Articles

On science blogs: Court of opinion

The Supreme Court declares — unanimously — that the Myriad Genetics patent on BRCA genes is not valid. The decision is being interpreted to mean no "natural" genes can be patented, but that patenting cDNA is a possibility. Patent lawyers are hopeful. Is the Court's genetic ignorance patently obvious? Justice Scalia expresses a second opinion that reveals he's a genetic ignoramus — or maybe a very clever wordsmith. The disgraced and disgraceful Jonah Lehrer has bounced back with a new book.

On science blogs: All about sex

The contraception debate gets legally weirder. Judges and the FDA don't agree on how the morning-after pill should be sold. The two-pill version is really one-step too. The health care system is a dumping ground for all our sexual anxieties. Michael Douglas, the poster child for HPV vaccination. An etymological aside on Latinate dirty words. A NASA video assures young gays that things will get better.

From ScienceWriters: Deductions for NASW conferences

ScienceWriters columnist Julian Block answers questions from readers about the IRS rules for deducting expenses for conferences such as ScienceWriters2013 and whether an honorarium donated to charity is eligible for a deduction.

Four new books demonstrate science writers’ diverse interests

This month’s books explore the secret world of red wolves; the work of an influential and colorful, yet little known, 20th century physicist, George Gamow; astronomy science and the delights of amateur astronomy; and the natural world via sonnets written by a nature writer.

On science blogs: Oh, pooh

The FDA insists that docs who want to try fecal transplants on their desperate patients must jump through new regulatory hoops. Outrage follows. Also ambivalence. Will the new regs lead to more do-it-yourself fecal transplants? Also: Clashing interpretations of new work on Alzheimer's, the origin of birds, and human cloning. A new Theory of Everything. Learn the periodic table in 3 minutes.

From ScienceWriters: NCI ends brash foray into the news business

In December 2003, after an explosion of feverish work, NCI staff members stood on the threshold of launching a weekly newsletter that would cover the entire field of cancer research. The publication they designed — ultimately named the NCI Cancer Bulletin — was neither the largest nor the most controversial of projects launched by then-director Andrew von Eschenbach. The history of the Bulletin — which died with a whimper after nine years of operation — describes an idea gone amok.

On science blogs: Jolie laide

The Angelina Jolie Story, writ large. Her surgeon's notes. The BRCA1 gene and breast cancer. Carl Zimmer presents an evolutionary weirdness about the mutant BRCA1 gene. Pros and cons of bilateral mastectomy. Costs of genetic testing and breast cancer surgery. Obamacare will pay, but will it pay all? More on gene patenting and the Myriad Genetics story. Finally: it appears that breast implants increase breast cancer deaths.

On science blogs: Pacification

Will sucking a baby's pacifier reduce the risk of eczema and allergies? Is vaginal delivery better than C-section? The evidence, such as it is. Winter is Coming, and so is Obamacare. The organizational challenges are immense, and opposition hasn't gone away either. Plus the fate of DSM5, Wehrner von Braun, Ed Yong on science blogging, the media and the anti-vaccine movement, and a shoutout to the Knight Science Journalism Trackers.

From ScienceWriters: Communal writing: an idea grant at work

In some ways, writing a book (the Science Writers Handbook) with 30 other writers was easy compared to sole authorship. Each of us had only a chapter or two to write. But in other ways, it was incredibly difficult. How do you make so many individual voices cohesive, and how do you weed out the overlaps or resolve differences of opinion? It quickly became a balancing act of delegating work and decisions, coordinating many moving parts, and heavy doses of diplomacy.

Science writing news