Student science writers from around the world have created a set of 52 stories from the World Conference of Science Journalists 2017, spanning most of the meeting’s sessions and creating a valuable reference archive for journalists in the U.S. and abroad. The reports, along with bios of the authors, are online at the WCSJ2017 Student... Read More
By Amelia Jaycen SAN FRANCISCO—Saul Perlmutter, a Nobel Prize–winning astrophysicist and cosmologist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has spent a lot of his time ascertaining how quickly the universe is expanding. But he is also concerned with some down-to-earth issues, like the state of human interactions. As he watched public discussions unfold in the last... Read More
By Carolyn M. Wilke SAN FRANCISCO—Is fact-checking the future of journalism? That question, at once disturbing for our society and promising for the increased role science journalists might play in combating fake news, drove a panel discussion among four experts on 30 October at the World Conference of Science Journalists 2017. The panelists, all experienced... Read More
SAN FRANCISCO—Science podcasts are more popular than ever. Producing them takes time, technical savvy, and a deep passion to engage listeners with material that is both informative and fun. How does one start a science podcast and build a dedicated audience? Those topics drew an enthusiastic crowd on 27 October at the World Conference of... Read More
By Liz Kimbrough SAN FRANCISCO—When South African student journalist Sibusiso Biyela sat down to write about the launch of the MeerKAT telescope in both English and Zulu, he thought it would be simple. The English version rolled out smoothly. But when he began to translate into Zulu, his native language, he found he would have... Read More
By Rithy Odom SAN FRANCISCO—The world of philanthropy has undergone profound changes in recent years. The scientific enterprise is at the core of this evolution: Private entities and wealthy individuals are playing a more defining role in many fields of research. Many scientists have welcomed these infusions. But they also raise a host of questions... Read More
By Nicoletta Lanese SAN FRANCISCO—Twenty years ago, Susan Desmond-Hellmann was giddy to share Herceptin, the breakthrough breast cancer treatment, with the world. Not once did she worry if the world would believe her. Were Desmond-Hellmann to introduce Herceptin today, she would confront the challenges of conducting and reporting science in a post-truth world. “The scientific... Read More
Curious to see some highlights from the first few hours of sessions here in San Francisco? You can check out the Twitter hashtag #WCSJStudents, where our global cohort of student travel fellows is covering the World Conference of Science Journalists live. Here are some selected tweets the students sent from sessions on Thursday afternoon and... Read More
By Leah Rosenbaum SAN FRANCISCO—When the next big disease outbreak comes around, science journalists will have a key role to play in keeping the public informed. Two public health experts and a global health journalist reflected on that role during a panel called “The Challenges of Covering Infectious Disease Outbreaks,” held on 27 October at... Read More
Text and photos by Jesús Antonio Pascual Álvarez POINT REYES STATION, California—On a bright October day, the Point Reyes National Seashore seems clean and unspoiled. But it is steadily invaded by trash from the San Francisco Bay Area and Asia, said integrative biologist David Ackerly of the University of California, Berkeley, during a field trip... Read More
By Jillian Clemente SAN FRANCISCO—Loving with all of your heart is overrated. Because the brain is the organ of conscience, it’s the decision-maker when it comes to love, not the heart, said neuroscientist Christof Koch on 27 October at the World Conference of Science Journalists 2017. “For Valentine’s Day, you give your girlfriend heart-shaped chocolate,”... Read More
