Featured news

Rod Pyle: Mars: Making Contact

In 1965, the Mariner spacecraft made the first successful flyby of Mars, taking 22 photos of the planet’s surface. In 1976, NASA landed twin Viking probes on Mars. Since 1996, a series of Martian rovers have enabled charting of ancient rivers, lakes, ocean beds, and valleys — a landscape that once perhaps could have supported life. Preparations for a manned mission to Mars are underway today. In Mars: Making Contact, Rod Pyle draws on oral histories and interviews, and includes a library of photos to tell the saga of human exploration of the red planet.

2016 Science in Society Journalism Award winners

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2016 Science in Society Journalism Awards, sponsored by the National Association of Science Writers.

2016-2018 Board election results

We are pleased to announce the results of the recent NASW elections. The new board will take office on Oct. 28, prior to the ScienceWriters2016 meeting. The current board will continue to serve until then.

From ScienceWriters: Animated cartoons of science

Diana Lutz writes about how she began a campaign to get her university to underwrite science animations starring Washington University graduate students and faculty. The result was Ultra-Condensed Science, an animated science series.

From ScienceWriters: Writers need to focus more on tax planning

It's a mistake to think of taxes as a once-a-year affliction caused by the need to grapple with 1040 forms or to assemble records for a paid tax preparer. Federal and state tax planning needs to be a year-round concern on par with ongoing business and personal financial planning.

Dennis Meredith: The Rainbow Virus, Second Edition

A blue man shows up in a hospital emergency department, then a red woman, then a yellow one, and soon large numbers of people display a kaleidoscope of colors. A rogue biologist has exposed them surreptitiously to a genetically engineered virus that takes over the body’s melanocytes, producing the unnatural hues. Worse, the colors serve as a marker of the scientist’s intent to employ bioweapons to create worldwide mayhem. The FBI’s on the case, and so is the CDC. In his sci-fi novel, The Rainbow Virus, Dennis Meredith provides a behind-the-scenes look at forensic and epidemiological detective work.

From ScienceWriters: New digital-era First Amendment Center

The Knight Foundation and Columbia University have announced the creation of a new center that will use research, education, and litigation to advance First Amendment rights in the digital age. An independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, the Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University is backed by $60 million in funding — and it is launching at a time of growing concern about the First Amendment's application to new technologies.

Natalie Wolchover wins Evert Clark/Seth Payne Award

The winner of the 2016 Evert Clark/Seth Payne Award, an annual prize for young science journalists, is Natalie Wolchover, senior writer at Quanta magazine. Wolchover received the award and its $1,000 prize for four stories in Quanta.

Christie Wilcox: Venomous

“A box jellyfish is little more than goo, yet it can kill a man in less than five minutes. A spider or a scorpion can be unceremoniously crushed under our feet, yet some of their venoms can take us out just as easily,” Christie Wilcox reports in Venomous: How Earth’s Deadliest Creatures Mastered Biochemistry. In this book, based on her PhD research, Wilcox introduces us to venom scientists around the world, telling what venoms do and how they work, and exploring their present and potential medical applications. She also includes stories of survivors of near-fatal venom exposure, individuals who — for highs or putative health benefits — self-inject venoms, and even venom-using murderers. And yes, Wilcox also recounts her own run-ins with venomous barbs and stingers.

View All News