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On May 8 a lawmaker named Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) introduced a bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to create the position of “Science Laureate of the United States.” Regardless of the bill’s chances of passage (more on that later), it raises an interesting question: Who would make a good ambassador for science in the U.S.? The “Science Laureate” bill (H.R. 1891) would allow the president to appoint up to three science laureates, who would serve renewable one-year or two-year... Read more
If I had to hatch a murder plot with a science writer, Deborah Blum would be my first choice. Like Agatha Christie, Blum’s work frequently references poisons, skulduggery and murder most foul. Unlike Christie, Blum’s work is nonfiction. An award-winning journalist, Blum has written about issues ranging from primate research to the science of sex. But in recent years her focus has been on, broadly speaking, the science of murder. Her 2010 book, “The Poisoner’s Handbook,” chronicles an exciting era... Read more
Despite the repeated claims that journalism is dying, we’re seeing a lot of news outlets spring into being. One of those new outlets, The Conversation, is taking a fairly interesting approach – marrying academia and journalism under one banner. The Conversation, which is based in the U.K., launched May 16. It is a free news site that (according to a teaser it posted online) is “produced by academics and journalists” and aims to “source news, commentary and the latest research... Read more
If someone just gave me a bunch of money, would you be interested? Probably not. That’s because when one person gets money it is not inherently interesting to anyone else. But when that money comes in the form of a research grant, there’s often a lot of pressure on public information officers (PIOs) to stir up interest among reporters. I am a PIO, and I struggled with this particular task for a few years before realizing that, sometimes, promoting grant... Read more
Medical writing can be dry, technical and confusing. But it can also be spellbinding, pulling readers into a world where men and women are engaged in a daily battle against human suffering. At its best, medical writing reminds readers that the triumph of scientific discovery can not only change lives, but save them. “The Philadelphia Chromosome,” by first-time author Jessica Wapner, is an example of great medical writing. The book involves dozens of researchers, more than a century of complex... Read more
If you write it, they will come. Maybe. If they can find it. Reporters and bloggers want people to read the stories and posts they write, but first those people have to find the stories and posts. And while you may have hundreds or thousands of Twitter followers, that’s peanuts when you consider that people ask Google’s search engine more than one billion questions every day. So now I’m going to mention a term that makes (most) writers cringe: search... Read more
Dozens of science festivals are held around the world every year, with each festival often consisting of multiple events scattered across time and space. Hundreds, if not thousands, of people pour their time, money and effort into arranging these events and – according to a new report – their investment is paying off. The Science Festival Alliance (SFA) hired an outside firm, Goodman Research Group (GRG), to conduct a three-year evaluation of four science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) festivals... Read more
Science communication covers a lot of ground, but two of the issues that people seem most interested in are science writing and how to make the most of social media. Here’s some good news: a whole lot of people have spent some time recently explaining how you can getter better at both. Science Writing Science writing garners attention because it gets to the very heart of communication – finding ways to express ideas so that other people can understand and... Read more
The new science magazine Nautilus is rolling out its first issue today, April 29. All I knew about the magazine was that each monthly issue would focus on one specific topic. To learn more, I picked the brain of Amos Zeeberg, digital editor of Nautilus. And, yes, he has some tips for freelancers. Communication Breakdown: Did you come up with the idea for Nautilus? Why choose to focus an entire issue each month on a single topic? Amos Zeeberg: It... Read more
Communication Breakdown has been around for more than six months now. And while you've had the chance to learn a lot about me, I don't know a lot about you. The first step in Communication 101 is to know your audience, and it's time I did that. I pulled together a brief survey to help me learn more about my readers and figure out what I can do to make Communication Breakdown better. Please take a moment to fill out... Read more
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