I plan to post summaries of the panel discussions I attended at WisCon. Each will start with a list of panel members and the description from the program, followed by a summary of my notes.
If I don't attribute a statement to a specific person it means either I failed to write down who said it or it's more of a general consensus.
Microbes
(Yes, I am aware of the irony of the first panel of my first writing conference being scientific. Ya' know, the second panel was, too!)
Mod Gayle; Ada Milenkovic Brown, Jacqueline Houtman, Carl F Marrs, Greg Press, Joan Slonczewski (WisCon Guest of Honor)
Description: Microbes play crucial ecological roles. Many are directly or indirectly required for human health. They form a large part of the earth's biomass. They can perform some amazing metabolic tricks, yet all too often science fiction has ignored microbes, or has focused on their role as human pathogens. But not this panel! We have plentiful fare for discussion: microbial ecology, biofilms and microbial mats, microbiomes, microbial genomics, microbial diversity, antibiotic resistance, horizontal gene transfer, microbial evolution, microbial exobiology and the role of microbes in human health.
For this panel, microbes were defined as bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites
JS: from recent ASM (American Society for Microbiogy) meeting - each individual has a unique microbial print; breath in a room for some time (missed how long) and later air samples can tell who was there. [presumes knowing each person's microbial print]
G: heard on Science Friday [on NPR] that dogs share their microbes with their humans, cats don't.
Dogs equilibrate the family microbiota.
CM: tech drives new opportunities. Cost of DNA sequencing has dropped dramatically, so human microbe genome project feasible. Majority of microbes on humans can't be cultured; sequencing ID'd who's there. Certain families of microbes common, but the species differ with individual humans.
Discussion of using antimicrobial soaps and how general public often considers all microbes bad.
GP: it's about location - right place vs wrong place in your body
The white blood cells involved with allergies are the same ones that respond to parasites. There is ongoing research using pig parasites as a way to trigger human response without causing disease. Research is related to MS. Could be relevant to other autoimmune diseases.
Bacteriophages are viruses that infect bacteria. Theory that the water of the Ganges River is less infectious to people than it could be because of a large bacteriophage population that preys on the bacteria in the water.
Gut bacteria can stimulate the vagus nerve and affect mood.
In Japan, people who regularly eat raw seaweed have gut bacteria that digest polysaccharides in the seaweed. The bacteria got the enzymes through horizontal transfer from marine bacteria growing on the seaweed.
Horizontal transfer is also how bacteria exchange antibiotic resistance.
Discussion of a theory that viruses are protective. A population carries virus with no problem; when they are invaded or eaten, the attackers get sick.
Protein from a bacteria found in high salt environments moves ions across membranes in response to light. Ion transport is essentially how nerves work. Possibilities of introducing this protein to damaged nerves to obtain responses.
Microbes are transmitted by "the four F's - food, fingers, feces and fucks"
For fiction: what areas of the world environment are controlled by microbes? How might microbes be involved in colonizing other planets? Send them first to "soften up" the environment? All kinds of ethics issues involved with that because of effects on native biota.
Books mentioned:
Fiction: The Patron Saint of Plagues by Barth Anderson
Non-fiction: Parasite Rex by Carl Zimmer; A Planet of Viruses by Carl Zimmer; Guns, Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
Science Writing, Redux
Mod Janet M Lafler; Lisa C Freitag, Jacquelyn Gill, Jacqueline Houtman, Meg Turville-Heitz
Description: Let's reprise a science writing panel from the past that was a lot of fun. Science writing and science reporting can be excellent resources for non-scientists and people who are not specialists in a particular scientific field. They can help us learn the basics of a field, keep up with cutting edge research, or understand the history of science. Where should the educated layperson turn for information on science? How do you evaluate the reliability of a writer who is describing a field you know little about? What are the elements of good science writing? Of science journalism? Who are your favorite science writers and why?
(I arrived late to this one)
General public thinks "science" says this, "science" says that contradictory thing, and therefore don't trust "science." Problem at the education level, with a fundamental underlying presentation of "science facts" rather than the reality of the fluidity of science [concepts change as new facts emerge]
Learning critical analysis tools is important.
Good science writing includes engagement, enthusiasm, making the process understandable, presenting scientists as real people, and not talking down to audience.
JG (I think): Beware scientists approaching retirement moving into the humanities
Discussion of Ted Talks, how they are very stylized and can give a false assumption of expertise in some cases.
Original scientific journal articles are often behind a pay wall. Some scientists post PDFs of their articles on their own websites. Recently, the US government said any work funded by federal money must be publicly available within 2 years of publication.
Panel suggestions for good science writers:
At Scientific American blogs: Kate Clancy, Danielle Lee, Matthew Francis
At National Geographic blogs: Eddie Yong
Carl Zimmer
At Boing Boing: Maggie Koerth-Baker
Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy
PHD comic (Piled Higher and Deeper)
To give you a sense of the variety available at this conference and how hard it can be to chose:
Some panels at the same time as Microbes (Friday, 4 PM):
Little House on the Manifest Destiny
British Women SF Writers
Intergenerational GLBT Dialog
How to Create When Life Isn't Slowing Down for You
Stop Killing All the Minority Characters!
Panels at the same time as Science Writing (Saturday, 8:30 AM):
Digital Death
Social Justice Themes in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Whose Dystopia? Freedom-to Versus Freedom-from
Saturday at 10 AM there were SIX panels I wanted to go to (out of 15)! I picked Strong Female Characters vs Kickass Babes. That summary will be in my next post.
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