Surprising Science — July 20, 2010

A Real HIV Breakthrough?

“Scientists yesterday hailed a potential breakthrough in the fight against Aids after a vaginal gel was found to cut HIV infection rates by up to 50 per cent.” The Independent reports

bigthinkeditor

“Scientists yesterday hailed a potential breakthrough in the fight against Aids after a vaginal gel was found to cut HIV infection rates by up to 50 per cent. The gel, which was tested on high-risk women in South Africa, contains the Aids drug tenofovir. It was found to halve HIV infection rates after one year of use, and after two and a half years of use still resulted in a 39 per cent fall in infections. If the results are confirmed it will be the first time that such a gel has been shown to be effective.”

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

Politics & Current Affairs

David Rieff on Justice at Home and Abroad

“How can the United States legitimately claim the right to promote democracy and human rights at the same time that, at home, it is becoming somewhat less democratic, and a great deal less just?”