It has recently come to my attention that there are lots of new ways to talk about parasites and connect with others interested in parasites. Yay technology! So, as an almost-Halloween treat I have put together some of these sources I've just discovered for you to peruse at your leisure. You can also check out the "Links" tab for more parasitophiliac websites. Anyway, the following is a list of my new favorite parasite-related thing-a-mo-bobs!
1) First and foremost, if you haven't heard this, do it! Now! Okay, maybe not right now, but as soon as you have an hour to kill. This podcast was recommended to me by a friend and I just heard the parasite episode for the first time last night. Can I just say....AWESOME! This actually has an interview with THE Carl Zimmer! (See "Must-Read" tab.) He gave them three parasites as examples for why we should be in awe and have admiration for parasites rather than be disgusted by them. It went on to interview other important parasitophiliacs and gave you a chance to hear about hookworms from a historical perspective as well as from a medical perspective. They ended up talking about using hookworms for therapeutic purposes. If you haven't heard of this, you should check out my last blog post, and of course listen to this amazing podcast. Enough rambling...check it out already!!!
http://www.radiolab.org/popup_player/#
If the popup isn't working, try this link: http://www.radiolab.org/2009/sep/07/
2) While you are getting into podcasts, head over to Dr. Vincent Raciniello's site and check out This Week in Parasitism (TWiP). This virologist from Columbia University also has an awesome podcast known as This Week in Virology (TWiV). I learned about his podcast at a Virology Symposium that I attended for funzies a few weeks ago. I got to sit in on a recording of a TWiV podcast at that symposium and I was delighted to learn that he also had a podcast about parasites! (He also have TWiM for all you microbiology-lovers out there!) This podcast doesn't have all the fun sound effects and flair of radiolab, but it does get into more in-depth issues regarding parasitology. You should definitely check it out! This week he and his co-host Dr. Dickson Despommier interviewed a few post-docs who are working with the dreaded Plasmodium falciparum (a very virulent little protist that causes malaria...the worst strain of malaria, in fact). The great thing about this is that it is an on-going show, not just a single episode as the above link. I've been trying to download these to my iPod to listen to as a ride my bike to school, but I've been having technical difficulties. But enough about me, let's talk about you! And about how you should be listening to this:
http://www.microbeworld.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=99&Itemid=259
3) Here's a fun talk given by Carl Zimmer that I ran across. :) Enjoy!
http://magazine.storycollider.org/2012/features/interview-carl-zimmer-stories-from-the-parasite-hole/
4) While we are talking about Carl Zimmer....here's another great podcast called "Meet the Scientist". It's not specific to parasites, but I thought it was really cool, so I'm posting it anyway. :)
http://www.microbeworld.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=37&Itemid=155
Here's an episode about malaria from the same podcast:
http://www.microbeworld.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=640:mts49-irwin-sherman-the-quest-for-a-malaria-vaccine&catid=37:meet-the-scientist&Itemid=155
5) Even the CDC is jumping on the podcast bandwagon...worthy of a mention here.
http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/podcasts.html
I hope I have helped you all to kill some time learning about these wondrous creatures that we know as parasites! I'd love to hear any comments about parasite podcasting or any other topic related to parasites!
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