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
November 22, 2010
Knock knock.
Whos there?
Not XMRV in African blood donors or HIV/AIDS patients.
Absence of detectable xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus in plasma or peripheral blood mononuclear cells of human immunodeficiency virus Type 1-infected blood donors or individuals in Africa.
This is the…
November 21, 2010
Huh.
ERV, August 5, 2009--Maybe we just need to fr*me things differently-- Condoms arent 'birth control', theyre 'HIV/AIDS control, with unavoidable (but reversible) pregnancy reduction as a side-effect, like chemotherapy for cancer'.
Teh Pope, November 20, 2010--While he will restate the Catholic…
November 19, 2010
I guess Im going to have to change the name of 'ERV'.
Before I was just concerned.
Now, ERVs are officially not so special at all.
Viruses, all kinds of viruses, are all over the place in genomes-- from insects to humans.
Endogenous Viral Elements in Animal Genomes
Carl Zimmers take: Your inner…
November 17, 2010
About this time last year, I wrote a post on a new cancer virus, XMRV. I had some reservations about that paper I reviewed. I have some reservations about XMRV-->prostate cancer as a whole (Im just not convinced yet. at all.).
Its one thing to be skeptical about data, but its another to say '…
November 16, 2010
Long time readers of ERV know that I have a soft-spot for animated depictions of cellular processes. Yes, they are beautiful (to a fault). Yes they are a neat way to explain complex topics to people. But I love them due to the sheer volume of lulz they provide when Creationists try to do them.…
November 11, 2010
Even though the real ERV is a) hiding in an undisclosed location and b) blinded by a week long migraine from this stress, you can still enjoy me via video taken at the Texas Freethought Convention!
First of all, that was an absolutely fantastic introduction. I loved it! I felt like a total ass…
November 10, 2010
Dad wanted me to thank all of my blob readers for voting.
Im not joking.
... blag... blob... blab?
So thank you blob readers!!! Remember you can vote every day!
November 8, 2010
I learned how to file a police report for 'stalking', and how to get a victim protection order in the state of Oklahoma.
:-/
Yes, I have a real-life, for real stalker.
Its something my parents have been worried about since I started this blog. They have actually been pissed at me for agreeing to…
November 7, 2010
My dads school is one of the final 5 in the NBC/Windows 'School Pride' competition! The prize is a brand new computer lab (and I think they get to be on TV or something too)!!
I want to SEND TEH HORDE over to vote for Dads school, but I cant. All I know about that school and how much the kids *…
November 5, 2010
The endogenous retroviruses in your genome are dead.
Dead.
Junk.
They no longer code for functional, infectious viruses.
Those viruses are also extinct. They were floating around thousands, millions of years ago, infecting stuff, and now they are hanging out in your genome instead (100% of humans…
November 2, 2010
Some people think Im joking when I say Im an anarchist. Im not. This is why.
November 1, 2010
A group of OKC Atheists went to one of those 'Hell Houses' last night.
I didnt go, but I can only assume from their summary of the event, that the parishioners of Wilmont Place Baptist Church in OKC have absolutely no social grace or even basic, common decency.
You see, we have had a little 'spat'…
November 1, 2010
We filled a big gap at SciBlogs this morning!
See, Orac likes writing about anti-vaxers-- the politics, their methods, etc.
I like writing about anti-vaxers-- but from the vaccine and viruses perspective.
We didnt have anyone here to focus on anti-vaxers from the immune systems perspective (I can,…
October 28, 2010
Im going to be doing a live show for This Week in Science tonight!
Dr. Kiki's Science Hour
Gonna talk about endogenous retroviruses and how to bring them back to life (just in time for Halloween!!) and all sorts of fun stuff (HIV-1, epigenetics, etc)!
They uploaded the video if you couldnt catch it…
October 27, 2010
Some of you in the atheisphere remember what happened this past year with 'Tom Johnson' and the 'Youre Not Helping' blog. Quick recap from Jerry:On October 22 of last year, Chris Mooney put up a post at The Intersection called "Counterproductive attacks on religion--exhibit A." The "exhibit" was…
October 27, 2010
This is a repost from the old ERV. A retrotransposed ERV :P
Its Halloween time, and we just got a BRAND NEW FRANKENSTEIN ERV! To prime you all for that post, heres a repost on an OLD FRANKENSTEIN ERV!
