Three sessions from our recent Flagstaff conference were caught on video and are now available for viewing. They are: "How to Sell That Story You Can't Let Go," "Straight to the Source: Helping Scientists Speak Directly to the Press," and "Science News, Spot News, or Both? Managing and Covering Science Protests." Use the "read more" link to watch and listen.
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More untrustworthy social science research, only this time outright fraud. That database of naughty docs has been restored to public view, thanks to journalism organizations. The government appears to have taken it down after pressure by one of them, a neurosurgeon with 16 malpractice complaints.
This year's rash of severe weather has climate scientists scrambling to understand the link between increasing emissions and natural disasters. My article for the Daily Climate focuses on the push to attribute and predict extreme events, which should better inform policymakers.
We often want to know the history of something (cars, relationships, pets) before we invest in it. Learning about the past helps us understand how things, people, and ideas got to where they are today. But often the history or story behind an idea gets left out of science writing. From the Fall 2011 ScienceWriters.
Can social science research be trusted? The Open Notebook has a birthday. Here comes the HPV vaccine again. ScienceOnline2012 registration begins next week!
The National Association of Science Writers will once again sponsor travel fellowships to the upcoming AAAS meeting for undergraduate students interested in science journalism. As many as 8 students will receive up to $1,000 in travel expenses to attend AAAS in Vancouver, Canada Feb. 16-20, 2012. NASW's education committee will select students to receive the fellowship and will pair each one with a veteran writer for a one-day mentoring program.
John de Dios, a student in the journalism masters program at the University of Arizona in Tucson, captured dozens of images from ScienceWriters2011 in Flagstaff, Ariz., Oct. 14-18, 2011. Use the "read more" button to see them all.
ScienceWriters2011: reports, photos, tweets. The malaria vaccine interim report. Should science journos let sources fact-check their stuff? The Scientist rises from the dead, hurrah!
Gary Schwitzer guest blogged as part of our Health Literacy Month Series. He talks about the challenges of accurately reporting on health and medicine, and actually misleading readers instead of informing them. He considers absolute vs. relative risk info, association vs. causation, and screening tests. A must read for anyone in science writing.