Tara C. Smith
Associate Professor, lab rat (microbiologist/infectious disease epidemiologist) and occasional blogger, full-time nerd.
tsmith
Posts by this author
Some towns have all the luck. Brainerd, Minnesota, population ~13,000, was previously famous as the home of Paul Bunyan, and the setting of the Coen brothers' film, Fargo. Little did I know it had another claim to fame: its very own brand of mysterious diarrhea. All about it after the jump…
I'm still in a bit of a somber mood today, but while PZ is blushing, I suppose I won't be quite as shy. He mentions a new article in Nature (link) listing popular science blogs. Aetiology didn't make the top 5 by their rubric (those were Pharyngula, of course, along with Pandas Thumb, Real…
I mentioned before that I often have my posts mostly written in my head before I ever sit down to type them out. And indeed, though I hadn't had a chance to actually sit at a computer yet, I had a science post all planned for today, based on an article I ran across last week. I think that will…
Leave cyberspace for a few days, come back to a hail of stories and posts...
The second edition of the new genetics carnival, Mendel's Garden, is up over at Genetics and Health.
Medical blogging a-plenty. A new P[a]ediatric grand rounds appeared, as well as the traditional Grand Rounds (a…
I had relatives visiting this weekend and haven't touched the computer since Friday, so let me start back out by updating y'all on the finally DonorsChoose numbers. Janet has the summary here, but it's actually been revised a bit as some other blogs met their goal (and were thus eligible for a 10…
More interesting topics, too little time...
Mike discusses the dearth of qualified people to work in clinical microbiology labs--and the effect it may have on your health.
I'm a wanna-be history nerd. I really enjoy the topic, but as a science major, I didn't have a lot of time to take formal…
Sure, predator cats may have dined on our ancestors, but it seems we gave them ulcers (or, more correctly, passed along the bacterium that causes them) when they ate us.
Boo-yah! Take that, Simba.
One of the things I love about science--but that can also be frustrating--is that every new piece of information leads to a new unanswered question. We've learned so much about microbiology and human disease since the time of Koch and Pasteur, but in many other ways, we're still at square one.…
People make terrible jokes about "mad cow" disease. ("Why is PMS called PMS? Because mad cow was already taken.") Pundits use it as an example of an over-hyped disease (and to be fair, estimates of total cases due to the consumption of contaminated beef in the UK have varied widely, ranging…
I've heard quite a bit about pharmacists who've refused to fill prescriptions for contraceptives due to personal moral stance. But I'd not heard any who refused to fill a prescription for painkillers until yesterday.
Here's the story. A relative just had surgery to remove a lump in her breast.…
Especially in religious circles, much has been made about the "uselessness" of condoms for the prevention of infection with the human papilloma virus (HPV). This is the virus that is responsible for almost all cases of cervical cancer, against which a new vaccine was recently approved (for more…
One of the things that faculty get to do is go to lots and lots and lots of meetings. Today I'm at a 6-hour retreat focused on distance learning, PubMed, and data repositories. (I know, you're all seething with jealousy). I hope to have another post up later this afternoon if I can get to it; in…
I mentioned we were out camping over the weekend in central Iowa. After our first close encounter, I figured we might as well make a weekend out of it, so Sunday we headed to the Reiman Gardens at Iowa State University (and specifically, the Christine Reiman butterfly wing):
The new 2,500-square-…
I blogged a few months ago about a case of plague (due to the bacterium, Yersinia pestis) in a woman in California. I'm still doing some reading for the promised post on Black Death, CCR5, and other topics discussed in the comments section, but in the meantime, I wanted to alert y'all to an…
This is all of 24 hours old, so I know it's already ancient history in the blogosphere, but I did want to mention the news of Warren Buffet's ~$37 billion donation to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. (As Stephen Colbert put it, Buffet's so rich that he's hired Bill Gates to spend his money…
Head over to Medviews to check out this week's Grand Rounds, a weekly round-up of medical blog posts. Some goodies: Genetics and Health's Top 10 reasons you should care about genetics, and Clinical Cases and Images on reasons not to be a doctor.
No, it's not religion. Or politics. What, then?
It's how you refer to your carbonated beverage.
Ever wanted some real data on how it breaks down? Curious about the percentage of people in your county who say "pop," "soda," or "coke"? Wonder no more: you can find it all right here.
For…
This is big.
The world's leading scientists yesterday urged schools to stop denying the facts of evolution amid controversy over the teaching of creationism.
The national science academies of 67 countries - including the UK's Royal Society - issued a joint statement warning that scientific evidence…
When I mention "bugs", I usually mean the microscopic kind. However, last week and this weekend have put me on a macroscopic "bug" kick.
We were out camping this weekend in central Iowa. My kids found this beast by the bathroom:
For size comparison, that's my cell phone at the top of the pic…
...according to a new Nature News story.
Migraine sufferers might soon be able to block an imminent attack using a device that targets the brain with a powerful magnetic field.
The technique, called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), triggers activity in the brain's nerve cells and is already…
More interesting topics I didn't mention here this week.
Over at Effect Measure is an excellent post discussing a topic I've touched on here mainly just in the comments section: diagnostic testing (and the pitfalls thereof).
Alex depresses me regarding NIH funding stats, but unlike many of us…
I have an admission. I am tattooed. Twice. A small thing, but it's pretty incredible at the visceral reactions I sometime receive when people find out. (They're not in oft-seen areas under normal attire, but neither are they anywhere "naughty.") I get head shakes and tongue-clucks from many of…
Rebecca over at Memoirs of a Skepchick makes an excellent argument against the new HPV vaccine:
Before the invention of the fire extinguisher in 1816, people used sensible fire safety precautions. They did not leave oily rags piled in buckets next to the ashtray. They did not set their farts on…
On my old blog, I professed my undying love for York Daily Record columnist, Mike Argento. During the Dover trial last winter, his columns were hilarious and right on target. (See, for example, here, here, and here for snippets, though the full-text articles are no longer available). He's now…
In many ways, I'm like my kids: it doesn't take much to amuse me. I mentioned previously my kids' enjoyment of catching all things crawly, and our "pet" wolf spider, "Wolfie." Well, Wolfie is now a mommy to hundreds of spiderlings. I'll put the pics below the fold so that those of you with an…
Just as I'm finally answering last week's question comes a new one:
What makes a good science teacher?
Thoughts after the jump...
For me, I think it comes down to three E's: Education, Explanation, and Enthusiasm.
I'll start with education, since it's the most obvious. Clearly, one should know…
Y'all may have read about this on one of the other participating blogs, but just in case, I'll recap here:
First, what is it? My initial post on it is here; essentially, several of us here at Scienceblogs have put together a wish list of projects at DonorsChoose.org, a non-profit that matches…
Figures. I'm even mentioned in last week's "Ask a Scienceblogger" question, and I'm not around to answer it!
How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs, etc. find time to fulfill their primary objectives (day jobs) and blog so prolifically?...
Looking…
Just to update, some carnivals I missed while I was out...
Grand Rounds
Pediatric Grand Rounds
Mendel's Garden (new genetics carnival)
Tangled Bank
7 days, over 2000 miles, and 32+ hours on the road (half of it with 2 kids and a dog). I need a vacation from my vacation. Thanks to most of you for your patience; I see I've already been accused of "censorship" for not being around to approve some comments that got stuck in the junk filter, but…