Slashdot Mirror
Prehistoric Gene Reawakened To Battle HIV
Linuss points out research published in PLoS Biology that demonstrates the reawakening of latent human cells' ability to manufacture an HIV defense. A group of scientists led by Nitya Venkataraman began with the knowledge that Old World monkeys have a built-in immunity to HIV: a protein that can prevent HIV from entering cell walls and starting an infection. They examined the human genome for any evidence of a latent gene that could manufacture such a protein, and found the capability in a stretch of what has been dismissively termed "junk DNA." "In this work, we reveal that, upon correction of the premature termination codon in theta-defensin pseudogenes, human myeloid cells produce cyclic, antiviral peptides (which we have termed 'retrocyclins'), indicating that the cells retain the intact machinery to make cyclic peptides. Furthermore, we exploited the ability of aminoglycoside antibiotics to read-through the premature termination codon within retrocyclin transcripts to produce functional peptides that are active against HIV-1. Given that the endogenous production of retrocyclins could also be restored in human cervicovaginal tissues, we propose that aminoglycoside-based topical microbicides might be useful in preventing sexual transmission of HIV-1."
Praise Raptor Jesus!
"Why did they cancel my favorite Sci-Fi show? I downloaded ALL the episodes!"
AIDS is pwned. Good for us and our "junk" DNA. One man's junk is another man's treasure!
I don't know what's scarier: the fact that a story with this sort of language made it to the front page or the fact that I understood it completely.
right...
Maybe I just haven't been keeping up with the news on HIV research, but this would seem to be a truly novel approach to preventing transmission. Excellent work!
512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
/* This code commented out because I'm sure they're going to change their mind and I don't want to redo all the work. */
So how long till we're all having hot monkey sex with each other? Count me out of turning on any monkey genes in *my* DNA, thank you.
I've seen this episode of ST:TNG, so I *know* how this is all going to end.
Michael Coyne
http://turthalion.blogspot.com
We still have a lot of our DNA not yet "activated", from what little I know about genetics, every living organism share more or less the same DNA with less than 1% of differences, its which parts that are activated and which ones that are dormant that specify what the being will look like. This also means we're still babies in terms of our evolution.
Correct me if I am wrong.
I for one can't wait for this to happen:
"I dunno how much AIDS scares y'all, but I got a theory: the day they come out with a cure for AIDS, a guaranteed one-shot cure, on that day there's gonna be fucking in the streets, man." - Bill hicks
Do you D?
We reactivated this gene in the lab, and it seemed to work. There's a type of antibiotic that seems to reactivate the gene as well. So applying the antibiotic topically (read "like spermicidal foam/gel) should reactivate the gene in a woman's naughtybits and so fight the virus.
Focused on the woman - good idea. But how does science focus on the man? How about "STOP FUCKING PEOPLE WHO AREN'T YOUR WIFE/GIRLFRIED/SIGNIFIGANT OTHER!"
"As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly." A. Carlson
Junk DNA = We don't really know what it does
$signature =~ s/$signature//;
Someone, desperate, decides to turn on the gene to save someone, and bad things happen...
One man's garbage is another man's treasure. I know I've written code that I end up commenting out for some reason, perhaps because I invent a better way of doing something, or because the feature is canceled. I sometimes end up salvaging that "junk" code because there's use for it, in one form or another.
Minor side effect of re-activating the sequence - you become very hairy, lose the ability to walk upright, and have a curious craving to pick through other's hair in search of lice.
Hope is the currency of fools
what is an 'old world' monkey?
I'm just saying...
Seriously, I tried to read the article, but sentences like, "this treatment induced the production of intact, bioactive retrocyclin-1 peptide by human epithelial cells and cervicovaginal tissues," just make my eyes glaze over and think that the peers reviewing this journal are way out of my league.
The Kai's Semi-Updated Website Thingy
It seems to me that we carry a "catalog" of genes that are not currently useful, but have been useful in the past. It's not as if evolution destroys genes - for the most part it tends to make them inactive.
Last post!
