Not Exactly Rocket Science
My small attempt to celebrate science and to make it interesting and fun by giving jargon, confusion and elitism a solid beating with the stick of good writing.
Profile
Ed Yong is an award-winning science writer based in London. Not Exactly Rocket Science is his attempt to make the latest scientific discoveries interesting to everyone by beating jargon, confusion and elitism with the stick of good writing. He finds writing about himself in the third person strange and unsettling.
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Recent Posts
- On cheerleaders and watchdogs - the role of science journalism
- Who are you?
- Mobs of honeybees suffocate hornets to death
- Bees kill hornets with carbon dioxide emissions and local warming
- By eating fruit, birds protect Serengeti forests from beetles
- Does science journalism falter or flourish under embargo?
- Ferreting out swine flu - virus causes slightly more severe disease than seasonal flu
- Climate change and the mystery of the shrinking sheep
- I just won the Association of British Science Writers' Best Newcomer award!
- Spider mimics ant to eat spiders and avoid being eaten by spiders
Recent Comments
- Taneli Huuskonen on Who are you?
- Mishal R. P. on Who are you?
- jes3ica on Who are you?
- Michelle on Who are you?
- muhr on Who are you?
- magetoo on Who are you?
- dtsh on Who are you?
- Em on Who are you?
- Ron Broberg on Climate change and the mystery of the shrinking sheep
- Anna K. on Who are you?
Archives
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
- August 2008
- July 2008
- June 2008
- May 2008
- April 2008
- March 2008
- February 2008
Blogroll
Science blogs
- A Somewhat Old, But Capricious Handbag
- Adventures in Ethics and Science
- Aetiology
- Bad Science
- Beyond the Short Coat
- Biochemical Soul
- Bioephemera
- Built on Facts
- Cancer Research UK Science Update Blog
- Cocktail Party Physics
- Cognitive Daily
- Culture Dish
- Deep Sea News
- Denialism
- Drugmonkey
- Effect Measure
- ERV
- Ethical Palaeontologist
- Evolving Thoughts
- Gene Expression
- Genomicron
- Guilty Planet
- Highly Allochthonous
- Hoxful Monsters
- Laelaps
- Lay Scientist
- Living the Scientific Life
- Loom
- Lunar Weight
- Malaria, Bedbugs, Sea Lice and Sunsets
- The Millikan Daily
- Mind Hacks
- Mind the Gap
- Myrmecos
- Neurologica
- Neurophilosophy
- Neurotopia 2.0
- Null Hypothesis
- Observations of a Nerd
- Oh for the Love of Science
- On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess
- Oyster's Garter
- Photo Synthesis
- Professor Olsen @ Large
- Pure Pedantry
- Quackometer
- Respectful Insolence
- Science Punk
- Seeds Aside
- Sex, Drugs and Rockin' Venom - Confessions of an Extreme Scientist
- Skepchick
- Stranger Fruit
- Terra Sigillata
- Tetrapod Zoology
- The Flying Trilobite
- The Fuzzy Biologist
- The Inverse Square Blog
- The Other 95%
- The Reef Tank
- This Week in Evolution
- The Evilutionary Biologist
- Thus Spake Zuska
- Ugly Overload
- Virginia Hughes
- White Coat Underground
- Wired Science
- Words of Science
- Zooillogix
- Cafe Philos
- Just Above Sunset
- May's Machete
- Millard Fillmore's Bathtub
- Miss Cellania
- Ombudsben
- Stop and Wander
- The 800lb Gorilla
- The Silent LOL
- Unspeak
Bric-a-brac
My inspiration
Badges
About me and this blog
Who are you?
This blog is an outlet for my love of science and of writing. After leaving university with degree in hand, I made an abortive foray into research before realising that I much prefer to talk about science than to actually do it. I started the blog after realising that I like (a) science, (b) writing, and (c) the Internet, and thus, there was a fairly good chance that I would like (d) writing about science on the Internet.
What's the blog about?
This a news site - I cover breaking scientific discoveries in any field that interests me including animal behaviour, environmental science, psychology, neuroscience, evolution, genetics, molecular biology, medicine and more. The "rules" are as follows:
- Everything is written with a educated but non-scientific audience in mind. Regardless of their previous knowledge of science, should be able to rock up and find something they will enjoy.
- I only ever write from primary research papers, and never from press releases or news stories. Everything you read here is original. No churnalism allowed.
- I have to understand the science to a reasonable degree. If I can't actually comprehend the work myself, I have no place explaining it to someone else.
- I only write about things that excite me. I try to avoid sensationalism - if something sounds enthusiastic, it's because I'm genuinely excited about it.
If you want more details, try this post on why I blog and this one on what I think science's rightful place is.
My position is that science can be complicated, it should never have to be impenetrably so. It is a sad situation that new discoveries are all too often shrouded behind veils of jargon, elitism, confusion, sensationalism and inaccuracy. That hurts the perception of science, especially at a time where scientific knowledge is paramount. More than ever, the fundamental concepts that underlie evolution, global warming, vaccinations, cancer and more, are necessary for understanding the world around us, and making informed decisions about our lives.
This blog is my small attempt to celebrate the wonder of science and above all else, to make it as interesting and fun to any reader as it is to me.
What else do you do?
As well as blogging, I'm also a freelance science writer. After nabbing three consecutive runner-up prizes in the Daily Telegraph's Science Writer Awards, I finally won the competition in 2007 and have since written for Nature, Nature Network, New Scientist, the Economist and the Daily Telegraph.
Disclaimer: I currently work as an information officer at Cancer Research UK, where I get to keep up-to-date with new scientific research, write about it and get paid for my trouble. Sweet. The content, views and opinions in this blog in no way reflect those of Cancer Research UK.
How can I get in touch?
You can contact me at edyong209 AT yahoo DOT co DOT uk. By the way, if you're emailing for David Attenborough's contact details (happens with ridiculous frequency), sorry, I don't give them out.
What's the deal with comments?
The usual rules - you're free to comment or to express dissenting opinions. But keep it relevant and civil. Most people here are a friendly, knowledgeable bunch. Don't be inane, unless it's really funny ;-) I entirely reserve the right to kill your comments or your ability to leave them at my discretion, although I have *very* rarely done so. I may also deface your comment if you're being wilfully disruptive.










