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Telling the Stories Behind the Abortions
By CORNELIA DEAN, The New York Times, November 6, 2007
Dr. Susan Wicklund took her first step toward the front line of the abortion wars when she was in her early 20s, a high school graduate with a few community college credits, working dead-end jobs.
She became pregnant. She had an abortion. It was legal, but it was ghastly.
Her counseling, she recalls, was limited to instructions to pay in advance, in cash, and to go to the emergency room if she had a problem. During the procedure itself, her every question drew the same response: “Shut up!”
Determined that other women should have better reproductive care, she began work as an apprentice midwife and eventually finished college, earned a medical degree and started a practice in which she spends about 90 percent of her time on abortion services. Much of her work is in underserved regions on the Western plains, at clinics that she visits by plane.
In her forthcoming book “This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor” (Public Affairs), Dr. Wicklund describes her work, the circumstances that lead her patients to choose abortion, and the barriers — lack of money, lack of providers, violence in the home or protesters at clinics — that stand in their way.
( Read More )
Rethinking What Caused the Last Mass Extinction
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD, The New York Times, November 6, 2007
FREEHOLD, N.J. — Splashing through a shallow creek in suburban New Jersey, the paleontologists stepped back 65 million years to the time of the last mass extinction, the one notable for the demise of the dinosaurs.
The stream flows over sediment laid down toward the end of geology’s Cretaceous period. The clay at water level holds meaningful traces of iridium, the element more common in asteroids and other extraterrestrial objects than in the earth. No one could resist sticking a finger to the clay, treating it as a touchstone of their time travel.
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Shining Light on Diseases Often in the Shadows
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr., The New York Times, November 6, 2007
When is a neglected disease no longer “neglected”?
A new online medical journal devoted to neglected tropical diseases was founded last week, and the first task its editors faced was choosing which ailments to snub.
By and large, germs were out, worms were in, and fungi and skin parasites had a shot.
( Read More )
Scientist at Work | John Holcomb: Army’s Aggressive Surgeon Is Too Aggressive for Some
By ALEX BERENSON, The New York Times, November 6, 2007
SAN ANTONIO — Since the war in Iraq began, Col. John Holcomb has been working to change the way the military takes care of its wounded.
Along the way he has suffered a few dings himself.
( Read More )
By CORNELIA DEAN, The New York Times, November 6, 2007
Dr. Susan Wicklund took her first step toward the front line of the abortion wars when she was in her early 20s, a high school graduate with a few community college credits, working dead-end jobs.
She became pregnant. She had an abortion. It was legal, but it was ghastly.
Her counseling, she recalls, was limited to instructions to pay in advance, in cash, and to go to the emergency room if she had a problem. During the procedure itself, her every question drew the same response: “Shut up!”
Determined that other women should have better reproductive care, she began work as an apprentice midwife and eventually finished college, earned a medical degree and started a practice in which she spends about 90 percent of her time on abortion services. Much of her work is in underserved regions on the Western plains, at clinics that she visits by plane.
In her forthcoming book “This Common Secret: My Journey as an Abortion Doctor” (Public Affairs), Dr. Wicklund describes her work, the circumstances that lead her patients to choose abortion, and the barriers — lack of money, lack of providers, violence in the home or protesters at clinics — that stand in their way.
( Read More )
Rethinking What Caused the Last Mass Extinction
By JOHN NOBLE WILFORD, The New York Times, November 6, 2007
FREEHOLD, N.J. — Splashing through a shallow creek in suburban New Jersey, the paleontologists stepped back 65 million years to the time of the last mass extinction, the one notable for the demise of the dinosaurs.
The stream flows over sediment laid down toward the end of geology’s Cretaceous period. The clay at water level holds meaningful traces of iridium, the element more common in asteroids and other extraterrestrial objects than in the earth. No one could resist sticking a finger to the clay, treating it as a touchstone of their time travel.
( Read More )
Shining Light on Diseases Often in the Shadows
By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr., The New York Times, November 6, 2007
When is a neglected disease no longer “neglected”?
A new online medical journal devoted to neglected tropical diseases was founded last week, and the first task its editors faced was choosing which ailments to snub.
By and large, germs were out, worms were in, and fungi and skin parasites had a shot.
( Read More )
Scientist at Work | John Holcomb: Army’s Aggressive Surgeon Is Too Aggressive for Some
By ALEX BERENSON, The New York Times, November 6, 2007
SAN ANTONIO — Since the war in Iraq began, Col. John Holcomb has been working to change the way the military takes care of its wounded.
Along the way he has suffered a few dings himself.
( Read More )
