Stacey Smith
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.
sa smith
Posts by this author
September 12, 2008
There are two questions I get over and over and over again from friends, family members, readers, etc about HIV-1:
1. Will we ever get a vaccine?
2. How come some people who are infected with HIV-1 never get AIDS, and some people succumb very quickly?
Ive already touched on Q1 a couple of times, I…
September 11, 2008
The 'fellows' at the Discovery Institute are so kind! They must have heard I was feeling down, so they sent out a hysterical email to brighten my day!
Help Us Get Lawmakers Expelled
Dear friends,
We're excited to be able to tell you that on October 21st Expelled: No
Intelligence Allow, starring…
September 9, 2008
Sunday morning at 7 am, I had to take Arnie to the Puppy-ER.
Hes been in the Puppy-ICU for the past 3 days.
I havent slept/ate in the past 3 days.
But I finally brought him home today... hes doin okay. I got him to eat a cherry Pop-Tart. He will be alright. I hope.
*sigh*
September 6, 2008
If youre a long time reader of SciBlogs, you probably remember when James Watson was on the advisory board of SEED. You also probably remember he was removed from that position after he made some idiotic racist (and sexist) remarks.
In a wonderful bit of scientific lulz, Craig Venter recently…
September 3, 2008
So everyone has been asking me about 'her' for the last week or so.
Everyone wants to talk about 'her'.
Im a very progressive person, so I wanted to be excited about 'her' because she was a 'her'... but I didnt want to talk about 'her' until I saw 'her' on TV tonight, so you poor bastards had to…
September 2, 2008
Everyone knows that bacteria/viruses/pathogens make you sick.
Everyone knows your immune system fights back against these guys so you get better.
But did you know that pathogens can (accidentally) make your immune system mutiny? Turn your own immune system against you?
They can! Through '…
August 30, 2008
You all have probably seen this on the SB front page, but if not, Sheril at 'The Intersection' has big news: Obama answered some of their Science Debate 2008 questions!
Im annoyed at Q6 (H5N1 flu? Ugh.), but the rest are good... and Obamas answers are great... I kinda teared up a little. Hes…
August 29, 2008
Young Earth Creationism is quite possibly the stupidest thought ever thunk-ed. Its not just about the earth being 6,000 years old-- It involves talking snakes and Noahs Ark and zombies and all sorts of crazy ass shit. Old Earth Creationism has all of the crazy ass shit, minus the 6,000 year old…
August 28, 2008
In celebration of SciBlogs imminent 1 millionth friggen comment, a lot of us are throwing local SciBlog meet-up parties.
SO!
Im throwing one September 16th, 7 pm at Hideaway Pizza (the one at 6616 N Western Ave
Oklahoma City, OK 73116-- we will be in the side room right as you walk in the door).…
August 27, 2008
Being a young scientist, I take a lot of 'science' for granted. Weve 'always' had PCR. Weve 'always' had restriction enzymes. We 'always' knew HIV-1 is a retrovirus, and uses CD4 and CCR5/CXCR4 to infect cells. Weve 'always' known that retroviruses are important for the evolution of life on…
August 27, 2008
This is a repost from the old ERV. A retrotransposed ERV :P I dont trust them staying up at Blogger, and the SEED overlords are letting me have 4 reposts a week, so Im gonna take advantage of that!
I am going to try to add more comments to these posts for the old readers-- Think of these as '…
August 25, 2008
Over a year ago, I made a short series of posts addressing Creationists and endogenous retroviruses (Old ERV, New ERV).
