Catching Up

I apologize for the inappropriately lengthy hiatus. I submitted, presented and got accepted my thesis proposal, so I am now officially a master's candidate in my program. And then many other fun and awesome personal things happened that kept me busy and away from the blogosphere. But now I'm here to catch up and tell you about all the interesting articles I've been reading lately.

Firstly, I did an interview with Courtney Hilden at Under the Microscope, a blog by the Feminist Press about women in science. It was a fun experience, and Courtney drew my attention to something I hadn't really given a lot of thought: although I meant this to be primarily a science blog, I end up writing about gender issues quite a bit. It just happens to be a topic that interests me, and was in no way intentional. But anyway, cool! Check out the interview if you want to learn a little more about my Masters research.

Speaking of mitochondrial research, there was also an exciting article about the possible applications of cybridization in IVF (in-vitro fertilization) techniques, as a therapy for mitochondrially inherited diseases. This technology is much further along than I had originally realized, and it's a very exciting prospect for IVF technologies. The snag is that it creates a potential for babies with three parents, which is a major ethical issue. It's not as severe as it sounds, and if there's an interest, I can go deeper into the specifics of this topic in another post. But in any case it's a fascinating article and definitely worth a read.

As for gender issues, my attention was brought to an article written by Dr. Ben Barres, a prof at Stanford with whom I've had some limited contact. Dr. Barres studies glial cells, and when I originally got my bachelor's degree, I contacted him about joining his lab, should I be accepted to Stanford. His research is fascinating, but the article is more about his professional presence in the field. You see, Dr. Barres used to be a woman. And as a transgendered individual, he's had a chance to see the sciences from both sides of the gender fence. As such, he's been able to shed a lot of light on gender discrimination in the sciences. It's a super cool article and I highly recommend it, especially if you work in the sciences.

I'm still reading up on women's issues quite a bit, and as contraception has been kind of a big deal in politics lately, I've been trying to keep up on any new and interesting news in that area. I found out from this fascinating article on the history of the IUD that I had fallen victim to some very common misconceptions about how IUDs work, and under what circumstances they're used in the United States (as opposed to the circumstances under which they would be the most impactful). As it turns out, the IUD is mainly recommended for women who already have children only in the United States, but it is honestly a better first choice for teenagers and young women who: 1) plan on not having children for years at a time and 2) are more likely to forget their pills or otherwise not use conventional birth control correctly. But this technology is not marketed toward that group in the US at all, for purely circumstantial reasons.

And this one's just for funsies. Turns out, in a stroke of pure poetry on the part of the universe, Barack Obama might be descended from the first American slave. It's not 100%, but the people who did the research used solid techniques and the study seems to check out with professional genealogists. If it's true, it makes a tidy and beautiful story about the perseverance of the African American community.

Alright, that's it for now. I've got a few blog posts brewing in my brain. I'll try to check back regularly. Thanks for your patience. ^_^