The Scientific Activist

Blogging science

Dr Ben Goldacre, Dr Jennifer Rohn, Ed Yong

Thursday 28 February 2008

7.00pm-8.30pm

What is it like to work in a lab? What's the latest science news? How can you tell good science from quackery? The answers to all these questions can be found in blogs, and in this event you'll meet the people who are writing them.

There are literally tens of millions of blogs online. Some read like personal diaries, while others are built round news or analysis, like reading a column in a newspaper. With so many blogs out there, it's no surprise that science is well-covered from lots of different angles. Ben Goldacre goes on the hunt for outrageous claims, dubious statistics and credulous science reporting in Bad Science, an extension of his popular column in the Guardian. Jennifer Rohn reveals the culture and everyday life of a jobbing scientist in her blog on Nature Network London, Mind the Gap. In Ed Yong's blog, Not Exactly Rocket Science, he converts plodding, jargon-heavy journal papers into nimble, accessible and entertaining blog posts on the freshest new research.

Join us as our bloggers talk about why they write, what makes a good post, and what blogging can do for science. You'll come out of it with three personal views of science and some good new reads, and best of all, the event is free!

Venue: The Apple Store, 235 Regent Street, London W1B 2ET

Admission is free and there is no need to book.

I'm going to try to go myself, although I don't know if I'll be able to make it down to London on a Thursday evening. Regardless, it looks like a pretty good lineup. In fact, Ben Goldacre was the first major blogger to link to my blog when I was first getting started back in January 2006. Also, it looks like Ed Yong will be joining us here at ScienceBlogs.com sometime soon.