Gamers Solve Puzzling Science Problem

For years scientists have been working to understand and decode the structure of a key protein in the development of AIDS and until recently they have been unsuccessful. Fortunately just last week t he code was cracked under a new program which utilized video games to help solve the problem. An online video game called FoldIt was designed to help solve problems like this and thanks to the hundreds of thousands of hours spent by video gamers the problem was quickly solved.

Researchers say it is absolutely astonishing how quickly the gamers were able to do this; the three years of research done on the protein were absolutely wasted since the gamers managed to crack the code in just under 3 weeks. This type of research is still very cutting edge and despite previous beliefs that it would never work gamers were successfully able to prove that combining human brain power with computers is in fact an effective way to solve complicated problems.

At this point medical experts say that the information gained is simply astonishing and as such many more future projects are expected to be planned through games and other online projects. No word on what may come next but it seems like the future of medical and technical research might be based entirely on distributed brain power through video gamers and other online enthusiasts. Apparently no computers are as smart as the combined brain power of everyone on the internet.

World’s First Person Cured of HIV

A cure for HIV and AIDS has been a major research goal for many many years and unfortunately it seemed for the longest time that very little progress was being made. Today however the world got news of a potential break in the story as a man was functionally cured of his HIV infection through a series of treatments.

Timothy Ray Brown, who was 45 at the time of treatment in 2007, was treated using a series of stem cell transplants through bone marrow. The treatment was meant to prolong his life because he was suffering from both leukemia as well as HIV at the time. According to doctors involved with and doctors studying the case the transplant apparently carried the incredibly rare HIV immunity gene which has essentially cured Brown of his HIV infection.

Obviously all sorts of investigations have been planned and initiated into the case of Brown’s HIV cure but at this time a variety of medical experts say this is nothing short of a functional cure. The process used to treat and essentially cure Brown however might not ever develop into a truly widespread cure for a variety of reasons. To begin with the immunity gene is incredibly rare and as such there is an extreme shortage of donor stem cells to test.

Either way doctors say this is a good step in the right direction for finding a cure for HIV and AIDS. More research will undoubtedly be conducted based on this story for years to come and a cure may eventually become reality thanks to Brown’s incredible luck.

HIV Vaccine in the Works

Researchers have been working to find a cure or vaccine for HIV and Aids and according to some doctors the efforts may be getting close to a break through. A report published this week by a group of US medical researchers indicates that the vaccine being developed is actually quite effective on test monkeys.

As always the vaccine is undergoing significant testing and observation before being used on humans; surprisingly the doctors say it seems to be working on the monkeys. According to the study the vaccine was created using a slightly altered version of the HIV virus which would allow the body to fight HIV on its own.

Originally researchers had low hopes for the vaccine due to a variety of reasons but after nearly a year of study it seems they may have made a significant breakthrough. Over half of the monkeys treated with the vaccine were protected from HIV even a full year after being given the vaccine. Furthermore, researchers went on to say that the vaccine made some serious breakthroughs when it came to actually treating HIV in monkeys that were already affected.

No word on how these breakthroughs will translate to human vaccination but many doctors close to the project are very hopeful. Some of the results obtained in this study are completely new and very important to a possible vaccine for HIV so dozens of follow up studies are obviously being planned; no word on when these will take place or when more results will be released.