Are you a student looking for guidance on how to establish a career in science writing? Are you curious about how senior science writers do their jobs? Here's your chance to find out through the NASW Mentoring Program, which matches science writing students with established science journalists and public information officers for a day during the AAAS Annual Meeting. This year's meeting is February 14-18 in Boston.
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PIOs and their colleagues might have noticed a push NIH recently made to reinforce the requirement that grantee institutions provide acknowledgement of federal funding in press releases, stories, and other publicly facing items. Some of you may also have heard from NIH lately about including grant numbers in press releases and similar materials, too. Here’s what these projects are all about.
TWENTYSOMETHING: WHY DO YOUNG ADULTS SEEM STUCK?
Robin Marantz Henig (NASW member) and Samantha Henig
Hudson Street Press, November 2012, $25.95
A fiftysomething mother (Robin) and her twentysomething daughter (Samantha) explore challenges of early adulthood for the Baby Boomers’ and the Millennials, telling what has changed and what remains the same.
The Mayan Apocalypse will take place next Friday, December 21. Or not. Science is making earnest — but probably doomed — attempts to refute the Doomsday scenario. Meanwhile, despite the swift approach of the End of the World, National Geographic has recruited blogging stars Zimmer, Yong, Switek, and Hughes to form its own new blog network. Discover fights back with Keith Kloor. Holiday hiatus here, but will return in the New Year, apocalypse or no.
Organic compounds on Mars! But Curiosity's carbon find might have come from Earth. Meanwhile, on Earth, NASA announces another Mars rover for 2020. The National Academy of Sciences says NASA is lost in space and it's all Obama's fault. Meanwhile, in inner space, the backlash against brain porn goes mainstream.
From time to time, all of us will find ourselves wondering whether all of the blood, sweat, and tears that we put into our work are making a difference. There are a lot of academics in the field who are very interested in these questions, and in this issue we feature three articles that we hope will expand your thinking about the ways in which science writers make a difference in their professional, local, and global communities.
A NASA scientist calls new Martian data "one for the history books." So does that mean Life on Mars? Heavens no, says NASA. It was all just a misunderstanding. Tune in Monday to find out. Meanwhile, Elon Musk wants to send millions of people to Mars. How? Perhaps reusable rockets. Have they found the gene that makes us human? Oh, c'mon. You know perfectly well that no single gene makes us human.
A perfectly legal way for freelance writers to trim taxes is to employ their children. Their salaries stay in the family, but are shifted into their lower tax bracket. The jobs also put some “jingle in their jeans,” familiarize them with freelancing, and instill a bit of the old work ethic.
Paul Raeburn: Two years ago, I felt lucky to announce that I had been lured to the Sunshine State by Florida Atlantic University, which offered me a free hand to develop a new master’s program in science writing. Sadly, all has come tumbling down.