In this work, we reveal that, upon correction of the premature termination codon in theta-defensin pseudogenes, human myeloid cells produce cyclic, antiviral peptides (which we have termed "retrocyclins"), indicating that the cells retain the intact machinery to make cyclic peptides. Furthermore, we exploited the ability of aminoglycoside antibiotics to read-through the premature termination codon within retrocyclin transcripts to produce functional peptides that are active against HIV-1. Given that the endogenous production of retrocyclins could also be restored in human cervicovaginal tissues, we propose that aminoglycoside-based topical microbicides might be useful in preventing sexual transmission of HIV-1.
Woah, I think I'm going to need a car analogy...
So ... who's taking bets on which pharmaceutical or bio-engineering corporation will sue them to oblivion? I mean there have to be some patents involved. Somebody surely has patented this "junk DNA" or something as vague as "looking at it funny". Corporations in this field seem to be especially ruthless and immoral. Bribes or lawsuits? Who will win the race?
Nop, this just mean you could dream about having sex.
So they are saying "Our lube can stop the HIV?"
Is that like junk in the trunk? Does this mean I should only have sex with women who are endowed with large posteriors?
Yes! Sir Mixalot was a wise man.
You'll feel even better next time you ask them to open a command prompt and ping something to check the network.
Silly scientists think they can out geekword us.
--- Need web hosting?
there's a whole bunch of crap down there i needed at one time, and mostly have forgotten about. there's also a small chance i'll need something down there again, but usefulness is so marginal. but every now and then i'll notice a glimmer of something in the corner i had totally forgotten, and i go "holy crap! this is incredibly important!"
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Is it trivial to ask that a parm company that uses ancient genes as part of a cure disclose possible adverse genetic side effects as a condition of it's use. Besides the usual "see the August edition of Good Housekeeping for details" rollcall of symtoms and side effects, I think the introducion of foreign genetic elements to help treat a life-threatening illness bears some merit. From wikipedia: a gene is "...a locatable region of genomic sequence, corresponding to a unit of inheritance..." So this is actual genetic code from some other living person that lived ages ago.
There could be an online store where you scan your DNA, and pick which superhero powers you want to have activated based on that.
a caveman could do it.
Also, I'm at a loss to remember the name of a specific genetic virus that infects cats. Over time the cats become more tolerant and less predatory towards mice. Otherwise, the cats behave normally. Can someone help me with the name of this virus, I'm trying to draw an example here and unfortunatly I can't recall any facts.
...and I know really it's too early to know, but the big question on my mind is: what sort of treatment are we talking about here?
Can a cure for AIDS be derived from this? Or will it be a matter of "if we catch an HIV infection early, we can clear it up and minimize the damage"? Or is it only useful as a preventative measure, which seems to be where the quote in TFS is headed?
If it's only useful as a preventative measure, then there are two big issues.
One is how prone it would be to user error. If it's a "follow these steps every time you're going to put yourself at risk" kind of thing, then there's a concern that the increase in people's willingness to put themselves at risk exceeds the practical efficacy of the prevention. OTOH, if it's a "go to your doctor once (or once every X time period) for a professioally-administered round of protection", then that's probably less an issue.
The other is... look, I'm all for scientific progress, and I think we should research the hell out of this, but let's not jump the gun. As evidenced by the fact that we call potentially-functional strecthes of DNA "junk", we do not understand what they do. If prehistoric animals used this sequence and we don't, there is probably a reason, be it small or large. Maybe it's as simple as "it takes cellular resources and the risk of an HIV-like attack had subsided below the break-even point" - and if that turns out to be the case, FULL SPEED AHEAD! Or maybe evolutionary pressures put the protein in disfavor because it interferes with some other aspect of modern human biology, or has some secondary effect that is harmful. Now it's hard to imagine that would weigh in as "more severe than an active HIV infection", so it might still be a useful treatment for a known case of AIDS if it can be used in that way (depending on cost/benefit vs. other AIDS treatments); but not necessarily a good preventative measure if that were to turn out to be the case.
I'm not telling where it is though.
The PLoS article
I've always been fascinated by "junk DNA." It *can't* be junk; there is so much we don't know here... In fact, the definition of "junk DNA" is something along the lines of "DNA we have not yet identified" Evolution would not have allowed for the repeated (and repeated and repeated) replication of so much code if it wouldn't have been more costly to simply ignore it. More and more researchers think that these are sequences which had a use in regulation, spacing, etc, and which can be put together in new ways to code for various enzyme complexes... the raw material that new genes can be built from; evolution's toolkit.
