Meet Linea Johnson, Mental Health Research Advocate

Guest blogger Linea Johnson

Growing up I knew a lot about disabilities. Being the daughter of a mother who was a special education professor and a father who was a vocational rehabilitation counselor I grew up reading the DSM and diagnosing my friends and animals. In my world disabilities were “normal”. They were something that eventually everyone encounters and the differences between one person and another were no different than my being a brunette and my sister being a blonde.

At the age of ten I knew that some people had a difficult time living with their disability, but I had a hard time understanding why. I was so immersed in a world where disabilities were common that I didn’t grasp the complexities of the culture, lifestyle, and system that stigmatizes people who are different.

That was until I turned nineteen and my world changed forever. At the age of nineteen and a college sophomore, I found myself depressed and suicidal. After months of struggling I was eventually hospitalized, grappling with this big thing called a diagnosis. After years of ups and downs my struggle finally had a name: bipolar disorder.

To me this was a death sentence. Though I grew up understanding and empathizing with the concept of disability I was only beginning to understand what it truly meant for the first time. I was terrified of this big word and the stigma and complications it held. That was until I remembered the environment I had grown up in and my early interest in the science and community behind the labels.

After a few more years of struggle I began to do research and learn more about my illness. I learned the statistics and saw how common bipolar disorder was. Learning more about the science of the brain demystified the larger abstract concept of what it was to have a mental illness. Learning the number of people who struggled with mental illness I saw that I was not alone, and through the science I saw that my moods were in fact not my fault.

Today I speak nationally on bipolar disorder, mental illness and adolescents. I ground my words in the statistics and brain science, and speak as part of the community. Today I know that through the help of doctors, counselors and scientists I can live the life I want and live with the hope that new research can help people like me live stronger and more confident lives.


Special thanks to today's guest blogger, Linea Johnson. In addition to research advocacy and increasing awareness of mental health issues, Linea is the lead contributor for the blog BringChange2Mind. Learn more about her journey to becoming an advocate and her upcoming book at Linea and Cinda.

Parallel Structures: Internet Memes and Genetic Code

Cross-posted with Research!America

Twenty years after scoring his first hit, British singer Rick Astley became an Internet phenomenon.

Chain letters, whose origins date to nearly a century before the Internet, viral marketing and even Rickrolling all have a curious, scientific parallel: the genetic code.

According to a story in the May issue of Smithsonian magazine, memes (ideas that are spread to others) and the genetic code have several common characteristics: each meme is passed on to a new host; they can rearrange elements of their makeup; and they can evolve over time.

That observation comes from Jacques Monod, PhD, a Nobel laureate in 1965 who died 11 years later – just as the first publications were being written about ARPANET, the Internet’s predecessor. The story’s author, James Gleick, notes that this observation preceded even the DARPA-era Internet, when only a handful of academic centers were connected through a network. Noted evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, DPhil, picked up the theme – it was Dawkins who coined the term “meme.”

The article, which clocks in at nearly 3,950 words according to LongReads.com, is a fascinating look at where memes came from, how they’re classified and what makes them carry on as they do.
A sample, with some themes most familiar to researchers:

Like genes, memes have effects on the wide world beyond themselves. In some cases (the meme for making fire; for wearing clothes; for the resurrection of Jesus) the effects can be powerful indeed. As they broadcast their influence on the world, memes thus influence the conditions affecting their own chances of survival. The meme or memes comprising Morse code had strong positive feedback effects …

Perhaps the analogy with disease was inevitable. Before anyone understood anything of epidemiology, its language was applied to species of information. An emotion can be infectious, a tune catchy, a habit contagious. “From look to look, contagious through the crowd / The panic runs,” wrote the poet James Thomson in 1730. Lust, likewise, according to Milton: “Eve, whose eye darted contagious fire.” But only in the new millennium, in the time of global electronic transmission, has the identification become second nature. Ours is the age of virality: viral education, viral marketing, viral e-mail and video and networking. Researchers studying the Internet itself as a medium—crowdsourcing, collective attention, social networking and resource allocation—employ not only the language but also the mathematical principles of epidemiology.

