A team of scientists from the UK and Germany have established the 3D structure of the HIV virus. This discovery may help other scientists to develop new therapeutic techniques.
The scientists had a tough time cracking the shape of the virus, as it is highly variable, but they used a technique of combining multiple images to glean HIV’s shape.
The HIV virus causes aids by infecting the body’s T Cells, critical immune system cells which fight off invaders.
A small NGO founded by a couple to help a slum in India has now become a profitable venture. It all starts with discarded plastic bags that are found in a dump.
From the high Commission of India, London:
“It may sound hard to believe, but handbags for sale in some of London’s fashionable boutiques started out as used plastic bags scavenged from the rubbish tips of Delhi. They are the product of a cottage industry run out of the living rooms of a handful of houses in a Delhi slum. The plastic bags are ferreted out by the rag-pickers, the poorest of Delhi’s poor, who make their living hunting for scraps in the rubbish of their richer neighbours.”
Truly a fantastic demonstration of a small amount of capital being used to make big chances in impoverished communities.
Thanks, Justin!
Disappointed with the Canadian election? Well, don’t despair, ThingsAreGood.com is having an informal meet-up in Toronto. The meet-up is chance to meet other people who want to make the world better in all sorts of crazy ways!
It’s this Thursday at 8pm and on at the Red Room, for more info check our Good Meets section.
Look for people wearing buttons like the one to the left, and if you show up you too can have a stylish ThingsAreGood button!
Hope to see you there!
Bolivia’s first indigenous president, Evo Morales, has announced that he aims to reform the way that the government deals with the indigenous population.
“From 500 years of resistance we pass to another 500 years in power. We’re going to put an end to injustice, to inequality.” Morales said.
According to CBC.ca “Tens of thousands of Bolivians – led by Indians in traditional garb – gathered in a square outside the legislature, cheering and chanting “Evo, Evo.””
Thanks, Justin!
A new technology is being tested that may one day allow patients who have suffered heart attack or heart disease to ‘patch’ their broken hearts with new, lab-grown tissue.
The team led by professor Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City are using a bioreactor to grow new tissues to spec. There are problems yet to be worked out, but animal trials are underway, with the hope of starting human trials perhaps in a decade.