Stronger Plants, Stronger Science, and Stronger Communication
A response to commenters on head lice treatments A few months back, I did a series of posts in which I looked at what the available scientific literature had to say about head louse treatments. Two treatments which I discussed in detail, Quit Nits and Licefreee had not undergone FDA clinical trials and weren’t approved…
If you’re not a long time reader of Biofortified, you might not know that I study parasitoid wasp physiology when I’m not armchair-quarterbacking head louse treatment studies. It’s not often that parasitoids end up on the news, so when they do I get super-excited. I’ll be writing this from the perspective as a parasitoid biologist….
Read More “Apocephalus borealis, a new threat to honeybees?” »
Editor’s note: Thanks to Joe for Biofortified’s first post of 2012! Here’s to a great year of science blogging! I like to think of myself as a skeptical blogger. I like to engage in critical thinking about scientific issues because this is an important aspect of my job as a graduate assistant. When I move…
Read More “Do OTC Head Louse Treatments Work? Part 2: Questionable treatments” »
I think it’s safe to say that most folks have had experiences with lice. Every entomologist I’ve ever met (including myself… buy me a few beers and I’ll tell you) has at least one entertaining pubic louse story. Head lice are a childhood rite of passage, with most kids being infested at one point or…
Read More “Do OTC Head Louse Treatments Work? Part 1: Mechanisms” »
Times are tough for science communicators right now. We’re in the middle of a funding crisis, and folks are still taking advantage of grants for personal gain. There are domestic terrorist organizations which target graduate students doing animal research which is especially terrifying to me because I’m a graduate student doing animal research. Although there…
If you’re a graduate student like I am, PHD comics is an essential source of comfort. Emotionally and physically, graduate work is difficult. You’re working long hours with little pay and often (but not always), little gratitude. There are reasons for this, but to get the job in the first place you’ve got to be…
I like sci-fi. I’m not your typical Star-Wars nerd, instead I like B-movies. You know… the low-budget creature feature movies that entail some giant creature killing everything in sight? They’re fun, campy, not at all meant to be taken seriously, yet can be useful in teaching about biology due to their reliance upon urban legends. Still,…
Using Mosquitoes to Conquer Disease Through Vaccination One of the things I’ve been talking about here on Biofortified is the concept of a ‘pest’, which is a completely anthropocentric term. Different insects can be pests at one part of their life cycle and be totally cool in another. It’s one of those weird science paradoxes…
Before moving to the southern US, I lived in Iowa. If there’s one thing Iowa’s known for, it’s known for our row crops. Everywhere in the summer is green and pretty and filled with all sorts of farmland and not much visible biodiversity outside of that. If you live in certain areas of the south,…
Read More “Why is ecology important to agriculture? Ask the Plataspids.” »