Indeed, in the communication age, information needs seconds to travel globally. Contrast that with one of Gleick’s examples, Sir Isaac Newton. Despite being one of the most famous men in England in his day, only a few thousand people had any idea what he looked like. Today, people around the world recognize the likeness of President Barack Obama or basketball player LeBron James.

Gleick also cites “jumping the shark” as another example; in the days of digital communication, there are boundless others: Rickrolling, “all your base are belong to us,” Cigar Guy and a Coke geyser – all being continually updated, passed on and giving way to the latest sensation.


Special thanks to today's guest blogger, Brian Hunsicker, a communications specialist at Research!America. Prior to his position at Research!America, Brian was a sportswriter and copy editor at The News & Messenger in Woodbridge, Virginia.

American Women in Science

Today's guest blogger, Alice Popejoy - a public policy fellow at the Association for Women in Science (AWIS), shares details of her experience on International Women's Day.

Around the world, International Women’s Day unites people by reflecting on their unique history in the continuing challenge of achieving gender equity. For women’s organizations in Washington, D.C. it is the busiest day of the year, as we come together to reflect, celebrate and collaborate.

At AWIS National*, we began the day with our President Dr. Joan Herbers at the State Department, where she moderated a bi-national webcast featuring EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, Assistant Secretary of State Kerri-Ann Jones, and esteemed scientists from Jakarta, Indonesia to highlight the role of strong science in policy making around the world and to encourage female participation. Before the event finished, I was cabbing it over to Rayburn House Office Building to attend Rep. Donna Edward’s event “Blast Off! Encouraging Our Brightest Stars to Enter and Stay in STEM Fields,” which highlighted the importance of our nation’s diverse talent to be reflected in STEM fields if we are to maintain global competitiveness in innovation.

International Women’s Day infused with excitement about STEM on the Hill is a peak of opportunity for my AWIS agenda, educating policy makers about the barriers to success for women in STEM fields, and advocating for institutional changes that will encourage the full participation of underrepresented groups in the workplace.

But our audience is not always so receptive. In America, we have laws like Title IX that protect women from overt discrimination so it is difficult for some policy makers to understand why there is a need for bills like Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson’s “Fulfilling the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering” (H.R. 889) which promotes gender bias workshops and other policy recommendations. Although I have never experienced overt discrimination, as a young scientist, I have felt isolated, sexualized, and subtly written-off as less capable than my male classmates for being a woman. Thus, my agenda is personally, as well as professionally motivated.

While the legal status of gender discrimination has changed, the reality remains frighteningly similar to past decades. Women are still paid less, receive smaller grants, are provided fewer resources, and have less lab space on average compared to their male counterparts. Women also are less likely to become full and tenured professors, faculty department chairs, and to receive awards for their scholarly research than their male colleagues.

Given that 50% of America’s potential for innovation is female and only 24% of the STEM workforce are women, it is an unfortunate and foolish underutilization of our national resources. Raising awareness about gender bias, making the STEM workplace more family-responsive, and educating lawmakers are just a few of the solutions AWIS continues to promote.

For more information about AWIS and getting involved in advocating for the full participation of women and underrepresented groups in STEM fields, visit http://www.awis.org or follow AWIS on Twitter @AWISnational.


Alice Popejoy is a graduate of Hamilton College with a Bachelor’s degree in Biology and French.We thank her for taking the time to share her experience in science advocacy and wish her the best of luck as she strives to pursue her own PhD in the biological sciences.

Life of a New Voice in the Peace Corps

New Voices Peace Corps Update
Alissa Ortman
2nd of March 2011

Where might you be if you see children walking goats instead of dogs, women carrying large containers of water or bundles of wood on their heads, and people wearing winter clothes whenever the temperature drops below 80? You might be in Mozambique serving in the Peace Corps!