What I find really fascinating is this seeming reinforcement of that idea: researchers performing directed evolution, using nature's toolkit to put the raw materials together in useful new ways.
Do something about world hunger. Click here
I can only imagine the cognitive dissonance in an HIV-infected creationist when s/he finds out about this!
For designing us with immunity but not turning it on so that the hemophiliacs (which you also must have intentionally designed in) can die horrible deaths.
your nearest Private Health Care Provider.
courtesy of the protests by people who get socialized health care from Medicare.
Yours In Health,
K. Trout
This, I think, is the general idea behind the book "Darwin's Radio", various genes start "waking up" (for different reasons though). Not having read it I'm not too sure (and that's why I'm an AC!).
Why would the CIA be so dumb to create a virus that it turns out we may have a natural defense against hidden away in our DNA?
To dumb it down for you:
"The mumbo jumbo we did caused the cells of some female naughty parts to create some stuff that made those cells safe from HIV."
Don't feel too outclassed, they aren't getting laid either.
Sometimes the best solution is to stop wasting time looking for an easy solution.
People be careful when you summarize research in evolution. Creationists are known to quote mine and they repeatedly quote the mistaken summary (like the one posted here in slashdot) but attribute it, wrongly and knowlingly to the science article. No matter how many times you correct they continue to persist in their misrepresentation. Finding pseudogene is quite common and it actually strengthens the argument for a common ancestor. Like all mammals can make their own Vitamin C. But we primates cant. The gene to make the vitamin exists as a mutated pseudogene in our genome. Such pseudogenes are quite common.
But somehow in the mind of a creationist, gaining understanding of the original function of a pseudogene is somehow an evidence against evolution. Don't feed these trolls with sloppy summaries.
I am very sure, creationists will trumpet "Scientists have pie in their face. New function found in junk DNA. Death of Evolution is neigh. Halleluja!" quoting this very summary.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
I just want to know how this bug got out of testing. You'd think "causes AIDS" would be a showstopper
Thus sayeth the Lord:
"It is no bug, yea verily, it is a feature."
I am the richest astronaut ever to win the superbowl.
Remember the theories about HIV coming from African monkeys. How does that square with this new-found immunity? Does it work by making the infected monkey just a carrier, without developing AIDS?
yes. yes we are.
Oh and we get laid a lot. Making 6 figures makes it far easier to get laid.
Pseudogenes are one flavor of what is widely termed "junk DNA." There are several varieties of junk DNA including pseudogenes, introns, transposons and retroposons... and many pseudogenes, introns, transposons and retroposons are identified (and their functions better understood) regularly.
Do something about world hunger. Click here
I've just got to say props to the subby for linking to the original scientific article. For once the link doesn't go to some inaccurate, short mainstream media "summary" of the work that tries to stretch this into a complete cure for AIDS. Seriously a good time to RTFA.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
What bothers me is that these genes were turned off for a reason. There very well may be a definite biological reason NOT to make these peptides. For example, there are plenty of organisms that can regenerate entire limbs or organs. This would seem to be an obvious advantage. Why would nature turn off such an ability in higher-order animals? It has to be that this ability comes at a cost that is now outweighed by the advantage of NOT being able to grow a new arm.
Modding the parent "insightful." Only on Slashdot.
are there not a population of europeans who are naturally immune to HIV? my other question: why don't these "junk" genes re-enable themselves by themselves? If they truly are evolutionary "college notes" why do they need intervention to going again?
Fantastic work. These retrocyclins apparently operate like the currently-used T20 peptides that bind to a particular part of the HIV-1 surface spike protein complex and prevent it from "snapping together" to pull the virus and cell together. It basically interrupts the machinery of cell entry by the HIV particle. The fact that a bit of coaxing is enough to get human cells to produce retrocyclins that act this way is huge. It is plausible that our common ancestor evolved retrocyclins to combat ancient retroviruses and that, when our lineages diverged, our cell surface receptors changed enough to prevent infection by the ancient virus. Having no pressure the retrocyclin genes in the human lineage were allowed to go fallow. Fast forward a few million years and now retroviruses have evolved the means to recognize our cells once again. So it might be that there are a few individuals out there with a mutation at this retrocyclin gene that turns it back on; if HIV remains or becomes more virulent, the human population will become enriched in this mutation. It is remarkable that we can actually shortcut this process to intelligently guide our evolution.
