In case you haven't seen this already, here's a trailer for The Social Network, a movie about the making of Facebook. David Fincher's the director, Jesse Eisenberg plays Mark Zuckerberg, and the film hits theaters October 1st.
Note: I just updated it with the new trailer.
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From the FAIL Blog, a very creative response to what I'm sure was a challenging quiz question. (Thanks, Sean Ness!)
There was a total eclipse of the Sun on July 11. Don't feel bad if you missed it. It was really only visible over the southern part of the Pacific Ocean. Easter Island is one of the few spots of dry land that got a peek. This shot was taken by photographer Stephane Guisard and was featured on Astronomy Photo of the Day.
(Via Jeffrey Perkel)
Industrial designer Siren Elise Wilhelmsen created this knitting clock that cranks out a two-meter scarf every year. It's called "365." From Design Boom:
'365' seeks to give a physical manifestation to the change of time. drawing from the change that is witnessed through the growth of human bodies and hair, the same concept is found in '365' which translates time through the growth of knitted material. the clock houses a circular knitting machine with 48 needles, a thread spool, a thread holder and roll of yarn. moving in clockwise direction, one day leads to a complete round...Knitting clock (Thanks, Sally Applin!)
Last week, news broke that antibodies discovered in a man known only as Donor 45 could, potentially, be used to create a vaccine to protect against HIV/AIDS.
Who is Donor 45? He's a 65-year-old gay, African-American man who has been living with HIV (but healthy) for 20 years. More importantly, he's part of a small group of people who are infected with HIV, but whose bodies have managed to naturally stave off symptoms of the illness. In some cases, these people, called long-term non-progressors, even end up with virus levels so low as to be nearly undetectable.
Fascinatingly, Donor 45 is NOT one of those patients. His viral load is similar to that of people who get sick. That's because his immune system doesn't destroy HIV. Instead, it produces antibodies that prevent HIV from invading his cells.
All people infected with HIV produce antibodies in response to the infection. What's different is that Donor 45's antibodies actually work. For reasons that aren't clearly understood, most antibodies against HIV either aren't effective at all, or are only effective against certain strains—not terribly useful with a virus that mutates as frequently as HIV does. Donor 45's are capable of controlling as much as 91% of HIV strains. So he stays healthy, even while the virus continues to live in his body. People like Donor 46 can still infect others, but they, themselves, might live entirely normal lifespans without significant illness.
Some good links to read more about non-progressors:
- New York Times: AIDS and the secret of long-term survivors
- PBS Frontline: How HIV works and why some people are "immune"
- The Body: Compilation of several personal stories from long-term non-progressors as well as science and analysis about why some people survive
- Two studies recruiting long-term non-progressors for further research
Image courtesy Flickr user TimoStudios via CC