November 8, 2011

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Connect science with feminism, blogs with research

By Kate Clancy

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

For those of you who don't follow me on Twitter, I wanted to let you know about two talks I'm giving this week at Harvard. Use this interactive map to find Boylston Hall and the Peabody Museum.

1. Wednesday November 9th, 5-6:30pm, Ticknor Lounge, Boylston Hall, Harvard University.

"From Labwork to Ladybusiness: Science, Blogging, and Feminism."

This is a casual event for undergraduates (and I assume other interested folks) to discuss reconciling one's feminism with one's science. I believe there will be food: for this reason you need to RSVP ASAP (wgs@fas.harvard.edu). This event is sponsored by the Committee for Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies, the Women's Center, and the Department for Human Evolutionary Biology.

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2. Thursday November 10th, 12-1:30pm, room 52H (on the 5th floor), Peabody Museum (you can ask the folks at the front desk how to get there).

"Connecting Women and Their Environment: Inflammation, Stress and Reproduction."

This is a research talk on my own work on C-reactive protein (a biomarker for inflammation) and ovarian function. The talk itself should be under an hour, with time for questions afterwards. This event is sponsored by the Human Evolutionary Biology Department and is open to the public.

I hope to see you there! Stick around to say hello, and do let me know if you have any constructive commentary about the blog or my research. I will have a little time after the Wednesday talk, but I know I'll be shuttled to meetings all day on Thursday so won't be able to hang out past 1:30pm.

I am Dr. Kate Clancy, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. On top of being an academic, I am a mother, a wife, an athlete, a labor activist, a sister, and a daughter. My beautiful blog banner was made by Jacqueline Dillard. Context and variation together help us understand humans (and any other species) as complicated. But they also help to show us that biology is not immutable, that it does not define us from the moment of our birth. Rather, our environment pushes and pulls our genes into different reaction norms that help us predict behavior and physiology. But, as humans make our environments, we have the ability to change the very things that change us. We often have more control over our biology than we may think.

More by Kate Clancy

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