August 6, 2008
Category: General Science
As I said in my chat with PZ on Blogging Heads, Im probably not the best person to talk to about the problems women face in science. Why? Meh, my parents have always encouraged me in the sciences (CONSTRUX WHOO!). They threw me on a bus, by myself, to Space Camp when I was 10. Aunts and uncles who live in The City would take me to museums and botanical gardens and state parks when Id visit them. I had great high school teachers and college professors for my science classes. Bossman has always made it perfectly clear that sexism against me is unacceptable, and to come to him if anything happens.
If Ive been discriminated against, Ive been too oblivious to notice.
Well... Except for one time. At one point during high school I was thinking about going into engineering. Big Bro is an engineer, and I loved math and science, so YAY! Engineering!
... Then I had a phone conversation with one of Bros professors.
A phone conversation that was supposed to convince me to go to Engineering University.
Yeah. Ive never felt so 'talked down to' my entire life. I hung up the phone, and called Biology University to accept the deal they offered me. Why go to Engineering University and deal with that crap every day, when Biology University made it clear that they would encourage my abilities?
So ERV is a biologist today. YAY! Its one of the best decisions Ive ever made. I am just so goddamn happy all the time because my research kicks so much ass. So Im pretty happy with the outcome of that one sexism incident.
Enter Dude-Who-Wants-To-Talk-About-Women-In-Science:
Read on »
Posted by ERV at 6:00 PM • 32 Comments
Category: HIV/AIDS
I complain about crappy science journalism a lot. So I better give journalists and scientists a high-five when they do something right-- And Nikhil Swaminathan dun gud. Sure Im annoyed at him for calling HIV-1 a 'bug' (people know what a virus is), but he asked Anthony Fauci the *right* questions (and Dr. Fauci gave the *right* answers :P)
HIV Vaccine Research: "Swimming in the Dark"
Swaminathan wanted to know why we dont have an HIV-1 vaccine, despite scientists promising one year after year after year. He wanted to know why making an HIV-1 vaccine was so hard (seriously, why could they make a polio vaccine 60 years ago, and we cant do the same thing with todays technology??). Why are all these HIV-1 vaccine trials failing? Why are they being canceled before they even start??
Practical questions and practical answers. Not the usual grandiose crap you get with HIV-1 pop-journalism. Good job, you two!
Posted by ERV at 1:15 PM • 7 Comments
Category: Theism
PZ officially wins the internet. He wins it. Its his.
A month ago, he did what any of us would do-- defended a kid from Reavers 'Catholics'. His reward? A month of bullshit. The Reavers 'Catholics' are still frothing at the mouth. But I guess Reavers 'Catholics' can hold a long grudge, the creepy, creepy author of this article is even still bitching about EXPELLED (I thought Catholics accepted evolution?). LOL!
Let it go, Reavers 'Catholics'. You lost this round. You didnt get away with assaulting a kid. You didnt get to fire a professor who refused to give Jesus blow-jobs. You lost.
For his part, Donohue called Myers "part egotist, part bigot -- his behavior is clearly designed to insult, hurt and intimidate Catholics.
Yeah, well, guess what
Reavers 'Catholics'. PZ hasnt raped a kid. Not even one. Hes still better than you.
On a side note, Creepy Mo-Fo is part of a Catholic organization called 'The Dignity of Women'. Their article is hysterical! Its like Catholic fan-fic! ROFL! But I couldnt help but notice that their speaker for 'Same Sex Attraction Disorder' is a 'female' named Dale. Sex-Change Fail.
Posted by ERV at 12:30 PM • 41 Comments
August 5, 2008
Category: Personal
Home again, home again, jiggety jog. Arnie and I are back in OK (on the way home we learned how The Evidence(TM) supports Creation!).
Unfortunately, teh puppahs arent as happy as I am. Arnie spent the entire week playing with my parents ~1 year old black lab, Daisy. From the second we arrived to the second I drug him out of the backyard, these two wrestled/chased/tug-of-wared. I actually didnt get much sleep on my 'vacation' because Arnie was up at 5 am every morning, wanting to play. His front paws are red and swollen from playing so much. He has rug burn on his tummy from wrestling on the carpet... I went to a wedding Saturday/Sunday, and normally Arnie has really bad separation anxiety, but he didnt give a crap this time. He had a new best buddy. He and Daisy were inseparable this past week.
