Blog Posts by AFP

By Mohammad Davari

TEHRAN — Iran has banned a popular computer game, "Battlefield 3", depicting US armour and aircraft launching an assault on Tehran, an Iranian IT magazine reported.

Battlefield 3 (EA)"All computer stores are prohibited from selling this illegal game," an unnamed deputy with the security and intelligence division of Iran's police said in a statement carried by the Asr-e Ertebat weekly.

A Tehran-based IT union warned all shops to abide by the ban.

"Battlefield 3", made by US videogame company Electronic Arts (EA), is based on a fictional near-future in which players take on the role of US Marines tackling shoot-em-up missions in Paris, New York and Tehran.

Online gamers have achieved a feat beyond the realm of Second Life or Dungeons and Dragons: they have deciphered the structure of an enzyme of an AIDS-like virus that had thwarted scientists for a decade.

Photo by AFPThe exploit is published on Sunday in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, where -- exceptionally in scientific publishing -- both gamers and researchers are honoured as co-authors.

Their target was a monomeric protease enzyme, a cutting agent in the complex molecular tailoring of retroviruses, a family that includes HIV.

Figuring out the structure of proteins is vital for understanding the causes of many diseases and developing drugs to block them.