science outreach
sa smith | February 6, 2016Listen, nobody thinks the guy who 'cured Charlie Sheen of HIV' cured Charlie Sheen of HIV.
Even Charlie Sheen.
Dr Sam
I was with u in
Mexico for
1 day.
It's illegal for u
to practice in
U.S.A. where u
treated me for 2 months
© https://t.co/lKv6YPYdhm
— Charlie Sheen (@charliesheen) February 1, 2016
... But what if he could, tho?
What would this super awesome therapy THE MAN doesnt want you to know about look like? How would it work?
That would be a fun and educational game to play!
Okay, to play this game you first have to understand what 'CAEV' is. Caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus is a…
sa smith | December 20, 2014Ive mentioned this technology on ERV before:
Saving the American Chestnut tree from extinction with GMOs
Well the scientists involved think they have finally done it. They have finally made American Chestnut trees resistant to the blight that is literally driving the species to extinction:
Breakthrough at SUNY-ESF: Genetic engineering may save the nearly extinct American chestnut
After 25 years of research, a pair of professors at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry say they have used a gene from wheat to create an American chestnut that could withstand the blight that wiped…
sa smith | November 6, 2014Attention those of you in the Atlanta area!
The students in Kennesaw State University Atheists United have invited Richard Dawkins to speak on campus, and they are opening up their event to the public!
Tickets are available for purchase HERE!
Im gonna get him to sign our Nightwish poster!!! :-D
sa smith | October 21, 2014Remember how I said my lab wanted to do a PPE response video to Sanjay Guptas terrifying attempt? But we couldnt for liability reasons?
Now there is an even better option! We can all take a peek into how Ebola patients are treated at Emory University, and get to see their protocols for putting on/taking off PPE:
Emory Healthcare launches Ebola protocols website as resource on prevention and patient care
But before you can see their videos, you have to 1) register, and 2) agree not to hold Emory University responsible if you get infected with Ebola.
The information provided on this site,…
sa smith | October 20, 2014October 2012, I got to see Nightwish at a small venue in OKC.
1-- This was one of the first nights Floor Jansen was officially the New Singer for Nightwish. She blew me away.
2-- This was a *tiny* venue. Nightwish fills huge stadiums and auditoriums all over the world, but OKC? Teeny venue. And that band played for us the same way they would have played for an audience of thousands. They *WAILED*.
3-- It was my partners birthday, and while the security guys couldnt let us backstage, he did get us an autographed poster:
They are an extremely talented group of musicians and singers, and just…
sa smith | October 19, 2014Some time last Tuesday, that strange sound you heard was thousands of scientists screaming in agony, and smashing their heads against the nearest keyboard/desk/wall. Good lord, Sanjay. Good lord. What is wrong with you?
This video is like the scientific equivalent of 'Two girls one cup'. After you saw it, youd run and show your friends, just to see them writhing in horror.
"What is this now? Why are you taping my reaction? Okay. Huh. I dunno... I dunno... Wait. What is he doing with the chocolate sauce?.... No. NO! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD! WHY??? AHHHHHH!!! WHAT IS HE DOING???? AHHHHHH!!! WHY…
sa smith | September 14, 2014LOL!
Former blag-brother Kevin, along some friends from Harvard, have an independent website set up for educating the public about immunology:
Emmunity.org
They have a page I will link to many times in the future, describing the basic cellular components of the immune system, as well as another page filled with animations explaining some tricks those cells like to perform.
They also have a fantastic podcast: Audiommunity
I was super excited when they invited me on to talk about the Immunity Project, specifically, the paper that group just published.
*SPOILER* As four scientists working in…
sa smith | July 2, 2014As those of us in the US are planning our holiday weekend, I wanted to make sure you all know that Trolling With Logic will be doing a 24 hour charity show to raise funds for Engineers Without Borders!
I had a marvelous time chatting with them back in January, so I jumped at the opportunity to help! I will be chatting about the usual topics at 9 am EST on July 6th.
I will update this post with more info/links as they become available!
carlyo | February 17, 2014By: Nancy Trang
USA Science & Engineering Festival X-STEM Coordinator
Snow may have kept many people at home on Saturday, Feb. 15, 2014 but not the young aspiring scientists from USA Science & Engineering Festival X-STEM School Patriot High School (PHS) in Nokesville, Virginia. The PHS Science National Honor Society (SNHS) organized a free science education event, called Super Science Saturday, for 2nd-7th graders from around the community. The event which took place at the Bull Run Regional Library, was organized by the members of the SNHS to educate kids about science and to…
sa smith | January 20, 2014Trolling with Logic had me on on Saturday to talk about HIV! They already got the video uploaded-- audio only will be ready soon!
sa smith | December 11, 2013Only a couple days left to get Monty Harpers next science-songs-for-kids album funded!
