Tara C. Smith
Associate Professor, lab rat (microbiologist/infectious disease epidemiologist) and occasional blogger, full-time nerd.
tsmith
Posts by this author
January 27, 2006
This time giving $900 million to fight tuberculosis.
Microsoft Corp.'s founder Bill Gates pledged $900 million to fight tuberculosis on Friday, kick-starting a $31 billion funding drive against a disease which kills one person every 15 seconds.
Tuberculosis has reached alarming proportions in…
January 26, 2006
This has already been written up by the MSM (such as this article), so I'll just quote a bit from them:
Circulation of money may predict pandemics
A popular U.S. Web site that tracks the geographical circulation of money could offer new insights into predicting the spread of infectious diseases…
January 26, 2006
Okay, normally I would write this story (Christian Scientists Prepare to Battle Bird Flu With Prayer) off as just some wacky religious folks going about their business. Not my cup o' tea, but to each their own, I guess. But this part is chilling:
Then there is the question of what Christian…
January 25, 2006
(Subtitle: There is no spoon...)
Oh, those crazy Aussies. What will they think of next?
The case of the disappearing teaspoons: longitudinal cohort study of the displacement of teaspoons in an Australian research institute
Objectives To determine the overall rate of loss of workplace teaspoons…
January 25, 2006
Well, at least there seems to be some progress in terrorism preparedness plans. Apparently, the Department of Homeland Security has a program ready to prepare children for disasters.
After more than a year of delays, the Department of Homeland Security says it plans to launch a preparedness…
January 25, 2006
I wrote about a recent study investigating a possible connection between melatonin and the development of breast cancer here last week. coturnix--who knows this field much, much better than I--has more discussion on serotonin, melatonin, and their role in health and disease over here at…
January 25, 2006
Day 1: History of Pandemic Influenza.
Day 2: Our adventures with avian flu.
Day 3: Challenges to pandemic preparedness
Day 4: 1918 influenza virus reconstructed
Day 5: How ready are we, and what can YOU do?
Many more influenza posts can be found at this link.
January 24, 2006
It seems I may have spoken too soon. Quoting myself:
One historical event that has been the subject of much speculation over the decades has been the Plague of Athens, a mysterious outbreak that is thought to have changed the direction of the Peloponnesian War, and for which the cause still…
January 24, 2006
So, like Kevin over at No Se Nada, this started out as a comment on his avian flu policymaking post but got rather wordy, so I'm spinning it off over here. For those keeping track, the initial volley was this post, but previous discussion was had over here as well (and this post discussed some of…
January 23, 2006
This week's Grand Rounds is up over at Kevin, M.D. I forgot to submit a post, but this week's edition is certainly not suffering from my absence. Check out this week's collection of the best posts in the medical blogosphere.
January 23, 2006
I asked awhile back for some of your thoughts on improving science education, particularly in the U.S. In yesterday's NY Times, there was a story about discussing one measure that might help in this area:
The measure, backed by the Bush administration and expected to pass the House when it returns…
January 23, 2006
See, it's posts like this (and many of the comments that follow; hat tip to Mike) that make me worry about "bird flu." I'm more concerned about the inaccurate information and attacks on those who work in the field (and the effect this may have on public acceptance of real public health advice)…
January 23, 2006
Two new big stories regarding AIDS: some good, some bad. First, the good. It's been reported that a single-pill, once-a-day AIDS treatment may be available by the end of the year. Though the drug regimen to treat AIDS is less oppressive than it was a decade ago, it's still a difficult and…
January 21, 2006
Is that even a verb? I know it's appropriate to say "Slashdotted" and "Farked" and stuff, but I don't think I've ever heard the appropriate term for having a link on boing boing. Anyway, thanks to them for mentioning the Scienceblogs collective on their site, and welcome to folks following their…
January 21, 2006
Well, the cost of living, anyway. Apparently, enough so to draw away even those coast-y people...
