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On science blogs: BRAIN-y

The Brain Activity Map (BAM) is now Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN). Obama proposes to spend $100 million in 2014 on developing neuroscience technologies, studying model animals, and planning for future neuroscience research. There are skeptics. The recent budget cuts are hitting both scientific research and patient care. Saint Jane Goodall has done some naughty things in her new book, but the media are reluctant to call it plagiarism.

SciLance: Science writing handbook; Pendergrast: A Coca-Cola history

In The Science Writers’ Handbook, 35 writers, most NASW members, and most freelancers by choice, tell how to hone writing skills, find new markets, and mind your own business. They include advice on managing family and home, while meeting deadlines.

In the 3rd edition of For God, Country and Coca-Cola, Mark Pendergrast explores controversies Coca-Cola has encountered in the past decade, including its alleged role in fostering obesity, and tells how the company reacted and retooled.

GDF10 protein

Freelancing 101: Your first day

Once you have a sense of how you'll stay off the streets, you can focus on the fun stuff of freelancing: finding and writing great stories. But without a boss to set the daily schedule, what does a new freelancer actually do?

On science blogs: Immortality

The immortal life of Henrietta Lacks goes on and on. Is consent all relative? The HeLa genome is not really Henrietta Lacks's genome. HeLa cells are not good models for human cells either. What can an anonymous public genome reveal? Journalists are also clueless about genomic ethical issues, apparently.

From ScienceWriters: Conferring amidst the conifers

If you attend the 8th World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ2013), in Helsinki in June, be prepared, even if not to hug some trees, at least to go into the woods for some scientific — and social — interactions with your lumber-loving hosts. Indeed, a sure conference highlight will be “science at midnight,” a seminar on the development of innovative and renewable wood-based materials for the future, held in the heart of a coniferous boreal forest.

Journal resources for NASW members

Getting full text of academic journals can be difficult unless you work for a major university or a large corporation that has an account. The National Association of Science Writers has made arrangements for its members with several outlets, including Elsevier and Annual Reviews. This page has a summary of those and other journal resources, and how to apply for access to them. Thanks to the publishers and to NASW member David Levine for the compilation.

On science blogs: Deadly virus and long-dead animals

The new coronavirus has now killed 9 out of 15 victims. It has moved into the UK, and person-to-person transmission seems likely. Will this be a new pandemic? Is the world prepared for it? More on de-extinction: is bringing back the dead a dumb idea or really, really cool? And can the associated reproductive technologies make a lot of money?

From ScienceWriters: Social media use among PIOs

Earlier this year, the Public Information Officers’ committee developed a short survey to gather information about how PIOs are using social media to enhance communications goals. Questions focused on what types of social media tools PIOs and their organizations are using, how and why they are using these tools, and who they hope to reach.

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