Where I’ll Be Talking (Now That I’m Conscious)

After weeks of manically scrubbing my hands with soap, Purel, and eye of newt, I ended up getting swine flu anyway. It’s not terribly surprising, since my entire town seems to have become a Petri dish for the viruses this week. I find a stunning clarity to the flu–you don’t feel a little sleep-deprived, or a little raspy. You are just a slave, heeding your body’s call to go to bed. I’m grateful that I am now on the mend, but I’m worried that with so many of us conking out, even a small percentage of serious cases will wreak havoc on hospitals. Someone please remind me why we still make our flu vaccines in chicken eggs?

It just so happens that swine flu was going to be one of the things I plan to talk about over the next few weeks as I head out for a series of talks to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Origin of Species. I’d rather have to speak about the evolution of swine flu second-hand, but I guess I’ll talk as a former host.

Here are my movements…hope to meet some Loom readers along the way (but only if you’re healthy!)

Sunday November 1. Pasadena, CA: Caltech.

Thursday November 12. New Haven, CT: Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History

Saturday November 14. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University [details to come]

Thursday November 19. Vancouver, British Columbia: Beaty Biodiversity Museum

Thursday, December 3. Denver: Denver Museum of Nature and Science

Friday, December 11. Amherst: University of Massachusetts [details to come]

Saturday, January 16. Research Triangle Park, NC: Science Online 2010. (This is the only talk that’s not a public lecture. I’ll be on a panel discussing science journalism online. You have to register for the entire workshop. But this is definitely one workshop I’d recommend you sign up for.)

October 26th, 2009 1:53 PM by Carl Zimmer in Talks, The Tangled Bank | 8 comments | RSS feed | Trackback >

8 Responses to “Where I’ll Be Talking (Now That I’m Conscious)”

1. johnk Says:
October 26th, 2009 at 2:23 pm

Carl, the idea that you weren’t conscious when you had the flu is interesting.

Were you not conscious because you were sleeping most of the time?

Or were you not conscious because were a zombie-slave, drawn to bed with no ‘free will’?
2. Gil Says:
October 26th, 2009 at 2:38 pm

My understanding is we still make flu vaccine in chicken eggs because it isn’t profitable enough to make it recombinantly. I’ve heard a few manufacturers had recombinant techniques in the works, but scrubbed them because they couldn’t recoup their costs.
3. Brian Ogilvie Says:
October 26th, 2009 at 3:07 pm

I’m looking forward to your talk at UMass Amherst and will try to drum up interest amongst our other historians of science and technology!
4. Romeo Vitelli Says:
October 26th, 2009 at 8:18 pm

What, you’re too good for Toronto these days?
5. Jason B. Says:
October 27th, 2009 at 2:07 am

See you in Vancouver!
Glad you got the Flu out of the way before the talk rather then having to cancel.
6. Laelaps Says:
October 29th, 2009 at 7:51 am

I can’t get to any of the other gigs, but I look forward to meeting you at ScienceOnline in January!
7. Oroboros Says:
October 29th, 2009 at 11:42 am

I have the Denver date on my calendar. I’ve been meaning to renew my membership to the DMNS anyway.
8. Jason B Says:
November 5th, 2009 at 10:37 pm

umm wait, are you in Vancouver on the 18th or 19th?

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