Yup. So the battle is uphill and science writers are in the front lines. I do know words like “antibodies” and “herd immunity,” but as a biomedical writer, I write well about astronomy. I know this isn’t exactly what AG is saying, but it’s all I have to say: last week, I got my flu shot. AND I AM IMMUNE!
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21 – 25 October
What happens to sperm and egg donors in the era of cut-rate genetic testing? Cassie discovers that anonymous donations come with a cost.
A growing class of viral clips — generally misinterpreted as cute or funny — actually shows animals in anger, pain, or sexual arousal, says guest poster Whitney Robles. Can we get past our inability to understand the basic signaling behaviors of other species?
Red Delicious apples — one of those sad grocery store misnomers that masks a bitter skin and mealy, gruesome flesh. Christie discovers that in the wild, the story changes completely.
Jessa investigates Canada’s war on science.
Real yetis? Giant apocalyptic-looking oarfish surfacing on our beaches? Cameron considers the implications.
The first major warning sign came in 2006, shortly after Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper first ascended to power. The office of the National Science Advisor was to be phased out. It was a blunt and open declaration of what would come to be called, in environmental writer Chris Turner’s new book, Canada’s War on Science. No thanks, science, we don’t need your advice. We already know everything.
Then came the layoffs and outsourcing at the National Science Library, the cuts to basic research funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, the closure of the Polar Environmental Atmospheric Research Laboratory.
After a while, there emerged a more specific pattern to the dismantling of Canada’s science infrastructure. A bright red sniper’s laser danced on every environmental protection program that could possibly cry foul on the resource extraction industry or slow down development permits. Continue reading
Growing up, I hated red apples. The grocery store specimens, which were always Red Delicious, looked pretty in the grocery bin, but their perfect skin tasted slightly bitter, their flesh bland and mealy. I didn’t mind varieties like Yellow Delicious, Granny Smiths, or Galas, but they still provided too little flavor to evoke desire.
I considered the apple a durable and highly acceptable snack — something to stash in my jersey pocket during a long bike ride or my backpack for a long day at the lab. Chopped up and cooked with cinnamon in my oatmeal or baked with butter and brown sugar in a crisp, a Granny Smith or Yellow Delicious could transform into something resembling a treat, but they were never a food whose mere mention could make my mouth water.
So when my husband and I bought a small farm nine years ago, I eagerly awaited the fruits of the property’s apricot trees, while almost overlooking the half dozen aging apples trees in our front yard. These trees were all the more easy to dismiss because these once-heralded varieties — Red and Yellow Delicious — were no longer chic. Continue reading
Joy Morgan* isn’t a mother, but she may have kids. When Morgan was 27, she decided to donate her eggs. The first time she did it for money. “I was about to go back to school, and I had been drowning in a bit of credit card debt,” she says. Eight thousand dollars is a lot of cash, and it wasn’t like she was using her eggs. But by the time she went in for her third donation, Morgan had a good job. “I kind of fell in love with the process,” she says. “I loved the science of it.”
Morgan donated a total of seven times in three years. Each time she produced between 10 and 20 eggs. The fertility clinic likely discarded some, and surely not every egg that made it into a womb produced a baby. But it seems safe to assume that Morgan has a child, possibly several of them. Those kids may one day want to find her.
Most egg and sperm donors donate with the expectation that their identities will remain anonymous. But with ancestry sites now offering genetic testing for as little as $99, it has become increasingly easy for children to track down their donor parents — whether they want to be found or not.
We have a lot to learn about “Nom nom nom.”
Consider the user comments for a homemade YouTube video called “Cute Kitten says ‘YUM YUM YUM’ while eating.” They include “That is one Happy cat :),” “Awwww,” and “MELTING IN HAPPINESS.” Only a few recognize the meaning of the growling noises as the cat eats from a bowl: “That kitten is saying to back off of his food!”
At more than 1.8 million views, this video belongs to a growing class of viral clips that show animals in anger, pain, or sexual arousal but are generally misinterpreted as cute, funny, and oh-so-human. Most people click, comment, and share the “cuteness” without hesitation. And that’s precisely the problem.
One if by land, two if by sea. And it was the sea that the two of them came on—first, an 18-foot-long fish spotted by a snorkeling science teacher off California’s Catalina Island last week. Fifteen people had to haul the creature to shore.
And then, on Friday, a slightly smaller one—just 14 feet—washing in with the waves on an Oceanside beach. A crowd gathered on the beach around the second silvery fish. Someone called the police and said it was a whale. Continue reading
October 14 – 18
This week. Oh cripes, this week.
We’ve been told that the US government shutdown cost more than the NASA budget, and had all kinds of knock-on effects on everything from basic science to public health. But what’s it like on the ground when a city shuts down? Helen gave us the inside scoop.
Guest poster Meg Urry explained gravitational lenses — nature’s telescopes — and how she might have inadvertently discovered the first one.
Erik dissected the abortion question according to the following lines: Am I, at my core, a collection of thoughts or a collection of genes?
How will you feel when recording every detail of your life for the hive mind is as essential to polite society as showering and brushing your teeth? Roberta put Dave Eggers’ novel The Circle into the context of our self-quantifying life-logging society. Warning: read her review, and you’ll probably be compelled to shell out for the book.
