This web page was created as an assignment for Genetics 677, an undergraduate course at UW-Madison.

Comparing scientific literature to popular press article

In this section I will be comparing the article reviewed in the LMNA Gene and Progeria in the News section with the journal paper reviewed in the Scientific Literature on the LMNA Gene section.

When contrasting a scientific journal article reporting the findings about a particular research area and the popular press article the differences are quite obvious.  The popular press will make the journal article and its findings intelligible to the general public with no background in science and give a reason why they should care about a given discovery, i.e. cures, drug treatments, etc.  The comparison between Sternburg's popular press review reporting on Erickson, et al.'s paper and findings has the same differences.  Sternburg glosses over the techniques used to discover the cause of Hutchinso-Gilford progeria syndrome and the accompanying experiments.  Also there is very little biochemical evidence the authors of the paper discuss as being critical to their discovery present in the popular press article.  Understandable is that Sternburg shies away form being too technical such that his audience will not be able to understand the article, but in doing so he does not give paper its just desserts on the breakthrough.  His article may have well been the abstract of the paper pasted into the New York Times.  Sternburg is not to blame for this as he must entice his audience to read about this subject and then be able to explain the core findings of the paper.  It is the perdicament science faces to the lay reader.  How is it that they capture the general public's interest in a subject seemingly too complex or boring for reader's to care about but still be able to protray the significance of their work?  It is the scientific popular press journalist who must make this connection and, in doing so, some of the facts or findings may be omitted.


Peter St. Andre   [email protected]   Last updated:3/15/09
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