Tara C. Smith
Associate Professor, lab rat (microbiologist/infectious disease epidemiologist) and occasional blogger, full-time nerd.
tsmith
Posts by this author
April 30, 2006
I am soooo going to show this trick to my kids.
Candy + pop + science = perfect combination. Even better than sparking wintergreen lifesavers. (And this one doesn't involve blowing up stuff that could actually, y'know, really harm you).
And finally, since I've not participated in poetry…
April 29, 2006
More topics I'd have covered this week, given endless time and energy:
An update on the Chikungunya outbreak I discussed here (and see this comment on the outbreak from a medical entomologist in the region dealing with it first-hand).
Orac on viruses as cancer treatment, inspired by a recent…
April 28, 2006
Oooh, fun. I have a stack of smelly plates waiting for me in the incubator...but Janet's ABC meme is more interesting. Answers below the fold.
Accent: Midwest, so what most people think of when they say "American accent." Did start saying "waaa-ter" and "cawww-fee" a bit too much after…
April 28, 2006
Okay, one more post and I swear I'll stop talking about sex/sexiness for awhile. A reader sent me a link to this page: the real hot 100.
We're tired of the media telling young women how to be "hot"! Maxim Magazine's annual "Hot 100" list exemplifies how young women are viewed in popular culture…
April 28, 2006
After hitting on the topic of sexy scientists earlier in the week, this one is kind of the flip side. I probably don't need to tell this audience that a lot of biology ain't exactly glamorous. Sure, there are biologists out there who never have to get their hands dirty, but many of us routinely…
April 28, 2006
Nanotechnology. What does it mean to you? How does it affect health? Does the phrase only conjure up images of Crichton-esque nanobots with a sinister motive?
Nanotechnology is a field defined solely by its size. By definition, it involves the manufacture and manipulation of materials at the…
April 27, 2006
You talk to your expectorated matter. In "science-ese." At least, by that post anyway, there's no evidence it was expected to reply...
April 27, 2006
A new edition of the Skeptics' Circle is up at Science and Politics. Nice setup: "Effects of uncritical thinking on neuronal death in users and non-users of the baloney detection kit: a review of recent literature."
April 26, 2006
Check out an all-new Carnival of Education and Tangled bank (oooh, Star Wars theme!).
Finally, don't forget about next week's Animalcules, to be hosted over at Discovering Biology in a Digital World. Send submissions to me or Sandra (sandy at geospiza dot com) next Wednesday, May 3rd.…
April 26, 2006
Novel Swine Influenza Virus Subtype H3N1, United States
In several of my influenza posts, I've discussed ways that the viruses can evolve. These are termed "antigenic drift," where the virus accumulates small mutations in the RNA genome; and antigenic shift, where large sections of the genome are…
April 26, 2006
Both RPM and Chad beat me to posting this survey [edited to add: and Janet too! Freakin' quick triggers...] which I've had in my drafts box for almost 2 weeks now. So, before absolutely everyone else beats me to it, I thought I'd pose the questions to y'all, and see how you would answer the…
April 25, 2006
...whereby the Catholic church may be more accepting of condom use (and discussion thereof) than some American "sex education" classes.
April 25, 2006
Yeah, I think the title about covers it.
This week's Grand Rounds is up over at The Health Business blog. A few posts I'd like to highlight this week: this one at inkycircus about a pinworm infestation, complete with video link. (Probably not for the faint of heart!)
How evil (ew ew ew ew) is…
April 25, 2006
Have some money to burn? Don't get enough creationist readings on teh intraweb? How about getting a Master's Degree in "Creation Science?" After all, it's academically rigorous:
Each MS candidate is required to take six science education courses, three science courses and two electives.…
April 24, 2006
coturnix highlights a new blog devoted to "sexy scientists." All I have to say is--can it top the hotties that are already members of the Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists?
