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
Biofortified, the PandasThumb of crop engineering, is in a contest.
A contest to win an interview with Michael Pollan and grant money for educating the public about GMOs!
GO VOTE FOR THEM NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAU!
1. Biofortified assured me that the interview with Pollan will be 'educational'. I dont…
Okaaaaaay...
*squint*
Let me preface this post by stating that I am not an MD. I dont care, particularly, about whether CFS is a 'real' disease or psychosomatic or a catch-all category for people MDs dont know how to treat. Sorry. So if you want to bitch about CFS, pro or con, dont do it in this…
Since my last thread was such a hit*, Im dumping a collection of hysterical DANGEROUS DOG videos I have in my /lol/ folder.
Via icanhascheezburger, Rottie vs Kitteh:
BAP BAP BAP BAP!
Pitbull vs Ferrets:
2 Pitbulls, 2 Kittehs:
That last user has a video that never fails to cheer me up. I almost…
One of these things is not like the others. One of these things just doesnt belong. Can you tell which thing is not like the others, by the time I finish my blag post?
#1-- Chronic Fatigue Sufferers Find Vindication in a Virus
News that chronic fatigue syndrome may be linked to a virus has been…
Us owners of 'dangerous dogs' flock together. Though pits are virtually always a target (if not the only target) of Breed Specific Legislation, owners of other breeds arent stupid.
First theydo-nothing politicians who need an election platform come for the pits, to play on their rich white…
XMRV is so hot right now.
Read the paper on XMRV and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome last weekend:
Detection of an Infectious Retrovirus, XMRV, in Blood Cells of Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
My conclusions from the paper: XMRV is capable of infecting humans and producing viable progeny.
How…
Over and over I see people concerned about the long term implications of only vaccinating against High-Risk HPV types:
If we vaccinate against types 16 and 18, wont other HPV viruses evolve to fill that empty niche? Wont other HPV step up to cause cancer?
This is a valid concern. With viruses, you…
Retroviruses like to cause cancer. Its kinda their shtick.
Sometimes the viruses themselves code for oncogenes.
Sometimes the retroviral promoters accidentally upregulate an innate oncogene (the cell doesnt know its supposed to stop replicating).
And sometimes a retrovirus accidentally plops down…
I understand DI fellows not knowing anything about science, because none of them are scientists.
I fail to understand how that collection of lawyers makes so many legal errors.
For instance, the Discovery Institute, via the American Freedom Alliance, organized a screening of 'Darwins Dilemma' at…
There are a couple of things that Im getting over and over and over, from readers/friends/family/overheard in the grocery store, and its driving me nuts.
READ THIS NPR SUMMARY
1. Just call it swine flu. Thats what we all call it. H1N1 variants are completely normal components of generic seasonal…
No, I dont mean 'sad puppies', I mean puppies with SAD, Seasonal Affective Disorder.
Pretty sure Arnies got it.
Normally Arnie is a very active puppy. Hes always destroying a Wubba, or stalking a housefly, or plotting ways to break into his food bin, or helping me cook in the kitchen, or standing…
Yay! Going to get some new addition to 'Creationist Claims about ERVs', via this bucket of fail from Answers in Genesis:
The Natural History of Retroviruses-- Exogenization vs Endogenization
The best alternative explanation is that orthologous ERVs were created to occupy similar genomic loci in…
Poor Jonathan Wells.
He saw my new haircut on Facebook, got all excited for his vacation to Oklahoma to see me, and then I stood him up. Poor babby. Threw a massive tantrum on EN&V trying to get my attention. Poor poor babby.
Well its a cold rainy Sunday, Arnies snoozing on the futon, so I…
Yeah... I didnt go see 'Darwins Dilemma' last night.
Why?
Because Ive seen EXPELLED.
At least when I watched EXPELLED I was in the comfort of my own home and could do dishes/vacuum/watch other movies when I got bored. But Id be trapped in a theater!
Also, I got no response to my debate request re…
6.55-- AAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
SALLY KERN IS HERE!!!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!
7.06-- Pretends hes talkin up Darwin. DIRP! John Lynch would be having a seizure.
