science outreach
sa smith | November 21, 2012Ask anyone who has stood up to quacks/charlatans/nutbars-- Crazy people be CRAZY.
Someone tries to educate the public, move their field, shine a candle in a demon haunted world, stand up for what they think is right, and they are rewarded with insane emails (check!), often including threats of physical violence (check!), badgering emails to ones employers (check, like, times eleventy!), which inevitably escalate into legal bullying (stifling free-speech by issuing false DMCAs, filing lawsuits with the intent of bankrupting the opposition, exploiting bullshit libel laws in backwards countries…
sa smith | October 30, 2012YAY!
Author Carl Zimmer: Our Viral Future from Singularity Institute on FORA.tv
ONE QUIBBLE: Viruses are not 'bad news wrapped in protein'. The vast vast vast majority of the viruses out there want nothing to do with humans at all. Even the ones that do infect humans, lots dont actually cause us any real harm, or when they do, it is by accident (HSV causing cancer). We exist today because of viruses, and they will be saving us from genetic/acquired/pathogenic diseases now and in the future. Even the ones that do harm us can be domesticated for 'good'.
Vilification of all viruses is…
sa smith | August 22, 2012The Thinking Atheist did a show last night on 'A world full of woo'-- I stopped by for a few minutes to talk about anti-vaxers, but there is a lot more to the episode, including an interview with Dr. Harriet Hall!
TA is super-- Last year he recorded and produced all of the videos for FreeOK. He said my presentation for FreeOK2 should be up in a couple of weeks, but in the mean time, here is TA--
And here is Teresa MacBain!
* MENDOZAAAAA!!!
sa smith | June 9, 2012Two weeks till FreeOK! You can grab tickets in advance HERE.
My talk will be: "How I learned to stop worrying and love viruses"
The visceral, negative emotions one pins to viruses are antiquated-- Viruses are a part of you. They have protected you since birth. They might just save your life sometime in the near future.
The organizers have also arranged a semi-official after-party in the Holiday Inn conference center-- RSVP on their facebook page so they can get an idea of how many people are coming!!
sa smith | May 23, 2012HAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I feel like Stewie Griffin. I DONT LIKE CHANGE!!!
Give us a minute, we will figure it out (hey, I figured how to get pages of comments so Our Epic Threads dont take over 9000 years to load! dont have to top it off at 5K!!!)
In the mean time, Skeptics of Oz have my talk uploaded! Its broken up into the first half (my talk), the second half (the Q&A), and then a little third part to finish off the Q&A!
sa smith | May 1, 2012Several years ago, my friend Karl Mamer at Conspiracy Skeptic had me on to talk about HIV Denial.
A couple days ago, I was finally back to talk a bit about the science and politics of XMRV!
Make sure you listen to the very end to catch Arnies surprise cameo appearance! PUPPAH NO LIKE KITTEH!!!!! MUST NOM KITTEH!!!!!!
sa smith | April 25, 2012Skeptics of Oz was great--
Sean Gillespie asked me if I had any requirements/requests to speak, I gave him my usual rider:
Sean didnt just fill a brandy glass with brown M&Ms... He filled huge Richard Dawkins Foundation coffee mug with brown M&Ms!
AWESOME!
Sean was just a fantastic organizer, overall. On several occasions things were not going *exactly* according to plan, and without missing a beat, Sean smoothly resolved the situation. Hes obviously a doer, not a talker, and I was impressed.
The speaker line-up obviously reflected his personality, as each and every speaker was…
sa smith | April 6, 2012Skeptics of Oz:
FREE EVENT
April 21 - 22
Forum Theater
147 South Hillside Street, Wichita, KS 67211
Speaker lineup
Im going to be speaking at 2 pm on "How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Viruses" - Sure some viruses are 'scary', but modern domesticated viruses are what make our vaccines work, treat our cancers, and are curing our genetic defects. Dont be so scared of viruses.
FreeOK2
$10 EVENT
June 23
Tulsa Convention Center - Assembly Hall
100 Civic Center, Tulsa, OK 74103
Speaker lineup
Im going to be speaking at 2.30 about something. Probably involving viruses. :P
The ever awesome…
sa smith | March 18, 2012
Keep this one in your bookmarks for when someone tells you "AWWWWWW! UR JUST MAKING A CARICATURE OF CHRISTIANS! NO ONE ACTUALLY ACTS LIKE THAT!"
Yeah, that guy was for real.
The debate actually makes more sense if you watch it with the nonsensical closed captions turned on.
He is a real Evangelical Christian who, with his intellectual-equal wife, hold political sway in this state.
It. Is. Disgusting.
So why do something like this? Why give this jackass another forum? Why give the appearance of 'debate'?
1-- It was fun.
2-- Young one after young one who came up to me afterwords, SO…
sa smith | March 15, 2012Just a reminder for those of you in the OKC area that I will be debating Steve Kern (infamous husband of infamous Sally Kern) on the topic of Intelligent Design tonight!