I didn't see this already mentioned, but the Wikipedia page on Aminoglycosides mentions that these aminoglycoside antibiotics are already being investigated to treat cystic fibrosis because of their ability to make a cell "skip" the "termination codon." It says that a compound called gentamicin does this. So, these drugs are already being investigated for similar purposes. Maybe that'll speed the approval/testing of these things for HIV! It seems like somebody must already have an idea of what kinds of side effects will be encountered. This sounds like some pretty awesome stuff...
This read to me like a mix of "cerveau" (the french word for "brain") and "vagina". And for a moment, I wondered if this is like thinking with the penis? ;)
Why do doctors always have to use foreign words, when we have perfectly good native words? It feels very arrogant, like the Latin bibles, etc.
The worst thing is, that in non-English languages, English world are added too. So you end up with whole sentence that do not contain one native word. And when you look the words up, yo notice that you can construct that entire sentence with native words only, without a loss of any meaning.
To me it really is just an aspect of the "god complex" of the "gods in white". :/
P.S.: I know that the people in TFA are more scientists. But the point is still true.
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
Just for the record, animal cells don't have walls.
Odd coincidence actually. A couple years ago I decided to read some of the more serious anti evolution literature to try and understand the counter arguments.
One mathematician questioned evolution based on probability, in other words what are the odds that you could get the genes of real creatures from random mutation, what kind of time scales. The results were crazy big numbers, this was a pretty serious question that seemed needed to be addressed. So it occurred to me, what if there really weren't very many different DNA sequences (compared to the number possible), that useful sequences got reused a lot and that sequence or gene once useful got "written down" for future reference but deactivated. Much of evolution would just be retrying "known useful" sequences in new combinations, that could massively reduce the probabilities needed for evolution.
Sure enough, as we learn more about DNA we find that these inactive DNA areas keep a lot of valuable information. I wonder if the amount of "extra" inactive DNA each species keeps is itself an adaptation, how quickly a species wants to be able to evolve. The more inactive stuff you have sitting around, the more likely it accidentally becomes active, so you have a balancing act between bad for individual vs. good to quickly adapt to new environment. So that might be why relatively simple creatures have so much DNA in them.
Of cousre I am sure I was primed to make this "discovery" from other stuff I had read. Still, I think it shows the advantages of getting different points of view.
"STOP FUCKING PEOPLE WHO AREN'T YOUR WIFE/GIRLFRIED/SIGNIFIGANT OTHER!"
Abstinence and fidelity DOES NOT WORK. FFS there is enough demonstration of that around. So instead of closing ear and say "LALALA Absteinence / fidelity LALALA" one should simply stop being deaf and blind and realize that the only real solution for us human is to give new tool to prevent the infection or fight it.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
Anyone else thinking maybe we should just flip the switch to turn all the lights on and see what happens? :)
(yes I know some stuff was probably deactivated for a very good reason)
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
Dependency on a bunch of "monkey business"... let the irony begin...
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Nice job: starting from an article about DNA you successfully managed to bash christians!
Plant cells have cell walls beyond the cell membrane. Animal cells just have the membranes. Drat. :-)
nuff said
"They examined the human genome for any evidence of a latent gene that could manufacture such a protein"
Weren't there reports of humans that were resistant to HIV?
Maybe they should start checking their genome and see if this sequence is partially or fully active?
The PLoS publication was done in April. It took this long for us to notice? For shame.
Also, did anybody notice how excrutiatingly careful the authors were to only provide one characterization of the effectiveness of this method? They said it "significantly reduces" the incidence of HIV. You have to read their graphs to discover that significant reduction means from 100% to 1% with error bars of 1%. Close enough to zero that it looks like all you'd have to do is wait a little longer to get right down TO zero. This isn't just a treatment for improving lifespans and quality of life of infected persons. It's a treatment for turning them into completely uninfected persons. It's a CURE, not just a slightly better defense.
