Dan Vergano Medical Reporter, Life We asked Dan to tell us a bit about his background -- where he went to school and what he studied, what jobs he held before coming to USA Today and how he decided on a career in journalism. Science reporting is a second career for me, so I feel very lucky to be getting paid to do this and to be working for USA TODAY. I've actually had a plethora of jobs, mostly bad ones, so I appreciate having work that's never boring. Since my first summer job, I've worked as a window installer, pizza delivery boy, golf course lawnmower, stock clerk, wind tunnel construction crewmember, FDA clerk, computer programmer, space policy analyst, CD-ROM debugger, TV researcher/producer and finally reporter. I've probably forgotten a few others, they were all good journalism training. I started out as an engineer, graduating from Penn State in aerospace engineering (BS, '90), in the middle of a recession. I worked on a wind tunnel for a summer and then went to grad school on a George Washington University research fellowship at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA. Not a lot was going on at NASA at that time, so I switched majors (and locales to Washington D.C.) and headed for GWU to study science policy (MA, '93), which interested me far more than tensor algebra. While I was in grad school, I worked as a clerk at the Food and Drug Administration part-time, and then worked as a policy analyst and computer programmer at a defense consulting firm called ANSER. ANSER paid for school and in return I wrote a few white papers, many, many viewgraphs and one rather extensive computer program designed to help the Air Force decide what to do with its spacecraft. At the Pentagon, I came across a book called Deep Black (a survey of classified Air Force space programs then widely used by the service, ironically enough, as an unclassified reference to classified programs), written by Bill Burrows, who was the head of the Science and Environmental Reporting Program at New York University. I hadn't realized such a program existed. It sounded like more fun than making viewgraphs so I applied and received a fellowship to attend NYU. While in New York, I tested CD ROMs and learned a little about science reporting. The highlight was a 6-week teaching trip to Russia I took with NYU faculty, where I learned a lot more than I taught. When I got back, I worked for Betty Chin, who then was producing Dr. Bob Arnot at CBS Evening News, for a summer. Moving back to D.C., I then landed the science reporting internship at Science News in 1996, where I really learned to do my job. Science News extended my internship a few months and then I jumped to HealthWeek (PBS) for the health benefits and to learn the medical beat, which is what you should do if you want to earn a living as a science reporter. I freelanced articles for Science News, New Scientist, Science, The Washington Post and Men's Health while I was at HealthWeek. Wanting to get into print reporting full-time, I started working for Medical Tribune, a health story newswire. I also started freelancing science pieces for USA TODAY, where some of my colleagues from Science News and elsewhere had landed jobs. In 1999, a job at USA TODAY became available and I started working here, originally as a medical reporter. Within a few years, with staff changes, I was working as a science reporter full-time.

Q: Black holes are arguably the most intriguing phenomenon in space. What is the latest interesting or surprising theory or discovery about them?

A: Cosmologists may tell you that dark energy is the most intriguing thing ever. Nevertheless, black holes seem like very productive observation points because they are where general relativity clearly meets the quantum world. The latest interesting observance is of a super massive black hole millions of time heavier than the Sun at the center of a nearby galaxy eating a star. Astronomers are arguing "chicken-or-egg" questions about the origins of the big black holes found at the center of most galaxies, so every bit of data from these objects generates intense interest.

Q: How long will it take before space travel is considered as ordinary as airplane travel is today, and what form do you think it will take?

A: Airline travel seems to be getting less comfortable to me, so who knows. One thing that space lacks that distant locales on Earth possess is a reason to go there. No feasible economic reason exists to send people into space (Helium-3 is not a serious proposition, guys, we have to perfect fusion power first, so spare me the emails.) One could foresee a day 100 years from now when scientists are sent via laser-boosted lightships to the moon, as researchers today are sent to Antarctica. Maybe in 10 years, Bert Rutan will cart people to Australia on a sub-orbital trajectory traveling through space, but I expect Internet videoconferences will be so realistic and cheap by then that air travel will likely look unattractive. Space will always be a money-loser for travel until launch vehicle costs come down, plus it's dangerous.

Q: Given the extraordinary number of solar systems and planets that astronomers and astro-physicists believe exist, how likely do you believe it is that some form of alien life exists in the universe? Our galaxy? Why?

A: Again, your guess is as good as mine. Astronomy's track record suggests that we aren't as special as we suppose, in cosmic terms. So I see no reason to believe life only exists on Earth. Over 100 nearby planets have been detected in the last decade. And it seems likely that by 2020 we'll have a good idea of the few stars in the 200-light-year sphere surrounding us, that possess Earth-like planets. Why wouldn't life spring up on oceans on those planets? Of course, the next question is why aren't we seeing all their TV shows. Hopefully they can't see ours. (We'll probably have to sign treaties promising to stop transmitting reruns of Seinfeld.)

Q: What danger do you believe there is that future space exploration in combination with greed, power and national pride could lead to the spread of combat to space?

A: It's inevitable, given the crooked timber of humanity. At some point in the future, two nations (India and Pakistan, if I had to bet) will begin combat by blowing each other's satellites out of the sky and making a catastrophic mess in low Earth orbit. At any rate, I believe this question has already been answered. ICBMs are designed to travel through space now, on sub-orbital trajectories.

Q: Do you believe the National Aerospace Plane is a practical and wise investment?

A: No.

Q: What is the greatest danger or obstacle that NASA must still overcome to make the mission to Mars a reality?

A: The federal deficit.

Q: What human body limitation presents the greatest problem in expanding space travel beyond the nearby planets? Beyond our solar system?

A: Aging. but there are others. Take your pick, bone loss, radiation, muscle atrophy, heart problems, boredom. Each one is pretty bad. Special Relativity greatly diminishes my interest in interstellar travel. It would be quite a bummer to travel to Upsilon Andromeda at near light-speed, come back, and find that all my friends had died of old age.

Q: How much opportunity is there for investigative journalism in your current position?

A: All reporting is investigative. I do very few hand-offs of secret reports in dark garages and rarely buy individuals drinks until they spill the beans on all the people they've killed. Mostly I talk to people on the phone all day. Every once in a while they tell me something interesting.

Q: How much influence do medical reporters have on How much influence do medical reporters have on health care initiatives or policy, i.e., have any of your stories ever sparked further investigation into a particular issue?

A: Too much influence. If physicians and policy makers did their jobs right, nobody would care what we report. Often a news story is the only thing that gets action going, which is why we have leaks. We wrote a front-page story on dangerous mercury levels in tuna and other fish that turned the issue into a big deal at FDA.

Q: In the last year, what has been the most exciting advancement or innovation in medicine? In space exploration?

A: The phenomenal growth in the use of eluting stents for angioplasty/The eruption of a long-simmering debate over manned space exploration following the Columbia's loss.

Q: Why did you decide to switch careers -- from science policy analyst to journalist?

A: I find reporting much more satisfying. You talk to a few people on the phone, read a study or a report, write a summary, and boom, it's in the newspaper. To enjoy policy analysis you really have to have a cause or an axe to grind, and I'm pretty much too lazy for that. Plus it takes forever.

Q: What do you like most and least about being a medical reporter?

A: I most enjoy talking to some very intelligent people dedicated to helping their fellow man. Truly inspiring people exist out there. Least is answering phone calls from marketers bent on enriching themselves by selling worthless or harmful things to sick people.