Here’s some education for you on a Friday afternoon.

With the spread of viruses being such an issue, scientists and doctors the world over do endless research to find cures and origins.

In a more recent study done on the history and origins of HIV, information “highlights the importance of understanding the social forces that drive epidemics as well as the mechanics of viral transmission”. It makes questions arise, like the all important one of how the virus evolved from being carried by one species, to affecting another so incredibly.

“In a study published Thursday in Science, Pybus and colleagues investigated that question by analyzing HIV genomes gathered over the past 30 years from 814 people in central Africa. They compared these full sets of DNA and used them to reconstruct a tree of viral evolution, extrapolating backward into HIV’s murky pre-epidemic history.”

The HIV virus probably originally effected central African hunters who ate infected chimpanzees and other nonhuman primates. Delicious.

Remind me never to eat monkey.

Check out National Geographic for a crazy intelligent history lesson.