“Drugs and the Brain” A MOOC from Coursera taught by Dr. Henry A. Lester of CalTech Review by AmyLesiewicz I recently finished up my first online class offered by Coursera. If you haven’t already checked them out, head over to www.coursera.org to see all of the free classes they offer from professors at distinguished universities. MOOC stands for massive open online course, and these classes certainly are massive. “Drugs and the Brain” initially drew 66,800 students, but that number quickly dropped; 10,426 students took the first week’s quiz, and about 4,400 students earned “Statements of Completion.” Coursera offers a range …
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The Year in Review – 2012 An annual review is a good place to look back at the goals for ATA divisions and to compare them with what we actually do. The divisions section of the ATA site includes a list of items that divisions should achieve.[1] Provide education specific to a language combination or specialty We achieve this at the annual conference, webinars, in the resources section on the website, and in selected blog posts. For example, this resource page[2]added in 2012 to the division’s website is full of information. We have useful posts such as ‘Translating Technical …
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Interview by Karen Tkaczyk Scientific and Technical Translator www.mcmillantranslation.com I was intrigued by a comment I read in Nataly Kelly’s recent Forbes piece: “Likewise, the majority of the world’s translators (who deal with written words) do not translate books. The largest amount of work in this field comes from the manufacturing sector.”[1] The largest amount? I wanted to know more! I bet other scientific and technical translators would, too! I contacted Nataly, who works for market research firm Common Sense Advisory, with a view to writing something relevant for my colleagues. The firm has a new research report, “How Manufacturing …
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Interview by Susanna Weerth This year the American Foundation for Translation and Interpretation JTG Scholarship in Science and Technical Translation or Interpretation was awarded to Jennifer Clowery. The scholarship supports undergraduate or graduate students who plan to enroll or are training at an accomplished US university or college and have demonstrated achievements in the field as stated by their teachers or supervisors. More information about the award can be found on the ATA website: https://www.afti.org/award_jtg.php If you are interested in starting or switching to a career in science and technical translation and want to know how to start you might …
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Review of S&TD sessions Sarah Koby, Greenleaf Translation This was my second year attending the ATA Annual Conference. My first was last year in Boston with the snowstorm. I loved every minute of ATA53! It’s so sunny in San Diego… though you know you’re from Northeast Ohio when it starts to get “toosunny” and you start hoping to see a cloud or two! Last year in Boston I attended as a student. This year I attended for the first time as a professional, having just started my business – Greenleaf Translation – in the spring. It was surprising to me …
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San Diego conference session ST-5 “DNA Translation: It’s All in the Genes” by Leo van Zanten, is reviewed by Karen Tkaczyk I arrived at “DNA Translation: It’s All in the Genes” looking forward to learning. As a chemist with no formal biology training, and a translator who frequently works on biological subject matter in pharmaceutical texts, I always feel my work benefits from a better understanding of biology. Not all scientists can explain their fields clearly to those without the same background, but this was not the case here. Leo van Zanten, a Dutch translator with a background in plant …
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Drugs of Abuse: A Pharmacological Perspective R. A. (Bob) Lyon, Section Head R&D Proctor and Gamble Reviewed by Brian Howells Outline of drug action in the central nervous system The talk began by outlining the functioning of the central nervous system, wherein the neuron bodies emit electrical signals along the dendrites to the terminal branches to release neurotransmitters into the synapse to communicate between nerve cells, etc., and the various levels at which drugs can affect this process: before the synapse (presynaptic) by affecting firing, synthesis storage and release of the neurotransmitters, or inhibiting their re-uptake so that their effect …
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Review of Basic Concepts of Pharmacology in Drug Development – S&TD conference session 2012 by R. A. (Bob) Lyon, Section Head R&D Proctor and Gamble – reviewed by Brian Howells bhsci@uol.com.br The objective of the talk was to outline the process of drug development, the principles underlying this process and some of the associated terminology and techniques. Drugs are exogenous substances that bring about a change in biological function through a chemical interaction with the endogenous mechanisms within the body. The overall flow of drug development is as follows Identification of a target mechanism in the body which brings about a desired alteration in …
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A Pink-Ribbon Perspective: The ATA Conference from the Viewpoint of a First-Time Attendee – by Amy Lesiewicz Last month I attended my first ATA Conference at the urgings of my mentor, a German to English translator named Amanda Ennis. She assured me that it would change my life, and she wasn’t wrong. I opted to come a day early and take advantage of two of the pre-conference seminars. My first stop after picking up my name badge with my pink “first-time attendee” ribbon and color-coded language dot was Corinne McKay’s seminar entitled Beyond the Basics of Freelancing. In just three hours, …
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A review of Don Jacobson’s presentation at the ATA 53rd Annual Conference about Translating for the Design and Construction Professions in Israel, reviewed by Ami Argaman, a Hebrew-English translator. Ten minutes before this session began, I found Don Jacobson standing alone in the lecture room. By the time he started, two others had joined me, and later a third sneaked in. However, Don did not appear fazed by the poor turnout: he was there to share his experiences and knowledge, and so he did, regardless of the size of the audience. Jacobson, who was born, raised and educated in the United …