This past week was one of those weeks. The weeks where a pile of things you’ve been working on for different periods of time and in different capacities all come to fruition at the SAME TIME.
First of all, I gave a talk Monday at the AAAS meeting in Washington, DC, on different ways to persuade audiences when writing opinion. It’s inspired in part from chapter 24 of Science Blogging: The Essential Guide, by Melanie Tannenbaum. The slides and bibliography and notes are here: https://bethanybrookshire.com/staging/5272/using-persuasion-to-pump-your-data/
Second, speaking of Science Blogging: The Essential Guide, our website is live! We are so proud to partner with The Open Notebook to house our book on their site. Check it out, there’s a list of authors and pages of resources and a bit ol’ Q&A with the Editors.
And third, I wrote a feature for Science News for Students! Think roadkill is tragic and useless? Not so! I talked with a bunch of scientists who study highway casualties to learn more about the animals and their environment.
And now that I’ve finished muppet flailing all over you…Links!
Monday:
How researchers can do their own PR, with some great advice from @tinasaey! ow.ly/Y8DnE
Finding out about toxo sometimes requires obtaining leopard pee. For SCIENCE. ow.ly/YfDo3 By @carlzimmer
“Rumor-hungry scientists and journalists refused to let the team drive its own train.” On #LIGO rumors by @nadiamdrake
New Sci! When myth-busting works. And when it doesn’t. Including one of my own failures.ow.ly/YjdlL
#Zika may cause microcephaly. But there are other diseases that cause birth defects as well.ow.ly/YjdxR by @carlzimmer
How today’s scientific systems might stifle creativity.ow.ly/YjdGb
miss my links last week! Here they are. Me, I’m going to finally collapse from the #AAASmtgow.ly/Ym0zO
Tuesday:
When @neiltyson busted B.o.B’s flat Earth myth, scientists say he did it RIGHT. Here’s why.ow.ly/YjdLf
Miss my talk at #AAASmtg? I’ve posted my slides and notes here: ow.ly/Ym6wR
important to note that I DID go through the launch of the Science Blogging guide site in my PJs.#bloggingstyletheopennotebook.com/2016/02/16/sci…
Last week’s link fest, with a complete list of chemical-free consumer products. Must be seen to be believed. ow.ly/YmryF
New study says cats don’t hold grudges if you restrict their diets. I think they haven’t studied my cat. ow.ly/YnT9z
Only 2 weeks til Science Blogging: The Essential Guide is out! Want to follow our authors? We’ve got a twitter list. ow.ly/Yo3qH
Is there really a war on science? ow.ly/Yo2OY@robinlloyd99 covers the standing-room only session at #AAASmtg
Wednesday:
Science Blogging: The Essential Guide’s website is LIVE at @Open_Notebook! Author lists, resources! Interviews! ow.ly/Yo3Fn
“A woman would need to get an A to get the same prestige as a man getting a B.” ow.ly/Yo58j by @edyong209 on sex in sci.
Impt piece from @maggiekb1 on parents and vaccines. ow.ly/YolgM
The science of sword swallowing! Like doing a split! But with a sword. In your stomach. ow.ly/Yoq6w
Not to easy to get kids to eat healthy. Pickiness = food waste. Which wastes $$ people don’t have.ow.ly/YoHeq
When thinking about Zika, remember what we DON’T know. Which is a lot. ow.ly/YqMUB
A tech reporter analyzer gender bias in her reporting twice. The second time was worse than the first. theatlantic.com/technology/arc…
Side note: This bothers me a bit. I’m glad she did the analysis. And I’m glad she did it twice. But the fact that her gender balance wasn’t any better the second time around? Was she really trying? Keeping it in mind? Probably not. And bias doesn’t magically get better just because you know it exists. It’s nice to ask for help, of course, but also…you can do better in this. You can do better yourself. Just try a little harder.
After I read this author’s first piece two years ago, I actually told myself I wanted to do better. I’ve made a point since then to find a woman to interview. For every single piece. Sometimes it’s a female author, sometimes the outside commenter. It can be hard, I have to keep an eyeball out (and with just first initials on papers, I admit sometimes you just get lucky and R. Smith just happens to be a Rachel). But I’ve done it almost every time. If I can do it, other people can to. And why AREN’T they?! Why aren’t they saying “hey, that was a lot of white dudes in my last five pieces. Maybe I should look out for women in the field.”
This does not compromise the quality of my reporting. There are very few labs these days that are entirely men, and even fewer fields. I get people who are just as expert. It just means I work a little harder, dig past my usual commenters. I probably send a few more begging emails than most. That’s not a bad thing, it gets me a diversity of voices and sources, and often I end up adding some of those people to my file, to use again and again. We can all do this. As science writers, we help to show what a field looks like, and that means what it REALLY looks like, who is in it. I don’t want people to think that science is full of white guys. Because it isn’t. And in biomed and biology and psych (which is what I usually cover), if you are only quoting guys most of the time? You. Are. Not. Trying. These are fields where there actually IS gender parity in who gets PhDs. It’s lower when you get to tenure of course…but why are you only interviewing people with tenure? Dig a little deeper. Try a little harder.
Rant over.
Thursday:
ICYMI: Science Blogging: THE BOOK WEBSITE!!!ow.ly/YqUI1 ow.ly/i/gOBsz
It takes TOO LONG to publish papers. ow.ly/YqYp9Yes. And the vignette? That’s nothing. I’ve got some STILL unpublished. 5 yrs.
Roadkill: Rancid? Or Research? I’ve got a feature for @SNStudents on scientists who study the smooshed. http://ow.ly/Ytxj9
The listicle we all needed in our lives: 13 facts about animal masturbation. http://ow.ly/YqYYQ
If you can’t smell him, can you love him?http://ow.ly/YqZMP
Not one, but TWO bacteria can cause Lyme.http://ow.ly/YqZSy Symptoms vary just a little.
As antibiotics fail, we’re going to need more vaccines. http://ow.ly/Yr060 By @marynmck
And you thought your dating life was bad. Consider the copepod. Love this. http://ow.ly/Yrzz7
Friday:
Ok, this is super cool. There’s white noise, yes. But also pink noise. And brown noise.http://ow.ly/YrAbQ via @edyong209
Practice makes perfect. Practice with variation makes perfect faster. http://ow.ly/YrAke
Cute penguin study? Or CUTEST penguin study. A study of chubby penguin waddle. http://ow.ly/YrAN4by @wwrfd
Fascinating. Gotta hear more about this: Mice fed burgers, miso and more to look at diet impacts.http://ow.ly/YrAYt
“Which exercise is best for the brain?” Not quite. It’s which is best for new brain cells. Not the same.http://ow.ly/YrBMe
Roadkill isn’t tragic. Or useless. Meet some scientists who study the dead. http://ow.ly/YtxAR by me!
We all know stress makes for troubled kids. But what makes some of those kids resilient?http://ow.ly/YrG2U by @mkonnikova
Why women get running injuries. It’s not the heel that counts, it’s how hard you hit it.http://ow.ly/YrH9Z
