RECENT POSTS 
I owe a lot to this blog. This blog got me into science writing, from the first time I pitched the idea of writing about anything and everything science (but especially about science in popular culture) to Nature Blogs in 2010. Lucky for me, they accepted my pitch (I was at the time a slightly unfulfilled biomedical PhD student at WashU in St. Louis), and I've been blogging ever since. This blog guided me into a graduate degree in journalism. This blog helped... Read more
For many science writers, the science blog post has come to epitomize the Monty Python phrase, "and now for something completely different." And if not something completely different, than at least something different in one way or another from your typical science news story, your typical opinion column or or your typical print feature story, among other science story formats. As you might know if you've been following me on Twitter, I've been conducting interviews with science bloggers as a part... Read more
Last week, I took my PhD comprehensive exams. For my particular PhD program in mass communication, comprehensive (or qualifying) examinations take the form of 4-hour long essay tests - five of them, five days in a row. Sounds brutal, right? Apart from being a bit emotionally taxing, however, the exams themselves were not bad at all. But as the week wore on, and I realized that I could consistently write 10-12 page essays within the allotted 4-hour time interval fairly easily,... Read more
Why was Schrödinger afraid of his cat? Because it was both dead and alive at the same time! Alright, so admittedly I’m no quantum theory comedian. But if you brushed up on your science communication strategies recently, attended a talk at a local science museum or read a Brain Flapping post by Dean Burnett at The Guardian, you might have noticed that science comedy is a hot thing. And for good reason. It turns out that using humour and even... Read more
There was a time when scientists in the movies were consistently made into villains, odd-balls or crazy-haired geeks. Think Frankenstein, Back to the Future, or even Nightmare Before Christmas. I’ve long been fascinated by science fiction and science in Hollywood. If anyone can remember back far enough, I began this very blog with a pitch to Nature Network (now SciLogs.com) to cover science in film. One of my first ever blog posts explored genetic sequencing and genetic profiling technologies as... Read more
Disclaimer. I am about to review and critique a New York Times profile of Harper’s Magazine publisher John R. MacArthur. I make no claim to being able to adequately do so. But as one of the “youths” “blowing off steam” on my blog (who still calls this a weblog?), I at least have some personal experience in the matter. “‘I’ve got nothing against people getting on their weblogs, on the Internet and blowing off steam,’ he [John R. MacArthur] said.... Read more
As Shark Week sinks its teeth into your TV and social media channels, from megalodon – the 50-foot-long “mega-toothed” shark that while extinct chomps on in our imaginations – to Zombie Sharks, you might not realize that we stand to learn a heck of a lot from sharks. A 6th sense—and a 7th: sharks navigate using electromagnetic fields & pressure changes http://t.co/EVYHSmVfHw #SharkWeek — pew environment (@pewenvironment) August 13, 2014 Among the many things we can learn from sharks –... Read more
Have you ever critiqued or corrected another science writer online, to have them become defensive in response? Has this type of conflict ever lead you to avoid writing about certain topics? According to the theory of motivated reasoning, there are two basic types of reasoning motives: accuracy goals and defensive goals. We often look at motivated reasoning on the part of science communication audiences. But science writers themselves are not immune to motivated reasoning processes. Imagine an individual is going... Read more
A man stands ready, nervous but staunch. His face and hands are painted in warrior colors – black and red. Today, he will become a man. His initiation will be pain – pure, intense, brilliant pain. Walking over flaming charcoal with a nail in his heel pain. But his pain won’t come from fire, nor from a rusty nail. It won’t come from being attacked by a bull, a lion, or any other large, fierce creature. It won’t come from... Read more
Most people read science by accident. You’re online – browsing Reddit, reading news spastically on Twitter, or Stumbling. All of a sudden – BAM! HIV-Killing condoms. The Chemistry of Farts. What’s happening to me, I don’t read science. Oh wait, this is pretty cool… That’s right, “happenstance plays a key role in how people stumble across science news online.” In fact, in a 2006 Pew Internet and American Life Project study, John Horrigan reports that two-thirds of internet users say... Read more