Remember, ERVs are junk. These are not zombie viruses. Scientists are not taking totally…
October 26, 2010
Dear Age of Autism--
Dont ever link to ERV again.
I dunno whether you know this or not, but I get paid per page view. If you link to me, it means my check for the month is tainted with your filth. That makes me want to puke.
There is no point in you linking to me. Neither you, nor your readers,…
October 25, 2010
One of the many reasons why I love being a science blogger, is it lets normal people peek into the lives of scientists and our culture. I joked at a recent OKC Atheists meeting that no one would ever make a reality TV show about my lab work-- while it is conceptually awesome, its just not fun to…
October 22, 2010
Living in Oklahoma, I get an especially fine kick out of Ivory Tower Theists like Karen Armstrong and Terry Eagleton trying to talk about how/what religion 'really' is.
Their words bear no resemblance to the theism I interact with on a daily basis. Those 'straw-men' and 'caricatures' of theism Gnu…
October 22, 2010
Jen, over at BlagHag, has recently started graduate school in Seattle. Apparently, despite being in a hippie liberal city, Seattles atheist meet-up has a lot of the same problems as other atheist groups-- small, few female members, and too many of the people who do show up are assholes.
Ive dealt…
October 20, 2010
I dont think I really need to add much commentary to this.A brief conversation with Mary FallinQ: Creation or evolution?
A: I believe in creation.
Q: Science or religion?
A: I am a woman of faith, and my faith is very important to me. It's a daily part of my life. So religion and preserving our…
October 19, 2010
Anastasia over at Biofortified has a post up on the science behind the GMO salmon recently submitted to the FDA.Risk assessment and mitigation of AquAdvantage salmon
Hehehe, its interesting to see where the luddites/technophobes got the 'DER BE ANTIFREEZE GENES IN DEM DAR FISHIES!' I thought they…
October 18, 2010
Now COMMON.
COMMON.
What is this nonsense?
COMMON.
...
How am I supposed to have a blog titled 'ERV', crowing on about how awesome and special endogenous retroviruses are, when scientists keep friggen unearthing endogenous NON-retroviruses.
COMMON!!
First there were Borna disease viruses.
Then…
October 15, 2010
Im totally done with XMRV-->CFS. It appears that scientists have gotten their heads back, and this last slew of testing was officially the death-blow for this hypothesis for me: Theres no XMRV in HIV-1 patients. Three studies now, not to find an association between the two. HIV/AIDS patients…
October 14, 2010
A few months ago, Kathryn Applegate wrote a couple posts on the adaptive immune system. Its relatively inoffensive. Just the bland 'science' Im used to hearing from theists, flavored with dull gender normative stories and analogies containing her husband and toddlers and clothes/shoes.
And then…
October 13, 2010
Hey. Hey you all remember a while back, when some climate change denialists hacked into someones email, and released all these 'damning' statements on how climate change is all a lie. Except, its not.
You know how climate change denialists are normally crazy right wing Christian/Libertarian…
October 11, 2010
Today is National Coming Out Day.
Last week, a young man from Norman OK killed himself, a few days after listening to hours of hateful comments at a Norman City Council meeting.
Watch it.
Comments start at ~min 43.
I picked a time-point at random-- ~ 1 hour in. I got to see a comment by Fred Pope…
October 11, 2010
The word of the day is AWESOME.
Friday night, before I drove down to Dallas, I got to see Muse in concert. I think its funny that several years ago, when I went to see David Bowie, they wouldnt even let us have disposable cameras in the theater. Now that cell phones with cameras are ubiquitous,…
October 8, 2010
Im sure this isnt news to any of you-- Honey Bees are dying.
We dont know why.
I thought we had an answer to this problem, and the answer was a virus-- Israeli acute paralysis virus. But although IAPV definitely has an effect on honey bee immunity, apparently it fell through as The Cause of CCD.…