Teaching Journalism Students to Report on Science

Once upon a time science writing was simple: A reporter would read published studies in the scientific literature and write about the latest wonder of research or miracle of medicine.  Things have gotten more complicated since those early days of science journalism. The spread of pollution, the Vietnam war, the Chernobyl meltdown, the Challenger explosion,…

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On a Wave and a Prayer in Taghazout

I was paddling into position to catch my next wave when the call to prayer sounded from the village across the beach. It was a low, mesmerizing moan. “Allah Akhbar!’’ (“God is great.’’) A reminder of our humility. On a barren hillside in the distance someone had arranged enormous white-painted rocks to spell in Arabic:…

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Spark of Truth: Can Science Bring Justice to Arson Trials?

On a rainy spring morning in eastern Kentucky, Greg Gorbett prepares to commit arson. His target is a tidy but cheerless one-bedroom apartment with the kind of mauve-colored carpet, couches, tables, and lamps you would find in a cheap motel. Gorbett is not the only one eager to see the place burn. A handful of other…

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The Myth of CSI

The Controversy about whether the state’s chief medical examiner falsified his credentials puts one more crack in our national myth about crime scene investigations. That myth, created by the CSI shows that have been a staple of TV for the past decade, portray crime labs as models of ultra-modern efficiency, where dedicated investigators use stateof-the-art…

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$1,000 for Your Genome?

Imagine if doctors could tell you what diseases you’re most susceptible to before you get sick—and if scientists could create medicines to fit your personal genetics. George Church sees that day dawning. When scientists sequenced the human genome in 2003, George Church let everyone else sing their praises. He was as thrilled as any other…

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When Surgeon Leave Medical Instruments in Patients

DR. ATUL GAWANDE IS conducting a simulated thyroid removal at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The operation is a bloody procedure.  It involves about 100 instruments and dozens of surgical sponges, small gauzelike pads used for sopping up blood. Each time Gawande asks for more sponges, the nurses count them aloud before handing them over—the standard…

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The Cuban Biotech Revolution

The end of the cold war was cruel to Cuba. The country’s trading partners, denied Soviet largesse, dried up. Hard cash ran low. What food the country could grow languished in the fields; trucks didn’t have enough gasoline to bring the crops to market. And of course there was the US embargo. What Cubans call “the…

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Senseless Crackdown on Cuba

While America was watching the images of abused Iraqi prisoners, I saw the same images from my hotel room in another country slated for regime change: Cuba. I’d gone there to do research on that nation’s biotech industry. During the week I spent there I learned more about my own country than I’d expected —…

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Intensive Care

Paul Levy, who led the successful cleanup of Boston Harbor, is now trying to cure the ailing Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Will his managerial magic work this time?Read Full Article 

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Bad Blood

If you turned on your television in the immediate aftermath of September 11, you probably saw images of Americans—tens of thousands of them across the country—lining up to give blood. This patriotic offering brought tears to the eyes of many of us. Unfortunately, it created nothing but trouble for the nation’s blood banks. Faced with…

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