Science writing news

On science blogs this week: Spyfall

Spyfall: Finding a way to bring science to the David Petraeus-Paula Broadwell-Jill Kelley-John Allen-Frederick Humphries II-CIA-FBI-Pentagon-Gmail scandal. Lessons for digital privacy: There isn't any. If only Petraeus had known about oxytocin and the evolutionary trend toward monogamy. An oxytocin variant in C. elegans. A vegetative patient speaks, in a manner of speaking. The people speak too, and vote for legal marijuana. The result: more research and more work for science writers.

From ScienceWriters: What I saw at the mid-century launch pad

Joel Shurkin: Forty-three years ago this summer I covered one of the most important stories in human history: The first human landings on another world. Apollo 11. Neil Armstrong. The moon. It was a different journalism world then, and a different America. The media were concentrated, rich, powerful. America was self-assured, rich, daring. Children, you missed a wonderful time.

McGurgan Service Award winners

Last month in Raleigh, N.C., during the NASW business meeting, three dedicated volunteers were awarded the 2012 Diane McGurgan Service Award. Congratulations to Rick Bogren, Robert Irion, and Mari Jensen. Read on to learn more about their contributions and the award.

From ScienceWriters: A new media outlet for freelancers

On July 11, 2012, an investigation I had worked on for approximately six months appeared simultaneously on TheAtlantic.com, Good Morning America, and ABC News’ World News Tonight. I am a freelancer. If you know anything about the freelance marketplace, you’ll spot at once that those two sentences don’t go together.

On science blogs this week: The Climate

Hurricane Sandy and the science of weather. There's no way to know if human-caused global warming made Sandy worse--but humans are definitely responsible for the degree of devastation . Links to many Sandy photos. Sandy killed thousands of lab mice and rats but gave life to birders. Sandy, Presidential politics, and suddenly climate change is an election issue at last. The politics of health care and the Nate Silver backlash. Yes, it's yet more on Jonah Lehrer.

Follow what's happening in Raleigh

Reports are coming in quickly from the ScienceWriters2012 conference in Raleigh, N.C.. You can read the first reports on our conference reports page. They include "Do PIOs need science journalists any more?" and "Writing science ebooks in the real world." More reports will be posted in coming days, along with photos from conference events. Also, it's time to start thinking about ScienceWriters2013.

From ScienceWriters: Mars Curiosity Rover landing goes viral

For seven exhilarating minutes this past August, the newsroom at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory crackled with the human electricity of telepresence. In those moments, hundreds of reporters, jammed elbow-to-elbow, were joined by a global audience drawn directly into the heartbeat of a breaking-news event.

On science blogs this week: Hell

More meningitis and more deaths — and probably more on the way. The new, industrial-strength, compounding pharmacy. "A spectacular failure of consumer protection." Who should regulate compounding pharmacies? A neurosurgeon claims meningitis took him to heaven. And then, big surprise, he wrote a book about it. A neurologist explains what really happened. NASW meeting next week, @ScienceWriters, #sciwri12. How to write and market science and medical ebooks.

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