7.09-- Intelligent Design>Evilution
7.10-- Meyer is clueless on…
Im really a Debbie Downer when it comes to HIV-1 vaccines/'cures'/etc.
But I swear to gawd, I was just about to write a post on the strategy employed by the recent HIV-1 vaccine trial, without knowing this vaccine trial was even going on, cause I just read a really cool paper that did something…
'Value Voters' are so weird.
I mean, I like weird kids! After Lady Gagas performance at the VMAs, I liked her.
But Value Voter weird... thats a whole nother level of weird that I cant deal deal with.
For example, when Tom Coburn was running for his senate seat in 2004, he made one of the weirdest…
1. If you do know a farmer, and you grew up in a town where feed lots and Tyson plants are normal, there is nothing particularly interesting in 'Food Inc'. I had to fight off falling asleep.
2. If you dont know a farmer, but you are not an idiot, you probably will learn a couple of things. Like…
If you live in the OKC area, youve got a problem. Sure, you want to go see the TARD parade at the Sam Noble Museum of Natural History, you can always count on Creationists for a good time. But the problem is, Wells and Meyers are incredibly stupid. While recreational exposure to Creationists…
Haha!
The Sam Noble Museum of Natural History has issued an official statement regarding The TARD Parade:
The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History is dedicated to science and to elucidating the remarkable evolutionary history of life on Earth. The museum actively engages in public programs…
No, not Myers. Meyer. Stephen Meyer. Looks like John Edwards mutant cousin? You know him. Got some earth science degree so he for some reason writes about molecular biology? I dunno why, but I always get him confused with Paul Nelson.
And Jonathan Wells. The HIV Denier? In that Moonie cult…
Know whats easier than making sure your dog wears a collar or is micro-chipped? St. Anthonys Prayer!!
My daughter and her family own three Shar-pei dogs: a mother, its son and a girl. The three dogs had never been past the front door, only in the backyard or in the house.
Last summer, my son-in-…
Okay, for real, you guys-- unless I am on here screaming "OMFG WE CURED AIDS" "OMFG WE HAVE AN HIV VACCINE AHHHH" etc, promise me you all wont believe anything you read via AP or USATODAY or any of that crap?
There is a neat paper out in Science (not available even to normal Science subscribers,…
We get a lot of weird spam at SciBlogs.
Specifically, Turkish spam.
Im sure you all have seen one or two that gets through, before we can get around to trashing it-- "I did not expect such a topic. Please type this for another topic. Regards to the author." "Welcome! The long sought such a page…
Hey, remember a while back when I mentioned how scientists used evolution (random mutation and natural selection) in the lab to 'perfect' gene therapy vectors?
Theyve just one it again! In a BIG way!
Molecular Evolution of Adeno-associated Virus for Enhanced Glial Gene Delivery.
These folks were…
While we are on the topic of IDiot Michael Behe, I thought now would be a good time to check in on our dear friend, HIV-1 Vpu!
What neat evolutionary tales do you have for us this week, HIV-1 Vpu?
Vpu directs the degradation of the human immunodeficiency virus restriction factor BST-2/Tetherin via…
Oh poor Brad Pollit. You all sent him emails (pollittb@sedalia.k12.mo.us) after he made some breathtakingly ignorant comments about public schools and evolution. The email in the video was perfectly nice-- but the poor babby Pollit didnt want his face on video.
However he was happy to dig…
Oh. My. God.
We played Sedalia all the time in high school. They were in our conference our district or whatever. I remember them being skankie, but not THIS skankie.
Apparently, this years band theme is "Brass Evolution 2009", so their T-shirts had one of those generic 'evolution of man' images…
During my 'debate' with Creationist Charles Jackson, he let loose lots of funny accusations like "People like you are why kids think science is boring!" heh. See, Chuck wanted kids to 'debate' Creationism in science class, and I wanted kids to, you know, learn in science in science class. If you…
Since ~2006, honey bee colonies in the US have been dropping dead overnight. Literally. They call it 'colony collapse disorder'. While large populations of organisms dying is disturbing, no matter the species, we need honey bees-- they help pollinate so many of our crops. I grew up in the banks…