Lab Rats and News Hounds
Story is ubiquitous.
Story is fundamental.
Story is powerful.
Story is ubiquitous. We all have stories. You have a story about where you come from, a story about your family, and a story about how you became a scientist. If you’re religious, you have a story about God. If you’re an atheist, you have a story about the non-existence of God. Regardless of where you’re from, you have a story about how your country started, and what it stands for today.
Diversity is a Survival Issue
Last Friday, I was elected President of my local amateur radio club. As is typical for such elections, I was running unopposed, and had essentially been drafted into the position by the previous President (I’ll get you for this some day, Larry). In fact, many ham radio clubs are either on the brink of extinction, or have already gone under, unable to maintain enough participants to keep them running. Even with over 130 members, the Hampden County Radio Association struggles to get volunteers, not only for the administrative positions but for our regular activities.
Curious Citations of Forgotten Lore
A common trope in fantasy and science fiction is the ancient civilization whose vast knowledge was somehow lost to the ages. The idea resonates, because whether we’re conscious of it or not, we all know that knowledge is perishable. Not only do we forget things as individuals, but societies routinely lose vast quantities of information over time. Scholars estimate that 90% of texts from antiquity are now gone, and if you’ve ever tried to access an old computer file on a floppy disk, you know that we’re still actively losing access to old data.
Boss Fights: Why Making Games Is So Hard
Having played video games for almost as long as they’ve existed, blogged about them a handful of times, and even dabbled in developing them, it’s fair to say I’m a gamer. Like many, though, I often find the game development industry puzzling. Why does it take companies so long to make new games, why do they sometimes cancel or delay projects that seem to have so much fan interest, and most importantly, why does the business seem to breed so many scandals?
Don't Hate the Player, Hate the Game
A new investigative report by journalists at Science and Retraction Watch lifts the lid on what appears to be a concerted effort by one university to game the current science publishing system.
The story focuses on Saveetha Dental College in Chennai, India, which requires hundreds of undergraduates to write manuscripts on research they’ve done as students. That sounds like a fine exercise for the class. The twist is that these student manuscripts then get published in bottom-of-the-barrel journals.
One Thousand Epitopes of TWiV
Just over a week ago, I stepped out onto a stage in New York City to join a show, in front of a live audience of 130 people. Tickets to the event had sold out almost as soon as they’d gone on sale. It was, of course, a massive ego boost, though the audience wasn’t there just to see me. They were there for the whole cast of “This Week in Virology,” the podcast I’ve been co-hosting for fifteen years.
The Misinformation Vaccine
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had the privilege of speaking to a big group of K-12 science teachers recently. One of the many interesting conversations I had at that meeting was with Kelly Melendez-Loaiza, who teaches at Mansfield High School in the southeastern part of Massachusetts. She’s one of a few teachers who have decided to tackle our current misinformation pandemic head-on, by inoculating kids against the threat.
The Write Stuff
Most people can write. Fewer can write well. Fewer still can write well on demand, day after day, at the rate and consistency required to make a living at it. A handful of people can do all that while also creating great works of art. As a result, writing carries both a well-earned reputation for difficulty, and a largely unjustified mystique. It’s the hardest part of my job as a science journalist, and the most over-glamorized skill I have.
Fast Internet
One of the things I learned from living through the pandemic was just how toxic my relationship with the internet had become. Scrolling had turned into doomscrolling, and the more time I spent on certain internet activities, the worse I felt. That led me to start cutting back. Initially I missed the addictive feeds of social media, of course - they are, after all, precision-designed to hold one’s attention. But as I noticed how much better I felt when I was off them, I cut back further.
On the Record
Different types of journalism have different challenges. In investigative journalism, the reporting is hard but the writing is (relatively) easy; once you’ve finally wrung the facts out of folks who didn’t want the truth brought to light, all you really have to do is state what you found. Science journalism is the other way around: the reporting is usually pretty easy, but the writing can be extremely hard.
Scientists love to talk about their work.
Top 5 Things to Do Now That You've Quit Twitter
Continuing the theme of my previous post, and on the heels of my own departure from the little blue bird app, here are some ideas for things to try if you, too have decided you’ve had enough of that Twit.
1. Enjoy your newfound free time As someone who’s acquired and kicked a few tech addictions over the years, I have some experience with one of the major side-effects of leaving a platform: free time.
How We Broke the News
This is a lightly edited version of a keynote presentation I gave on 26 October 2022 at the Massachusetts Science Education Leadership Association meeting in Marlborough, MA. Thanks again to Liz Baker for inviting me, and the whole group for being such wonderful hosts.
I really like the theme of this conference, “developing intelligent consumers of science.” I’m not normally a big fan of the term “consumers,” but in this case I think it makes sense.