Science writing news

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.

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.

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!

Reports are coming in quickly from the ScienceWriters2011 conference in Flagstaff, Ariz. You can read the first seven reports on our conference reports page. They include "Crossing over to non-science publications," "You're not going to print that, are you? Handling difficult interviewees," and "Exploring longform narrative story structure." More reports will be posted on Monday. Also, it's time to start thinking about ScienceWriters2012.

The latest on early human migration to Australia and Southeast Asia. The latest on what a mongrel species Homo sapiens is. Bioethics and Aborigine genetic research. 50 reasons not to believe in evolution. Nearly mind-reading and somewhat spooky: Capturing images of what the brain is seeing. Best video of the week: The NASA satellite that fell to earth. Not.

DON'T PANIC, but Microorganisms R Us. Gut bacteria govern the brain and behavior, mice say. Yogurt and the Mind-Body Problem. My.microbes wants your microbes. The Encyclopedia of Life is reborn: 700,000 species and counting.

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