Two dozen print and electronic journalists from across the Southeast got a glimpse of what’s coming next in the climate story during Measure Globally, Respond Locally, a mini-conference held August 15 and 16 in Asheville, N.C.
Science writing news
In this second, updated edition of Human Genetics: The Basics Ricki Lewis provides a concise overview of what genes are and how they function. Consideration of genes has made the practice of medicine both more precise and more personal, she says, describing benefits of genetic research to the understanding and treatment of both rare and common disorders that include cystic fibrosis, cancer, and cardiovascular and infectious disease. Genetic testing teamed with information science, she notes, now makes it possible to diagnose some inherited diseases in minutes. In wrapping up each chapter, Lewis presents dilemmas that may arise from genetic research, information, applications, and technologies.
If confusion is the first step to knowledge, FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) users must be geniuses. Fee categories. Pre-determination agency actions. Multitrack processing. Administrative appeals. Glomar responses. In some ways, the FOIA is as impenetrable as it is helpful, but a new resource wants to change all that: FOIA Wiki, which launched in beta Oct. 3.
Smallpox lesions have been found on mummies. Skeletons thousands of years old show bone deformities that may have come from syphilis. In Outbreak!: 50 Tales of Epidemics that Terrorized the World, Beth Skwarecki chronicles the devastation caused by viruses, bacteria, fungi, parasites, prions, dietary insufficiencies, and other scourges, from those known in ancient times, including malaria and plague, to more recent outbreaks, such as those of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Ebola. Skwarecki provides 3-5 page summaries for each epidemic, telling what happened and including the current threat level, treatment, and research findings.
Seattle-based science writers and playwrights collaborated to produce theatrical works in a week. “Theatre is where we come together as a society to do our collective thinking,” said David Mills, artistic director of Infinity Box. “Theatrical stories help us think ahead about the human consequences of changes driven by science and technology.
From cutting down forests to polluting air, trashing oceans, and even leaving junk in space, humans are writing a new chapter in Earth’s history, David Biello asserts in The Unnatural World: The Race to Remake Civilization in Earth's Newest Age. Scientists have dubbed this new age the Anthropocene. “The choices made this century will help set the course of the entire planet for at least tens of thousands of years,” Biello contends. There’s still time, he argues, for humans to be a force for good.
Writers know that the Affordable Care Act (ACA), a.k.a. Obamacare, overhauled the rules for medical insurance. What they might not know is that the ACA’s overhaul also changes some tax laws. Julian Block provides details.
Our brains are willing to bend a few rules or even cheat to make our expectations match reality, Erik Vance writes in Suggestible You: The Curious Science of Your Brain's Ability to Deceive, Transform, and Heal. This behavior affects our response to medications, surgery, acupuncture, placebos, hypnosis, and other traditional and alternative treatments. It helps account for false memories. It also enables us to take an active role in healing ourselves, Vance asserts, reporting findings from his readings and interviews of researchers at the NIH and other universities, Christian Science practitioners, New Age healers, and even a witch doctor in Mexico.
This book’s title, The Left Brain Speaks, The Right Brain Laughs, serves as a glaring example of oversimplification, its author, Ransom Stephens, asserts. The brain’s left and right lobes compete, collaborate, and provide more redundancy than scientists thought until recently, he says. He explores how the brain works in commonplace and quirky ways, examining what goes on when we have “eureka” moments, immerse ourselves in the lives of fictional characters, and know when something’s “right.” Stephens focuses on creativity throughout. “We only get a few decades of awareness,” he asserts. “We should put our heads to work.”
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