Welcome to reality South Africa. From CNN: South Africa has an estimated 5.5 million people living with the HIV virus — the highest total of any country in the world and more than one-sixth of the global total. About 1,000 South Africans die each day of the disease and complications like tuberculosis. Even more become [...]

The nation has been clamoring for a solution on this and Bush finally decided to address it in this hour of need when healthcare workers are being inhumanely forced to give their patients information about birth control and artificial insemination. The horror! But it doesn’t just stop there…as the LA Times reveals: It also seeks [...]

And as with many potential cures, it appears to have been discovered by chance. From WSJ: The startling case of an AIDS patient who underwent a bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia is stirring new hope that gene-therapy strategies on the far edges of AIDS research might someday cure the disease. The patient, a 42-year-old [...]

If you have a little time today, check this out… I am a graduate student conducting research through the Department of Communication at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, CA. This research is being conducted with Dr. Ken Day at the University. This survey is intended to collect data for research to determine what [...]

The experts agree. Obama’s approach to rumor after rumor after rumor is working because it’s the right way to combat them. Because instead of not dignifying the rumor with a response, the Obama campaign has talked openly about them and presented the truth as a viable alternative. Too bad it still isn’t working in some [...]

Editor’s Note: Justin here. I’m very excited to welcome Dan Hill to Donklephant, author of Face Time, a book about the political candidates and how their emotions play a vital role in the campaign. He’ll be penning some editorials about the “facial coding” that went on with each candidate after every debate. Here’s part of [...]

Now “Show me where I have ever said that there’s absolute proof that nothing that man has ever conducted or engaged in has had any effect or no effect on climate change. I have not said that.” Interview with ABC News, 9/11/08 Then “I’m not an Al Gore, doom-and-gloom environmentalist, blaming the changes in our [...]

Up until now, storing solar energy has been extremely expensive, but the code may have just broken, and by mimicking nature no less. From MIT: Requiring nothing but abundant, non-toxic natural materials, this discovery could unlock the most potent, carbon-free energy source of all: the sun. “This is the nirvana of what we’ve been talking [...]

Some exciting news about making it much harder for HIV to grab ahold of your immune system. From Wired: Viruses enter cells and take them over, but to get inside, they need a handhold. HIV pulls itself in by grabbing onto a protein called CCR5, which decorates the surface of T-cells, which are one of [...]

After reading this short interview in the NY Times Magazine, I liking this guy’s approach… Is it fair to describe you as socially progressive? I think it is fair to describe me as a common-sense Republican. Which implies that some Republicans lack common sense. That’s possible. You have supported stem-cell research, unlike most Republicans. I [...]

That’s what NASA is saying, and where there’s water there could be life…however microscopic it may be: Whitish, dice-sized chunks, which were dug from the rocky red soil and warmed in the sun, vanished four days after the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Phoenix probe dug them up June 15. They confirm what NASA satellites [...]

Wow. I really never thought I’d see the day. But how does this square with the Bible? From the AP: VATICAN CITY – Believing that the universe may contain alien life does not contradict a faith in God, the Vatican’s chief astronomer said in an interview published Tuesday. The Rev. Jose Gabriel Funes, the Jesuit [...]

To be fair, I haven’t read My Beautiful Mommy, but still…that title is pretty bad. If this is just a book about the idea that “mommy” is going to have some work done and how to explain it to a kid, that’s one thing. But if it’s more of a story about “transformation” from normal [...]

From Fox News: A recent study found that an ancient elephant ancestor called Moeritherium spent most of its time in rivers and swamps. Scientists knew that elephants are related to modern aquatic creatures such as manatees, but they had never identified an ancient elephant relative that lived in water. No wonder they’re wrinkly.

For every time the word “irony” is used correctly, there are approximately three hundred incorrect uses. (No, it is not “ironic” that it rained on the day you had planned a picnic.) The following, on the other hand, is ironic. Read it and giggle nervously: A new form of cloning has been developed that is [...]

Very interesting development that could help address the big bio-fuel scam we’re currently being sold. From CNN: ANTHONY, Texas (CNN) — Texas may be best known for “Big Oil.” But the oil that could some day make a dent in the country’s use of fossil fuels is small. Microscopic, in fact: algae. Literally and figuratively, [...]

Looks like they’re offering $4M in grants to therapies like yoga, Reiki, Qi gong, spiritual ministry and transcendental meditation. Groovy… From Wired: As many as 17 percent of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have some form of post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, one congressional study estimates. Nearly 3,300 troops have suffered traumatic brain injury, or TBI, [...]

Background here.

Amazing… Here’s more background… The information reveals a trove of interesting population patterns. By looking at the neighborhoods where the data came from, researchers determined that New Yorkers who engage in global gab tend to be on the high end of the socio-economic scale or struggling to make ends meet. Translation: international business and professional [...]

Found over at Sully’s place: One might even wonder if a McCain presidency, combined with a Democratic Congress, offers the best chance for a bipartisan-yet-still-decent emissions-reduction bill to get enacted and stay enacted. (Think Schwarzenegger and health care in California.) I’m skeptical, but it’s not an outlandish argument. I think we’re all very well aware [...]