Founding Director Victor McElheny has a new book out: Drawing the Map of Life: Inside the Human Genome Project (Basic Books, June 2010). Drawing the Map of Life is the story of the Human Genome Project from its origins, through the race to order the 3 billion subunits of DNA, to the surprises emerging as scientists seek to exploit the molecule of heredity. Read Victor’s interview with Thomas Rogers of Salon.com here, or watch a video presented by WGBH of a recent talk Victor gave at Harvard Book Store here. Congratulations Victor!
Publication: Carey Goldberg and Pamela Ferdinand
Two former MIT Knight fellows, Carey Goldberg (01-02) and Pamela Ferdinand (03-04), along with another Boston area journalist, Beth Jones, have co- authored a book about their shared experience of seeking motherhood and romance. Three Wishes is the amazing, funny and poignant tale of three women, eight vials of sperm, and love found. As the story opens, the three friends and journalists are about to hit 40 and decide that, since they have not found their life mates, they will go it alone and become single mothers. Things, rather happily, don’t work out exactly as planned. Congratulations Carey, Pam and Beth!
Publication: Judith Horstman
A new book by Judith Horstman (86-87) is set to hit the bookstores in April. Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence says “In The Scientific American Brave New Brain Judith Horstman takes us on a delightful – and hopeful –tour of the near-future of neuroscience and how we can all benefit.” Horstman is also the author of The Scientific American Day in the Life of Your Brain.
Publication: Marcin Jamkowski
The first book by Marcin Jamkowski (09-10) was recently published in Polish. Ghosts of the Abyss of the Baltic Sea: Steuben, Gustloff, Goya is a documentary style investigation of the three largest maritime tragedies of all time – Wilhelm Gustloff (5-9 thousand people lost), Steuben (4.5 thousand) and Goya (6-7 thousand). All three belonged to Nazi Germany and in the last few months of World War II, they were torpedoed by Soviet Russia. Jamkowski interviewed survivors and sailors, dug through Soviet archives, and dived to the shipwrecks to research the book.
Publication: Valeria Román
Valeria Roman has published her first book for lay people. The book, Darwin 2.0 La teoria de la evolucion en el siglo XXI, was written with the biology researcher Luis Cappozzo and published by Marea Editores. The book is about evolution theory, its updates, and applications. It also reveals the barriers to teach evolution in Argentina, Chile and other Latinoamerican countries. The authors are lecturing at different cities to promote evolution education in 2009.
WFSJ elects Mitchell, Roman to board
The World Federation of Science journalists elected a new board at its General Assembly held during the World Conference of Science Journalists in London. Natasha Mitchell (05-06) was elected to the board, and Valeria Roman (04-05) was promoted to vice-president. Congratulations Valeria and Natasha!