Tag Archives: science

Orion Launches Successfully

Via the Guardian: Friday’s launch went smoothly, and cameras mounted on the rocket beamed back stunning pictures of the Earth as Orion blasted into the sky. The mission could have huge implications, despite its brief four-and-a-half-hour duration. Orion will fly farther than any spacecraft made for astronauts has in decades, about 3,600 miles (5,800km) above the Earth’s surface, and is …

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Study: HIV Is Weakening Over Time

Via Reuters: Rapid evolution of HIV, the human immunodeficiency virus, is slowing its ability to cause AIDS, according to a study of more than 2,000 women in Africa. Scientists said the research suggests a less virulent HIV could be one of several factors contributing to a turning of the deadly pandemic, eventually leading to the end of AIDS. “Overall we …

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Viral Video Of The Day

Via Raw Story: In the video embedded below, fundamentalist Christian home-school mom and conservative cultural critic Megan Fox — no relation to “Transformers” actress Megyn Fox — visits the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and purports to “audit” the museum for its “liberal bias.” In the description of the 30 minute video she uploaded to YouTube to document …

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The View On Comet 67P

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NYC: Now With Fewer Rats

A new study debunks the eternal urban legend that there is one rat for every person living in New York City. Jonathan Auerbach, a 26-year-old statistician studying for a doctorate at Columbia University, recently won a competition sponsored by the 180-year-old Royal Statistical Society of London. Mr. Auerbach claimed the prize with a paper in which he made the case …

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Injectable PrEP Study Advances

Via AIDSMap: Researchers have determined the dose of an injectable formulation of the integrase inhibitor cabotegravir (formerly GSK744) that will be taken into efficacy trials to see if it can be used for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). Studies in animals were presented earlier this year suggesting that drug levels stayed high enough in the body for it to be injected quarterly, …

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Jupiter Is Watching You

The pupil is actually the shadow of Ganymede, one of Jupiter’s 67 “confirmed” moons and the largest moon in the solar system. “Larger than Mercury and Pluto, and only slightly smaller than Mars, Ganymede would easily be classified as a planet if it were orbiting the sun rather than Jupiter.” Ganymede whips around the massive Jupiter every seven days. Details.

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CDC Issues New Ebola Quarantine Rules

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Obama Addresses Nation On Ebola

Via the Associated Press: President Barack Obama says the U.S. must be guided by science – not fear – as it responds to Ebola. In his weekly radio and Internet address, Obama says he was proud to give Texas nurse Nina Pham a hug in the Oval Office after she was cured of Ebola. He says the other nurse who …

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Christian Movie The Principle Claims Universe Revolves Around The Earth

Via the Christian site CBN News: A new documentary, “The Principle,” is so controversial that scientists and even people featured in the movie are condemning it before they’ve had a chance to see it. The film chops away at some of the most sacred cows of modern science: that Earth is nothing special and sprang into being by accident. It …

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Obama Names Ebola Czar

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Scientists To Test Lab-Grown Penises

Via the Guardian: Penises grown in laboratories could soon be tested on men by scientists developing technology to help people with congenital abnormalities, or who have undergone surgery for aggressive cancer or suffered traumatic injury. Researchers at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, are assessing engineered penises for safety, function and durability. They hope to …

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Origins Of HIV Traced To 1920s Congo

Researchers have long believed that HIV first jumped from apes to humans nearly a century ago in central Africa. Today comes a more conclusive report. Bustling transport networks, migrant labor and changes to the sex trade in early 20th-century Congo created a “perfect storm” that gave rise to an HIV pandemic that has now infected 75 million people worldwide, researchers …

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NYC Takes PrEP Campaign To Grindr

The New York City Department of Health has launched a PrEP campaign on Grindr, Scruff, and social media sites. And of course, the ever combative AIDS Healthcare Foundation is furious. A stigma persists that Truvada is a “party pill” — an attitude shared by some doctors who scold patients about their sexual practices and won’t prescribe it, said Anthony Hayes, …

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CDC Announces First US Case Of Ebola

Details.

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Anxiety Meds Linked To Alzheimer’s

According to a study issued this week, long-term use of anti-anxiety and insomnia drugs may dramatically increase the odds of developing Alzheimer’s. Regular use of benzodiazepines — which include medications such as Valium (diazepam), Ativan (lorazepam), Xanax (alprazolam) and Klonopin (clonazepam) — is associated with as much as a 51 percent increased risk for Alzheimer’s among people who use the …

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Atoms Are Held Together By Jesus

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ASAP Science: Your Brain On Coffee

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New Strategy On Blocking HIV

From the National Institutes Of Health: A laboratory study led by scientists from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), lends further weight to the potential effectiveness of passive immunotherapy to suppress HIV in the absence of drug treatment. Passive immunotherapy for HIV is an experimental strategy that involves periodically administering …

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13 Year-Old Girl Identifies Fungus That Has “Sickened AIDS Patients For Decades”

From the website of Duke University: Researchers have pinpointed the environmental source of fungal infections that have been sickening HIV/AIDS patients in Southern California for decades. It literally grows on trees. The discovery is based on the science project of a 13-year-old girl, who spent the summer gathering soil and tree samples from areas around Los Angeles hardest hit by …

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