Speaking Science
sheril | November 12, 2008Karl from Innoculated Mind is part of what looks to be an excellent new site called Biofortified. It's a group blog on plant gentics--especially genetic engineering--written by grad students, professors, and the occasional guest expert.
Check out today's post on the debate over genetically engineered foods where you can weigh in on 'what scares you'...
sheril | October 14, 2008by Philip H.
DISCLAIMER - The opinions expressed in this blog post are those of the author alone. They do NOT represent the official opinion, policy, or action of any governmental agency the author may work for or have ever worked for at the county, state or federal level. If you do not like the content or opinions, contact the author, not your Congressmen.
Sitting in the doctor's office recently I actually got to read a printed copy of the Journal of the American Medical Association. JAMA is both the prestigious place to publish medical research, and something us mere mortals rarely get…
sheril | July 30, 2008Last week I praised Eric Roston's excellent new book The Carbon Age. Here he is on Tuesday's The Colbert Report:
sheril | April 14, 2008
I spent much of Sunday examining the education system in this country and came across NSF's Science and Engineering Indicators 2008 report. Most alarming is the scientific literacy section based on data from the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center. Moreover, if the examination methods were reasonable, I'm extremely troubled by the ladies' overall performance. Therefore, I plan to spend this week exploring the disparity that leaves me speechless. So kicking off Monday, let's it started...
Correct answers to scientific literacy questions, by sex: 2006
(by percent)
The…
sheril | January 18, 2008More evidence the Research Triangle in North Carolina is where the sciblings are...
Right now, Chris is on his way across the country to meet me in the NC for this weekend's Science Blogging Conference. Expect to read coverage throughout the blogosphere as we have over 200 bloggers, scientists, journalists, blogger-scientists and blogger-journalists registered for a day of discussions, lab tours, panels, and live blogging. And among them Chris, Jennifer, and I are sharing a panel called 'Changing Minds through Science Communication'. I've somehow got a feeling ScienceDebate2008 will be on…
cmooney | December 13, 2007In my latest "Science Progress" online column, I've tried for something a little bit off my beaten path. The piece takes, as its starting point, a recent Urban Institute study suggesting (among other things) that contrary to many lamentations from the science community, the real issue is not the failure to produce enough scientists and engineers to keep competitive, but rather, the fact that we don't even have enough jobs for the scientists and engineers we're currently producing.
Of course, I do not therefore argue that we need less scientists--but rather, that the scientists we're producing…
sheril | December 7, 2007As Chris hinted, the two of us have been hard at work on something extraordinary to be announced next week! Get ready for BIG news that we're real excited to share here...
In the mean time, posts today will introduce a couple of bright young authors. You see, last month I gave a lecture here at Duke in Prasad Kasibhatla's class entitled 'What on Earth? An Investigation of Contemporary Environmental Issues.'
A fantastic course - just check out the description:
This first-year seminar will delve into the scientific and public policy perspectives on contemporary environmental issues. In recent…
sheril | October 3, 2007Today's the day! Check out my new blog CORRELATIONS - a collaboration between WIRED Science and PBS. My first post is up introducing myself and foreshadowing some upcoming topics I'll be taking on alongside a very interesting mix of scientists and media experts.
And please do let me know what you think... Suggestions for topics, site feedback, and your ideas are welcome and encouraged on both open threads in comments!
cmooney | June 27, 2007On June 4, more than 120 people turned out for the Mooney/Nisbet Speaking Science 2.0 talk at the New York Academy of Sciences. The talk is now part of their online content, including an E-briefing summary along with the powerpoint slides synchronized with audio of our presentation. With this tool you can listen to the entire talk or scroll through the labeled sections and slides based on topic.
NYAS has allowed free access to this member content by way of the following link.
And so now I will again challenge those who criticized some of the original "framing science" ideas to engage with…
cmooney | March 26, 2007Matt Nisbet has some heartening news: A science communication bill has been introduced in Congress, one that would fund the National Science Foundation to invest in training scientists to become better communicators. Committee chair Bart Gordon and Rep. Doris O. Matsui get the credit. This is a positive first step, albeit perhaps something of a symbolic one. What we really have to do is change an entire scientific culture which all too frequently relegates communication to the back-burner, instead emphasizing the racking up of scientific publications as the be-all-and-end-all of a successful…
cmooney | February 9, 2007Matt Nisbet has a post you should really read that's a reaction to Ellen Goodman's latest Boston Globe column (which relied heavily on Nisbet's work). Goodman really gets it: Yes the globe is warming, but if we (scientists and science advocates) don't learn how to strategically communicate on this issue, we're not going to get the policy solutions that we need. We'll just wind up with more and more gridlock, as the problem steadily worsens.
Nisbet puts it best: We have to "recast the old story of climate change in new ways by using targeted framing to make the issue personally relevant to…