Distillation.

Cutting grass in curves.

“Most mornings I learn more from New Items than I do from all of the traditional papers I read combined.” — Michael Blair, Lecturer in Law at Columbia Law School and former presiding partner, Debevoise & Plimpton.

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1. China’s military is building a massive complex in western Beijing that US intelligence believes will serve as a wartime command centre far larger than the Pentagon, according to current and former American officials. Satellite images obtained by the Financial Times that are being examined by US intelligence show a roughly 1,500-acre construction site 30km south-west of Beijing with deep holes that military experts assess will house large, hardened bunkers to protect Chinese military leaders during any conflict — including potentially a nuclear war. Several current and former US officials said the intelligence community was closely monitoring the site, which would be the world’s largest military command centre — and at least 10 times the size of the Pentagon. (Source: ft.com)

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2. Stanford Report:

A compound with the un-presuming designation of EBC-46 has made a splash in recent years for its cancer-fighting prowess. Now a new study led by Stanford University researchers has revealed that EBC-46 also shows immense potential for eradicating human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infections.

Compared to similar-acting agents, EBC-46 excels at activating dormant cells where HIV is hiding, the study found. These “kicked” cells can then be targeted (“killed”) by immunotherapies to fully clear the insidious virus from the body. By pursuing this “kick and kill” strategy with EBC-46, researchers think achieving permanent elimination of HIV in patients – in other words, a cure – is possible. (Source: news.stanford.edu)