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 Félix Reskala SAN FRANCISCO—There is a problem in science: Scientists often can’t reproduce the results of their colleagues. More than 50% of researchers feel this poses a major problem for the field, according to a survey last year in Nature. To address what this issue means for science journalists, prominent editors and scientists convened... Read More
By Sergio Villagrán BERKELEY, California—On 13 November, a letter signed by more than 15,000 researchers, titled “World Scientists’ Warning to Humanity: A Second Notice,” appeared in the journal BioScience. Coming 25 years after the first such warning from the scientific community, the letter notes how little we have done to stop the negative environmental trends... Read More
By Michelle Morelos SAN FRANCISCO—Just like us, marine species need safe places to call home. But the world’s oceans are no longer as safe. Climate change, ocean acidification and overfishing are the major problems faced by life in the sea. Are there actions humans can now take to turn the tide and lift the gloom?... Read More
By Jesús Antonio Pascual Álvarez SAN FRANCISCO—There is a simple truth in the news business: Audiences want to consume verified information from credible media, and journalists strive to gain that trust. But things are often not that simple, because there always seems to exist a third party intent on bending the message in favor of... Read More
Text and photos by Jennifer Lu San Francisco’s Ocean Beach is famous for its surfable waves. But it’s the sand beneath the bay that grabs Patrick Barnard’s attention. The underwater sand dunes, called sand waves, are some of the largest in the world. They rise up to 33 feet high and span up to two football... Read More
Sibusiso Biyela, one of this year’s student travel fellows, brought a South African perspective to a panel on the decolonization of science 27 October at the World Conference of Science Journalists. ‘We were taught that science has a western origin’ @AstroSibs at #WCSJ2017 #DecolonizeScience pic.twitter.com/NnVPCuO8kL — Oscar Miyamoto (@MiyamOtOscar) October 27, 2017 The panel also... Read More
Thank you for attending WCSJ2017! We’re excited to have welcomed 1,364 registered attendees—from more than 70 countries—to San Francisco for WCSJ2017.
