[podcast]https://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/uploads//2012/06/Hotel-Room-Germs.mp3[/podcast] Ah, vacation time! Relaxing by the beach or in the mountains, retiring at night to a filthy hotel room, crawling with germs… Wait, what? Okay, that might be a slight overstatement of the hygienic challenges of hotel rooms, but the fact remains that hotel rooms are, ultimately, public spaces, inhabited by hundreds of different …
Tag: disease
The Holy Grail of hemophilia treatment
[podcast]https://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/uploads//2011/12/Hemophilia-Gene-Therapy.mp3[/podcast] Over more than two decades of science writing, I’ve seen a lot of my past writings rendered obsolete by scientific progress. Case in point: the release last week of a research report on exciting new progress in gene therapy for hemophiliacs. Back in 2001, I wrote a book on hemophilia for the Enslow Publishers …
The Black Death
[podcast]https://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2011/09/The-Black-Death.mp3[/podcast]
Confessions of a cyberchondriac
A few years ago I wrote several children’s books for the Diseases and People series put out by Enslow Publishers. It’s amazing when you’re writing about disease how easy it is to convince yourself you’ve got the symptoms of whatever you’re writing about. The first book was Meningitis. Stiff neck? You bet. Of course, I …
A treatment for Ebola?
[podcast]https://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2010/06/A-Treatment-for-Ebola.mp3[/podcast] A few years ago I wrote several books for Enslow Publishers in New Jersey for a series called Diseases and People. I covered meningitis, arthritis, hemophilia…and Ebola. My most recent book for Enslow, Disease-Hunting Scientist, also talks about Ebola, and some of the scientists who travel to the sites of outbreaks to help with …
Disease-Hunting Scientists: Jonathan Epstein and the search for SARS
[podcast]https://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/upLoads//2009/05/jonathan-epstein-and-sars.mp3[/podcast] My next book, due out this summer from Enslow Publishers, is entitled Disease-Hunting Scientist: Careers Hunting Deadly Diseases. Each of its chapters focuses on one particular scientist whose work is related to hunting disease. The chapters are much longer than these science columns, but I thought in honour of the book’s release, I’d try …
An instantaneous, universal, programmable vaccine?
[podcast]https://edwardwillett.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/a-universal-instant-vaccine.mp3[/podcast] Efforts to immunize people against disease go back to at least 600 B.C., when the Chinese attempted to immunize people against smallpox by putting smallpox material in their nostrils (the permitting of which, I would think, would require a great deal of faith in your doctor). Modern immunization began in 1796 when a British …
Title page of my next children’s non-fiction book
Just got the PDF of the rough layout of what will probably* be my next-published children’s non-fiction book, Disease-Hunting Scientist: Careers Hunting Deadly Diseases–that’s the title page at left. It’s part of a series from Enslow Publishers called Wild Science Careers. It’s been interesting to work on, since I got to interview several scientists who …
Why is winter the flu season?
Scientists may have finally figured out why there’s a “flu season,” why flu is so much more prevalent during the cold months: Dr. Zimmerberg and his colleagues found that at temperatures slightly above freezing, the virus’s lipid covering solidified into a gel. As temperatures approach 60 degrees Fahrenheit, the covering gradually thaws, eventually melting to …
What’s it like in Level 4?
Download the audio version.Get my science column weekly as a podcast. *** It’s a staple of movies and TV shows: the Level 4 lab, where scientists in “space suits” race against the clock to find a cure for a mysterious ailment. But what’s it like to work in a Level 4 laboratory in real life? …
Here’s hoping it works!