In case I have not made this clear in the past, I really appreciate Montys approach to exposing kids to science.
He does not dumb things down. He demands that the scientists he works with do *not* dumb down their science 'for kids'. When I worked with him for a program at the Stillwater Public Library, this approach did not lead to confused, bored kids-- It lead to really freaking great questions from kids.
And kids need to be exposed to *real science*. Not Erlenmeyer flasks of bubbling green liquid '…
sa smith | December 2, 2013WHOO!
FREE book on GMOs, written by actual scientists and farmers, compiled by a former anti-GMOer who is now convinced of GMOs utility:
The Lowdown on GMOs: According to Science
I found out about this book from two of my friends, Karl Haro von Mogel and Anastasia Bodnar. These two were part of founding Biofortified (The Pandas Thumb of plant genetics) and are actual scientists (not just random people on the internet with an opinion).
But you can learn more about the other authors from David Tribe (another actual scientist and contributor to the book).
In a world where some are willing to…
sa smith | December 1, 2013Hey guys!
Monty Harper is trying to raise funds to do ANOTHER 'Songs from the Science Frontier'!
Not only does he have some great rewards for donations (for $15, you get the songs, totally reasonable), he has got a bunch of new donation bonuses up for Cyber Monday, like including your kids voice in one of the songs for a $100 donation!
Volume I is super fun, and I really hope he makes the Kickstarter deadline for a Volume II!
sa smith | November 8, 2013I dont know about you all, but I love those infographic things people create. They make statistics a lot more understandable and relatable than a chart of black-and-white numbers. Here is a cool one that turns devastating diseases into really pretty graphics ;)
An infographic by the team at Online Masters In Public Health
vlicata | May 19, 2013I was discussing SciArt on several occasions with different people recently and was fishing for a way to classify different SciArt in order to make a particular point - the point being that the type of SciArt I find most interesting and valuable is in the minority. Basically, it seems there are 3 (or maybe 4) general types of SciArt: informational, inspirational, and degradational. I should note that mostly I am talking about SciArt that is performed - mostly plays and movies. Although probably some variant of this can be applied to visual arts or music and such.
Degradational is when the…
sa smith | February 8, 2013I dont know why he took it down, but Ricky Gervais Tweeted the following a few days ago:
Any virologists or medical experts out there? What WOULD win out of AIDS & Rabies?
Maybe he took it down because he thought it was insensitive or something, but I think its a totally normal, valid question for a layman to have!
What WOULD win out of AIDS & Rabies steel-cage death-match????
First, a clarification. AIDS is the syndrome caused by infection by HIV-1. HIV-1 is the virus, not AIDS :)
Who would win in an HIV-1 vs rabies battle depends on how they are 'battling', and what signifies a '…
sa smith | February 6, 2013I recently got to chat with the guys of Skeptiles this weekend about viruses, vaccines/anti-vaxers, HIV, HepC, Creationists-- We were all over the place, and it was so much fun!
Skeptiles: Episode 21 – Abbie Smith
sa smith | January 21, 2013I love viruses.
And so should you.
:-D
Once again, a BIG THANK YOU to The Thinking Atheist for putting this together and uploading it for us!!!
1-- I never talk more than 30-35 minutes, because that is the extent of my attention-span :-/ Which leaves at least 10 minutes for a Q&A!
2-- They didnt record the Q&A :-/ Which sucks because the audience always has THE BEST QUESTIONS. THE BEST QUESTIONS! Its always my favorite part of any presentation. Laymen never give themselves enough credit-- often prefacing their question with 'This is probably a dumb question...' NO! Theyre always…
sa smith | December 5, 2012We all are familiar with the headlines:
"SCIENTISTS SAY BROCCOLI CURES CANCER????"
We all also know that pop-science articles are, functionally, useless. Sometimes its editors manipulating article titles to make them more 'catchy', sometimes journalists trying to stir up controversy, sometimes its scientists and PR departments trying to oversell interesting (sometimes not so interesting) research.
Average Joes and Janes cant peruse a science/heath/technology section and be confident in what they are reading.
Does eating broccoli really cure cancer? Does eating broccoli prevent cancer? Or is…
sa smith | November 30, 2012Lets say you are a professional/expert on Topic X.
One day, you get a call from an Emmy winning, top day-time talk show. They want you to come on their show to talk about Topic X! "OMG!!! YAAAAAY!!!" you would surely be thinking. "A platform to educate the public about Topic X! Millions of people via TV, internet, just the exposure for Topic X, this is FANTASTIC!!!"
Now, lets say that Emmy winning, top day-time talk show is "Dr. Oz".
That 'opportunity to educate millions of people'?
If you are a regular reader of SciBlogs, you know that Dr. Oz utterly wasted our Pam Ronalds time when he had…