Greetings New Voices! It's been awhile but I agreed to write an update on life as a Peace Corps Volunteer here in Mozambique to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Peace Corps this week!* I arrived in Southern Mozambique at the end of September and spent ten weeks in training. This involved living with a Mozambican family and picking up as much Portuguese (the national language here) as I could as well as learning about methods of teaching and participating in a model school program to practice giving lessons to Mozambican youth.

After finishing training and being sworn-in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer in early December I moved up North to the city of Angoche in the province of Nampula (see map). Here in Angoche, I have since started teaching English at the secondary school as well as a few secondary projects. Along with my roommate and the health volunteer also living in Angoche, we have a girl's empowerment group, a boy's art group, and together we help run the youth center started by a previous volunteer.

The boy's art group recently finished painting a mural on the main road into Angoche depicting the problems, causes, and solutions to both the issues of malaria and domestic violence. We spent quite a few weekends working all day in the blistering sun to finish painting the wall, but it was worth it. It was the talk of the town for weeks and people still stop to look at the images and discuss what they mean amongst each other.

Next week we are starting an advanced English class for twelfth grade students and after that gets going we are planning a nighttime adult English course as well. Between our courses at the center, teaching at the secondary school, and our boys and girls groups we are quite busy here in Angoche, but it has been an amazing experience as I'm sure it will continue to be for the remainder of my two years here in Mozambique.

So cheers to Peace Corps 50th anniversary, from one of it's current volunteers. Here's to another 50 years and more of people serving the world over in honor of peace and friendship!


*Unfortunately, the Internet is less reliable in Mozambique than the U.S., so Alissa got this message to us just this morning. We thank her for her extraordinary efforts and wish her the best of luck as she continues to serve as an ambassador of peace; sharing her knowledge about health, science, and, of course, the English language, with her students and community in Angoche.

Vegan Thanksgiving

You can't think about Thanksgiving without thinking about food, and since we at New Voices are all about healthy minds and bodies, we want to keep your food focused thoughts on some healthy alternatives this Thanksgiving week. This quickly led us to long time friend of New Voices, Dana Loy. Today, Dana will be sharing her experience in celebrating this poultry-centric holiday as a vegan.

Oh no! Not vegan Thanksgiving!

After looking through the Trader Joe's turkey-gravy-and-stuffing advertisement mailed to my house in early November, I came to the official conclusion that Thanksgiving is the least vegan-friendly holiday ever.

After all, the crowning achievement of any holiday table in America is a golden, roasted fowl--the bigger, the better. Fortunately, it's easier to survive Thanksgiving as a vegan than one would initially think. Over the past two years, it's been nothing but fun for me to dispel people's stereotypical notions of "vegan Thanksgiving" as a slab of Tofurkey and a plateful of limp broccoli.

Perhaps the most essential tools in any vegan Thanksgiving arsenal are replacement foods. Earth Balance buttery spread is a staple in my refrigerator; it comes in both stick and tub form, perfect for spreading on rolls and for baking into cookies and pies. Tofutti makes a vegan sour cream that works especially well when blended into mashed potatoes (or dolloped onto nachos any other time of the year).

Soy milk is an excellent dairy substitute for any creamy dish; for nuttier flavors or different nutritional benefits, almond milk and hemp milk are personal favorites and particularly good in cinnamon-y baked goods. Egg replacements can run the gamut from ground flaxseed or oil to applesauce or silken tofu and are easy to find with a quick Internet search. (Just don't tell anyone about the tofu--I've found it has a surprisingly negative affect on omnivores' appetites.) And of course, flavorful vegetable broth is an easy substitute for chicken, beef, or turkey broth. Armed with these products, most of which are available at your local grocery, co-op, or health food store, you're able to substitute vegan ingredients in traditional recipes to veganize almost any Thanksgiving dish you can imagine.