They had a good time:
Read on »
Posted by ERV at 6:29 PM • 16 Comments
August 2, 2008
Category: Personal
Whoooo!
Thank you for your interest in the Noble Foundation's Workshop in Virus Evolution. Your abstract has been accepted for presentation as a POSTER. Registration for the meeting is now open...
Whoooo! My first conference! And is in... Ardmore... LOL! I have no idea why/how this workshop started, or why its in Ardmore Oklahoma, but Ill take it!
Invited Speakers for this year's meeting are:
Marco Vignuzzi, Pastuer Institute
Holly Wichman, University of Idaho
Valerian Dolja, Oregon State University
Alice Telesnitsky, University of Michigan
Frank Ryan, Sheffield Health Authority
Susanna Manrubia, Astrobiology Institute
And, word has it, the
Evilutionary Biologist will be there too! YAY!
Posted by ERV at 11:29 AM • 16 Comments
July 31, 2008
Category: Personal
Two words:
New T-shirt.
Read on »
Posted by ERV at 9:05 PM • 30 Comments
July 30, 2008
Category: Personal
*sigh*
Its that time of year, again. Before school starts every fall, Bossman kicks me out of the lab for a week. Ugh. He calls it a 'vacation'. Whatever.
So now Im back home on The Farm, with my 28.8 kbps dial-up internet, and no wireless. Its like I went back in time 15 years... *shudder* Oh! And, my annual trip home also means its time for my annual Extremely Sophisticated Faith Bible Study! You see, I grew up in the middle of BFE, and the only radio stations that come in are the Christian networks, so I just use my 8 hour drive home as Evangelicals chance to win me over!
Not this trip.
This trip I learned how obsessed radical Christians are with 'sex'. The act of sex, and gender roles for adults and children. Thats all I heard the four hours I could stand listening (plus "WE NEED MONEY!!! GIVE US MONEY!!!" every 8 minutes). I learned that its okay if your husband is a jerk to you. Not worrying about you if youre home late, telling you to 'get to the point' in the middle of a conversation, thats the more 'spiritual' path. Youre just being a mouthy bitch. Youre suppose to serve your husband. If you read your Bible you would have known that.
Men are the 'spiritual head' of the family. There are single mothers who have to be the heads of their family (and 'they' 'honor' them), but theyre going against Gods word until they remarry. Women should not, under any circumstances, be 'spiritual leaders' in their church. Also, send money. They are 'coming up short' this month.
Oh! And a woman called in who was very concerned about the friends she was hanging out with. Drug dealers? Drunks? Kleptos? Nononono. They are really supportive of her, and theyre happy, nice people, and they helped her through some 'hard times'... but theyre not Christian!! She was advised to evangelize to them. Bring them to Christ. And she should send them money. They should all send money. Everyone should send them money.
...
Such an elegant faith.
Oh well. Theres always the drive home! Pray for me!
Posted by ERV at 7:42 PM • 43 Comments
July 29, 2008
Category: Humor • Lab Life
Im going to try to be as nice about this as I can:
If you missed 'Dr. Horrible' the first time around, you better not make the same mistake twice. You have to deal with commercials now, but thats your own goddamn fault.
Watch it, or deal with the wrath of ERV.
Embedded below the fold:
Read on »
Posted by ERV at 9:08 AM • 26 Comments
July 28, 2008
Category: Microbiology
Astute ERV readers have noticed a couple of odd things about my research.
1- How the hell am I cutting and pasting bits of a retroviral (RNA) genome together?
2- How the hell do I have a (seemingly) endless supply of HIV-1 for my experiments?
The answer to both questions is, infectious molecular clones!
Short explanation-- Infectious molecular clones are just viral genomes (as DNA) inserted into plasmids. Even though plasmids are only found in bacteria (our cells have no idea what to do with the things), you can then use some chemistry tricks to get a mammalian cell line to read the plasmid, and YAAAY! They make lots and lots of virus to use in other experiments!
I can also manipulate these plasmids by using restriction enzymes to cut/paste like a kindergartener on Red Bull!
Read on »
Posted by ERV at 10:45 PM • 13 Comments
I'm a graduate student studying the molecular and biochemical evolution of HIV within patients and within populations. I also study epigenetic control of ERVs.
