[Mitworld] The Future of Science Journalism, Nathans on Trichromatic Color Vision

[MIT World]

MIT World Newsletter

Volume 8, Number 40 |  May 27, 2009

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The Future of Science Journalism
April 28, 2009

In introductory remarks to this MIT Museum presentation, MIT President Susan Hockfield states that science journalism “is now, and in the decades ahead, absolutely 
indispensable.” As we confront global warming and health pandemics, science reporting must be 
sustained, Hockfield says, “in its rightful place, at the top of the profession and in the 
thick of the national conversation.” But dismal economic times throw doubt on this 
aspiration, as these journalists attest.

http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/672

Speakers:
Jill Abramson
Managing Editor, The New York Times

Philip Hilts
Director, Knight Science Journalism Fellowships, MIT

Cristine Russell
Senior Fellow, Harvard Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

Andrew Revkin
Reporter and blogger, The New York Times 

Ivan Oransky
Managing Editor, Online, Scientific American

Evan Hadingham
Senior Science Editor, NOVA


Event Host:
MIT Museum

"Some journalists are still stuck in the model: We give you journalism, that’s the way it is. 
In this world, where we don’t know if there’s going to be a pandemic, or where the next terrorist 
attack will be, or how bad global warming is going to be, if I’m not engaged in a two-way 
street with scientifically engaged readers, I’m not responsible."
-Andrew Revkin

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The Evolution of Trichromatic Color Vision
April 27, 2009

Jeremy Nathans describes the fortuitous genetic event that gave rise to an evolutionary leap--the ability to see in color-- 
and links an ancient biological timeline to his very current research in human color vision.

http://mitworld.mit.edu/video/669

Speaker:
Jeremy Nathans '79
Professor of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine 


Event Host:
McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT

"Plasticity is a winning strategy for brain evolution. That permits many possible variations to be 
tested out on the front end. It would also argue that in the primate lineage, among those 
ancient primates, whichever lucky female was the first one to acquire a variation in 
her X-linked genes ... immediately saw a world of color that no primate had ever seen before."
-Jeremy Nathans

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In The Pipeline:

The Autistic Neuron

Presented By:
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Speaker:
Mark Bear
Picower Professor of Neuroscience
Director, The Picower Center for Learning and Memory

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