Chapter 857 - Conquering a Medical Challenge
ASL, also known as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, was the scientific name for a “degenerative disease.” After suffering from this disease, there were hopes of early treatment, but once in the later stages, the probability of recovering from clinical treatment was almost zero. In Hawking’s situation, what modern medicine could do was only control the patient’s condition.
However, with 22nd-century technology, there was no difficulty in treating this condition.
In the apocalypse, medical technology was quite developed on the timeline. Before the war, almost 90% of the incurable diseases could be treated. ASL was one of the conditions no longer incurable.
The easiest way to treat ASL would be to use the smart medical chamber Jiang Chen brought back to cure Ayesha. No matter how severe the muscle tissue experiences necrosis, atrophy, or other symptoms, with enough time and nutrient fluid, it could be effectively treated. As for accumulated neurotoxic substances and glutamic acid that accumulates between nerve cells, it could be cured by an injection of a special drug.
With medical experts in the apocalypse, it would not be a difficult task to prepare these drugs.
With complicated emotions, the British Prime Minister left Xin and ended her three-day diplomatic visit.
Before receiving treatment, Hawking asked Jiang Chen a very interesting question.
“Before I receive treatment, can I take the liberty to ask a question?”
“If you plan to ask me if the operation will be painful, my answer is no,” Jiang Chen replied comically.
“It has nothing to do with me. What I want to ask is about the homework you assigned to the students two weeks ago.”
“Oh? The master of cosmology is also interested?” Jiang Chen looked at the old man in surprise.
“I’m just curious. Have you guys discovered something?”
The cloudy eyes seemed to possess a penetrating insight into the universe and pierced directly into Jiang Chen’s soul.
“Why do you think so?” Jiang Chen smiled.
“Because the number of rockets you have launched in the past few years is equal to the sum of NASA’s launches over the past decade or so.” Hawking hit the keyboard with his trembling fingers. “With such frequent space activities, you definitely can discover something.”
“Has NASA discovered anything in the past few decades?” Jiang Chen asked in turn.
Hawking was silent for a moment. Then he began tapping his fingers on the keyboard.
“They have never answered this question directly, but I’m sure they have discovered something. You can pay attention to Area 51, which is not just a federal military base.”
For details of Area 51, Hawking did not elaborate. Obviously, as a scholar, he wouldn’t know too much intelligence.
At the end of the meeting, Jiang Chen abruptly asked.
“If there is an extraterrestrial civilization and they also know that we are here, do you think they will be hostile?”
Hawking replied with his keyboard.
“If you watched my lecture, then you should know very clearly. I never doubted this point.”
Jiang Chen smiled and extended his hand.
“It’s a privilege that we share the same opinion.”
“…I’m sorry, I can’t shake your hand now.”
It was mid-October. Inside Coro Hospital, a subsidiary of Future Biology, and accompanied by his three children from Britain, Hawking entered the operating room and was placed in a medical cabin with the help of a team of medical staff.
Considering that all his body muscles have shrunk to a very serious degree, the repair time may be extensive. The news of Future Biology conquering the challenging ALS received wide attention from the international community.
Any incurable disease that could be cured was incalculable progress in the medical research field.
Even if the occurrence of ALS was not high, international medical organizations still displayed strong interests.
However, similar to previous occasions, Future Biology did not disclose how to treat this terminal illness, but generalized the treatment process to the two steps of “muscle tissue repair and neuron repair”. The international medical community had no solution to Future Biology’s “stinginess.” After all, Future Group was a company rather than a scholar institution. Even if it discovered something, it wouldn’t publish a journal on the SCI.
In fact, this time it wasn’t Jiang Chen’s ignorance, but he really could not explain it clearly.
The nutrient fluid used in the smart medical chamber could accelerate the repair of necrotic cells under special electromagnetic effect. If the medical experts in the apocalypse explained it, they could potentially offer a good explanation. However, for Jiang Chen, a clear outsider of the field; he could only use this general explanation.
Anyway, the treatment process was foolproof. Two nurses put the patient inside and then remember to change the nutrient fluid regularly. The process was almost like a washing machine.
…
Shortly after the news of Hawking’s new nationality proliferated, countries also made subtle adjustments in their policies regarding the Moon.
The first was the UA. As the first and only country to send humans to the Moon, Celestial Trade was ahead of them in establishing a colony which clearly triggered the nation.
After many rounds of discussions, NASA finally persuaded Congress to give them a ten billion dollar budget. The Capital announced the restart of the Apollo Program, and the NASA would work with SpaceX to re-explore the moon. Many tech companies, including Google, would also participate in the project and share the 10 billion USD national budget.
The European Space Agency did not lag behind and announced that it would hold a meeting in Darmstadt, Germany to discuss the establishment of a moon landing plan as soon as possible. However, no agreement was reached among countries on who should pay. Although ESA and the European were not linked, the UK after Brexit showed little interest in the initiative. After wealthy Britain left, relying solely on the finances of France and Germany was difficult to squeeze ten billion Euros into the aerospace project.
The Director of ESA called for private companies to invest in the project. However, given the uncertain commercial outlook, the investors’ interest was still unclear.
Then followed by Hua, the success of the ChangE Series rockets also gave confidence in moon landings. Shortly after ESA convened a meeting, the mysterious authorities (1) announced a new aerospace white paper and incorporated the manned Moon landing plan into the national space strategy. It was expected that the first manned Moon landing craft would be launched in 2030.
On the Russian side, due to the lack of funding, they didn’t make any changes to their program. However, Kremlin said that if conditions permit, it would change the existing space program and incorporate moon landing into the Russian space activities.
Jiang Chen did not feel threatened by the aggregated countries.
Even with the technology of Celestial Trade, he also spent a lot of money in space before he arrived at this stage. Perhaps the UA was the most hopeful second country to achieve moon colonization. But by that day, colonies and mines of Celestial Trade would already be all over the moon.
Even if they wanted to colonize, would they still have a place to settle?
(1) Mysterious Authorities – A satirical noun. There are many authorities that have jurisdictions over unexpected areas. It is almost impossible to see a clear governance structure in China.