From ScienceWriters and AAAS meetings
What’s Courtney Love have to do with science writing? Well, she’s the poster child for the perils of defamatory speech on social media. (She recently settled for $430,000 after a series of online slurs appeared in her Twitter feed.) At a Saturday afternoon session on social media and the law, the panel’s take-home message was simple: No matter how short the story, you’re not exempt from legal challenge.
Three science communicators from government agencies shared savvy strategies for communicating science research to the public and policy makers on Saturday afternoon at ScienceWriters2013 in Gainesville, FL. Although they were talking about their experiences promoting federally-funded research, their tips proved valuable to anyone — public information officers, scientists, or educators — involved in science outreach and communication.
Transcending traditional academic boundaries is key to continued progress at the intersection of nanotechnology, biotechnology and other scientific fields, but the organizational structure at many institutions hinders that kind of collaboration.
The blue whale — owner of the world’s largest mouth — has some newly discovered prey-catching tricks. In a Jaws-like fashion, the whale ambushes huge patches of prey from below with a powerful 360-degree barrel roll.
Electronic implants to treat hearing loss, blindness and immobility are no longer limited to science fiction, scientists say. Researchers from the U.S. and Europe spoke February 17 at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Boston to present new developments in this field of bionic medicine.
Mathematical modeling is no longer a tool reserved for scientists. Artists and architects are now using it to create sculptures, abstract graphs and digital seashells that visualize mathematical equations and concepts.
It may seem the sun wages a constant war against our skin. Harmful UV radiation burns us, damages our DNA, and can sow the seeds for melanoma. But the sun is essential to our healthy development and our immune systems, because sun-exposed skin produces Vitamin D. During the long-ranging human exodus from Africa, says anthropologist Nina Jablonski, Vitamin D levels in the body played a key role: driving the evolution of our species' skin color.
Birds soar, cheetahs sprint, and humans speak. Just as each animal’s unique behavior evolved via natural selection, our capacity for language is also hard-wired in genes and brain tissue.
The Martian quest for NASA’s roving laboratory Curiosity isn’t all about landings and lasers. Humbler experiments are now giving clues about the makeup and history of the red planet.
The Human Genome Project gave us a rough draft of our genetic underpinnings in 2000 and cost taxpayers a cool $3 billion. But just 13 years later, advances in technology are making it possible for anyone to know the A-T-G-C’s of their own genomes at a fraction of the cost, leading to the advent of personalized genetic medicine.