Two days ago, I found an article by Carl Zimmer in the New York Times called “Two Strains of HIV Cut Vastly Different Paths”. I find this article to be particularly interesting because Zimmer speaks about the origins of the HIV virus. Scientists believe that primates transmitted the virus onto humans. Apparently in 2006, Dr. Peeters and her research group found one of the first gorillas to be infected with an SIV, which is greatly similar to HIV -2, a virus found mostly in western Africa. Which then gives more information on how the virus spread in the first place. Now this is a great discovery, but its a little outdated. It would be more helpful if there was an article on a recent 2015 discovery on HIV. If there even is..? I was planning to use this article for my project but now I just view it as a “cool science fact”. I want to actually know more about specific virological discoveries especially if its HIV.  However I don’t want something related to Ebola because I have already studied that before the media made it seem like this huge epidemic outbreak.

There was also another article that I found interesting the title is “Even in Crisis, Successor Stays True to Chavez” by William Neuman. Its mostly about Nicolas Maduro, the president of Venezuela, who continues to follow Chavez’s (previous president) ways of the government. However clinging onto the previous system has caused the Venezuelan economy to crumble. Maduro doesn’t want to touch what Chavez has created because he views it as something valuable to the point of being untouchable. I’m not necessarily involved in international politics especially when the United States is involved.

So I’m not really sure which article to choose. Should I wait for a new HIV article or should I just go with the Maduro story which has been discussed for a while? I’m not sure. I like both of these but I’m more interested in the science article. Sigh. Hopefully I’ll figure it out.

P.S. Sooty mangabeys were one of the monkeys found to have strains of the SIV virus. However, I like how this baby monkey really captivates the way I’m feeling about this research project.