“I’d like to share a revelation that I’ve had during my time here,” Agent Smith tells Morpheus in The Matrix. “It came to me when I tried to classify your species and I realized that you’re not actually mammals. … You move to an area and you multiply and multiply until every natural resource is consumed and the only way you can survive is to spread to another area. There is another organism on this planet that follows the same pattern. Do you know what it is? A virus.” It’s a memorable speech, but it turns out not to be great virology. As this study on the evolving virulence of HIV reminds us, the ideal dynamic between a virus and its host is not a disease state that leaves the host spent. In fact, the ultimate situation for a retrovirus like HIV may be permanent integration in the human genome with no associated pathology, as with many retroviruses before it. [Read more…] about Science Corner — Let There Be Peace Between Man and Virus