A line of people (and one cat) hold hands on a grassy field between a forest and a stream. In the foreground, hands striving to create a more socially just, equitable, and accountable science pull apart the chains of a fence linked together by harmful systems. Illustration by Sophie Wang @wangshuf
As we begin 2017 (and run as far away from 2016 as possible), we’ve compiled a list of highlights to celebrate our one-year anniversary. Enjoy!
Least Toxic Examination of Masculinity:
Why are Men Violent?
A digital illustration of a hand holding a gun. Artwork by Alexa Fishman: www.alexafishman.com
Many people think of violence and aggression as natural, biological aspects of being a man. But science paints a different picture about the origins of male aggression.
Most Objective Comic:
Science Under the Scope?
In this comic series, explore strong objectivity with us and find out how science isn’t as unbiased as it may seem.
Best Treatment for Aspiring Doctors:
Learning (In)Humanity
An illustrated figure styled as a doctor in a lab coat holds a clipboard. A pair of real, photographed eyes peers out from the doctor’s glasses. The image background is composed of medical textbook excerpts with “high-yield” phrases erased and replaced by lines from Scantron answer sheets. Illustration by Melody Yenn.
Preaching empathy in medical school is profoundly ineffective when detached from lessons of social justice. If students can be trusted to dissect human bodies, they should be challenged to critically examine their relationships to structural inequality.
Best Sibling Science Story:
What My Brother Taught Me About Science and Social Justice
A childhood photograph of the author and her brother is overlaid with images of multiple hands holding a magnifying glass, a pen, and a notepad. These hands represent the profound role of science and medicine in the lives of the two kids. Illustration by Gray Wielebinski graywielebinski.com/
Alexis thought neuroscience could find the cure for her brother’s mental illness. And then she found disability studies.
Best Science Love Story:
The Sad Story of How I Fell Out of Love with Science
Image Description: A scientist is standing in front of a microscope. Only their torso and hands are visible. The background to their left is a geometric pattern of laboratory equipment, representing the sterile and robotic aspects of science. To their right is a background of DNA helices, plants, insects, and cells, representing the appeal of science in organic forms. Illustration by Alexa Fishman
Science is an intriguing field of study, but many are pushed out of the discipline for a variety of systematic and structural reasons. Specifically in higher education, established systems of teaching science can alienate students. How can science be redefined in a more honest, accountable, and engaging way?
Best Teardown of Biological Heterosexuality:
Let’s Get Something Straight
A GIF of an anatomical heart: first with two magnets, one on the left with red watercolor splashed behind and one on the right with blue, and the second a slightly smaller, “contracted” heart with three magnets circling each side with an assortment of colors blending around and spilling across the heart. The animated effect of these images switching back and forth gives the illusion of a heart beating many colors while contrasting the idea of a binary model of attraction (note: magnets) with that of a more complex spectrum. Artwork by Clare Kim
LGBT people shouldn’t be the only ones questioning their identities. Learn how the history of heterosexuality (and homosexuality) still influences fields like scientific research and medicine today and why it’s still causing problems.
Best Video to Satisfy Your Umami Craving:
MSG – Monosodium Glutamate or Mostly Socialized Garnish
MSG sits at an intersection between scientific and political understandings of food. Learn more about MSG and its history of use, and how both science and social factors influence to foods we consume.
Best Podcast Explaining an -Industrial Complex:
Profit Over People: MIC 101 (part 1/3)
What is the medical industrial complex, and how does it control everything from medical training to patient care? In this first episode of our podcast series, we’ll explore the various ways “ethical medicine” is a misnomer as long as profit is prioritized over healing.
Least Biologically Deterministic:
Race is Not Biology, but Biology is Racialized
A trellis of DNA strands drawn in the style of leaves and branches against a blue brick wall. The trellis imagery represents a more accurate depiction of human genetic diversity in contrast to the classic image of a single genetic family tree with distinct racial branches. Artwork by Alexa Fishman.
Many of our ideas about race are grounded in biological narratives of genetic difference. But what is the real relationship between race and biology?
Best Article About Plants and Patriarchy:
‘Nice Apples’ and Other Problematic Plant Language
A collage that reflects how gender, race, and sex intersect in the rhetoric of plant biology. The collage contains many names and descriptions of seed varieties that are racist, offensive, or essentialize the cultures and people from whom the seeds originated. . Just as layers of paper are fused together and connected to one another, the development of botany is intertwined with slavery, genocide, and settler colonialism.
How does the language of botany reflect its sexist and racist past?
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Thank you so much for your support over the past year, and look forward to more from us in 2017!
