Okay, this one hits nerves on so many levels, but I really feel what makes DC great is that sometimes we tackle the Big Issues, esp when they overlap with software. So here goes!
"HIV Tracking Technology". Quotes added because people sorta did it on the down-low, but now someone managed to make this News. Capital N.
Some relevant links:
http://science.slashdot.org/story/13/11/21/1412212/hiv-tracking-technology-could-pinpoint-whos-infecting-who
http://www.lanl.gov/newsroom/news-releases/2013/November/11.19-hiv-virus-spread-and-evolution.php
http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/hiv-tracking-technology-could-pinpoint-whos-infecting-who
Slashdot's Summary:
HIV Tracking Technology Could Pinpoint Who's Infecting Who
Posted by timothy on Thursday November 21, 2013 @10:06AM
from the yet-you-say-you-were-in-burma-at-the-time dept.
Daniel_Stuckey writes "No man is an island, but evolutionarily, each person functions like one for the HIV virus. That's according to Thomas Leitner, a researcher working on a project aimed at creating technology for tracking HIV through a population. The technology, which is being studied at the Los Alamos National Laboratory, may allow people to identify who infected them with the virus, a development that could have major implications in criminal proceedings. "If you're familiar with Darwin's finches, you have a population of birds on one island and they keep moving and evolving as they spread to other islands so that each population is a little different," Leitner said. "With HIV, it's the same. Every person infected with HIV has a slightly different form of the virus. It's the ultimate chameleon because it evolves this way."
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Back to me.
I've sat on this a couple of days.
I'm currently Neg.
But I am now in a city where it's like the leading non-discussed slow-death crisis. Parse that as you will.
So ... as both a (former?) professional Pattern Matcher in a sense, and a humanities fella interested in software, my first reaction is ... "Now? In 2013? Someone decides this is News?"
My second reaction is "Well okay, you added some science. Good enough. But why are we deathly terrified of four ounces of baby milk on a plane when X million people can end your life (slowly!) in thirty minutes?!"
My third reaction is, "We're tracking everything else. How did this stay a Non-Trackable Topic for so long?"
So ... Summary ... It's a total mess. But there's the News Story. It's now "Safe to Discuss News". So have at it. Because even my "feeble" action of reporting it to DC ... spreads the discussion. Butterfly effects, and all that.