
Valerie Brown
Valerie Brown is a science writer who lives near Portland, Ore. Her recent work has focused on environmental health and climate change and been published in Environmental Health Perspectives, High Country News, Science, Forest Magazine and the American Journal of Public Health. She received the The Society of Environmental Journalists 2009 award for Outstanding Explanatory Reporting in Print for her Miller-McCune article "Environment Becomes Heredity."
Bacteria ‘R’ Us
Emerging research shows that bacteria have powers to engineer the environment, to communicate and to affect human well-being. They may even think.
Strengthening the Link Between Pollution, Cancer
Presidential advisory group moves to broaden focus of cancer research to precaution, prevention.
This Just In: More Research Needed
Only more and better data will settle a dispute about the possibility that environmental pollution can cause inheritable disease.
Scientists Say They Can’t Replicate Pioneering Epigenetic Results
The murky waters of the debate over chemical exposures and health just got murkier. And a bit nastier.
An Iodine Chaser
In the capricious world of nuclear waste, a scientist focuses on promising technologies for the capture and storage of the maddeningly elusive iodine-129.
The Ecologist and the Prisoners
Professor Nalini Nadkarni enlists a Washington state prison in sustainability research that has turned the prison green — and may help convicts turn their lives around.
The Danger of Fat-Think
Believing you’re fat may be more emotionally damaging than actually being obese.
No Weighting
Oregon researchers develop counseling approaches that reduce anorexia, bulimia and obesity among young women — apparently for years.
Environment Becomes Heredity
Advances in the field of epigenetics show that environmental contaminants can turn genes “on” and “off” triggering serious diseases that are handed down through generations. But there’s also a more heartening prospect: The same diseases may be treated by relatively simple changes in nourishment and lifestyle.
The Devil Made Me Do It: Video Games and Violence
Father and son researchers studying violence in video games find that the cumulative aggression seen in the current study reflects a low-grade social violence that’s ultimately more indious than headline-grabbing meltdowns.
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from the source
Gender Wage Gap Skewed By Survey Flaws
The wage gap between the sexes in America has been closing much faster than anyone realized, but that’s tempered by learning it’s been much wider than measurements had shown.
‘Orcas as Slaves’ Argument Sinks
An effort to identify five performing orcas as slaves failed in part, argues one scholar, because there’s no legal precedent establishing them as persons.
The Perceived Delicacy of the Female Conductor
New research finds listeners judge symphonic music differently when they’re told the conductor is a woman.
House Puts Transportation in Partisan Crossfire
Transportation used to be one of the few guaranteed areas of agreement when ideology trumped pragmatism in D.C. But that’s no longer the case.
Pressure to Conform Can Inspire Creativity
New research suggests less-creative people do more innovative thinking when they are told individualism is the norm, and instructed to conform.
Better Super Bowl Makes for Better Ads
A lot of people say they watch the Super Bowl mostly for the ads. But it turns out a good game surrounding those ads makes them seem better.
Overseas Troops Finally Get Fair Shot at Voting
After decades of obstacles hindering the voting process, new laws will allow overseas and military voters to submit their votes in time for the 2012 election.
Neglected Tropical Diseases Neglected No More?
World health leaders announce coordinated push to eradicate or control neglected tropical diseases.
Children’s Books Increasingly Ignore Natural World
A survey of award-winning children’s picture books from 1938 to 2008 suggests our increasing estrangement from the natural environment.
Traffic Solution: Make Drivers Less Lonely
Rather than moaning about too many cars on the road, the Ridesharing Institute says the real key to battling traffic congestion and pollution is filling empty passenger seats.


