John Pavlus on January 22, 2008 8:51 AM
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The eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo, epicenter of what is often called Africa's World War, may soon see peace for the first time in years. More than 20 rebel leaders -- including rogue general Laurent Nkunda, wanted for war crimes -- are signing a cease-fire with DR Congo's government in hopes to quell the violence that has killed 45,000 people per month for the past ten years.
This is good news for DR Congo's mountain gorilla population. Only 700 of the animals are left on earth, mostly in Virunga National Park-- which became a de-facto war zone last year as rebel militias swarmed in.
Continue reading 'Will Congo's peace treaty save the mountain gorillas too?' >
Corey Binns on November 14, 2007 9:25 AM
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The female condom has never been popular with the ladies. It's never won over guys either. It is clumsy, cold, stiff and sometimes painful. Not necessarily something steamy to climb into bed with.
The New York Times reports that scientists are bringing sexy back to the female condom with a redesign.
The new and improved female condom is made from a thinner polyurethane that transmits warmth better. Plus, it's lost an awkward diaphragm-like ring at its tip, which had to be folded into a figure 8 for insertion during the heat of the moment.
The only thing it's missing is an invisibility cloak.
Married women are one of the highest groups at risk of contracting AIDS. For many of these women, their husbands do not condone wearing a condom classified for either gender.
Continue reading 'Female condom gets a facelift' >
Melinda Wenner on November 2, 2007 11:38 AM
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Despite the fact that there are millions of people around the world suffering from it, HIV is actually surprisingly hard to transmit. Each time a man has unprotected sex with an HIV-positive man, his risk of becoming infected is only 82 in 10,000, and the risk is even lower for heterosexual sex: a woman only has a 9 in 10,000 chance of contracting the virus from an HIV-positive male during an unprotected sexual encounter. Researchers have long wondered why this is, and whether our bodies have some kind of preliminary line of defense against the virus.
Continue reading 'Why is HIV so prevalent in Africa?' >
