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The first time I read ‘The Grapes of Wrath’ I was sitting in 10th grade English class. But there is one image that stays with me. The description of crops going unharvested even as workers are eager and willing to pick the food. He writes:
The works of the roots of the vines, of the trees, must be destroyed to keep up the price, and this is the saddest, bitterest thing of all. Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground. The people came for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be. How would they buy oranges at twenty cents a dozen if they could drive out and pick them up? And men with hoses squirt kerosene on the oranges, and they are angry at the time, angry at the people who have come to take the fruit. A million people hungry, needing the fruit—and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains.
And the smell of rot fills the country.
He wrote those words more than 70 years ago, yet the conditions he describes still ring true for 50 million Americans living in food insecure households today… . Hungry families do not have enough food… [but] not because of scarcity. Every year 40% of food produced goes uneaten. That’s 20 pounds of food per person per day. And that is the twisted irony of hunger in America today. What Steinbeck called that crime that goes beyond denunciation, landfills brimming with rotting food while 15% of households don’t have enough to eat.
The works of the roots of the vines, of the trees, must be destroyed to keep up the price, and this is the saddest, bitterest thing of all. Carloads of oranges dumped on the ground. The people came for miles to take the fruit, but this could not be. How would they buy oranges at twenty cents a dozen if they could drive out and pick them up? And men with hoses squirt kerosene on the oranges, and they are angry at the time, angry at the people who have come to take the fruit. A million people hungry, needing the fruit—and kerosene sprayed over the golden mountains.
And the smell of rot fills the country.
He wrote those words more than 70 years ago, yet the conditions he describes still ring true for 50 million Americans living in food insecure households today… . Hungry families do not have enough food… [but] not because of scarcity. Every year 40% of food produced goes uneaten. That’s 20 pounds of food per person per day. And that is the twisted irony of hunger in America today. What Steinbeck called that crime that goes beyond denunciation, landfills brimming with rotting food while 15% of households don’t have enough to eat.
HIV cure months away, Danish scientists say, citing novel new DNA treatment
Danish scientists believe they may have a cure for HIV “within months.”
Image 1: This photo shows HIV infecting a T-cell, which usually fights off infections in the human body. Credit: NIH/NIAID
Image 2: Researchers at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark are testing a new technique that involves flushing HIV from so-called reservoirs in human DNA. (LEON NEAL/AFP/Getty Images)
Researchers at Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark are testing a new technique that involves flushing the virus from so-called reservoirs in human DNA.
The virus is then destroyed naturally by the body’s immune system, The London Telegraph reported.
They are expecting results to show that “finding a mass-distributable and affordable cure to HIV is possible”.
Fifteen patients are taking part in the trials, funded with $2.1 million from the Danish Research Council.
If they are found to have successfully been cured of HIV, the new technique will be tested on a wider scale.
Any cure would be affordable for many of the 33 million people worldwide afflicted by the virus.
However, despite the trials Dr. Ole Sogaard, a senior researcher in the department of infectious disease warned that the efficacy in the human body remained unproven.
Medical Daily quoted him as telling the media:
“The challenge will be getting the patients’ immune system to recognize the virus and destroy it. This depends on the strength and sensitivity of individual immune systems.”
British researchers are reportedly conducting similar research through a consortium of five universities.
Both studies are aiming to find a cure for those already infected with the virus and would not result in a preventative measure for HIV or AIDS.
As with many articles purporting possible cures it’s always good to take these with a grain of salt and practice our skepticism until the results and stats are weighed in. But if it’s anything close to being true then I am glad to see this progressing into a challenge of engineering the proper tools to fight it rather than how to fight it. Let’s hope this is followed up with success.
The Glowing Spider-Worms of New Zealand
For over one hundred years, millions of tourists have flocked to the ancient limestone Waitomo Caves on New Zealand’s North Island, where a stunning species of fungus gnat called Arachnocampa luminosa live.
Unique to New Zealand and Australia, they are found in caves, grottoes, and other sheltered places. Arachnocampa means ‘spider-worm,’ as the gnat is known for the way their larvae hang strong vertical silk threads from their underground habitats. Since the larvae are luminescent, the thousands of tiny threads light up cave ceilings like a starry sky.
Chris Person fixed TIME’s new magazine cover. Now it’s accurate. (TIME version #1, Person edit #2)
Update: And here’s another stellar contribution from @direlog
EXCELLENT
From @EARNEST_CYBORG9
It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone anymore, but journalism sells confirmation bias, not news. This is why people prefer one outlet over any other.
the-absolute-best-photography:
Unfair | NastPlas.
“With this work we want to show our support for children, youth and elders, to all persons who are victims of the crisis and the indiscriminate abuse of political and financial power that we lived at this time”.
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