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.
Science writing news
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.
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.
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.
How dangerous is the new bird flu virus H7N9? Who knows? Does WHO know? New cases of the SARS-like coronavirus too. But Saudi Arabia has been laggard with disclosures about the new coronavirus. It is being compared unfavorably to China, which seems to be open about H7N9. Meanwhile, how bad was the US winter flu season? Pretty bad. Moving on to Fun with DNA. It's sinister how often DNA isn't right. Plus how to make a DNA model out of licorice and jelly babies.
If you’ve ever fantasized about building a satellite in your basement and sending it into orbit, this is the book for you. Sandy Antunes spent two years building his Project Calliope satellite. In DIY Instruments for Amateur Space, the third of a planned four-book series, Antunes discusses what you can measure in orbit.
Congratulations to the recipients of this year's Laura Van Dam Travel Fellowships. Estrella Burgos, Dan Keller, Phil McKenna, and Eric Niiler will each receive $2,500 in travel support to attend the 8th World Conference of Science Journalists, June 24-28 in Helsinki, Finland.
Congratulations to NASW members David Bjerklie and Lisa Winter, recipients of the 2013 Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings' fellowships to attend the 63rd Meeting of Nobel Laureates in Lindau, Germany.
The Brothers Tsarnaev: Can science explain why? ACES high? Traumatic brain injury? Immature youth? "Cowardly knock-off jihadis?" Docs speak out on the medical aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings. MSM and social media were often wrong, wrong, wrong. What can be done about that? Churnalism, a new free tool for detecting plagiarism — and churnalism.
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