Rebecca Skloot's Blog, page 3

Quick: Get Free Copies of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (aka HeLa) - Limited Offer

[image error]Okay, so the blog has been a weeeeeee bit quiet during the insanity of getting the book to press, and the book tour organized, and The Henrietta Lacks Foundation started (more on that soon!), but that is all about to change.  After an invigorating few days at the fabulous ScienceOnline2010 conference (which others have so eloquently recapped here and here and here and here and many other places), I'm excited to liven things up here again. 

And what better way to liven things up than GIVING AW...

Skloot on the Cover of Publishers Weekly & Advance Praise for The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

[image error] Big week here at Culture Dish! The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks and its author (yours truly) were on the cover of Publishers Weekly (please note: THRILLED!). Inside that issue was a profile of me with some of book's backstory, a short excerpt from the book (longer excerpt coming soon in O, the Oprah Magazine), also a story I wrote about the crazy book tour I'm organizing (posted about previously here).  But that was just the beginning of this week's HeLa developments. 
Read the rest of t...

Get a Free Copy of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (aka HeLa) to Consider for Course Adoption, While Supplies Last

[image error]Calling all academics: If you'd like a free advanced copy of my book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, to consider it for course adoption, get thee to Random House's academic blog and request a copy quick, while supplies last (which probably won't be long at the rate things are going). See below for more information on the book, and advanced praise. It's a story with wide potential for course adoption in the sciences, bioethics, African-American studies, womens studies, creative writing,...

Court Upholds Rights of Scientists and Patients to Challenge Gene Patents

[image error]Some interesting news about the breast cancer patent lawsuit I wrote about for Slate's Double X Magazine a few months ago:  A federal district court has just agreed to hear the case. When the lawsuit was first filed, many legal experts I talked to said they were sure the case would get thrown out of court for it's unusual approach, namely that it claims that the practice of patenting genes is unconstitutional See my story about the case here. Filings and other documents related to the case av...

U of Akron Requires DNA from Potential Employees; Feds Open Public Comment Period on Federal Law Protecting DNA

[image error]Inside Higher Ed just reported that an adjunct instructor at the University of Akron quit when he was told that he had to submit to DNA testing. "It's not enough that the university doesn't pay us a living wage, or
provide us with health insurance," the instructor said, "but now they want to sacrifice the
sanctity of our bodies. No." He was right to question their policy: The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 specifically states:

It shall be an unlawful employment practice for ...

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Book Tour - Bring HeLa to Your Town

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Lots of excitement and news about my book, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (aka HeLa),
which hits stores February 2nd (after ten years in the works). It just got a starred review in Publishers Weekly and was chosen as a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers title for Spring 2010. Culture Dish is very excited about all of this. But the big news for this post is that I'm organizing a nationwide, three-month-long book tour that will have me speaking nationwide at
universities...

How to Prevent Obesity in Your Pet

[image error] Because of the flood of responses I got to yesterday's post on The Insanity of the FDA Approved Obesity Drug for Dogs, I thought I'd start a series of follow up posts answering the many questions I got by email and in the comments here. The most common question was, Okay, so the drug is a bad idea, but what else can we do to make sure our pets don't get or stay fat? Below is a column I once wrote for Prevention Magazine, followed by tips, which should answer the most common questions:

When I...

The Insanity of the FDA Approved Obesity Drug for Dogs

The other day I took my dogs to the vet for a checkup and saw a woman with her morbidly obese dog waiting to fill her prescription for Slentrol -- the first obesity drug for dogs -- which made me feel the need to resurrect this post below, which I wrote the day the FDA announced they'd approved the drug for use in dogs:

The FDA just announced that they've just approved the first-ever obesity drug for dogs, which really makes me cringe. Why? Because dogs don't have eating disorders -- their o...

The Insanity the FDA Approved Obesity Drug for Dogs

The other day I took my dogs to the vet for a checkup and saw a woman with her morbidly obese dog waiting to fill her prescription for Slentrol -- the first obesity drug for dogs -- which made me feel the need to resurrect this post below, which I wrote the day the FDA announced they'd approved the drug for use in dogs:

The FDA just announced that they've just approved the first-ever obesity drug for dogs, which really makes me cringe. Why? Because dogs don't have eating disorders -- their o...

Time to Register for ScienceOnline2010!

[image error] Yes folks, it's that time again:  Registration is now open for the great ScienceOnline2010 meeting that will take place (as always) in Durham, NC in January.  The program features many great scientists, science bloggers, and science journalists, and promises to be lots of fun. I'll be running a session with Tom Levenson and Brian Switek called "From Blog to Book: Using Blogs and Social Networks to Develop Your Professional Writing," and I'll also be doing a hands-on, nuts-and-bolts...