Some of Kerns homies advertised for the event too:
Oklahoma Conservative Political Action Committee
* THURSDAY EVENING - OKC AREA - Dr. Steve Kern, pastor of Olivet Baptist Church in OKC, will be debating an OU graduate student this Thursday evening, 7:00 p.m. on the question, "Should Intelligent Design be taught to our children in public schools? The debate will be held in the College Union on the campus of Oklahoma…
sa smith | February 28, 2012Second Annual Hot-Button Debate
The Oklahoma City chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State will host its second annual hot-button debate on Thursday, March 15, 2012, starting at 7:00pm and ending by 8:30pm. The location will be on the campus of Oklahoma City Community College (OCCC)...
The debaters will be Abbie Smith voicing opposition to the resolution: "Intelligent Design should be taught in public school science classrooms".
Debating in favor of the resolution will be Dr. Steve Kern of Olivet Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. http://www.olivetbaptistokc.com/
That…
sa smith | January 2, 2012Oh my gawd this is so fun!
You know how we are always screaming online about some stupid thing Jenny McCarthy or Bill O'Reilly has said/done? A group of folks at Sense About Science have gotten together some of the stupid, if not outright dangerous 'potentially misleading' things celebrities have said about earth science/heath/diet/etc and matched them up with real explanations from real scientists/educated people within the appropriate field.
PDF-- Celebrities and Science 2011
It includes a couple of my pet-peeves-- 'boosting' your immune system and mega-dosing on vitamins in the absence of…
sa smith | September 16, 2011Because I am a cliche absent minded scientist, I completely forgot that I had tickets to Austin City Limits this year, until my passes came in the mail like last week :-/
Like, I 'remembered', but I thought it was in October or something... I dunno what my brain was doing...
Im too busy in the lab to go anyway, and I am too busy doing fun outreach activities!
1-- Stillwater Public Library, 10 am (central) Saturday 9-17
Need something fun for the kids to do on a rainy, dreary day? Ill be giving a talk to children and their parents about my research (what vaccines are, how they work, and how…
vlicata | September 4, 2011The "Dance Your Ph.D." contest is on again for 2011. This unusual and highly interesting experiment in science outreach continues to be shepherded by John Bohannon, and continues to attract new sponsors -- this years sponsor is TEDx Brussels.
So what is this? Basically: you create an interpretive dance that "explains" your Ph.D. research and videotape it. Sounds easy, eh? No words, no powerpoint, just dancing. And you want the audience to walk away with a reasonable understanding of what you did or are currently doing your Ph.D. on. Send in a video and John will collect them all on his…
sa smith | August 30, 2011Vincent Racaniello, the fellow who literally wrote the textbook on viruses, had me and Rich Condit on his show this week to talk about viruses!
Its a little different than the podcasts I normally do-- normally these are really targeted towards a very general audience. Vincents show is more like you all getting to eavesdrop on some virology nerds talking about virology :)
TWiV 146: Draco's potion
We covered the DRACO paper, and another paper that investigated why an HIV-1 vaccine didnt work (it kinda did?), and virology blogging, and then I had to go back to work so Vince and Rich chatted…
sa smith | August 12, 2011YAAAAAAAAAY!!!
A *big* "THANK YOU!!" to The Thinking Atheist for recording and producing these videos (all of the speeches will be up on his YouTube channel). He brought all the equipment, the audio is great, the video is great, he integrated in the slides from my PowerPoint, dealt with uploading everything to YouTube (I know thats a headache), and on top of it all, he was a super sweet guy. And youll be able to see that for yourself when his speech gets uploaded!!
THANK YOU!!!
sa smith | August 9, 2011It gets lonely here in virus town.
Its like me... and Vincent... and... me...
So Im always happy to stumble across another virology blag, especially ones written by fellow grad students!
Rule of 6ix
:uncovering the science behind viruses, vaccines and what it means for us
Bamford doesnt post super often, but check out the side bar in his archive to get caught up on some cool topics that I have *not* covered in that kind of depth before here on ERV (and sometimes havent covered at all!).
And actually, while we are talking about it-- If you know of some other virus blogs out there, leave a…
sa smith | August 4, 2011This is, quite possibly, the biggest science journalism fail in the history of ever.
IN THE HISTORY OF EVER.
*heavy sigh*
OKAY, when we discover new drugs and antivirals and such, we usually dont build these pharmaceuticals from scratch. We steal them from evolution, and try to make them *better* for *our* purposes in the lab-- modify them, concentrate them, purify them, until we have a new drug.
You dont go suck on a tree if you have a headache-- you pop a couple aspirin.
You dont get a prescription for moldy bread when you have a sinus infection-- you pop a couple antibiotics.
We are…
sa smith | July 29, 2011Just in case you missed it on Sunday, you can now download/stream my talk on HIV-1 with Skeptically Speaking!
#122 HIV and AIDS
BONUS: This recording includes a chat with Dr. Peter Leone on HPV too!
sa smith | July 29, 2011Me, about three weeks ago:
Super Awesome influenza antibodies: Slightly more helpful than Super Awesome HIV antibodies
This morning:
Scientists hail the prospect of a universal vaccine for flu
One antibody to bind them all-- An antibody that recognizes all strains of influenza A could be a universal vaccine blueprint.
Universal flu vaccine a 'step closer'
Universal Flu Vaccine On The Horizon: Researchers Find 'Super Antibody'
Flu "super antibody" may bring universal shot closer
Weve had broadly neutralizing antibodies in HIV World for like, 20 years now. We still dont have an HIV-1…