Any dish, that is, except for the turkey. What to do for a main dish? Personally, I'd rather just eat the side dishes with no main course. The sides are the best part of Thanksgiving anyways! If you really want a main dish to fill you up, I'd suggest a stuffed acorn squash, a veggie pot pie with sliced portabello mushrooms, or for a meatier substitute, a seitan-based recipe (such as Vegan Yum Yum's Seitan Roulade with Chestnut Stuffing).

Once the initial shock of Thanksgiving without a turkey subsides, you'll find that there's a whole host of animal-free substitutes just begging to find a way onto your holiday dinner plate. Although you may seem overwhelmed heading into Thanksgiving as a vegan, you'll quickly find that many other vegheads are in the same situation. Take a few deep breaths and plan your menu with your personal tastes in mind.

If you're hosting dinner and feel comfortable having meat in your house, you may want to ask some omnivore guests to bring a small turkey or order a pre-cooked turkey from a grocery store. If you're attending a dinner at a meat-eater's home, be sure to contact your host ahead of time and ask what's on the menu. Don't expect them to go out of their way to prepare special dishes just for you, but offering to provide them with some of the vegan ingredients mentioned above may lead to more animal-free dishes at the gathering.

If your host isn't amenable to using vegan ingredients, I'd suggest preparing a few vegan dishes to bring and share (I usually go with two sides and a dessert) so that you'll have something to eat without inconveniencing anyone. And who knows? Once people taste the pure goodness of vegan cooking, they might be willing to try some animal-free recipes themselves. Spread the vegan love!


Dana Loy is a PhD student at University of Wisconsin Madison in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. Dana is a long time follower of New Voices and we're thrilled she took the time to be a guest blogger.


More Thanksgiving posts from New Voices
Thanksgiving Recipes
A Second Helping of Thanksgiving

Communication Baseball: First Base

Today, New Voices welcomes Brian Hunsicker to guest post about communication.

My specialty at Research!America is communications. With that in mind, I'll be presenting the four bases for successful communication – with the public, with media, with anyone who doesn’t have a science background. Why four bases? Touch all four, and it’s a home run. (I can’t believe I wrote that.)

For the sake of Sports Cliché Week (July 11 to 17), I'm reversing everything I’ve taught myself since 1997. In a 12-year career as a sportswriter, I groaned at the sight of “gridders” and “cagers.” I shook my head at stories that began with, “What a difference a year makes.” I became visibly agitated at clichés of construction (overbearing parallel structure (right column)), thought (cursory opinions with no insight) and, of course, verbiage (Player X stepped up! Armchair quarterbacks! Any catchphrase from a SportsCenter anchor after the Craig Kilborn era!).

So, with great mental anguish and a healthy sense of humor, we press on.

It's a single up the middle – a worm-burner, a Texas leaguer, whatever; a hit’s a hit – and Jimmy Hitsalot makes the big turn around…

First base: Show, don’t tell.
This is the first rule of any communication. Think of it like this: If you were speaking to a group of middle schoolers, you’d certainly have demonstrations and examples to drive home the point you’re talking about. Are kids of that age going to listen to a lecture? Of course not.

Just because you’re excited about a certain subject doesn’t mean that others are. But the good news is that you can get them excited.

When you’re speaking, think about your audience beforehand and figure out ways to engage them in what you’re talking about. Different audiences will have different interests (though I think we can all agree that explosions would be cool for any audience). It’s your job, then, to connect the dots between what you’re trying to say and how you’re going to show this to the audience.

When you’re writing, think about word pictures and details. Which sounds more interesting?

Choice A: “A chemical reaction happens, and the liquid rises out of the beaker and spills over the side.”
Choice B: “At the instant the two liquids meet, something begins to happen. Bubbles form. Smoke rises. The reaction grows - quickly - beyond the capabilities of its container. This angry combination of chemicals boils over like an unwatched pot.”

Choice B is significantly more enthralling. You build suspense, and supplement that with words that can put a visual into your readers’ minds.

