Don't just type a bunch of search terms into Google and leave it at that. Use special operators like "site:" to zero in on exactly what you need, says this guide from 10,000 words. "Using a few carefully crafted phrases and punctuation marks can mean the difference between 10,000,000 hits that are hit-or-miss and 100 hits that are tailored to your actual need." With links to guides for Google and Bing.
Science writing news
Pulitzer winners are now posted. Honorees of particular interest to science writers include the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for explanatory reporting, and finalists in the public service, investigative reporting, and local reporting categories.
To know Jack Horkheimer, it helped to be a devotee of late-night public television or Miami planetariums. NASW student member Tim Oleson remembers Horkheimer, who died last summer, and who hosted his show Star Gazer (formerly Star Hustler) with a style combining "elements of Bill Nye, Bob Ross, and Fred Rogers," Oleson wrote.
That popular view of social media and the Internet in general can be traced to 1987, when an earlier generation of computer gurus overhauled Usenet, an early discussion board system. Alexandra Samuel traces the history in the Harvard Business Review. “‘Free, open and participatory’ is the social web’s equivalent to ‘life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness,’” she writes. “And it’s been a driving force on the Internet since at least 1987.”
The Allen Human Brain Atlas at last, accentuating the similarities between Homo saps. Language may be Out of Africa too. The US science budget survives, mostly. But wait 'til next year, when it will be the liberal brain vs. the conservative brain.
Henry Gee started off strong — "Write every day" — in the Guardian's Punctuated Equilibrium blog. "I've found that the best writers have been writing all their lives ... Writing simply bursts out of them — they can't help it." Never mind that rule 7 was, "There is no rule 7," his goal was to inspire entrants in a new British science writing prize from The Wellcome Trust.
That's what Jonathan Tasini said about Arianna Huffington when he announced his $105 million lawsuit against the merged AOL and Huffington Post. “The Huffington Post’s bloggers have essentially been turned into modern-day slaves,” he said. Read the complaint (PDF). Analysis here, here, here, here, and here.
Gary Schwitzer, publisher of HealthNewsReview.org, lists more than a dozen pitfalls to be avoided when writing about clinical trials and other aspects of medical research. Example: "Many stories about drugs that are still in clinical trials include some estimate or projection of when the drug ... might be available on the market. Many times, such projections are just shots in the dark."
It's a question online writers sometimes struggle with, Robert Niles writes in the Online Journalism Review.