Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

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  • http://www.footballandmusic.co.uk Webbie

    Once again… the plural of Lego is Lego.

  • Raum187

    The “Legos” spelling always jumps out for me too. Is it an American thing? In NZ no one says “Legos”. I think Australia is the same.

    Very interesting video too!

    • Antinous / Moderator

      It should be Legoes.

      • millie fink

        Legoze.

  • Raum187

    I know NOTHING about viruses – as my comment will make very clear :-)

    Is the virus source/reservoir  detectable by the immune response/drugs when it’s actively producing after a stress response is detected? If so, during this phase, could it be attacked?

    Could a long(er) term outbreak of the active state be induced artificially, giving the immune response time to mount an attack on the source?
    Short term suffering for overall benefit?

    • Greg Van Antwerp

      No, unfortunately not. It is when an internal/external cause makes the reservoir produce gross amounts of viral cells that that the immune response only then “kicks” in. In the “down” times the reservoir is hidden and the immune response and drugs can’t find it. We need to continue research to figure out how it knows how to hide from the body’s defenses. 

      I answered your question from watching the video – I could have never understood it if it hadn’t been so clearly explained through the example he used.  Amazing.

  • GawainLavers

    Legopodes.

  • Ipo

     [geˈriʎa]  Or do y’all too pronounce that as “gorilla”? 

  • Ramone

    This just makes me want to play with army men. (And Legoues).

  • http://borborygmist.influxofdust.com/ Wayne Dyer

    It’s just a stress bump.

  • Matt Wiltshire

    Don’t they mean lego?