What's it for? Putting an end to the world's Aids crisis

According to World Health Organisation figures, 40 million people had HIV in 2005, five million of whom were newly infected and three million of whom died from the disease. Sadly, though, a vaccine is still between 15 and 50 years away, with very little progress being made because of the complexities involved in the disease.

But there has been huge progress in terms of prevention. The latest development is microbiside, which is a gel that women apply before sex and prevents the infection of HIV - it's basically like a condom but much more fun to put on.

When's it expected by? 2009