All posts by Heather D. Marshall

Charlie Sheen has HIV…so what?

Cloudy Media, Medical Musings, TV & Movies, , ,
Credit: Mike Mozart
Photo credit: Mike Mozart.  By the way, Sheen has HIV, not AIDS.

In a blitz of media frenzy, Charlie Sheen recently announced he is HIV positive.  So, should we care?

Before saying anything else, absolutely and unequivocally: YES!  Raising awareness for disease is always a good thing.  Remember that ALS ice bucket challenge?  Even a disease like HIV, which for the general public is a has-been, benefits from media attention.  To the medical and scientific community, HIV is so much more.  HIV remains the number 1 infectious disease killer and top-funded research area.  Despite not yet having an effective vaccine (the Holy Grail of infectious disease if there ever was one), we’ve made enormous progress in understanding this unwieldy virus.

Continue reading Charlie Sheen has HIV…so what? →

Honey, I shrunk the grad students

Books, Scientific Pondering, ,

microI finally got around to reading Michael Crichton’s posthumous novel Micro, finished after Crichton’s death by another popular sci-fi author Richard Preston.  Since I first tore through Jurassic Park in 7th grade (more 20 years ago…yikes!), I have been a huge fan of Crichton’s imaginative worlds of science fiction.  Not to mention  that I was so inspired by Preston’s The Hot Zone that I entered the fields of infectious diseases and immunology for my career.  So imagine my disappointment to discover that Micro is little more than a science-themed knock-off of the wacky Rick Moranis comedy Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.

Continue reading Honey, I shrunk the grad students →

Tom Brady–poster child for pseudoscience?

Alternative Medicine, Cloudy Media, Medical Musings, , , ,

tombradyI have to admit, it hurts me a little–ok A LOT–to write this piece.  I’ve probably done a bit more research than was needed because I was hesitant to come to the realization that I’ve lost respect for one of my favorite athletes.  This feeling doesn’t take away 4 championships from a franchise with arguably the best NFL coach of all time, but it does still hurt.

Because Tom Brady may just be the newest poster child for pseudoscience.  What an idiot.

Continue reading Tom Brady–poster child for pseudoscience? →

For the sake of my (soon-to-arrive) baby niece, go get your flu shot

Cloudy Media, Medical Musings, , ,
Colorized electron micrograph of influenza. Credit: National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID)
Colorized electron micrograph of influenza. Credit: National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Disease (NIAID)

It’s that time of year again.  The sequences are in, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have made their recommendations, and the vaccine has been prepared.  As an immunologist, I’m sad to say that I know far too many people who decide to forgo their flu shots each year.  When I ask why, I’ve gotten a variety of answers including:

“I never get the flu”  
“I once got flu from the shot”
“The flu shot never works, it’s just a guess”
And my all-time favorite:
“My body is stronger than the flu”

I’d like to set the record straight since each of these statements is ultimately and ridiculously flawed.

Continue reading For the sake of my (soon-to-arrive) baby niece, go get your flu shot →

Your brain is messing with your mind, or is it the other way around?

Cloudy Media, Medical Musings, Scientific Pondering, TV & Movies,

dress-color-illusionSo, we’ve all seen this stupid dress.  It’s beaten us over the head with the white & gold or blue & black debate that I won’t belabor anymore now, we’re over it.  But the truth is, this was a great optical illusion, probably the best I’ve ever encountered.  Unlike all of the colored circles and squares, lines and zig zags that make up most of the illusions out there, this is a dress.  It’s something that someone could wear out on the town.  How often have you turned to a girlfriend and remarked, “wow, I really love that white & gold dress,” just to be rebuffed, “thanks, but it’s black & blue”? Could we really interpret colors differently out in the real world?

 

 

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HAPPY BIRTH-AVERSARY!

Medical Musings

CMB logoAs Cloudy Media Blog turns 1 years old, I’d like to take a moment to reflect on the past year and announce some exciting goals for the coming year.

First, none of this would be possible without the support of our followers.  A special thanks to Steve Kerfoot, Shannon Grande, and Becky Sweet for being the top social media likers, commenters, and retweeters (look out for a special gift coming your way!).  Without you guys the only person reading the site would likely be my mom (thanks for your faithful following mom!).  Second, I’d like to thank a friend, colleague, and guest contributor to this blog, Saheli Sadanand.  It’s quite amazing when you can find someone as passionate about the same things as you, whether that be science or football, and I’ve found that in Saheli.  On top of that, she has an amazing gift of story telling and I am excited to see where this ability takes her through her career.

For the first year of a new blog, managed by a nonfamous webmaster newbie, we’ve hit some incredible marks.  With more than 1,000 views and 30 non-spam comments, I am thrilled for the year we’ve had.  Check out our top posts here: CMB Yr 1 stats.  But I’m not content.  I challenge us to TRIPLE these numbers in the upcoming year.  To do this, I’m going to need your help.  I know that everyone is busy and it’s so easy to skip the CMB posts on Facebook and Twitter, but with each click, like, retweet, and comment we are all helping to end the scourge of science ignorance.  In the next year, I also plan to recruit at least 2 new guest contributors and increase publication by 100%.   With more content, we can expand into various new territories of science.  So continue to email me about things you’re interested in and we’ll try our best to deliver what you want to read.

With that, thanks so much and continue to be vigilant about science on the internet.  Question everything, even this blog!

-H

What you can do to help end a terrible epidemic

Medical Musings, ,

There is an epidemic currently sweeping up and down the west coast of the United States.  From Alaska to southern California, something wicked is causing lesions, malformations, and mass casualties.  To help support this cause, it’s not the CDC, WHO, nor Red Cross to whom you should send a donation.  Instead, pick this up at your local packie:

Rogue Ales & Spirits has teamed up with Partnership for Interdisciplinary Studies of Coastal Oceans (PISCO) to brew Wasted Sea Star Purple Pale Ale—a beer for drinking while thinking about the shrinking starfish population.  That’s right, the epidemic is not happening to people (thankfully, this time), but our star-shaped sea friends are being wiped out by an outbreak of sea star wasting disease.

Continue reading What you can do to help end a terrible epidemic →