The five-day program for the 10th World Conference of Science Journalists features global issues, research topics and challenges, a chance to learn how science writing is done around the world, and a star-studded cast of headline speakers together with all the classic elements of a ScienceWriters meeting: professional development workshops, networking events, field trips, a pitch slam, and Lunch with a Scientist. The early registration discount ends on August 1.
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The Atlanta BeltLine, now in the works, aims to transform a 22-mile ring of mostly defunct rail lines running through 45 diverse downtown Atlanta neighborhoods into a green pedestrian walkway and path for runners and bikers with a possible streetcar line, an urban planner’s dream. In City on the Verge: Atlanta and the Fight for America’s Urban Future, Mark Pendergrast, an Atlanta native, explores the BeltLine’s development and potential impact on the communities through which it will run. He also addresses broader urban issues, including transportation, race, housing, education, religion, public health, and the economy.
Jenny Cutraro writes about her work organizing Science Storytellers, an effort with the American Association for the Advancement of Science to break down barriers and getting children and scientists talking to each other.
Sitting too much, and exercising too little, weaken gluteal and postural muscles essential for supporting the spine, and may trigger back pain. Treatment for back pain is a microcosm of everything wrong with the health care system, Cathryn Jakobson Ramin asserts in Crooked: Outwitting the Back Pain Industry and Getting on the Road to Recovery. Ramin aims to give patients “the information they need to make good decisions, to know what works sometimes, what works rarely, and what can cause harm.”
“Company XXX has recommendations for you based on items you purchased.…” Similar emails flood our inboxes daily. In his fifth novel, The Happy Chip, Dennis Meredith explores the impact of runaway data-grabbing. He imagines a ground-breaking nanochip people seeking to improve their lives have implanted in their bodies. The chip not only monitors behaviors, but also can control them surreptitiously. It’s 1984, a few decades on. Meredith’s non-fiction books include Explaining Research, a guidebook for scientists and science writers.
Despite continuous cuts in IRS budgets and shrinking staffs, the agency remains able to deal with taxpayers who fail to file returns. Internal Revenue Code Section 6020 allows the IRS to complete returns and make assessments for taxes, penalties for failing to file, and for late payment of taxes and interest charges.
Strong media literacy must be taught as early as elementary school, and journalists and scientists need to ensure accuracy of the information they distribute, to curb the spread of misinformation, particularly in the age of social media, experts say.
Recent studies of evolutionary history, genetics and cognition suggest that at the core of any solution must be a sense that we are all on the same team.
Climate change and its effects could threaten the very existence of those whose lives and livelihoods depend on the world’s fisheries, as waters warm and sea dwellers move away in search of more hospitable environments.
Apr. 24, 2017