In the news, patient safety is often a dramatic issue. Infected blood products and a stray surgical instrument that shows up on a post-op x-ray make for riveting and disconcerting reads. But addressing the problem calls for better communication on all sides and attention to even the most mundane details patient after patient, day after day.
Even well-intentioned suggestions can lead to unintended consequences. We can all agree that wrong-site surgeries are needless and tragic.
Open access at Nature. Not, UPDATED: Still Not. UPDATED AGAIN: OK now. Journalism as Churnalism. The Sixth Extinction is coming, so take that, creationists!. Tag-team blogging about premenstrual dysphoric disorder
Scientists at The University of Texas Brackenridge Field Lab have been testing the control of invasive fire ants with phorid flies.
Are science writers responsible for public skepticism about climate change? Is it OK to say extreme weather can be due to global warming? Should you trust health care web sites? Can cell phones cause brain damage?
A clueless Aeron Haworth takes on Ed Yong and the rest of the blogosphere. (Yong won.) A glimpse of the AAAS meeting. Watson, come here – and bring your medical information technology (but not your computer overlords) with you.
Despite the fact that scientists are able to look inside the brain using a variety of live imaging techniques, their ability to visualize individual neurons in living animals is very limited. A new study lets us take a closer look at how our brains change over time in response to disease.
You have unlimited space to tell your scientific tale. How do you get readers to pay attention? Is the future of science writing timelines and explainers?
In Egypt, people are in danger but antiquities seem safe for now. Would Egyptian treasures in European and US museums be safe if repatriated? Did global warming and food prices trigger Egyptian protests — or was it mobile phones? Did global warming trigger the Big Snow — or was it microbes?
Music has an extraordinary power over our emotions. A new study explores why.
