Articles

Catherine Schmitt: The President’s Salmon

In The President’s Salmon, Catherine Schmitt uses a one-time tradition — the presentation of the first salmon caught on the fly in Maine’s Penobscot River to the President of the United States — to chart the fate of both the salmon and the river in each President’s tenure.

From ScienceWriters: The chocolate diet hoax

This spring brought a bounty of dubious headlines. There was the mildly outrageous claim that NASA secretly invented warp drive and the more believable one that using gay canvassers changed minds on gay marriage. And we heard a claim by journalist John Bohannon that he “fooled millions” with a hoax alleging that chocolate aided weight loss.

Anil Ananthaswamy: The Man Who Wasn’t There

People who experienced a limb amputation may perceive pain or other sensations that seemingly arise in the missing limb, a disorder known as phantom limb syndrome. Other people deny that healthy limbs or other bodily parts belong to them, and sometimes beseech surgeons to amputate these parts, or even attempt that act themselves. Anil Ananthaswamy explores these and other disorders that alter our sense of living in our own body in The Man Who Wasn’t There: Investigations into the Strange New Science of the Self.

David B. Williams: Too High and Too Steep

In the early part of the twentieth century, Seattleites decided the city’s Denny Hill was too high; they leveled it, carting away millions of tons of earth they then used to create a waterfront area at the city’s harbor. Large-scale engineering projects continue to reshape the city’s landscape today, Seattle native and urban geologist David Williams reports in Too High and Too Steep. As one reviewer observes, “Williams explores the irony that the Emerald City, surrounded by blue water and forested mountains, may be the most engineered metropolis on earth.”

From ScienceWriters: Dialogue and drama at WCSJ2015

WCSJ2015 provided a forum for science journalism to discuss the demands of our changing times, forge new and renewed professional networks, and savor Korean culture. Undeterred by an outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), the 9th World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ) took place June 8 to 12, in Seoul, South Korea.

From ScienceWriters: Dispatch from the Pacific

"We moved three times the first 10 years, and, honestly, it posed no hardship because two moves brought us to the vicinity of Washington, D.C., where there’s a large science writing community, as well as lots of writing jobs that generally pay well," Brittany Moya del Pino writes. "However, when we moved to the Hawaiian island of Oahu last summer, the situation was quite different. This is the story of how I’ve been dealing with that difference, which at times was so great that it felt as if I had moved to a foreign country."

Shipman: Handbook for Science Public Information Officers

Matt Shipman, a university public information officer, wrote the book he wished he’d had when he started his career.

From ScienceWriters: On the coverage of BICEP2

What happens when you cross a beloved and compelling theory, a bevy of intensely competitive experiments on a highly technical subject, with a top-secret press conference, tight deadlines, and the desire to tell an exciting story? Perhaps you get the ascent and fall of BICEP2.

From ScienceWriters: ScienceWriters2015 and WCSJ2017

Cambridge, Mass., isn’t simply the home of top research universities like MIT and Harvard. Acre for acre, the Kendall Square area around MIT boasts the highest density of academic, corporate, and startup R&D activity in the world. The Brookings Institution calls Kendall Square “today’s iconic innovation district.” All of which makes it the perfect setting for ScienceWriters2015, coming to MIT Oct. 9-13. Also, NASW and the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing will host the 10th World Conference of Science Journalists (WCSJ) in fall 2017 in San Francisco.

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