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Aetiology

Discussing causes, origins, evolution, and implications of disease and other phenomena.

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"...a veritable expert on tawdry cosmetic procedures gone horribly awry..."--Kevin Beck

Tara C. Smith is an Assistant Professor of Epidemiology. Her research involves a number of pathogens at the animal-human nexus. Additionally, she is the founder of Iowa Citizens for Science and also writes for The Panda's Thumb and WIRED SCIENCE's Correlations. Please note the views expressed on this site are Dr. Smith's alone and may not be representative of the groups mentioned above.

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Infectious Disease Series

Skepticism:

Elsewhere...

Busy here; good stuff other places to check out.

Did Yersinia pestis really cause Black Plague? Part 2: Examination of the criticisms

I discussed yesterday an "alternative" hypothesis for causation of the Black Death and subsequent plague outbreaks. How robust are those claims?

Denialism: "they don't remember"

How short our collective memories can be...

Belief doesn't protect you from being maimed by swords

Despite HIV deniers' claims to the contrary, one can't just disbelieve in something and be safe from harm, as graphically shown here...

Not again...

Superstition trumps science once again.

Vaccine by Arthur Allen

Everything you've ever wanted to know about the history (and current status) of vaccination.

Deck is stacked against "mythbusters"

Like we didn't already know this was difficult to do--new studies shed some light on why that is, and how to correct misinformation more effectively.

HIV denial article in PLoS Medicine

Since there are already several threads on HIV running, and I'm loathe to have another, I'll post this up for consumption but leave the comments for one of the other threads. While I was in New York over the weekend,...

HIV denial update #2: "alternative" treatments

Bet you didn't know the secret to good health could be found in your pants...

Campaign against HIV/AIDS denial featured in Science

While I was out last week, I completely missed this Science article all about HIV denial and the AidsTruth.org website, and features frequent commenter Richard Jeffreys: For 20 years, a small but vocal group of AIDS "dissenters" has attracted international...

Field trip to the Creation Museum

I mentioned I was back in Ohio last week. The occasion was the celebration of my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary, but while I was in the area, a number of us from Panda's Thumb also met up south of Cincinnati...

David Crowe takes it way beyond HIV denial

HIV "dissident" David Crowe is like the gift that just keeps on giving. Last year, I mentioned a paper he'd written in the journal Medical Hypotheses, suggesting that influenza serotype H5N1 doesn't exist. Well, it just keeps getting better. Now,...

Behe pwned again

Behe's "The Edge of Evolution" is officially on the shelves now, and already it's DOA.

Reporting on the Creation Museum...it all makes sense now

As a native Ohioan and longtime creationist watcher, of course I'm morbidly fascinated with (and dismayed by) the opening of the new Creation Museum just outside of Cincinnati. I'm not going to give a full response to its ridiculous "science;"...

Up is down, black is white...

It must be nice sometimes to live in alternative reality, like the science denial folks...

Yet another study shows no link between abortion and breast cancer

Surprise, surprise...science trumps ideology once again. What are the odds it will actually make a difference in policy?

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