Competition with Internet blogs could stir science journalists in traditional media to correct systemic faults in science reporting, says John Rennie. An excerpt from the Spring 2011 issue of ScienceWriters.
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Debunking crackpot science and fraudulent inventions has never been easier than now thanks to the world-shattering development of the Crackpot Flowchart(TM) from Sciencebase.
Dennis Meredith writes that Explaining Research and Working with Public Information Officers are making him more money through workshops and speaking engagements than from sales. Meredith, who created the Marketing and publishing resource on the ScienceWriters web site, offers advice on promotion and self-publishing in the Spring 2011 issue of ScienceWriters magazine, free to NASW members.
The death of Osama bin Laden: genomics, neuroscience, health and medicine, anthropology, media matters.
What's Tumblr? It's the latest social media must-have, according to this post from Jojo Malig at the Poynter Institute. More than 160 news media organizations are using the image-heavy blogging platform. So are individual journalists. But what is it good for, and how do you get started using it? This “Tumblr for journalists” slideshow from Matthew Keys has plenty of quick tips.
The Royal Wedding, Kate and William, William and Kate, and the genetics of inbreeding. Also wed: National Geographic and Scienceblogs.com. Or maybe they're just living together. Temporarily. Autism and childhood vaccines remain wedded in the minds of some. Sigh.
Gary Taubes takes on another dietary foe: Sugar, he declares, is not just empty calories, it causes most of what ails us, even (maybe) cancer. The BP Gulf oil spill a year later: Still an oily residue. New guidelines on early diagnosis for Alzheimer's disease: What's the point, since there's no therapy?
Are you a current or prospective teacher of science writing? The NASW education committee is here to help — and we also welcome your help. If you need to prepare a new syllabus or polish an existing one, browse the posted examples for ideas. We also invite you to share your syllabus or textbook list with fellow NASW members via this site. Please send it as a Microsoft Word file to Czerne Reid at czreid@nasw.org.
The Allen Human Brain Atlas at last, accentuating the similarities between Homo saps. Language may be Out of Africa too. The US science budget survives, mostly. But wait 'til next year, when it will be the liberal brain vs. the conservative brain.