| "Science in the News" Activity |
The “Science in the News” report
should be based on current
developments in medical/health topics appearing in newspaper
or
magazine articles, in NPR (National Public Radio) news pieces, or on
web pages listed below:
- Washington University School of Medicine http://mednews.wustl.edu/
- NewsWise MedNews http://www.newswise.com/libraries/mednews/
- NIH Medline Plus http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/alphanews_a.html
- Medical News http://www.medem.com/mednews/mednews_entry.cfm
If from a printed or radio source, the media piece you choose should be “significant” in length:
- a
newspaper article that is at least one full page in length
- a magazine article that runs for at least several pages
- a major National Public Radio (FM 90.1) report (i.e., not
merely a “headline”). “Major” NPR reports can also be downloaded, often
with additional information, on
the NPR website at http://www.npr.org/
Write a brief report (about 1.5 - 2 pages, in typewritten form) to include the following:
- date, title, author and source (i.e., name of the magazine or newspaper) or specific date and time the NPR piece aired. (Include a copy if you use a printed article.)
- a summary of the major points made in the article or radio piece.
- an account of how this article or radio piece relates to the essay we read on Darwinian Medicine (i.e apply what you learned in the course to the article). For example, how might a disease/disorder be better understood from an evolutionary prospective, why might a treatment be effective or cause unwanted side-effects, which explanation might be helpful in understanding and addressing this issue (defenses, infection, novel environments, genes, design compromises, and evolutionary legacies)?