We’ve bashed Utah in the past (see previous post, as well a many, many other examples), so it’s only fair that when something that improves the world comes out of the Beehive State, we make note of it as well. From the University of Utah, a school that – I kid you not – is thought of as the heathen alternative to Brigham Young University:
University of Utah scientists developed a new kind of “molecular condom” to protect women from AIDS in Africa and other impoverished areas. Before sex, women would insert a vaginal gel that turns semisolid in the presence of semen, trapping AIDS virus particles in a microscopic mesh so they can’t infect vaginal cells.“The first step in the complicated process of HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) infection in a woman is the virus diffusing from semen to vaginal tissue. We want to stop that first step,” says Patrick Kiser, an associate professor of bioengineering at the University of Utah’s College of Engineering. “We have created the first vaginal gel designed to prevent movement of the AIDS virus. This is unique. There’s nothing like it.”
The fight against AIDS just got a whole lot gooier.