A universal ‘flu vaccine is in the first stage of human tests: This vaccine is intended to provide protection against all ‘A’ strains of the virus that causes human influenza, including pandemic strains.***At the moment, Phase I clinical trials on humans are underway – that is, the candidate vaccine is being administered to a small …
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Episode 136: J. G. Gardner
An hour-long interview with J.G. Gardner, scientist and author of the new high-fantasy novel The Path from Regret. Websitejgardnerauthor.com J. G. Gardner’s Amazon page The Introduction J.G. Gardner has a Ph.D. in Microbiology and is currently a researcher working on new ways to generate renewable energy using bacteria. While having published many technical papers on… -
Episode 135: Rebecca Yarros
An hour-long chat with Rebecca Yarros, the USA Today– and New York Times-bestselling author of more than fifteen novels, including the just-released Fourth Wing, book one of the new fantasy series The Empyrean. Websiterebeccayarros.com Facebook@RebeccaElizabethYarros rTwitter@RebeccaYarros Instagram@RebeccaYarros Rebecca Yarros’s Amazon Page The Introduction Rebecca Yaros is the USA Today– and New York Times-bestselling author of… -
Episode 134: Brent Weeks
An hour-plus chat with Brent Weeks, bestselling and award-winning author of the Night Angel Trilogy and the Lightbringer Series and the just-released Night Angel Nemesis, first book in a new series, The Kylar Chronicles. Websitebrentweeks.com Facebook@BrentWeeksAuthor Twitter@brentweeks YouTube Brent Weeks’s Amazon Page The Introduction In a small-town Montana school at age twelve, Brent Weeks met… -
Episode 133: P. L. Stuart
An hour-long chat with P.L. Stuart, bestselling Canadian fantasy author of The Drowned Kingdom Saga, inspired by Plato’s tale of the lost realm of Atlantis. Websiteplstuart.com Facebook@plstuartwrites Twitter@plstuartwrites Instagram@p.l.stuart YouTube@thedrownedkingdomsaga7847 P.L. Stuart’s Amazon Page The Introduction P.L. Stuart was born in Toronto and holds a university degree in English, specializing in Medieval Literature. He is… -
Episode 132: D.J. Williams
An hour-long chat with D.J. Williams, author of Hunt for Eden’s Star, Book 1 of the new Beacon Hill series: “Harry Potter meets Young Indiana Jones.” Websitesdjwilliamsbooks.comthebeaconhillseries.com Twitter@djwilliamsbooks Instagram@djwilliamsbooks Facebook@djwilliams316 D.J. Williams’s Amazon Page The Introduction With the DNA of a world traveller, D.J. Williams was born and raised in Hong Kong, igniting an adventurous… -
Episode 131: Alex Shvartsman
An hour-long chat with writer, translator, game designer, and anthologist Alex Shvartsman, author of three fantasy novels and more than 120 short stories. Websitewww.alexshvartsman.com Facebook@shvartsman.alex Twitter@AShvartsman Alex Shvartsman’s Website Alex Shvartsman is a writer, translator, game designer, and anthologist from Brooklyn, NY. His adventures so far have included traveling to over thirty countries, playing a… -
Episode 130: James S. Peet
An hour-long chat with James S. Peet, author of the Corps of Discovery science fiction series, set in the multiverse. Websitejamespeet.com Facebook James S. Peet’s Amazon Page The Introduction James S. Peet is a modern-day Renaissance Man. He’s lived on four continents in six countries and visited countless more. He’s been a National Park Service… -
Episode 129: Julie Czerneda and Edward Willett
Listen in as DAW Books authors Julie Czerneda and Edward Willett talk to each other about their latest books, To Each This World (Julie) and The Tangled Stars (Ed). Websitesczerneda.comedwardwillett.comDAW Books Facebook@JulieCzernedaOfficialFanPage@edward.willett@DAWBooks Twitter@julieczerneda@ewillett@DAWBooks Instagram@julieczerneda@edwardwillettauthor@DAWBooks Amazon Author PagesJulie CzernedaEdward Willett Source -
Episode 128: Eli K.P. William
An hour-long chat with Eli K.P. William, Japanese literary translator and author of the Jubilee Cycle science fiction trilogy, set in a near-future Tokyo. Websiteelikpwilliam.com Facebook@elikp.william Twitter@Dice_Carver Eli K.P. William’s Amazon Page The Introduction Eli K.P. William is a novelist and Japanese literary translator. He is the author of the Jubilee Cycle trilogy, set in… -
Episode 127: Monte Schulz
An hour-long chat with Monte Schulz, novelist, composer, owner of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference, and eldest son of the late Peanuts cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. Websiteswww.monteschulz.comwww.metropolisthebook.com Facebook@monte.schulz.7 Twitter@monteschulz Monte Schulz, author of the dystopian coming-of-age novel Metropolis (Fantagraphics), received his M.A. in American Studies from the University of California, Santa Barbara. He published his…
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