An Alaskan femme fatale
WANTED: Science
writer. Must have a Ph.D. in molecular
genetics, articles published in the NYTimes, New Yorker magazine, and
Playboy – and a burning desire to live in Philadelphia. If you qualify, contact the Wistar Institute
at once, and volunteer to write their press releases.
No, don’t. This is a joke.
I was goaded to write this bit of nonsense by at least an
hour of struggle with the press release noted below. Press releases, I would have thought, are finely crafted attempts to explain something important to the public, generate
excitement – and indirectly perhaps secure more revenue. Well, whatever “public” this thing is aimed
at certainly doesn’t include me.
So, all I can figure out is that the white coats at Wistar
have shown that a particular epigenetic protein acts as an important
tumor-suppressor, and when mutated raises holy hell. What to do about it seems to remains questionable.. I could tell you more, but I
probably would get it wrong, and you
would forget it anyway. So, if you are really
curious, click on the link below.
Geez! Why didn’t they
just email the half dozen people in the world that would find this thing comprehensible?
Note that I am not implying that this work isn’t important. Almost certainly, it is. It’s just that an hour of knocking my head against
a literary stone wall has made me a little grumpy.
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