joe rojas-burke

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Monthly Archives: February 2014

A field guide to pointless medical research

February 25, 2014by joerojasburke 1 Comment

The ‘race for a cure’ is in many ways a fantasy. If only. Medical research is at best a precarious, plodding mountain climb with many contestants taking dead-end routes. At […]

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health & medicine, science

Relativity in pop culture: ‘Men of Science More or Less Agog’

February 24, 2014by joerojasburke Leave a comment

This vintage science writing makes me wonder how quaint  – or even laughable – contemporary science journalism will look 100 years from now. A total solar eclipse on May 29, 1919 […]

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journalism, science

The bouldering addiction test

February 21, 2014by joerojasburke Leave a comment

[With apologies to Dr. Kimberly Young, developer of the IAT, a genuine clinical questionnaire for assessing Internet addiction.] Conceptually, the diagnosis is a compulsive-impulsive spectrum disorder that involves the following […]

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climbing, srsly?

Pison eu, Colon grossum!

February 16, 2014by joerojasburke 10 Comments

“No zoologist should propose a name that, to his knowledge, gives offense on any grounds.” – The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature • • • If you discovered a delicate, […]

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language, science, srsly?

Old blue eyes: What ancient DNA reveals about a 7,000-year-old hunter-gatherer

February 10, 2014by joerojasburke Leave a comment

This is the skeleton of the 7,000-year-old hunter-gatherer whose genome was recently sequenced, revealing that he had dark skin like his African ancestors, but blue eyes that would become widespread […]

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science

Uggstep (rhymes with dubstep) & other portmanteaus

February 7, 2014by joerojasburke Leave a comment

“Generally portmanteaus with the greatest sticking power seem to be those which fill an existing gap in our lexicon. They describe experiences for which we lack words.” – OxfordWords blog […]

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language, srsly?

Food deserts: Just one facet of an obesogenic world

February 6, 2014by joerojasburke Leave a comment

[Re-posting my latest commentary on social determinants for Covering Health, the blog of the Association of Health Care Journalists] ••• It seems pretty far-fetched that bringing a supermarket to a disadvantaged […]

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health & medicine, journalism

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    A field guide to pointless medical research
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