Issue 24: Women of Science Jan '25
News, profiles, research, reviews, recommendations on all things women in science
Welcome back to another edition of WOSc - the weekly newsletter covering all things women in science 📈🧠📚𝞹
🔬 What to expect?
All subscribers receive the free edition covering highlights in media, awards and discovery as well as things to read, see and watch re: women in science. Drops every Tuesday. Tell your friends:
Thank you for joining. Enjoy the read.
A quick run-down of this issue:
Abstract & Intro: News and updates on all things women of and in science
Materials, Methods, Discussion: Interviews and talking points of note
Conclusions & Further Reading: Our media & content recommendations for your week
Abstract & Intro
Your rundown of headlines, news, notes & media snippets re: women of science
🥼 Industry & Life sciences
The demand for eggs extracted from younger women is likely to increase as more older women try to have children, and this Bloomberg report dives deep on the global trade for human eggs (see also our pods rec for the audio version of this).
📌 Who’s quitting academia? Data reveal gender gaps in surprising fields
Even in scientific areas in which women are well represented, they are up to 40% more likely than men to leave research within 20 years.
The Fortune 500 has two new female CEOs—finally pushing that milestone above 11%
💻 Tech
📌 Investors bet on drones to lift agricultural productivity and women’s livelihoods in India
A tricky tech play for the agriculture sector is finding a place among India's millions of small-scale farms to strengthen livelihoods and generate new rural employment opportunities, which these drones may help with…
📌 The femtech revolution is just getting started – but who are the real winners?
What is so revolutionary about femtech? City AM takes a look at the trends that will shape the booming industry's future in the years to come…
📌 1337 Ventures introduces Alpha Startups™ Inno4Her, Southeast Asia’s first femtech-focused accelerator
Women's health is finally gaining much-needed focus, with the femtech industry emerging as a pivotal driver of innovation.
📌 Instead of fertility, this femtech wearable zeroes in on perimenopause
At CES 2025, femtech startup identifyHer announced Peri, a wearable designed to help people track and manage symptoms of perimenopause.
🔧 Engineering
📌 Gender balance in computer science and engineering is improving at elite universities but getting worse elsewhere
The share of computer science and engineering degrees going to women has increased at the most selective American universities over the past 20 years, and is approaching gender parity, while the proportion has declined at less selective schools.
🤖 AI
Meet the woman who has found an innovative way to simply accessing much-needed aid in war-torn Lebanon.
📌 AI helps radiologists spot breast cancer in real-world tests
A new study from Germany has found that AI-supported mammography screening is safe and effective in a nationwide, real-world setting.
📌 Book App Alarmed as Its AI Starts Mocking Users for Reading Books by Women and Minorities
The popular book app Fable has come under fire for its AI-generated annual roundups, which users say gave them offensive messages.
💊 Healthcare
Australian researchers develop novel test to diagnose debilitating condition affecting one in nine Australian women and girls.
📌 Outdated guidelines mean doctors failing to spot heart condition in women
Research finds hypertrophic cardiomyopathy testing that overlooks sex differences and body size is inadequate.
📌 It's time we rethink fibroids, the silent epidemic affecting 70% of women
Despite their prevalence, awareness of these potentially harmful growths is shockingly low, writes powerhouse health entrepreneur Dr Michelle Tempest.
🚀 Aerospace
📌 Why nobody notices when women are tired… but do when it’s a man
Researchers from none other than NASA appear to have identified a new gender gap with a study suggesting that we routinely underestimate how tired women are feeling.
Materials, Methods, Discussion
This week - interviews, discussions and more:
🖊️ Interviews and features of note:
The Film That Rips the Hollywood Comeback Narrative Apart: The Substance is one of several recent movies that scrutinize older female performers’ struggle to stay relevant.
When women do anti-ageing it's called Goop - when men do, it's 'science': There are lots of questions we could ask about multi-millionaire Bryan Johnson, the man who devotes his life to, well, extending his life.
🖊️ Pods and vids:
🧠 The Human Egg Trade: Episode 1 - The Lie From Bloomberg’s Big Take podcast, the first episode in a series about the global market for human eggs, the limits of regulations, and the powerful incentives to evade them.
🤖 Deep fakes, Female membership on Boards, Exploring AntarcticaBBC Women’s Hour and Channel 4's Cathy Newman responds to the new law on deep fakes.
Conclusions & Further Reading
More links & signposts for you to enjoy this week…
The Written Word:
❤️ Women Didn’t Live Longer Than Men in Medieval Times. Here’s Why
👩🏻🔬 The women physicists who escaped Nazi Germany and made scientific history
🤖 This is how women in tech are using AI to drive innovation and build the future
Events & opportunities:
🎯 Sign up to be a healthtech mentor (or mentee) with Sixty Twelve: Is this something we at WOSc are building ourselves? Keep your eyes peeled (and pass on the message)!
📍 Open deadline
🎯 Startups! Join the Tech.eu Summit London 2025: pitch your startup or attend for free
Pitch your startup or attend for free — apply now to join the Tech.eu Summit 2025 this March in London.
📍 Open deadline - TBC
🎯 Innovation in women's health and FemTech from the RSM Obs&Gynae Section - one for the diary!
📍 28th Feb 2025
That’s all for this issue!
Thank you for reading: The WoS mission is to support, share and promote the innovative and groundbreaking work that has been and continues to be done by women across all scientific disciplines, and to empower and inspire the next generation of female leaders in the field.
If you liked it, here’s another reminder to share us with your friends, network, neighbours, coffee baristas ☕ etc.: