Mosquito, tick diseases/DNA ancestry tests
What to look for on Smart Talk Friday, May 25, 2018:
Summer-like temperatures are on the way soon and lots of rain this spring means Central Pennsylvania will see a large population of mosquitos, ticks and fleas. Being bothered is one thing — getting sick is another.
The Centers for Disease Control reported earlier this month that diseases spread by mosquito, tick and flea bites tripled in the U.S. between 2004 and 2016. There were more than 640,000 cases of vector-borne diseases identified during that period.
Lyme Disease — spread by tick bites — increased the most. But Zika and West Nile virus also were up due to mosquito bites.
On Friday’s Smart Talk, we’ll discuss the dangers presented by these pests and what can be done to reduce bites from them.
Appearing on the program are Tim Abbey, Penn State Extension Educator, Horticulture – Green Industry and Tom Smith, Mosquito Surveillance and Control Pesticide Education and Community and Citizen Engagement at Penn State.
Are you one of the millions of people who have submitted DNA to companies like Ancestry.com or 23 and Me to get information on where your family came from or your ethnic background? With aggressive marketing and advertising, more and more people are providing a saliva sample in a tube and sending it off only to find out a few weeks later whether they’ve always heard from relatives or what they suspected was true. How accurate are the tests and what can we learn from them?
Joining us on Friday’s Smart Talk is Darvin Martin, analytical chemist who teaches classes on DNA tests Lancaster Mennonite Historical Society’s genealogy conference.
Scott LaMar has worked in both radio and television for more than four decades.
Currently, LaMar is the Host and Executive Producer of The Spark program on WITF-FM, 89.5 & 93.3 in Harrisburg, Pa.
Previously, LaMar was WITF TV’s Sr. Public Affairs producer and produced the station’s award-winning weekly public affairs TV program, Smart Talk.
In addition to his on-air duties, LaMar has moderated political candidate debates, including those for candidates running for Pennsylvania governor and the U.S. Senate and was a regular contributor to BBC World News TV before and after the 2020 U.S. Presidential election.
LaMar often emcees or moderates local events and has gone as far as California to emcee a national event.
The American Society of Civil Engineers honored LaMar with their national Excellence in Journalism award in 2020. He has been nominated for five Mid-Atlantic Emmy Awards.
LaMar and The Spark have been recognized throughout the Central Pennsylvania community including ADVOZ Lancaster’s “Dignity in Dialogue Award”, the South-Central Assembly’s “Regional Citizen Award” and was named a “Humanitarian Hero” by The Humane Society of the United States/Pennsylvania.
A native of Coatesville, Pa., LaMar has also worked as a broadcast news anchor, sports play-by-play announcer and manager.
