Suzanne Clancy

REGIONAL GROUPS

by Suzanne Clancy

Washington, DC

In September, DCSWAns met at the National Academy of Sciences and heard two scientists discuss how to read and evaluate scientific papers. Dennis Liu, Ph.D., of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, offered several reasons why a journalist should read a scientific paper: research for an article or book, preparation for an interview, background knowledge, personal interest, and a reality check to judge other material. “But you can’t read just one paper to decide if it’s really a story,” he said.

Earth scientist Thomas Wagner, Ph.D., of the National Science Foundation, cautioned that papers in prestigious interdisciplinary journals (such as Science or Nature) may be more prone to error, given space limitations. Articles in less well-known but more focused journals may have more meat. The peer-review process, despite its flaws, is critical to assuring readers that article content remained within reasonable bounds, he added. He said press releases were a “weak” source of information compared to journal articles, and noted that scientists were leery of colleagues who sought the spotlight by going directly to the media.

About 80 members and guests turned out on November 12 at AAAS headquarters for a discussion on the Haploid Genome Project. Aravinda Chakarvarti of Johns Hopkins led off with an explanation of how single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) lead to differences between individuals and, sometimes, populations. “How different is different?” Chakravarti asked. “There are few cases where one human group had differences not shared with others. Humans emphasize differences for cultural reasons.” Francis Collins, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH, discussed how the Haploid Genome Project is mapping the 10 million or so SNPs. He said humans were 99.9 percent identical at the DNA level, but that there were millions of differences. In talking about issues like health disparities, he said, we leap to genes too quickly: “It could be genes, or it could be diet, culture, environment, socioeconomic status, or a combination.”

Southern California

NASW’s Southern California chapter, which has been inactive, is being reactivated under the name Southern California Science Writers. Members are being recruited from Ventura, Santa Barbara, Riverside, Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties. Organizers are planning a series of lectures and symposia, presented jointly with the MIT Club of Southern California. Tentative topics include bioterrorism, cancer research, and space exploration. The first event will probably occur in late February or early March. Anyone wishing to plan or attend events should call Alan Kouns at 562-866-4113.

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Suzanne Clancy is a science writer with The Burnham Institute in La Jolla, Calif. Send information about regional meetings and events to sclancy@burnham.org.