Makes me happy to know that we use primary cells in the research in my lab rather than cell lines.

Still, I wonder how many primary cell lines become contaminated with immortalized in labs where both are cultured in the same space?

And the innocent (maybe stupid, maybe smart, maybe average) people that die because of the "Stupid People" who coincidently die?

There is a time and a place for using your phone

Doing your homework? Nope, don't use your phone because you'll be distracted by your friends.
Doing your chores? Nope, don't use your phone because you'll be distracted by your friends.
Brushed your teeth? Nope, don't use your phone because you'll be distracted by your friends.
Picking out your outfit for the day? Nope, don't use your phone because you'll be distracted by your friends.
Eating dinner? Nope, don't use your phone because you'll be distracted by your friends.

I feel like it's an important lesson that there is a time and a place for using your phone. I hope that these small lessons will help her when she eventually becomes a driver. Your phone can wait, please focus on the task at hand.

I hate to burst your bubble, but that most certainly was done for ideology and not science.

They were attempting to use science to justify their ideology, which is just as bad as people who use religion to justify their ideology and no different.

Youngsters will have never heard of a "Virtual Boy" and will be confused by the name while old fogies (like myself) will remember just how bad the Virtual Boy was and make sure to steer clear of the "Virtual Boy 2".

Are you bleeding from your eyeballs? Well, you might have Ebola.

Tada!

Um, SHIV is a man-made construct. It's SIV with the envelope coding region from HIV.

I'm amazed that TFS says HIV as well as the first link. TFNA (The Fucking Nature Article) title is "AAV-expressed eCD4-Ig provides durable protection from multiple SHIV challenges". Wow, SHIV is right there in the title. Humans can be infected with "human immunodeficiency virus". Simians can be infected with "simian immunodeficiency virus".

Additionally, plenty of "monkeys" get SIV and don't become symptomatic because they're natural hosts. Rhesus macaques (as stated in the Nature article), however, are not natural hosts and do become symptomatic. Just using the over-arching term "monkey" is ridiculous for a "science" blog.

I've used my iPhone to track my steps as well as a FitBit to do so. I can agree from experience that they both track just as well as the other. The difference? My phone is much larger and is much more expensive to replace. I like that I don't have to bring my phone with me to track my activity when I'm out doing stuff (and no annoying calls). I also track my stats when playing ice hockey. What kind of fool would bring a phone for that?

They may be the same in terms of counting steps, but in terms of appropriateness in more situations the small, wrist based tracker wins.

My wife and I and our kids were just talking about TFA this morning. The reaction that I got from my kids (8 and 10) was something like "huh?". We live just a few doors from a park where all the neighborhood kids play together, unsupervised, when the weather is nice. I love being able to give them unsupervised play time! That's time when then can just be themselves and interact with their peers without adults there interfering. They get to explore and do all kinds of stuff.

My wife and I are even considering allowing our older child to take the Metro (public transit) to ballet by herself next year when she's in middle school.

It frustrates me that our parenting style is probably considered illegal and/or immoral by the county's standards. I'd say that obesity from spending too much time indoors in front of a screen instead of getting out there and mixing it up are greater dangers to our children.

We all know that cavemen lived to be at least 150 years old due to their superior diet!!!

Seriously, though, I have no doubt that there are some health benefits to eating more leafy greens and fewer starches, but this guy is whacko.

I'm not the clinician in my lab, but here's the way that I understand it works:
After a person tests positive for HIV, their CD4+ T-cell count is monitored. Once that count goes below a certain level they are placed on anti-retroviral therapy. Elite controllers are those whose CD4+ T-cell count never goes down and have nearly undetectable viral loads. For those who don't know, HIV tests actually test whether your body is making antibodies against HIV and don't directly measure viral load.

What we'd have then is a situation like SIV in which the virus doesn't cause disease in "natural" host organisms (such as chimpanzees) because the host can control virus replication. These people actually already exist and they're called "elite controllers". They are infected with HIV (for many, many years), but their immune system keeps the virus to almost undetectable levels. For them, HIV is harmless.

I work in immunology and the coevolution of host and virus to the point where it is harmless would be a Good Thing (TM).

...fusion power is exciting

On the other hand, I'm not excited about Lockheed Martin developing it.

With my third hand, did anyone else read in the article that nuclear submarines run on a fusion reactor that needs to be replaced on a yearly basis? I was under the impression that it was a fission reactor, so it really makes me doubt if the writer knows what he/she is talking about.

A story in which a robot is stuck between two equal potentials and therefore cannot complete its task.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runaround_(story)