It was debunked with lightning speed, but last weekend's report of fossilized bacteria being discovered in a meteorite still managed to fool some of the news media some of the time.
Science writing news
Several blogs today are talking about a familiar subject: Science journalists who rely too much on press releases to guide their reporting. Ivan Oransky's Embargo Watch looks at a curious pair of studies two weeks apart in the same journal, one with a press release and one without. Guess which got covered? Gary Schwitzer comments further.
In 1992, a storm washed 28,800 toy rubber ducks off a container ship in the north Pacific. Now, Donovan Hohn has written a book about their fate. Read the New York Times review.
The skeptics are buzzing about a new report that a NASA scientist has found fossilized microorganisms in a meteorite. Read about the evidence, pro and con, at the Bad Astronomy blog, which includes links to other critiques and comments. Followup post.
The philosophy behind The Open Notebook web site: Despite the shifting marketplace for science journalism, expert craftsmanship still matters. The ability to recognize and sell important stories, ask incisive questions about complex subjects, and tell accurate, compelling stories — on shorter deadlines and with fewer reporting and editorial resources than ever before — is more vital than ever to success.
Open access at Nature. Not, UPDATED: Still Not. UPDATED AGAIN: OK now. Journalism as Churnalism. The Sixth Extinction is coming, so take that, creationists!. Tag-team blogging about premenstrual dysphoric disorder
Covering renewable energy is a challenge that many reporters are failing. That's from a recent seminar at Harvard’s Kennedy School, discussed in CJR's The Observatory. The three stages of renewable energy coverage: 1. "This technology is going to save America." 2. "The technology is a fraud." 3. "The technology ... isn’t going to save the planet, but there is a place for it."
Organizers of the World Conference of Science Journalists 2011 said the meeting will be held as scheduled June 27-29 but in Doha, Qatar, rather than Cairo. "There were too many uncertainties, unfortunately, and we felt our priority needed to be providing a stable and safe environment to hold a successful conference." Read the announcement here.
Seven rules for distinguishing between solid information and garbage, from Smithsonian.com's Surprising science blog.