Articles

On science blogs this week: Spineless

How the human brain got big. And, oh yes, how the human penis lost its spines. Microbes in meteorites vs science journalism. Jonathan Eisen vs Nature Part 2, Involuntary entrepreneurship = reluctant freelancing. Tom Lehrer sings the Periodic Table of the Elements, redacted.

Travel funds for Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings

Looking for ways to cover science on a tight travel budget? For the fourth year in a row, the Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings invites NASW members who are working journalists or freelancers attending on assignment from a media outlet to apply for travel funding to attend its meetings of Nobel Laureates. Applications due April 6.

A peek inside The Open Notebook

The philosophy behind The Open Notebook web site: Despite the shifting marketplace for science journalism, expert craftsmanship still matters. The ability to recognize and sell important stories, ask incisive questions about complex subjects, and tell accurate, compelling stories — on shorter deadlines and with fewer reporting and editorial resources than ever before — is more vital than ever to success.

On science blogs this week: Evolution

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

On science blogs this week: Climates

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?

Laura Van Dam Fellowships: Stay tuned for update

An updated announcement, with extended deadline, on the details of the Laura Van Dam Travel Fellowships for travel to the World Conference of Science Journalists 2011 will be issued around March 2, pending final details of the conference given historic events in Egypt.

2011 travel fellows at AAAS

NASW awarded travel grants to 10 undergraduates interested in science writing to attend the AAAS meeting in Washington, D.C., Feb. 17-21. The fellows reported on some of the scientific sessions that they found most interesting and newsworthy.

The science beat: Riding a wave, going somewhere

About four and a half years ago I became a different kind of science writer. My beat went from writing about science to writing about other science writers. Monday through Friday I’m up before dawn, blogging by about 7 a.m., and at around noon I send off from my home in California a compilation of impressions of what I’ve found in breaking news and occasionally in feature writing.

On science blogs this week: Challenging

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.

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