Wrapping it up

Well, I'm almost done here. Although this blog will go into diapause shortly it will be back in the Fall (for a new round of the Bio Colloquium) and then in the Winter and Spring for Intro Bio again. PLEASE post here if you have items you think other bio students would be interested in: interesting seminars, lab opportunities, grant opportunities, research etc. OR just send items to me and I'll post them.

In the last couple of classes we've mentioned the leading causes of death in the US a couple of times: Heart disease, Cancer, Strokes and Chronic lower respiratory diseases. What is amazing is how much this has changed over just a single generation. Can you guess the top four causes of death in the US in the years right before World War II, ie before the invention of antibiotics?


Tuberculosis, pneumonia, cancer and syphilis.

Hence this poster from The American Social Hygiene Association on the dangers of autoriding. Syphilis may no longer be a death sentence but guys who look like this are probably still best avoided - especially if they take you autoriding and try to take liberties with you.

I teach a class on the Ecology of Disease (EEMB40) in the Winter quarter if any of you are interested. It's a lower division class that focuses on the changing ecology that has led to changing patterns of infectious disease in human populations.

Oh go on, here's another one that's probably even more sexist. 'A girl who would yield to one man has probably had relations with another. Very likely she is diseased.' As opposed to the 'wise guy' on the right who even seems to have visible symptoms of syphilis (or maybe just a poorly drawn face).