The beauty of the English language is the flavors of words: blue, aqua, turquoise and teal all mean roughly the same thing – but each is slightly different than the other. Challenge yourself to find unique ways to describe a certain event or action.

Be wary of overwriting, however. Make sure your details are relevant to what you’re talking about, and don’t meander. It’s easy to get caught up in creating this beautiful prose, but it will be for naught if your reader gets bogged down in all of the details.

Jimmy's not getting bogged down, though. The stone-handed left fielder bobbles the ball. So he's heading, full steam, for ...

Check back or subscribe now to see Jimmy Hitsalot's progress around the bases.


Brian Hunsicker is the communications specialist at Research!America. He has a Bachelors of Arts from Moravian College in English. This is his first guest post for New Voices.

World Tuberculosis Day 2010

Tuberculosis, or TB for short is not something most people will think about today. But we should, which is why public health advocate Karen Goraleski is guest posting today to give us a little history about TB.

***

More than 125 years after the discovery of the cause of TB we are still fighting this ancient killer. Even more incredible, we are using drugs and treatments developed nearly a half-century ago. The major burden of TB is found in developing countries, where 98% of TB deaths occur. In addition to killing people, it wields a double hit by draining $12 billion annually from the world’s poorest communities, where families caring for a loved one with TB spend eight to 20% of their income on treatment. Businesses and local economies must also cope with the absence of employees with TB, who will lose three to four months of work on average.

We don’t think about TB here in the U.S., but we need to. In the 1980s and under a false sense of security, America relaxed its monitoring of TB. As a result, TB returned with a vengeance in the 1990s. Flash forward another ten plus years to 2007 and we have more than 13,000 TB cases reported.

An increased investment in research to develop new tools to diagnose and treat TB is essential to prevent the needless suffering caused by TB and its often fatal drug resistant strains. Without this, TB can quickly overpower the current inadequate response to this long-standing but beatable disease.

In this world where disease is just a plane ride away for all of us, where business and commerce are expanding globally, where students and youth groups routinely travel to distant places, it is critical for the U.S. to invest in global health research to develop better prevention and treatment for TB, and to find a definitive cure.


Karen Goraleski is the vice president of public health partnerships at Research!America.

For more on tuberculosis, check out this fact sheet.

Advances in Pregnancy Research

Photo credit: Torsten Mangner

As a woman who would someday like to be a mother, I tend to take notice of technological advancements that make it possible to better care for future little versions of me. Two areas of research that have specifically caught my attention are mother-to-child transmission and ultrasound technology.

The placenta is an organ that delivers nutrients and oxygen rich blood to a developing fetus. This organ is supposed to be a barrier from harmful substances. As new developments and discoveries in science and health care are made readily available to the public, it is becoming increasingly obvious that there are many more harmful substances that can pass through the placenta to the fetus.

In 1973 the term “fetal alcohol syndrome” was coined. The surgeon general developed warning labels for tobacco products in 1984 as part of the Comprehensive Smoking Education Act. The FDA warned pregnant women against consuming tuna and canned fish due to the effects of mercury on developing fetuses. More recently, a confirmed case of transference of leukemia from mother to child occurred in the fall of 2009.

Ultrasound, a technology in use since the early 1900’s, was first applied in obstetrics in the 1960’s. Parents could hear the heartbeat(s) of their unborn child or children. Today, parents have the amazing ability to see 3-D images of their children. The first smiles and smirks can be seen before the child ever leaves the womb.

Science has made amazing discoveries for parents (and parents-to-be) as well as adoring friends and relatives. But we wouldn’t have any of this information without research. It is essential that we support both the current generation of researchers and the next one. You never know what this little person may grow up to discover.


Jessica Stutzman has a Bachelor of Arts in Security and Intelligence from The Ohio State University and is an administrative assistant at Research!America. She has previously contributed to New Voices on women's issues.

Washington Academy of Sciences

Today's guest post is by a 2009 New Voices regular, Jacqueline Maffucci.

