|
The second person cured of HIV is still doing OK
|
|
|
A study was published last week. Titled 'this is how we cured HIV for the second time in history', it shared results that the second HIV patient to undergo successful stem cell transplantation from donors with an HIV-resistant gene was doing pretty, pretty good. (The Lancet)
- "Our findings show that the success of stem cell transplantation as a cure for HIV, first reported nine years ago in the Berlin patient, can be replicated." (NCBI)
Why this matters: A lot of people are still dying from the disease.
- 770 000 from around 38 million HIV patients people died in 2018. (World Health Organization)
- Currently, there's no cure for the human immunodeficiency virus. Untreated, it can lead to AIDS.
- Many have had to live (long and healthy) with the disease. However, experimental research such as these prove that 'yes it may be possible to get rid of the disease altogether'.
Btw, the 'London patient' – as he is famously referred to in the study – is on Twitter.
|
|
|
We saved 112 people from drowning
|
|
|
Malta decided to rescue a group of 112 migrants in a rubber boat from Libya after its tubes were deflating and the boat ran out of fuel. "Fun" fact: They waited two days to make this decision. (The New York Times, Malta Today, Deutsche Welle)
- The big picture: In 2019, 123,663 migrants arrived to Italy, Cyprus, Greece, Spain and Malta. (Al Jazeera)
- The numbers in Malta: More and more refugees are arriving at Malta's shores. Some 1,500 had arrived by early March, compared to 3,400 for the full year last year. (Cyprus Mail)
Why this matters: 112 people deserve to live.
|
|
|
We elected a female president in Greece
|
|
For the next five years, a woman named Katerina Sakellaropoulou will be president of Greece. (ABC News)
- Since it's 'corona time', the swearing-in ceremony took place in an almost empty parliament and no handshakes were allowed to those present.
- Good to know: The president holds a largely ceremonial post in Greece.
Why this matters: She is the first woman to hold the office. Compared to the rest of Europe, there are much fewer women in senior positions in Greek politics. The country scores below the European average in gender equality and was at the very bottom of the gender equality index for 2017 issued by the European Institute for Gender Equality. (CNN)
Tell me more about her
She's a high court judge, a human rights advocate and 63 years old. Breaking through gender barriers is not a new thing for the president-elect. She was the first woman to serve as the president of the Council of State, the country's top administrative court.
|
|
|
We found 139 new smaller planets in the Solar System
|
|
Astronomers discovered 139 entirely new "minor planets" in the Solar System that are way, way out there. (NBC News)
- Good to know: Minor planets are small bodies circling the sun that are neither official planets nor comets.
Why this matters: We're closer to finding if Planet Nine exists.
- Catch up: Planet Nine is the hypothesized world that some scientists think lurks undiscovered in the far outer solar system, hundreds of 150 million kilometers away from the sun. (Space)
If you're interested, the new study was published this week in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series. You can read a preprint of it for free at arXiv.org.
In other space-related news
The European Space Agency and Roscosmos last week said that their mission to Mars – expected to launch this year – is now delayed to 2022. (European Space Agency)
|
|
|
We found the world's smallest dinosaur
|
|
Scientists discovered the world's smallest dinosaur named Oculudentavis khaungraae. (Newsweek, Nature)
Where was it?
Trapped inside a 99 million-year-old piece of amber in Myanmar.
How did they find it?
Someone held the amber to the light and saw something unusual.
How does it look?
It's tiny. They estimate it would have been around the size of a bee-hummingbird, the world's smallest species of bird.
Why it matters
The team of scientists said this discovery opens up a new world of previously unknown creatures, with new technologies allowing scientists to identify species trapped in amber millions of years earlier.
- "We are only just at the very beginning of what we can discover about small animals from this amber locality."
|
|
|
We put Harvey Weinstein in jail
|
|
67-year-old American film producer Harvey Weinstein was sentenced to 23 years in prison for rape and sexual assault. (The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times)
- Catch up: At least 100 women have publicly accused Harvey Weinstein of sexual abuse. Jurors at a New York state court only heard from six of them: Miriam Haley, Jessica Mann, Annabella Sciorra, Dawn Dunning, Tarale Wulff and Lauren Young. (CNN)
Why this matters: No man or woman is and/or should be above the law.
A special Thank You to #MeToo. The 2017 global movement against sexual abuse has brought down more than 200 powerful men. Nearly half of their replacements were women. (The New York Times)
But the fight doesn't stop here. It is on all of us to keep up the momentum of #MeToo and we can – if we do it together. (World Economic Forum)
- Lesson learnt: One of the things that #MeToo exposed is the diversity of this experience. Sexual harassers do not discriminate. Women and men of all sizes, races and gender identities are vulnerable.
- Four ways to be part of the solution:
- Share your story. There's power in personal stories.
- Listen to these stories, particularly those that get left out of the mainstream media like women of colour, LGBTQ survivors, male-identifying survivors, and people with disabilities.
- Report it to HR.
- Speak up. Silence and lack of knowledge about this play a large part in why domestic and sexual violence still exists.
You and I decide what the future looks and feels like.
|
|
- Why the web isn't working for women and girls (Tim Berners-Lee — OneZero): The inventor of the internet on how the web must be changed to make it safe for women.
- The prepping industry wasn't prepared for the coronavirus (Kate Knibbs — Wired): You would think if anyone could have seen this catastrophe coming, it would have been doomsday preppers. You'd be wrong.
- The Dos and Don'ts of 'Social Distancing' (Kaitlyn Tiffany— The Atlantic): Experts tell you when it'd probably best that you cancel dates, dinner parties and gym sessions.
|
|
ISIS published coronavirus guidelines last week, too. 'dont go to europe lol'. (The Times)
- In the latest edition of the terrorist group’s al-Naba newsletter, the editors who normally urge followers to carry out attacks on the West instead ask them to "stay away from the land of the epidemic" for the time being.
It's good to know that even terrorism is taking a break. *Allah ah-choo!*
|
|
The end.
If you think this newsletter is worth keeping up, join others in supporting it on Patreon or PayPal a cup of coffee should you enjoy an issue a lot.
|
|
|
|
