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Eleanor Spicer Rice: Common Ants

Ants outnumber humans by a ratio of one million to one. You may think of them as party-crashers at your picnic or invaders in your kitchen, but Eleanor Spicer Rice finds them beguiling, and wants you to learn more about the societies beneath our feet. Follow them home. Track their highways. Learn about a nifty science project, the School of Ants, and view close-up photos of ant life in Dr. Eleanor’s Book of Common Ants. Also check out her three companion books, Dr. Eleanor’s Book of Common Ants of California, Chicago, and New York City.

2017 Science in Society Journalism Award winners

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2017 Science in Society Journalism Awards, sponsored by the National Association of Science Writers. Winners in each category receive a cash prize of $2,500, to be awarded at a reception on October 26, 2017, at the World Conference of Science Journalists taking place this year in San Francisco. Read more to meet the winners.

From ScienceWriters: Pacific Northwest regional PIO conference

On April 28, the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC), in Seattle, was bustling not only with its usual array of doctors and scientists, but also more than 170 visiting PIOs and science communicators attending an all-day conference hosted by the Northwest Science Writers Association (NSWA).

Maryn McKenna: Big Chicken

Americans consume more chicken than any other meat, In doing so, they ingest substantial amounts of antibiotics as well. In Big Chicken: The Incredible Story of How Antibiotics Created Modern Agriculture and Changed the Way the World Eats, Maryn McKenna discusses the consequences of the introduction, starting in the 1940s, of routinely using antibiotics in feed for meat animals. The rise of antibiotic-resistant infections prompted growing concerns about the drugs’ impact on human health, and decades of efforts to ban their use. Earlier this year, FDA announced plans to help phase out the use of medically important antimicrobials in food animals for production purposes.

Ricki Lewis: Human Genetics

This is the 12th edition of Ricki Lewis’ textbook, Human Genetics: Concepts and Applications, widely used in colleges and high school AP classes, and a reliable resource for science writers. More than a million people have had their genomes sequenced, Lewis says, most since her 11th edition was published in 2014. This possibility barely existed in 1993 when her first edition came out. In this edition, Lewis explores use of exome and genome sequencing for both rare and common disorders, and their value in understanding our origins, solving crimes, and tracking epidemics.

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