Chimpanzees get AIDS.

This is an important discovery, but what intrigues me most about it is how the discovery was made. It is a story of two kinds of science, both of which are essential to getting a deeper understanding of life, but which today are staggeringly out of balance.

In the 1960s, Jane Goodall carried out some of the first long-term studies on chimpanzees in the wild. Goodall made important observations, noting that chimpanzees can be surprisingly cooperative but also quite violent, with troops engaging in war-like conflicts.

Goodall’s research was part of a long tradition of going to where the animals are, and tracking them for years on end. Goodall didn’t take giant crates of lab equipment with her to Tanzania;