With East and West Coast residents struggling to cope with high real estate prices and other costs, some are now moving to far less "exciting areas" like that of the Midwest.
"Less exciting?" Bah. I…
January 20, 2006
I'm late to the party, but Chad over at Uncertain Principles put out a call for great experiments/observations in our fields. Like others have said, that's a tough one, so I thought I'd first run through some of the highlights and big breakthroughs in the fields of microbiology and infectious…
January 20, 2006
Check out tonight's InfidelGuy radio program (airs at 8PM EST) featuring Barbara Forrest.
Dr. Barbara Forrest, author of "Creationism's Trojan Horse" reappears on the program to discuss her thoughts about design, evolution, and the recent court case heard in Dover, Pennsylvania. Dr. Forrest…
January 20, 2006
Carl Zimmer over at The Loom has post discussing Toxoplasma, and how it can affect behavior--and may play a role in the development of schizophrenia. (Check out his post for the details).
As Zimmer mentions, this is a controversial hypothesis. Though support is growing for acceptance of the…
January 19, 2006
You just never know where the next insight is going to come from. An observation that surfers with cystic fibrosis (a genetic disease that results in mucus build-up in the lungs leading to an increased susceptibility to infection) reported breathing easier after spending time out on the water…
January 19, 2006
Radio Open Source, after a number of requests, has done a program on avian influenza. You can listen to the broadcast here. The guests on the program include:
William Karesh
Veterinarian
Head of the Field Veterinary Program of the Wildlife Conservation Society
David Swayne
Veterinarian
Director…
January 19, 2006
Buridan of Buridan's ass has some discussion about Vedic creation in America (Short EvoWiki blurb on vedic creationism.), linking an article that claims
Prominent I.D. theorists (Philip Johnson, Michael Behe) and some Catholic creationists have endorsed Vedic creationism.
Afraid of kickin' anyone…
January 19, 2006
Mike the Mad Biologist has some worrisome new findings on Acinetobacter, an emerging bacterial pathogen that has cropped up in the Middle East and Mexico. Mike discusses a new study on Acinetobacter genomics, showing that it has an island with 45 resistance genes, and that it's resistant to damn…
January 18, 2006
I generally don't discuss a lot of politics on here. It's not that it's a topic I'm uninterested in; it's just that, for the most part, other people do it so much better than I do, so I leave a lot of it to them. There are, of course, exceptions. Intelligent design is much more of a cultural and…
January 18, 2006
...is up over at GreyThumb blog. Check out some of the best online science writing in a variety of fields.
January 17, 2006
As noted in the comments to his post, Cervantes over at Stayin' Alive has written a "depressingly excellent" summary of the state of health in Iraq as we approach the 3-year post-invasion mark. To put it mildly, it ain't a pretty picture.
Iraq, public health
January 17, 2006
...be prepared to take some disinfectants along for the ride.
One thing that is a total geek-out for me is reading about ecology. It's one of the areas I wish I'd taken more coursework on back in college. At the time, it didn't much interest me--studying species interactions was boring, and…
January 17, 2006
For anyone unfamiliar with Grand Rounds in the blogosphere, it's a medical blog carnival. With posts submitted by doctors, patients, and generally medically-interested readers, there's usually a little something for everyone. This week's edition is located over at GruntDoc (you can read some…
January 16, 2006
Malaria is one of mankind's oldest known killers, with descriptions of the disease dating back almost 5000 years. Each year, malaria causes 300-500 million infections, and up to 3 million deaths--about 5000 Africans die of the disease every day; one child succumbs every 30 seconds. The disease is…
January 16, 2006
Artwork by Plognark, available at CafePress (link on the site). While you're there, bug him to get his evolution primer finished.
January 15, 2006
As I write this at 2AM sitting under annoying fluorescent lights, am I increasing my risk of developing breast cancer? Maybe, according to a recent study showing that melatonin-depleted blood can spur the growth of mammary tumors:
The increased breast cancer risk in female night shift workers has…