracks and tell them, ‘No, actually things are pretty good. In fact, at the current and future rate of technological progress, they’ve never looked better.’
Regards,
Sam Volkering+
Technology Analyst
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