| Throughout the history of the AIDS epidemic, a few lucky people have avoided infection despite being exposed again and again. Now, researchers are traveling back in evolutionary time to understand why some people are resistant -- and in some cases virtually immune -- to the AIDS virus.
Studies released this week and last year suggest that the roots of AIDS immunity extend back for centuries, long before the disease even existed. Our ethnic backgrounds and the illnesses suffered by our distant ancestors appear to play a crucial role in determining whether our genes will allow HIV to take hold in our bodies. |
Which reminds me... if you haven't read Matt Ridley's newest book, The Agile Gene: How Nature Turns on Nurture, you should. (It was previously published in hardback under a slightly different name, Nature via Nurture) It's an absolutely brilliant dismissal of the centuries-long nature vs. nurture debate. Using the latest in genetic research, he argues that it is our genetic code that enable nurturing and environment to change and influence our development. It's been about 9 months since I read it, so I can't put together a summary that will do it justice, but nevertheless... I can tell you it is a book you should read!
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