And it worked in 9 days, in their lab tests of very small groups of cells. That sounds like not only a total cure, but a fast total cure. One supposes it would take longer than 9 days to completely kill off the virus everywhere in an adult, but still not very long. Two weeks to a cure?
Astounding.
I disagree. They created females naughty parts immune to HIV. Guilt free, lab grown poontang.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
I've always thought it hubris for scientists to take a set of gene sequences, the functions of which are not yet understood, and proclaim them "junk." From time to time an article like this comes along, proving me correct.
That that is is that that that that is not is not.
If this is an antibiotic, why can't it be given as an injection rather than a topical cream? HIV is passed on in a lot more ways than just vaginal intercourse.
As I read the summary, I thought I was listening to Doctor Crusher spew some futuristic medical jargon.
Thought maybe this was the pilot for a new Star Trek series.
Give a hand, not a hand-out.
at a particular time and place
but revive an old enemy, like a retrovirus, and suddenly its nice to have that attic/ basement to rummage around in and pull out that old doodad, rather than having to build/ buy it all over again
the problem is that there is effort required to be resistant to a disease. whatever genes express for has a cost associated with it. so it pays to stop expressing certain genes, to be more efficient, and so HIV resistance has been abandoned over the years... but the threat hasn't gone away
so it ALSO pays to keep the genes for expressing that rare need should the need ever rise again. "junk" dna provides quick turnaround when dealing with rare/ uncommon challenges, without having to evolve the ability all over again
junk dna is genetic flexibility, accrued genetic wisdom over billions of years that can be called upon again a lot more quicker than re-evolving a trait. but it IS junk, for most normal time and places
so perhaps we should call it basement dna instead of junk dna? ;-)
you might have an old cassette radio in your basement from the 1980s. what is that useful for? suddenly the power goes out. what's going on? plop some batteries in that cassette radio, tune into AM news, and find out. suddenly the completely useless is very useful: junk dna. once in a blue moon dna
you don't keep it on your kitchen counter, you keep it in your basement. your body has stopped expressing certain genes, but it doesn't throw them out, it just relegates it to the genetic basement
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
So, we are all becoming monkeys, is it ? Just yesterday we were talking about itching and today this !!
rofl!
I had heard that about 10% of the population was immune anyway... does anyone know if this is true?
the ability to smell tyrannosaur breath. (Pedants: Look, its a joke, please don't bother pointing out the time line here, Ok?).
Actually, you were correct without the disclaimer. Just because humans didn't exist at the same time as t-rex, doesn't mean that we didn't retain genetic traits from the creatures that we evolved from. So it is entirely possible that we might have broken genes that might be good for detecting t-rex breath.
I for one, sure hope we do. I mean, we have all seen 'Jurassic Park'...
HA! I just wasted some of your bandwidth with a frivolous sig!
The other advantage of monogamy over polygyny is that, with polygyny, a few rich guys suck in a lot of the hot babes and the bulk of the males end up with a less desirable partner or none at all.
So if they want the nerds to reproduce and raise rug-nerds to keep the infrastructure running for their heirs to milk, the ruling class needs to give up on, or at least limit the size of, their harems.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
To be fair it is only the Christian Creationists who use unfair tactics and blatantly violate the commandment against bearing false witness.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
No. evolution has no foresight, it has no intent and a species can not want to evolve in a certain direction. The way it happens, an error happens in duplication and if the error adversely affects the survival, that lineage goes extinct. Some of the errors and complete duplication of an entire gene. Some times duplication is harmful and in that case they too die off. If it has no effect both copies survive. Even if one copy gets a corruption the other copy does the job. If the error in the copy is beneficial it survives. If it is harmfull it dies off. If it is neutral but just deactivates the original job of the gene it becomes a pseudogene.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
So, you're running a specialized build of the Simian OS ("Hairless Human"). It turns out that Human has a security hole: its theta-defensin package is corrupted, leaving the cervicovaginal network protocol open to attack.
Fortunately, Simian OS has recently gone open-source. You know there are other versions ("Bashful Baboon") where theta-defensin works properly. So you compare the files side-by-side. You realize the problem immediately - there's an unclosed comment tag.* The code is still there, but the interpreter skips over it.
