ScienceWriters2016 attendees filled both tables in the sunroom of the Omni La Mansión del Rio dining room that were designated for the lunch discussion on NASW Idea Grants.
Event coverage
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Coverage begins in 2006 for the ScienceWriters meeting and 2009 for the AAAS meeting. To see programs for past ScienceWriters meetings, go to the ScienceWriters meeting site.
The highly anticipated, and potentially contentious, business meeting at ScienceWriters2016 is over, and members of the NASW — all 2,534 of them — are breathing a collective sigh of relief following a respectful and informative discussion.
Awards night for the National Association of Science Writers and Council for the Advancement of Science Writing highlighted not only great science writing but the benefits of putting feet to the pavement to find the untold stories.
Basic research looks for universal truths, which are usually expressed in the form of physical laws and general theorems. In contrast, scientists and audiences have heterogeneous backgrounds and deal with constantly evolving issues. Therefore, journalists and PIOs should recognize cultural diversity as a key factor of their storytelling strategies.
Pitch slam for ScienceWriters2016 began in a bustling room of science writers of all ages with various levels of experience, many of whom came prepared with story ideas. A panel of seven editors from the Atlantic, the Washington Post, National Geographic, Motherboard, Nature, COSMOS, and Aeon were eager to listen to these pitches.
How do successful feature writers come up with the "lightbulb" ideas that become compelling articles? Journalists Florence Williams and Amanda Little (who also teaches journalism at Vanderbilt University) and Wired deputy editor Adam Rogers presented a variety of ways of sparking the process.
Physicists are trying to find an elusive new type of particle called sterile neutrinos. But it's hard, because the particles only interact with other matter through gravitational force, the weakest of all known forces: Since their masses would be so tiny, their gravitational effects would be impossible to observe.
Tiny brains made cookie-cutter style could speed discoveries and complement — or some say, replace — mouse models now routinely used in laboratory research on neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
World wars and complicated collaborations formed the backdrop of Einstein’s general relativity theory