Tara C. Smith
Associate Professor, lab rat (microbiologist/infectious disease epidemiologist) and occasional blogger, full-time nerd.
tsmith
Posts by this author
July 19, 2006
Despite the fact that abortion is a public health issue, I don't write on it much. It's so emotionally charged, and I can only handle so many trolls at one time. However, regardless of one's position on abortion, we should be in agreement that women shouldn't be lied to at such a trying time--but…
July 19, 2006
Via EpiMonday comes an interview with epidemiologist and physican Larry Brilliant, who was tapped to be the head of Google.org ("the philanthropic arm of Google") earlier this year:
If Larry Brilliant's life were a film, critics would pan the plot as implausible. Trained as a physician, he was…
July 18, 2006
I've mentioned previously the role, or potential role, that bats play in disease transmission. They have long been suspected, and recently identified, as hosts for the Ebola virus. (Whether they're the main reservoir species and what--if any--role they play in transmission of the virus to…
July 18, 2006
Following this post about an outbreak of E. coli O157 at a daycare, I received a few emails asking thoughtful questions about food safety. One in particular asked about what food manufacturers are doing to keep their products safe, and what public health officials are doing to educate the public…
July 18, 2006
I've mentioned previously the "hygiene hypothesis", but don't think I've ever really discussed it. SEED writer Emily Anthes has a new article on the topic at the homepage.
July 17, 2006
Listeria monocytogenes is a gram-positive, rod-shaped bacterium. It can be found in the environment as a soil inhabitant. However, it also can be a frequent contaminant of our food supply. As the latter, the bacterium is a significant public health concern, as it is capable of causing serious…
July 17, 2006
Even a microbiologist can't keep her kids well 100% of the time. Have a post scheduled for later today but that'll be it; hopefully things will be back to normal tomorrow. In the meantime, check out the newest edition of Pediatric Grand Rounds.
July 15, 2006
More interesting stories that I didn't get to this week...
Ewen is looking for volunteer producers for his radio show. If you're in his neck of the woods and would like to learn about science journalism, drop him a line.
Mike notes that MRSA is winning the war on drugs, due in part to dirty…
July 14, 2006
I was new to Iowa last summer, and not being much of a bicycle person, had never heard of RAGBRAI, the [Des Moines] Register's Annual Great Bicycle Race Ride Across Iowa. (Don't ask me why they didn't pick a catchier acronym). It's apparently a rather well-known ride, crossing Iowa from west to…
July 14, 2006
Check out the latest edition of Animalcules, the carnival of microbes, over at Science Matters. Additionally, for your macro organism fix, check out today's Friday ark.
July 14, 2006
John and Jason [edited; and Ed] quote from a John Derbyshire article discussing the wearying business of aruging with creationists:
Basically, it is a game of Whack-a-Mole. They make an argument, you whack it down. They make a second, you whack it down. They make a third, you whack it down. So they…
July 13, 2006
Here in the U.S., we've not found any high pathogenicity H5N1 influenza viruses, be it in our wild waterfowl, our domestic poultry, or our human population. But a recent story shows how quickly (and quietly) it could enter our country:
Officials investigate poultry from Troy warehouse
Michigan…
July 13, 2006
I mentioned in this post on Ebola that I thought the authors were doing a bit too much extrapolation regarding their statement that the evolution of sociality in hominids has been constrained by pathogens such as Ebola. I didn't elaborate on that topic because it's a bit too far afield from my…
July 13, 2006
Received this press release in my email: Rudd Center Creates Blog for Discussion, Debate of Obesity Epidemic"
The Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity at Yale goes live today with a blog that encourages people to discuss topics ranging from how advertising determines what children eat to what…
July 12, 2006
Some interesting public health stories on MSNBC today:
In the first, they highlight discrepancies in newborn testing between states.
States have nearly doubled the number of newborns being tested for a host of rare but devastating genetic diseases -- yet where you live still determines just how…
July 12, 2006
It was difficult for me to imagine that anyone could possibly be upset about the announcement that billionaire Warren Buffet had decided to team up with Bill Gates and donate billions of dollars to improve global health. Silly, naive little me; nothing should surprise me anymore, but this is…
July 12, 2006
The good Dr. Flea has taken some flack previously for comments he's made regarding the treatment of ear infections (or rather, the non-treatment of such). As he notes, most ear infections resolve without antibiotics. Despite this, ear infections are the most common illness for which children…
July 11, 2006
Longtime readers know of my fascination with Ebola. Much of it is fueled not by the fact that it's a major killer of humanity, because it's not: in 30 years, it's been responsible for a bit less than 2,000 human infections, and ~1,200 deaths. Bats have long been suspected to be a reservoir of…
July 11, 2006
If you're a parent, I'm sure you've had all kinds of people give you advice in myriad different areas. Many of them may be in-laws or friends or relatives with children themselves; or they might be strangers in the street with brilliant (or, not-so-intelligent) ideas on how to get your kid to stop…
July 11, 2006
Check it out over at Donorcycle. And while you're thinking about blog carnivals, don't forget to send a post along to Jen (jshoener AT princeton DOT edu) at Science Matters for the upcoming edition of Animalcules.
[Edited to add: Pediatrics Grand Rounds is looking for submissions, too...]
July 10, 2006
Summary of the comments on this thread in 6 exchanges, for your amusement.
July 10, 2006
As I mentioned here, it looks like there is additional rumbling over Ohio's education standards. Sunday's Columbus Dispatch has more information on the topic, and something just isn't right:
Colleen Grady, a board member from the Cleveland suburb of Strongsville, wants to add guidelines to the…
July 10, 2006
...but luckily, I'm set straight over at Effect Measure, where Revere completely refutes my silly notion of mutations in H5N1 by citing this excellent guest commentary in the Greely Tribune (where their top story today is about a hot dog from 1952). The commentary is titled "Bird flu a lame claim…
July 10, 2006
Ames, Iowa may not exactly be thought of as a major tourist destination, or sporting venue. Last week, however, it was both, as the host of the first ever Special Olympics USA National Games, with Ames serving as an "olympic village." Most of it went off rather smoothly, but it also became…
July 8, 2006
Holy cow, it's Saturday again already. Since this was a short week, I didn't have as much time for posts or for story-gathering, but there are still a few goodies I missed:
I was planning on highlighting this new research that showed, once again, no link between vaccination and development of…
July 7, 2006
As I've mentioned previously, I'm an Ohioan, born and bred. I was living in the state when all the Discovery Institute shenanigans were ongoing, resulting in the addition of a "critical analysis of evolution" lesson plan (which was removed this past February). Of course, that hasn't stopped the…
July 7, 2006
Those of you who have followed creationism/intelligent design literature over the years have probably felt as if you're living in an alternate universe sometimes. In that literature, many times it seems as if "up" means "down" and "highly supported by the evidence" means "a theory in crisis."…
July 6, 2006
This month's edition of Animalcules, a carnival highlighting blog posts on all things microbial, is coming up next week at Science Matters. You can send your entries to Jen (jshoener AT princeton DOT edu)--and while you're at it, check out an interview where she discusses, err, matters of science…
July 6, 2006
So, today apparently is "blog about diarrhea" day. Hope no one's eating lunch. (One of the upsides of being a microbiologist is that we can talk about blood and gore and bodily fluids while we eat and no one gets grossed out. Or, perhaps, that's a downside. Anyway, I digress...)
Two still…