Recapping ScienceWriters2015 in Cambridge, Mass.; the winners of NASW's and CASW's annual awards; when to record your freelance income for tax purposes; plus the usual departments, book reviews, and news about NASW members. Full text visible to NASW members only.
The World Federation of Science Journalists (WFSJ) has announced that the National Association of Science Writers (NASW), in partnership with the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing (CASW), will host the 10th World Conference of Science Journalists, in San Francisco, in fall 2017, marking the first time WCSJ will take place in the United States.
Science and journalism can change the world — or at least make an impact on it. On April 1, award-winning National Public Radio science reporter Richard Harris delivered that message at Virginia Tech's College of Engineering with the presentation “Using the tools of science and journalism to make a difference.”
On March 10, at a massive sound stage here in the heart of Los Angeles, Alex Trebek stared down three contestants on the game show "Jeopardy!" The legendary host has presided over the TV show for 31 years, and that day he read off the following clue, which also appeared on a blue screen behind him: This condition has doubled in the last 30 years in U.S. kids & is linked to increased risk for diabetes.
When you decide it’s time to write your will or update it, it’s also time to prepare a “letter of instructions.” Ignore the legalese. The letter is an informal document that spells out where you keep important personal papers and what your assets are, among other things.
This spring brought a bounty of dubious headlines. There was the mildly outrageous claim that NASA secretly invented warp drive and the more believable one that using gay canvassers changed minds on gay marriage. And we heard a claim by journalist John Bohannon that he “fooled millions” with a hoax alleging that chocolate aided weight loss.
WCSJ2015 provided a forum for science journalism to discuss the demands of our changing times, forge new and renewed professional networks, and savor Korean culture. Undeterred by an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), the 9th World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ) took place June 8 to 12, in Seoul, South Korea.
"We moved three times the first 10 years, and, honestly, it posed no hardship because two moves brought us to the vicinity of Washington, D.C., where there’s a large science writing community, as well as lots of writing jobs that generally pay well," Brittany Moya del Pino writes. "However, when we moved to the Hawaiian island of Oahu last summer, the situation was quite different. This is the story of how I’ve been dealing with that difference, which at times was so great that it felt as if I had moved to a foreign country."
A preview of ScienceWriters2015 in Cambridge, Mass., and reviews of WCSJ2015 in Seoul, with the threat of MERS looming and a Nobel laureate making news with his remarks about women; Faye Flam critiques John Bohannon's chocolate diet sting; why every writer should have a letter of final instruction and what needs to be in it; how the Jeopardy television game show makes sure it's getting the science right; and what software is best for organizing a book. Full text visible to NASW members only.
What happens when you cross a beloved and compelling theory, a bevy of intensely competitive experiments on a highly technical subject, with a top-secret press conference, tight deadlines, and the desire to tell an exciting story? Perhaps you get the ascent and fall of BICEP2.