If there's one thing I’ve learned since I’ve moved to Washington, there’s never a lack of things to do. The scientist in me is always looking for fun ways to explore the DC science scene. That’s why I was so excited to learn about the Washington Academy of Sciences.

This organization is steeped in history. It’s one of the few organizations in existence that brings together local science societies (yup, the affiliates are all societies found in the DC Metro area) of all disciplines for one common interest – to celebrate science. It began in 1898 with eight affiliated organizations, and its founders included Alexander Graham Bell and Samuel Langley, Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. Its stated mission is to encourage the advancement of science and "to conduct, endow, or assist investigation in any department of science."

Now, in 2010, the WAS has grown to include over 60 affiliates. It prints a quarterly journal and participates in and organizes a number of scientific events to show off the DC Metro area’s science prowess. This brings me to the topic of the hour.

From March 27-28, 2010, WAS will be sponsoring the Capitol Science Conference. Events scheduled include presentations by a number of its affiliate societies as well as some top notch key note speakers. However, what I, personally, am really excited about are the two plenary sessions. On Saturday (3/27), PBS is presenting “Growing Up with Science at PBS” and on Sunday (3/28), Shawn Otto will be moderating “Science Policy Debate ’08 – Where Are We Now.”

You can visit the Washington Academy of Science website to learn more about the event, see the schedule, or to register. Hope to see you all there!


Jacqueline Maffucci earned her B.S. in Animal Science from Cornell University, and a PhD in neuroscience from The University of Texas at Austin. She is an active member of the New Voices for Research community.

Go Be Beautiful

As part of our The View from Venus series, guest blogger Jessica Stutzman shares her thoughts on body image.

I will never be Penelope Cruz. I once desperately wished to be as curvaceous and voluptuous as Ms. Cruz, but was blessed with the body of a ballerina. Long and lean and flat as a board. Now, for any of you who have been to high school it is not optimal to be the Twiggy of your class. Over time I began to believe that if someone said I looked thin it was a put-down rather than a compliment.

Over the years I have gone through my own sort of “yo-yo” diets including the “let’s see how many ding dongs I can eat in addition to my regular meals today diet” and the “consume 3000 calories regardless of what it is consumed diet”. No matter what I did my body always went back to its pre-diet shape. Fortunately, I am now able to accept being called thin as a compliment and make healthier decisions about the foods I eat.

As women, we are our own worst critics. How many of us have turned a compliment such as, “Your hair looks fantastic today!” into “Oh, it usually looks terrible.” The results are in, and they verify (as expected) that our self-esteem is linked to the way we think others perceive us. When someone tells you that you look great, don’t argue! Agree and say thanks.

Return a compliment. Giving and receiving compliments makes us feel great and boosts our confidence. Nothing is sexier than confidence!

Start being more confident by loving the skin you’re in! You don’t have to live at the gym to look and feel fantastic. Adults should engage in 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week. You can achieve this goal by walking briskly to and from the grocery store. As a North Dakotan, I can certainly attest to the workout one receives from shoveling the “fluffy” white stuff. Exercise is proven to boost energy and positively influence one’s mood.

Another way to improve our health is to improve the quality of calories we intake. Not all foods are created equal. Certain foods offer higher percentages of the vitamins and minerals we need per serving size. One high-quality choice is “super-food”. If you haven’t heard of these “super-foods”, you are missing out.

“Super-foods” are natural foods regarded as especially beneficial because of their nutrient profiles or their health-protecting qualities. These fruits, vegetables, and legumes give you your daily source of vitamins and are touted as cancer, cholesterol, and heart disease fighters. Two fantastic super-foods that I love to include in my diet are blueberries and tomatoes.

Blueberries are packed with antioxidants and vitamin C, which are great for our skin and supporting a healthy immune system. A half cup a day of dark blue, frozen or fresh blueberries is all we need to reap the benefits.

