Greetings--
In advance of the blizzard coming to my part of the world (and maybe yours), here are a couple stories, a video, and even a podcast for your wintry enjoyment:
The cancer "moonshot" that Obama announced at his State of the Union address last week was the last of three high-profile projects in biomedicine he's personally unveiled over the past three years. At Stat, I get some prominent scientists to gaze into their crystal ball and figure out what kind of legacy Obama is leaving behind with these trio of initiatives. One important lesson: actual moonshots are really expensive.
Last year in the New York Times Magazine I wrote about the debate over how much of the genome is functional, and how much is junk. This week in the New York Times, I look at a new study that offers an intriguing way to distinguish between the two. By plunging into evolutionary history, scientists can discover hidden genes that actually make essential molecules.
I've got a new video this week for my series at Stat, Science Happens. I pay a visit to a lab where scientists grow brains. There I discover the process is unsettlingly akin to making a loaf of bread.
Over the weekend, the producers of Reply All, the excellent podcast about Internet culture, gave me a call to talk about the role of diversity in science. I talked about how bringing people together lets them see old problems in a new light--like bringing together an ecologist and a gastroenterologist to understand why someone gets sick. I chime in about two-thirds of the way through this week's episode.
COMING UP!--> January 28: New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, NJ. I'll talk about how parasites can control their hosts' minds. Details here.
February 11: "Is There A Future for In-Depth Science Journalism?" MIT Communication Forum Details here.
June 23-25: International Society for Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health, Plenary Lecture. Durham North Carolina. Here's the meeting site.
July 31: I'll be giving the keynote lecture at the annual meeting of the Botanical Society of America in Savannah
You can also follow me on Twitter, Facebook , LinkedIn, and Google+. And there's always carlzimmer.com.
Best wishes, Carl
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