The two influenza researchers whose work has triggered a far-reaching debate on the limits of scientific freedom could hardly have handled their publicity more differently. From the Spring 2012 ScienceWriters.
Science writing news
Science and politics and homosexuality. Should science writers boycott North Carolina? Current science says that same-sex marriage is good for public health and adds data to the old conjecture that rabid gay-bashing cloaks same-sex attraction. The gay caveman is exhumed. The Open Notebook presents quotes on quoting. Did dinosaur farts cause Mesozoic global warming? We don't know, but they certainly cause hot air in the media.
One of the disputed H5N1 flu virus papers is now out; the other is on the way. Two swell explainers explain that and much more. But wait, there's more in other H5N1 blog posts too. What does childhood bad behavior portend? How to read science news. Why sex robots won't eliminate sex trafficking. Twitter is terrible at prediction. NEJM 200th birthday, a medical timeline, and how the journal invented science journalism's schedule. Plus Atul Gawande's horrifically beautiful history of surgery,
Post-shibboleths and spambots, catch up on blog posts, Storify pages, and slidecasts of the conference, which was supported in part by an NASW Idea Grant. The Open Notebook has a post linking to early coverage, and the conference site has coverage by University of Wisconsin students. Check the #sciencedenial and #denialconf hashtags, and read about the spam attacks.
Science Writing in the Age of Denial is partly funded by an NASW Idea Grant. If you're not there, you can follow the proceedings online via tbe Twitter hashtags #sciencedenial and #denialconf, the @sciencedenial Twitter user, or the conference web site, where you can review the schedule and speaker biographies.
Once more, retractions in the news. Was Einstein's wife his unacknowledged co-author? Trashing conventional wisdom about cardiovascular disease. Fish oil may not be a panacea after all. Gum disease may not cause heart disease.
More on the limits of DNA and science writing. Dealing with complex statistical studies. The limits of Twitter as a tool for science writers. The limits of explaining why genes are not destiny. Here come the alien dinosaurs with high IQs. Chemistry lesson on the origins of chirality. The origin of life as a feedback loop: did life come from space, or was it the other way around? Robot news: Robowarriors, Robocops, Robosquirrels, and RoboBeatles
Brain mapping and debating a Connectome Project: the Brainbrawl displays science at its classiest. The Jennifer Anniston Neuron. Those mutant H5N1 flu virus papers will be published revised but not redacted. The FDA will not ban BPA, at least for now. Reading list for evolutionary economics. The Carnival of Evolution: computational trees, evolutionary trees, why humans are not apes, primate cooperation, humans and vultures as scavengers, what that new fossil foot tells us about mothering.
Huzzah, aspirin prevents cancer and heart disease! Maybe. These American Lies: Department of Climate Change. These American Lies: Department of Apple, Science Journals, and Science Writing.
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