Science education
Category archives for Science education
Using zombies to teach science
Posted by Tara C. Smith on July 16, 2012 With my colleague Greg Tinkler, I spent an afternoon last week at a local public library talking to kids about zombies: The Zombie Apocalypse is coming. Will you be ready? University of Iowa epidemiologist Dr. Tara Smith will talk about how a zombie virus might spread and how you can prepare. Get a list of…
Student posts 2012
Posted by Tara C. Smith on June 13, 2012 As long-term readers know, I’ve previously featured student posts on various topics of their own choosing. I’m doing it again this year with my summer course on Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology. In this course, students learn to take the theories and information from a basic ID epi course and apply them to real-world experiences–analyzing math…
Great editorial response to the Jumbotron ad
Posted by Tara C. Smith on April 25, 2011 The Times Square Jumbotron ad keeps trucking, and with it frustration from the medical and public health community. The American Academy of Pediatrics sent a letter to CBS Outdoors, asking them to pull the ad, to no avail. Rahul Parikh thinks it’s time to do more: We in medicine need more than letters and passive…
The Columbus Science Pub wants you!
Posted by Tara C. Smith on April 21, 2011 If there’s anyone living in the Columbus, OH, area who’s interested in getting involved (or more involved) in science outreach and the Science Cafe movement, now’s your chance. The Columbus Science Pub, which I started off back in September 2010 and which now boasts over 450 fans on Facebook, is looking for new leadership to…
Staph in food–what does it mean?
Posted by Tara C. Smith on April 19, 2011 As Maryn McKenna and others have reported, a paper was released on Friday showing a high percentage of drug-resistant Staphylococcus aureus contaminating raw, retail-available meat products. There has been a lot of media coverage of this finding–so what does the study say, and what are its implications? More after the jump.
Rock Stars of Science, part deux: coming to a GQ near you
Posted by Tara C. Smith on November 18, 2010 The second edition of the Rock Stars of Science is now out online, and in the November 23rd (“Men of the Year”) edition of GQ magazine. As Chris Mooney notes, this is a campaign funded by the Geoffery Beene Foundation, working to raise recognition of scientists’ work (and scientists, period, since roughly half of the…
New site–”History of Vaccines”
Posted by Tara C. Smith on October 4, 2010 This is great. The College of Physicians of Philadelphia has launched a site on The History of Vaccines. I’ve been poking around, and there’s an incredible amount of stuff to check out. They have a nice FAQ, Top 20 questions about vaccination, as well as some great activities (herd immunity! learn about Koch’s postulates! understand…
Women and Veterinary Medicine
Posted by Tara C. Smith on September 30, 2010 The Dog Zombie has an interesting post discussing women in vet med–and why there are so many. She notes that her school is only 12% male, versus more of an even distribution in med schools, and the recent discussion of gender imbalance in science blogging. This is interesting to me, as my personal vet is…
Moving science communication into the public sphere–how?
Posted by Tara C. Smith on September 27, 2010 Mike and David Dobbs both have great posts up discussing “whither rewards for scientists who communicate to the public?” This ended up being one of the themes of my recent SciencePub talk in Columbus–what are the incentives–and disincentives–to scientists for bringing their work to the public at large, rather than simply publishing in journals?
Speaking at Columbus Science Pub tonight–Science Denial & the Internet
Posted by Tara C. Smith on September 7, 2010 Just realized that I failed to mention this here, but I’m in the Buckeye state to give a talk at the first Columbus Science Pub get-together. All the details are at the link, but the quick rundown: Hampton’s on King 234 King Avenue Columbus, OH 7PM-whenever Hope to see a few of you there!