Articles

Rod Pyle: Mars: Making Contact

In 1965, the Mariner spacecraft made the first successful flyby of Mars, taking 22 photos of the planet’s surface. In 1976, NASA landed twin Viking probes on Mars. Since 1996, a series of Martian rovers have enabled charting of ancient rivers, lakes, ocean beds, and valleys — a landscape that once perhaps could have supported life. Preparations for a manned mission to Mars are underway today. In Mars: Making Contact, Rod Pyle draws on oral histories and interviews, and includes a library of photos to tell the saga of human exploration of the red planet.

From ScienceWriters: Writers need to focus more on tax planning

It's a mistake to think of taxes as a once-a-year affliction caused by the need to grapple with 1040 forms or to assemble records for a paid tax preparer. Federal and state tax planning needs to be a year-round concern on par with ongoing business and personal financial planning.

Dennis Meredith: The Rainbow Virus, Second Edition

A blue man shows up in a hospital emergency department, then a red woman, then a yellow one, and soon large numbers of people display a kaleidoscope of colors. A rogue biologist has exposed them surreptitiously to a genetically engineered virus that takes over the body’s melanocytes, producing the unnatural hues. Worse, the colors serve as a marker of the scientist’s intent to employ bioweapons to create worldwide mayhem. The FBI’s on the case, and so is the CDC. In his sci-fi novel, The Rainbow Virus, Dennis Meredith provides a behind-the-scenes look at forensic and epidemiological detective work.

Christie Wilcox: Venomous

“A box jellyfish is little more than goo, yet it can kill a man in less than five minutes. A spider or a scorpion can be unceremoniously crushed under our feet, yet some of their venoms can take us out just as easily,” Christie Wilcox reports in Venomous: How Earth’s Deadliest Creatures Mastered Biochemistry. In this book, based on her PhD research, Wilcox introduces us to venom scientists around the world, telling what venoms do and how they work, and exploring their present and potential medical applications. She also includes stories of survivors of near-fatal venom exposure, individuals who — for highs or putative health benefits — self-inject venoms, and even venom-using murderers. And yes, Wilcox also recounts her own run-ins with venomous barbs and stingers.

From ScienceWriters: World Conference of Science Journalists 2017

In February, the World Conference of Science Journalists 2017 website was launched. It is your one-stop location for news and updates on the conference program, proposal submissions, fellowships, venues, field trips, and registration.

From ScienceWriters: ScienceWriters2016, Oct. 28-Nov. 1

Deep in the Heart of Texas, the Alamo City is home to many wonders, including the UNESCO World Heritage Missions and World Champion Spurs NBA team. San Antonio is also deep in the heart of discovery on everything from cancer, Pluto, Ebola, and robotics. San Antonio scientists are excited to welcome you and share their discoveries.

From ScienceWriters: Undark debuts

If you were hanging around the Twittersphere in February, you may have caught glimpse of the excitement generated by the return of the Knight Science Journalism Tracker: the MIT-based blog for evaluating and critiquing science journalism, which went on hiatus in 2014. The Tracker has a new home as a monthly column in a much broader, more ambitious digital publication that KSJ’s new director, Deb Blum, and editor Tom Zeller Jr., have given the evocative title Undark.

From ScienceWriters: Writers’ write-offs for medical insurance

Usually, there is only one way for writers and other self-employed persons to write off medical and health expenses: They have to claim those outlays as itemized deductions on Schedule A of Form 1040. That is just the first obstacle. There is another barrier for itemizers. Their medical expenditures are not fully deductible. They are allowed to claim such expenses just to the extent that they exceed 10 percent of AGI (short for adjusted gross income), the figure on the last line of page one of the 1040 form.

Baron-Faust/Buyon: The Autoimmune Connection

In The Autoimmune Connection, Rita Baron-Faust explores autoimmune diseases that are found more frequently in women than in men. These include rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, Sjögren’s Syndrome, scleroderma, multiple sclerosis, immune thrombocytopenia, and inflammatory bowel disease. Some women have two or more of these disorders, she notes. Because symptoms such as fatigue or pain often are vague and overlap, diagnosis may be delayed or missed. In this update of her 2004 book, Baron-Faust reports recent advances in understanding, diagnosis, and treatment of autoimmune disorders.

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