Casey Luskin is evidently unaware of this series, as he managed to smack his loverly, loverly face into a couple of them in his recent blog post 'news release' at Evolution News…
August 24, 2008
Tonight at 10 pm EST, Animal Planet is running a special on the Michael Vick case, from the drug arrest that led to the discovery of the fighting ring, to what happened to the ~50 rescued dogs. I know there are lots of dog lovers who read ERV, so I wanted to give you all the heads up. I also…
August 21, 2008
Edited 8-22-08 to contain MORE win
Its going to be a slow blag week. Im trying to cram as many experiments as possible into this last week before school starts again. The last major experiment I want to finish (have to finish) this summer is a 'pulse-->chase' to watch how fast each of my…
August 19, 2008
Harun Yahya, aka 'Adnan Oktar', aka 'Pillsbury Doughboy Crotch', aka 'Tader Tot' is the leader of Islamic Creationism. If you havent heard of him, you arent missing anything-- Just replace 'Jesus' with 'Mohammad' in all of Discovery Institute/Answers in Genesis crap, and thats 'Islamic Creationism…
August 19, 2008
After last Fridays post on a curiously orchestrated media event for a crappy paper (DUNT TAKE TEH PILL OR U CHOSE BAD BOIFREND!), I decided to bully some of my immuno professors for more information. I mean Ive got MHC experts just down the hall, surely they would know more about this topic!
ERV…
August 16, 2008
You all remember ScienceDebate2008? You all remember how all the idiots running for President turned it down? They were 'too busy' or 'washing their hair' or something?
Amazingly, both Obama and Johnny found the time to participate in this crap-fest:
The Rev. Rick Warren, author of the best-…
August 16, 2008
The 'dog days' of summer are the hottest time of the year, and boy weve been dealing with that crap for the past couple of weeks. Its been miserable out-- getting so hot, it doesnt cool off outside until 6 am the next friggin morning.
Ugh, and the 'dog days' of summer arent that fun for Arnie.…
August 15, 2008
If youve read 'health' news on the internet this week, youve seen this story:
Pill may lead women to the wrong guyThe Pill makes women pick bad mates MSNBCPill Users Choose 'Wrong' Sex Partners WebMDSniffing for Mr. Right
Just put 'MHC women' into Google News. Youll get a billion hits for…
August 13, 2008
I like irreverent things. Wrong things. Smiley faces with drops of blood on their shiny yellow heads. Murderous, cherub faced dolls. Death rainbows. Bad horses.
'Wrong' things make me genuinely happy.
Thats why, despite its understated design, I LOVE our departmental T-shirts!!!
E. coli is a…
August 13, 2008
I found out through Google News yesterday that the FDA approved a new drug for the treatment of Hepatitis B.
Now, normally, I would have ignored a story like that. Im not really all that interested in antivirals-- pharm research is on the opposite end of the research-spectrum of me. And theyre…
August 12, 2008
Its time for SEEDs annual reader survey!
Takes 10 minutes, and youre entered in a drawing to win an iPhone3G, a MacBook Air, and a 40 gig Apple TV.
Sweeeet!
August 12, 2008
There was something bothering me about Nisbets latest boom-boom.
It felt so... familiar.
And not in the sense that Nisbet is like Britney Spears 'Gimme More' stuck on repeat.
In the sense I heard this story before somewhere else.
I figured it out last night: Hogfather.
Nisbet is Teatime-- "I do so…
August 11, 2008
Like any curious pup, the second Arnie encounters hedging/bushes/shrubbery, his first instinct is to dive right in in the hopes of flushing out some yummy yummy bunnies/kittens/boars.
Like any over-protective owner, I run after him screaming "GET OUTTA THERE YER GUNNA GET BITTEN BY A SNAKE!!!"…
August 9, 2008
Man, this brings back some fun memories:
I think we need to set up a fund to adopt that kid in the grey shirt in the front row. The one whos just sitting there with his arms crossed, while everyone around him is going ape-shit? Poor kid.
August 8, 2008
LOL! I have no idea what possessed them to do this-- But Skeptic Friends Network set up a fine poll:
Who would win in a free-for-all, anything-goes cage match?
August 8, 2008
Quote:
"I think ultimately we will find a huge number of novel viruses in the ocean and other places," Suttle says -- 70% of viral genes identified in ocean surveys have never been seen before. "It emphasizes how little is known about these organisms -- and I use that term deliberately."
Everyone…
August 7, 2008
This is the funniest thing I have read since PZ got thrown out of EXPELLED. This cant freaking be real.
A woman by the name of 'Bernann McKinney' just made news by having her dead pit bull, Booger, cloned by a S. Korean company, RNL Bio.
Shortly after 'Bernann' rescued Booger off the streets, '…
August 6, 2008
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…
August 6, 2008
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…