And who says tweets aren’t powerful? See the ones with the most influence here.

Can’t flirt in person? See how to do it best, at least online.

BIG NEWS!!! More airline fees!

A CURE FOR AIDS!!

That’s a pretty provocative statement…. but after reading the curious story about the “Berlin patient,” some people are wondering…

To simplify the story: this Berlin patient, who is an American expatriate living in Germany, was HIV-positive and suffering from leukemia when his doctors intervened with a stem cell transplant that was genetically resistant to the HIV infection.

After a relapse and some really intense treatments, Timothy Ray Brown no longer lives with those afflictions (yet deals bravely with the aftermath of the treatment).

The doctors who engineered this exciting discovery have published their work in the medical journal Blood (read the abstract here) proclaim within the article:

It is reasonable to conclude that cure of HIV infection has been achieved in this patient.

The patient has spoken to the media and is sure to remind that this progress was not easy; he experienced temporary blindness, speech issues, relapses, surgeries, tough chemotherapy, and rigorous treatments. When asked about whether all of these complications might not outweigh living with HIV, Brown responded,

Perhaps. Perhaps it would have been better, but I don’t ask those sorts of questions anymore.

Commenting on the trials of the patient and the marvels of the science that saved him, Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic writes,

All I’d say is that this is an extreme and difficult procedure and impractical on any general level – at least right now. [...] Sometimes we really ought to take stock and comprehend the sheer magnitude of the current successes of science. I literally live and breathe because of them.

This blogger isn’t such a science-y type, so you should really click here to get the in-depth story on how impressive this discovery is. There’s plenty of research to be done, no doubt, but a “W” is a “W”, right?

Although she spent her younger years in sub-Saharan Africa, alumna Lola Akinmade ’99, ’02 likes the cold. In fact, at the moment, the information systems/geography major is living in Sweden.

And, she’d like to get much, much colder.

Akinmade is currently in the running for a trip to the North Pole during which she would blog, tweet and Facebook about her experiences. But in order to make it happen, she’ll need lots of votes to push her past the finish line and into the Arctic Circle.

If she wins, Akinmade promises to put her personal stamp on the experience:

Finally landing on centuries-old ice at the top of the world, I will scream at the top of my lungs… “I’m a loooong way from Africa!”

Read her full story and vote here.

Three of UMBC’s most entrepreneurial alumni brought their expertise to the table as judges in UMBC’s annual Idea Competition, sponsored by the Alex. Brown Center for Entrepreneurship and was part of Global Entrepreneurship Week, a week where universities around the world celebrate entrepreneurship with activities and events for their students, faculty and alumni.

Alumni Eli Eisenberg ’86, Interdisciplinary Studies, owner of VPC, a video production company; Sean Carton ’90, English, chief strategy officer at idfive, a marketing and advertising agency; and Danielle Marchese ’00, M.S. ’05, information systems management, president of Applied Technology Services, served as judges in the competition. Judge Sean Carton was very impressed with what he saw: “The ideas were amazing. It was a testament to the quality of students at UMBC. I have never felt prouder to be an alum of UMBC.”

Read the full article here:

http://www.umbc.edu/entrepreneurship/ideacomp_success_nov10.html