Tomatoes provide us with lycopene, an antioxidant linked to lowering the risk of digestive and many other cancers. Tomatoes in the form of ketchup, paste, or sauce allow for easy absorption of all the vitamins and nutrients into our systems.

These are only two of a myriad of super-foods available to us. Take advantage!

A healthy body image is an essential starting point on the path to a healthier lifestyle. While the majority of women find flaws in their outward appearance, we need to take control and recognize all of our positive attributes and how they work together to make us uniquely beautiful.

While I still don’t think I am perfect, I have come a long way from the girl who wanted to look like Penelope Cruz. Choosing a healthy lifestyle through food and exercise has definitely made me more confident, a quality which radiates for all to see.

It's your turn. Go be beautiful.


Jessica has a Bachelor of Arts in Security and Intelligence from The Ohio State University and is an administrative assistant at Research!America. This is her first guest post for New Voices.

A New Voice at ScienceOnline 2010

Allison sporting her map of the human genome t-shirt (courtesy of AAAS) after returning from ScienceOnline 2010.

For months, I had watched the Facebook event, the #scio10 hashtag on Twitter, and the Wiki. I had my hotel roommate and a Google map of directions to each conference location. But it was a couple days before leaving for ScienceOnline 2010, and I was nervous. I had experienced blogger star-strucked-ness before, and I didn’t want to clam up during such a great opportunity to learn from some of the best science communicators out there.

Fortunately, I had nothing to worry about. ScienceOnline retained the “dinner party” feel you often get on Twitter, where the person sitting next to you, shaking your hand, or leading your session could be a book author, a trained scientist, or someone from one of the many institutions and organizations in the Research Triangle Park area. All forms of participation were welcomed and rewarded, and I left feeling more connected to a community of science bloggers than I had before.

As a communication fellow at Research!America, I look through discussions about science communication through an advocacy lens. During the session “Rebooting Science Journalism in the Age of the Web,” Ed Yong of Not Exactly Rocket Science (I could listen to him talk, er, blog all day) asked whether the publication where science-related content even mattered anymore. “If it’s on the internet, people can find it,” he said.

For me, this raises issues of access: how can we create new advocates for research if the communicators aren’t pushing content to new audiences and instead pull them into a specialized community through blogs and other channels (thanks for BoraZ for this distinction)? I thought this question was answered constructively in David Kroll and Damond Nollan’s session on engaging underrepresented groups in online science media, where the discussion turned to using mobile phones and Facebook at historically black colleges and universities.

Who will be the next voice for research? There was so much potential among the ScienceOnline participants. I thought Anil Dash made a convincing case for Expert Labs, a new initiative supported by the American Association for the Advancement of Science which would serve as a filter for policymakers who seek answers from scientists and other experts, but may not know the right questions to ask.

Additionally, Michael Specter, Friday’s keynote speaker and author of Denialism: How Irrational Thinking Hinders Scientific Progress, Harms the Planet, and Threatens Our Lives, ignited the conference with his impatience for misleading information about science, but reminded us throughout the weekend that he was dedicated to promoting scientific interest through his journalism. “Science is much bigger than special interest stories,” he responded to Ed Yong’s question above.

The diversity of the body of ScienceOnline made for lively sessions and informal conversations, and there are many themes not considered here. Based on the amount of content created during ScienceOnline--video, Twitter, blogs, images and Slideshare--I think you could spend a couple days sifting through it and feel as if you experienced the conference firsthand. All content should be marked with the #scio10 hashtag, so keep that in mind in your searching and posting.

Next up: ScienceOnline 2011!


Allison Bland is a communications fellow at Research!America and a graduate of McGill University with degrees in English and history of science. She has previously contributed to New Voices with posts on science education and how-to effectively use Twitter.

Spotlight on Science Educators

It's the beginning of a new school year for K through 12ers across America and that means sharpened pencils, piles of books, and extracurricular activities galore. Each fall as we prepare for the new school year, the focus is almost always on the returning students. Sales on backpacks and school clothes, extra physicals and check-ups, and stories about changes to standardized testing abound.