It should be a simple fix. However, Simian OS has *very* limited update capabilities. You can't overwrite the file. But you can run a script (aminoglycoside.pl), which causes the interpreter to randomly ignore comment tags.
This isn't ideal, of course. You're affecting the whole system - theta-defensin will run, but so will other random bits of non-code, and you have to hope that the native error-handling can deal with this. Only one way to find out...
* Actually, the make-a-protein language tags working code - everything else is assumed to be a comment. So the problem is a premature end-tag, or termination codon.
I'll make sure to spread the word that everyone has to say "caveperson" now in order to avoid hurting your delicate feelings, regardless of whether they are sexist or not.
I know that bones files can be annoying, but a wand of cancellation or a blessed scroll of remove curse can take care of that right quick.
Also, if you're smart enough to keep everything in bags, only the bag will end up cursed (though you definitely have to uncurse a bag of holding before you loot it!)
What could possibly go wrong?
I am the unwilling control for my Origin.
secure
I see "Velociraptors" there while I'm playing "Jurassic Park". Though there aren't any velociraptors in it Tremors II: Aftershocks has a window scene.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
it has to be sarcasm.
Ir seems people need to learn mind reading to be able to know when someone's being sarcastic.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
I am part of the polyamorous community and there are just as many woman as men.
we wouldn't have this silly evolution vs. intelligent design argument at all
I heard, er read, where people have said God used evolution in his design. Personally I don't believe in any supreme deity. I think the hypothesis in "Mission To Mars" to be more probable. Of course those who promote ID avoid saying who the designer is, so as to fool people into accepting it.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
I didn't see "junk" anywhere when I read TFA so I did search for it but still didn't find it. The closest I did see was pseudogene. TFA doesn't surprise me, in the past couple of years or so I've run across articles like this, saying how some scientists have found a use for some "junk dna".
What most people don't realize, I didn't know myself, was that there's more genes and genetic information in humans from bacteria, fungi, microbes, viruses, and other microorganisms than in the human genome. While the human genome contains over 3 billion DNA base pairs and 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes, about 10 trillion non human cells live in the human gut alone making up the gut flora.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
What, you never heard of the Creation Museum? Humans and dinosaurs lived together, dinosaurs were wiped out by the Great Flood. ;-)
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
They just evolve.
They evolve for a reason. As my dictionary and others have "noun: an explanation of the cause of some phenomenon" as one definition for "reason" there is reason in evolution. Something causes evolution, even if it's random mutation.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
The other advantage of monogamy over polygyny is that, with polygyny, a few rich guys suck in a lot of the hot babes and the bulk of the males end up with a less desirable partner or none at all.
Ah, it's good to see there are others who know that what some Mormon sects and Muslims practice is not polygamy. Too many refuse to recognize what they practice is polygyny, where a male can have more than one wife whereas a female can only have one husband. They refuse to admit that polygamy allows both males and females to have more than one spouse. Then there's polyandry, wherein females can have more than one husband, as well.
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
Let me get this straight... You created us, then imbued us with a desire over all others to go out and procreate. Then you created a whole host of nasty bugs, microbes and viruses that would kill us when we carried out that desire, AIDS being just one. Then you coded in the ability to have us resist AIDS, and turned around and COMMENTED OUT THE CODE!? Seriously, wtf? Is it still all about that apple? Dude... let it go man, it's been like a zillion years!
Everything about the world religious nuts don't understand, they attribute to God.
Everything about the world evolution nuts don't understand, they call junk.
Interesting difference.
There are reports of some women in Africa that are immune to HIV.
Years ago there was an article linked to on Slashdot about some women prostitutes in Africa who were immune. I tried to find it but perhaps I didn't spend enough tyme because I didn't find it. A few days ago I found another one where some women in China appeared to be immune as well. Here's "Two women found with HIV-immune mutant gene".
Falcon
Should there be a Law?
Perhaps before we turn it back on, we should figure out why it was shut off in the first place. There has to be a reason we evolved in a way that it's now off.
Sounds fantastic, but is it real?
google: hiv plague
google: CCR5-D32