One of the latest scientific discoveries that surprised me is that children with Down's Syndrome have genes that may help us to prevent the growth and spread of cancer.
Someone noticed that people with Down's Syndrome rarely get cancer. They started tracking which gene might be responsible, since Down's is genetic and well understood. They discovered that a gene that allows blood vessels to form is responsible for the inhibition of cancer. In cancer, one of the first things a tumor does after it forms is call to the body to supply it with blood. It sends out a "feed me" signal and the body obliges by sending new blood vessels into the tumor.
People with Down's Syndrome have a gene that surpresses this new blood vessel formation, so their whatever cancers they get tend to starve from lack of sustenance.
Here is an example of something that we thought was not valuable having a surprising benefit. Many people test for genetic abnormalities in children and may choose to abort the fetus if it has a serious genetic defect like Down's Syndrome. Why do some parents find it so compelling to keep these children, even knowing that they will have Down's Syndrome? They may have understood and hoped on some level that there would be benefits to going ahead and having the child. What I'm sure they didn't suspect was that there would be a benefit to humanity in having these children around.
This goes to show that you cannot discount the value of life, even when it seems to be flawed and therefore less valuable than "normal" specimens. You never know the value we'll see in something.
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