You’ve heard of the old prank where someone takes your pink flamingo yard ornament (or garden gnome) and sends you photos of it posing in front of the Eiffel Tower and other destinations? I think it’s a wonderful tradition, and if I could bear the sight of such a thing in my yard, I’d have…
Tag Archives | A Tale of Ten Slugs
Transitioning from scientist to writer, as told by otters
Over the past two weeks, we’ve all shared our experiences as we shed our previous lives as scientists and let our writer-ness out to run free. For me, this video pretty much sums it all up. For reference: baby otter = Melissae I’m confident I’ll learn to swim just like the little otter. In fact,…
What’s a shy guy to do at the world’s largest cocktail party (i.e. Twitter)?
I’m naturally a bit shy. This can make social media a bit overwhelming: Am I really willing to share my thoughts and opinions with the entire Web? You might argue that if I’m not interested in sharing my thoughts, I really shouldn’t become a journalist. And that’s true to some extent. But everything I write…
slugnads’ adventures in wonderland: through the looking-glass(es)
Oh Frabjous Day! Time to slay some jabber-demons and admit it: I have, on occasion, been known to take photos in mirrors and through microscope lenses…and telescopes. And binoculars. …and it’s totally possible that at least one of my dissertation defense slides originated this way. But let’s get some methodology straight: “this way” doesn’t mean I…
Interview tips
I’m not the sharpest tack in the box. De-mystifying science, the job of a science writer, is difficult for me because I am easily mystified. I feel comfortable in my world of wildlife biology, but when I venture out to cover physical science stories in chemistry, physics, etc., it’s pretty daunting. In these cases, the…
Please don’t shake my head
This weekend I was telling someone about all the assignments we have taken on over the past weeks in SciCom — double earth quakes, oil eating bacteria, etc. He said, “Wow, you should be really smart by the time you write 10 months worth of articles on subjects like that.” I should be. Unfortunately, once…
It doesn’t allow for psychoanalysis
My science career was in social psychology. It’s a field full of individuals, but a common motivation I found I shared with many of my colleagues is a serious understanding and critique of stereotypes, prejudice and discrimination. These topics are the core of the field, and one of our best tales of success in applying…
How often is science distorted in the media?
You know you’re back in college when conversations start, “So, what are you studying?” But when I replied to this question at a recent dinner gathering of fellow grad students, I got an unexpected response. I explained that I was learning how to communicate science to the general public, but a computer engineer offered this…
Crowdsourcing Science
Can science be crowdsourced? That is, can scientists turn to the average citizen for help in collecting data? Earlier this week, Genomes Unzipped, a group of genetics-savvy bloggers, announced that its 12 members had made the results of their direct-to-consumer genetic tests freely available online. Members of another group, the Personal Genomes Project , have…
Slugs Lede 3-1
After class on on Tuesday, I had an epiphany. We had each submitted a delayed lede for a story covering Terry Hazen’s talk about bioremediation in the Gulf of Mexico. In class, Ken projected them all on the board, and critiques them one by one. I has struggled with my lede for a simple reason:…