|  Charlie Sheen Has HIV: What It's Like to Live with the Virus "I am, in fact, HIV positive," Sheen, 50, told Matt Lauer on the NBC show "Today," adding that when he learned of his status about four years ago, it was "a hard three letters to absorb." "It's a turning point in one's life," he said. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1.2 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV. "It's much more like a chronic illness," said Rosenthal, who is not involved in treating Sheen. Read More » Venture firm Andreessen Horowitz launches $200 million Bio Fund By Sarah McBride SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Venture firm Andreessen Horowitz put itself on the map with software investing. Now, it plans to take its software-heavy approach to biology and medicine, with a new $200 million fund for the hybrid sector and a former Stanford professor to run it. Vijay Pande, who previously taught chemistry, structural biology and computer science at Stanford University, is taking the helm of the new Bio Fund. Read More » Emoji Snags 'Word of the Year' (Here's Why That Makes Sense)  | It's official: Oxford Dictionaries word of the year isn't a word at all, it's "face-with-tears-of-joy," the most globally used emoji in 2015. The smiley face with oversized tears made up a whopping 20 percent of all emojis used in the United Kingdom and 17 percent of those used in the United States, according to the Oxford Dictionaries blog. "Emojis are no longer the preserve of texting teens — instead, they have been embraced as a nuanced form of expression, and one which can cross language barriers," according to the Oxford Dictionaries blog post, which explained the rationale for the "word" choice.
| Read More » Where Will the 1st Astronauts on Mars Land?  | The ideal Red Planet crewed site should be of high scientific value — allowing pioneers to search for signs of Mars life and investigate other intriguing questions — and also possess enough resources to help sustain expeditionary crews, scientists and engineers said. They came to these and other conclusions at the First Landing Site/Exploration Zone Workshop for Human Missions to the Surface of Mars, which was held here Oct. 27 though Oct. 30 at the Lunar and Planetary Institute.
| Read More » 'Stretch Marks' on Phobos Show Martian Moon Is Falling Apart  | Long, thin "stretch marks" on the surface of Phobos are early signs that the Martian moon is falling apart, new research suggests. Phobos is a tiny moon that is closer to Mars than any other moon in the solar system is to its planet. "We think that Phobos has already started to fail, and the first sign of this failure is the production of these grooves," Terry Hurford, a research assistant at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, who led the study, said in a statement.
| Read More » Armadillos Carrying Leprosy Bacteria Spreading in Southern US The armadillos in the southern United States carrying the bacteria that can cause leprosy are now found over a much larger geographic range than just a few years ago, a new study suggests. The nine-banded armadillos that can transmit the bacteria Mycobacterium leprae to humans were once thought to be primarily confined to parts of Louisiana and Texas. Leprosy — which is usually called by its modern name, Hansen's disease — is curable with antibiotics, and has a low risk of being spread among people. Read More » Baby's New Leukemia Treatment Could Help Others with Cancer A gene-editing technology that made headlines recently for successfully treating a baby with leukemia may one day be used to treat other types of cancers, experts say. Layla Richard was just 14 weeks old when she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), according to the Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, where she was treated. Then, they edited the cells' genes, which gave the cells the ability to attack the cancer, and injected the cells into Layla. Read More » Weird Mucus Parasites Are Actually Jellyfish  | Microscopic parasites only a few cells large are essentially greatly degenerated jellyfish, a finding that could expand the definition of the animal kingdom, researchers say. "When people think of an animal, they think of a macroscopic, multicellular, complex organism, and now they'll have to expand their definition of an animal to include very simple microscopic organisms," study co-author Paulyn Cartwright, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Kansas,told Live Science. Investigators analyzed myxozoans, a very diverse group of more than 2,100 microscopic parasites whose name means "mucus animals" in Greek, which refers to how scientists thought they were once associated with slime molds.
| Read More » 1,700-Year-Old Mosaic Once Decorated Luxurious Villa Courtyard  | A hungry lion taking down its prey and colorful fish leaping from the sea — these two nature-inspired scenes make up part of a large tile mosaic that was recently uncovered in Israel. The mosaic served as a courtyard floor in a wealthy household some 1,700 years ago, archaeologists say. The ancient artwork was unearthed last year by archaeologists from the Israeli Antiquities Authority (IAA) who were preparing the site of a new visitors center in the municipality of Lod, a city located about 9 miles (14.5 kilometers) southeast of Tel Aviv.
| Read More » Data science is key piece in Monsanto long-term growth plan: CEO  | ST. LOUIS (Reuters) - Monsanto Co's long-term growth plans, which include new crop-boosting technologies and expansion into new markets, relies heavily on data science, the "glue that holds the pieces together," Chief Executive Hugh Grant said on Wednesday.
| Read More » Formation of Alien Worlds Photographed for 1st Time  | For the first time ever, astronomers have directly observed planets in the process of being born.
| Read More » 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Will Likely Be a Real (Star)Killer!  | To paraphrase a beloved Jedi, that's no moon — but it's one step closer: the upcoming "Star Wars" movie promises a weaponized enemy base carved from an ice planet.
| Read More » Deke Slayton to Fly, Again: Orbital ATK Names 2nd Ship for Astronaut  | Deke Slayton waited 16 years to fly in space after he was selected as one of the original seven Mercury astronauts in 1959. Grounded for more than a decade as the result of a heart condition, when Slayton finally did fly, he was the "world's oldest space rookie," a distinction the then-President of the United States, Gerald Ford, highlighted when he asked the 51-year-old pilot if he had any recommendations for those who would like to follow in his footsteps. Forty years later, Slayton's advice, and name, are living on in a commercial spaceflight company's continuing efforts to supply the International Space Station.
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