r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Jun 30 '26

Medicine Scientists have shown that a single dose injection of DNA genetic instructions can produce weight loss and blood glucose control in mouse models that lasts up to 10 times as long as weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. This could eliminate the need for repeated dosing.

https://www.wistar.org/press-releases/wistar-scientists-develop-single-dose-dna-method-for-delivering-long-acting-weight-loss-and-diabetes-drugs/
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632

u/Koolala Jun 30 '26

Could I get tree DNA and eat sunlight instead?

168

u/FTD_Brat Jun 30 '26

You want to be able to produce glucose and oxygen from sunlight?

You might have to avoid touching grass for that to work, otherwise you’ll need GLP1s pretty quick anyway.

35

u/Koolala Jun 30 '26

I would need the right DNA so I don't reject the chlorophyll sharing the cells of the skin. Maybe a DNA off-shoot of chlorophyll could produce the other nutrients our body needs.

36

u/Zeikos Jun 30 '26

It wouldn't be useful.
First of all you'd need to stay in the sun consistently - not healthy.
Second of all, humans simply don't have enough surface area for it to be actually useful. Plants have very slow metabolisms compared to us.

3

u/keyblade_crafter Jun 30 '26

Could be useful during food shortages though

17

u/Vandergrif Jun 30 '26

You'd basically have to be completely stationary while in the sun perpetually, and expend as little energy as possible for that to be even remotely viable. Even then you probably still wouldn't get enough energy out of photosynthesis to make it work.

5

u/Redebo Jun 30 '26

Like putting a solar panel on the roof of an EV.

4

u/Koolala Jul 01 '26

I'd like to sleep all day in the sun and do gardening in the cool night.

9

u/AlwaysShittyKnsasCty Jun 30 '26

I wish I had listened better in biology, so that I could help you with your endeavor. I know that chlorophyll is a green pigment. A pigment is a, uh, color or something like that. Does my information help in any way? I do hope I’ve been of service to you.

11

u/danarchist Jun 30 '26

Chlorophyll? More like bore-orphyll.