April 24, 2006
So, I've had this research article on multiple drug-resistant Salmonella in the drafts section for about a week now, waiting for me to do a bit of background research before commenting on it. (Anything involving Salmonella always makes me a bit hesitant--one almost needs a PhD on the bacterium…
April 24, 2006
This was mentioned in the comments here, but I wanted to draw attention to it in a main post as well. Clark has started a new carnival for pediatric health issues. As he notes:
A popular saying in pediatrics is that children aren't just little adults. The wisdom of taking this to heart when…
April 22, 2006
Again, I never get to discuss all the topics I find interesting. So to keep you busy over the weekend, check out a few that I didn't have time to emphasize this week:
Neurotopia on the zombies among us.
Orac's series on medicine and evolution:
Part 1Part 2Part 3Part 4Part 4a
New studies suggesting…
April 21, 2006
Skeptics warn bird flu fears are overblown
Doomsday predictions about bird flu seem to be spreading faster than the virus itself. But a small group of skeptics say the bird flu hype is overblown and ultimately harmful to the public's health.
There's no guarantee bird flu will become a pandemic, and…
April 21, 2006
California woman hospitalized with plague
Health officials in Los Angeles have confirmed the city's first human case of bubonic plague in more than two decades.
They say a woman, who was not identified, was admitted April 13 with a fever, swollen lymph nodes and other symptoms. A blood test…
April 20, 2006
Though much of the attention to and reports of intelligent design/creationist shenanigans come from the United States, we're certainly not the only ones inundated with deniers of evolution and other sciences. A self-described UK evolution "sceptic" is journalist Melanie Phillips, who writes for…
April 20, 2006
So, it was a gorgeous afternoon yesterday. I picked up the kids, grabbed my laptop, and was planning on doing some writing outside while they played until dinnertime.
Curses, foiled again.
That would be anhydrous ammonia, across the road from our house. Not exactly fun to be outside when…
April 20, 2006
I've discussed preparedness issues previously (like here, here, here, here, and here, for instance), and noted that we're still sorely unprepared for an outbreak of pandemic influenza. It's also been a frequent topic at Effect Measure, and of course at the flu wiki. What's largely been discussed…
April 20, 2006
Check out the latest edition of Animalcules over at The Biotech Weblog. It's a bit small this round, so that means we have 2 needs: 1) more submissions, and while I'm at it, 2) additional hosts. (The schedule can be found here). Drop me a line if there's a date that would work for you.
April 19, 2006
Pandas Thumb contributors Andrea Bottaro, Matt Inlay, and Nick Matzke have a new article in Nature Immunology. As summarized, "Immunology had an unexpected and decisive part in challenging the claims of 'Intelligent Design' proponents at the US trial on the teaching of evolution in public schools…
April 19, 2006
This is too good to be lost in the comments. Letterman's Top Ten list for April 17th was "Top Ten Features Of President Bush's Bird Flu Pandemic Plan." The list is below the fold.
10. Hang "Mission Accomplished" sign in every Kentucky Fried Chicken
9. Torture some Perdue employees until they…
April 19, 2006
Lingerie makes hagglers happy-go-lucky
Quoth the Nature summary:
It seems that the more macho a man is -- at least according to his hormones -- the more the sight of an attractive woman will affect his judgement.
Researchers at the University of Leuven in Belgium asked men to play an ultimatum game…
April 19, 2006
According to msnbc:
Normally adventurous Chinese diners are eating fewer owls, civets and other wildlife due to fears of SARS and bird flu, according to a survey released Tuesday by U.S. and Chinese conservation groups.
The survey of 24,000 people in 16 cities found that nearly 72 percent had not…
April 19, 2006
(I was planning on mentioning this yesterday, but hadn't heard yet about exactly how the author--Ciryaquen--wanted credited.)
As you can see, the new banner's up. I just wanted to thank everyone for the entries--it was a tough choice; there are a bunch of talented people out there, and I really…
April 18, 2006
Coturnix has a really good overview of what's found on various science blogs, for anyone new to the genre or just looking for some new blogs. It's a pretty extensive discussion of different categories, with examples of each.
He also notes:
I'd like to see more bloggers post hypotheses and pilot…