Northern exposure

The country's main rains are supposed to start in June, and judging their timing correctly can mean the difference between a bumper crop and famine for farmers. As for Mr Mara, the question is whether a rough first two months will jolt him to rethink his plan for cultivating the north.

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How to contain an ebola outbreak

EBOLA is back. As of April 14th the virus had infected 168 people in Guinea, in west Africa, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO). At least 108 have died. In neighbouring Liberia, six are known to have had the disease, with more cases suspected. Nearly 400 remain under observation. Airports are taking travellers' temperatures and Senegal's border with Guinea was closed. With a mortality rate of up to 90%, ebola is terrifying. Is it possible to contain an outbreak? - See more at: http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/04/economist-explains-6#sthash.Zn8hYMM2.dpuf

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Bursting HIV's bubble

Unlike many viruses, HIV has a fatty outer membrane similar to that surrounding a living cell. The crucial insight Dr Abrams and Dr Chaiken had was that this membrane probably acts like a balloon—in other words the pressure inside it is greater than the pressure outside it. That means it can be burst, which is what they believe provides the driving force by which a virus injects its genetic material into a cell in order to infect it.

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We get old, just like anyone else

I met Gary and Dick in their Upper West Side apartment in the heat of July, a week after New York's governor, Andrew Cuomo, signed a bill legalising same-sex marriage (which became law this week). My colleague had found Gary and Dick riding a rickshaw through the Gay Pride parade in the West Village, proudly displaying their time-worn commitment to each other. They welcomed me into their home, provided I steer my cameras away from the remodelling in the kitchen.

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Bear bar: The Playwright Tavern

Izzy, no last name given, is a self-described “psychotic” and an ex-convict from Montenegro. I've just watched him bolt two pints of stout and two glasses of whiskey. He is missing his front teeth due to a motorcycling accident in rural New York. He is a member of Local 6, a hotel service-workers' union, and is a Playwright regular when he's feeling flush. The bartenders know him well.

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Last thoughts on John Updike

Recently I've been opening the back door and standing on the jostling chain-link platform between N cars to look at the Brooklyn Bridge, governor's island and the Statue of Liberty's reaching blue arm. Riding between cars is illegal. My mother would kill me. 

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Flying to LA with Jon Voigt

I concentrated on the conveyor belt and tried to think of something smooth to say: neither too awestruck, nor too cool. I couldn't. A good three minutes passed like this. I could help him with his bags. He was in "Deliverance". I could whistle the banjo theme from "Deliverance". He left with his man.

LA is a weird place.

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