Channel 29 had a very brief story last night about some research published in this week’s edition of the journal Nature dealing with some interesting work on the genetic mechanisms behind cancer metastasis.
While amazingly, 29 didn’t actually get this science story wrong, their segment wasn’t very enlightening either — and they missed some of the most interesting parts of the story. Fortunately, this week’s edition of the Nature Podcast has the story behind the work, as well as related work that identifies that certain genes could make cancer cells more susceptible to drugs while keeping normal cells safe.
The show transcript is here; the whole show’s a pretty good listen. At the head of the show, Chris Smith speaks with Michael White, from the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas on identifying genes to target in cancer cells, then follows with Joan Massagué from the Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center on novel ways to block the spread of certain types of tumours.
The Nature Podcast may be the best science podcast on the net, and if you saw the Channel 29 segment last night (or even if you didn’t), the podcast is well worth a listen.
One of my favorite science writers is Carl Zimmer, who has a great talent for making science clear and accessible to just about anyone. It’s not something that’s easy to do — I once watched another one of my favorite science writers, Kathy Sayer (who was writing for the Washington Post at the time) grill a NASA Public Affairs Officer in NASA headquarters for half an hour, until he got exasperated and tried to blow her off. She scolded him, telling him, “I can’t make my readers understand until you make me understand!” Another 15 minutes later, she understood, I understood, and the next day, in 10 paragraphs, Washington Post readers understood, too.
Issac Asimov, better known as a science fiction writer, shared the “make it clear” talent as well, although he probably had an extra gene for it somewhere.
Today, Zimmer’s posted a story on his blog, The Loom, providing some background on the E. coli outbreak that’s led to the wholesale disposal of spinach in grocery stores around the country:
There’s a fascinating–albeit gruesome–backstory to this outbreak, which I’ve been researching for my next book, a portrait of Escherichia coli. Escherichia coli is regular inhabitant of the human gut (not to mention the guts of mammals and birds). You carry about a trillion harmless E. coli. E. coli has also become the model par excellence for understanding the nuts and bolts of life. Lots of Nobel Prizes were awarded for research on these fascinating bug.
It’s a great read, and definitely worth 10 minutes of your time.
