[Sci-tech-public] Knight Science Journalism at MIT Seminars - Tuesday, November 8 and Thursday, November 10

[Eric Strattman]

 Both seminars are from 4pm to 6pm, in the Knight Science Journalism at MIT seminar room, E19-623, MIT. 

November 8
"Strange facts," evocative maps, and the puzzles of geographic variation in medical practice.
David Jones, Professor of the Culture of Medicine, Harvard.


David Jones completed his A.B. at Harvard College in 1993 (History and Science), and then pursued a Ph.D. in History of Science at Harvard University and an M.D. at Harvard Medical School, receiving both in 2001.  He joined the faculty at MIT in 2005 as an Assistant Professor of the History and Culture of Science and Technology. From 2004 to 2008 Professor Jones directed the Center for the Study of Diversity in Science, Technology, and Medicine at MIT, organizing a successful series of conferences about race, science, and technology.  In 2011 he left MIT to join the Harvard faculty fulltime as the inaugural A. Bernard Ackerman Professor of the Culture of Medicine, a joint position between the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and the Faculty of Medicine. The Ackerman Program at Harvard University fosters collaborations in the medical humanities and social sciences across the two campuses. 


His initial research focused on epidemics among American Indians, resulting in a book, Rationalizing Epidemics: Meanings and Uses of American Indian Mortality since 1600 (published by Harvard University Press in 2004), and several articles. Jones has also examined human subjects research, Cold War medicine, HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, and the history of cardiac surgery. His current research explores the history of decision making in cardiac therapeutics, attempting to understand how cardiologists and cardiac surgeons implement new technologies of cardiac revascularization. This research is supported by an Investigator Award in Health Policy Research from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, by the Foundation for Informed Medical Decision Making, and by the National Science Foundation. The first book from this work, Heart Attacks: Historical Reflections on Blindspots in Cardiac Therapeutics (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012) examines why it can be so difficult for physicians to determine the efficacy and safety of their  treatments. A second book, On the Origins of Therapies, will trace the evolution of coronary artery bypass surgery.



November 10
A planet of viruses.
Carl Zimmer, author, lecturer, Yale University.


Zimmer is the author of ten books about science. His works include Soul Made Flesh, a history of neuroscience, which was named one of the top 100 books of the year by The New York Times Book Review, and dubbed a "tour-de-force" by The Sunday Telegraph. His book, Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea was called "as fine a book as one will find on the subject" by Scientific American. His other books include At the Water's Edge, a book about major transitions in the history of life; The Smithsonian Intimate Guide to Human Origins; and Parasite Rex, which the Los Angeles Times described as "a book capable of changing how we see the world." Microcosm: E. coli and the New Science of Life, published in 2008 was hailed by The Boston Globe as "superb...quietly revolutionary." It was a finalist for the 2009 Los Angeles Times Science Book Prize.

In 2009, Zimmer published The Tangled Bank: An Introduction to Evolution, the first textbook about evolution intended for non-majors. Edward O. Wilson of Harvard called it “excellent for students, the general public, and even other biologists.” Choice named it an academic title of the year. Zimmer is currently working on a majors version, called Evolution: Making Sense of Life, with his co-author, the biologist Douglas Emlen, and is preparing a second edition of The Tangled Bank.

In addition to writing books, Zimmer has written hundreds of articles for the New York Times and magazines including National Geographic, Time, Scientific American, Science, and Popular Science. From 1994 to 1998 Zimmer was a senior editor at Discover, where he remains a contributing editor and writes a monthly column about the brain.

Zimmer is a lecturer at Yale University, where he teaches writing about science and the environment. He was also the first Visiting Scholar at the Science, Health, and Environment Reporting Program at New York University’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute.




    web.mit.edu/knight-science      knight-info at mit.edu
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