As we concentrate on the next generation of doctors, lawyers, office workers, and more, it can be easy to forget the other population that is also going back to school: the teachers.

Here at New Voices, we know we wouldn't be anywhere if it weren't for the amazing teachers who helped guide us to where we are now. To show our thanks, we're going to spend the next few days highlighting some of the science educators who helped create the foundation for us to become the science communicators and advocates we are today.

We invite you to join us with your personal stories too. Leave a comment, or send your story to hbenson at researchamerica.org to guest post about a science educator in your life.

New Voices in Scientia Pro Publica

Image credit: Jacques Marcoux

Congratulations to New Voices guest bloggers Tyrone Spady and Pascale Quignon for being featured in Scientia Pro Publica #4! Their April 15th post On Dogs and Research discussed the genetic variation in man's best friend and how research in animals can improve human health as well.

Scientia Pro Publica is a blog carnival that highlights the best science blogging written for the public. The carnival appears bi-weekly in the blogosphere and this fourth edition is being hosted by Eric Johnson at The Primate Diaries.

Thank you to Eric for selecting Tyrone and Pascale and a special thanks to GrrlScientist* for getting this amazing carnival started.

Go check out all the featured pieces!


*If you love libraries, help GrrlScientist advocate for the New York Public Library.

An Exciting Day for Science in America

Guest blogger Matt Hanzlik at the inauguration in January.

Monday was an exciting day for science in America. As you know, President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order removing the restrictions on federally-funded embryonic stem cell research imposed by President Bush in 2001. But Monday was more than an exciting day—it marked the beginning of a completely new era for science, research, and the possibility of cures for some of society’s most devastating diseases and conditions. I write today as a member of Research!America’s New Voices for Research initiative and as a patient advocate.

My mother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2005 when I was a senior in high school. As a son, student, member of the Parkinson’s disease community, and member of New Voices for Research, I whole-heartedly thank President Obama for ending the intense ideological influence that has blocked promising science for the past eight years. For patients and families like mine, suffering from debilitating diseases and conditions, time is of the essence. Not only did President Bush’s blockade of stem cell research cause permanent damage to America’s global scientific competitiveness—it stole precious time from those who needed it most. But that was then, and this is now.

By signing the Executive Order, President Obama ended the legitimate frustration of scientists, researchers, medical professionals, patients and their families who courageously seek advancements towards cures. In place of frustration and anguish, scientists, patients and their families can now take comfort knowing that the President of the United States is once again on their side. President Obama’s Executive Order will allow stem cell scientists and researchers the backing of the federal government in their search for cures to debilitating diseases and conditions. We can all have hope for a healthier, brighter tomorrow.

As embryonic stem cell research (eSCR) moves forward with the support of the federal government, resistance and misinformation from groups opposed to eSCR is sure to intensify. Now more than ever, it is our duty as scientists, researchers, medical professionals, and patient advocates to spread the truth about eSCR. We don’t know where potential cures may lie, and for this reason it is important to explore every avenue of stem cell research—cord blood, adult stem cells, somatic cell nuclear transfer, induced pluripotent stem cells, and embryonic stem cells. Don’t ever let someone tell you that adult stem cell research has already cured Parkinson’s disease, for example. I know dozens of people who are still stiff and shaking from Parkinson’s. They are looking to all forms of stem cell research for a potential cure.

Please take a moment this week to join me in thanking President Obama for removing the restrictions on federally-funded embryonic stem cell research and offering hope to so many Americans. You can send the President a thank you note through www.whitehouse.gov/contact. I look forward to the journey towards cures we are about to embark on together.

--Matt Hanzlik is a junior at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management. He serves as the National Advocacy & Government Relations Chair for the Student Society for Stem Cell Research (www.ssscr.org).

Additional resource: SSSCR’s statement on the Executive Order