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 Sebastián Rodríguez SAN FRANCISCO—Science can bring us together in unexpected ways. Charles Darwin, for instance, figured out that we are all related to a common ancestor; James Watson and Francis Crick discovered that all organisms share the same genetic language, DNA. Today, a particle accelerator is playing the same role for scientists in the... Read More
By Margarida Marques SAN FRANCISCO—Among climate-change skeptics, “wafflers” are stalling actions that can lead to solutions as they increasingly influence public debate and government policy. Allowing wafflers to take center stage in the debate is their willingness to state “humans may have something to do with climate change,” followed by the qualifying word “but”—meaning the process... 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
By Michelle Morelos SAN FRANCISCO—Knowing an opponent’s movements can give players an advantage in the game. That saying is especially apt for science journalists who cover the public and media manipulations from giant food and beverage corporations. On 29 October at the World Conference of Science Journalists 2017, experts shared key ways to identify the... Read More
By Jillian Clemente SAN FRANCISCO—Behind every scientific discovery is a scientist with a story. Getting to the root of how and why researchers do what they do brings light to the human side of science—and there is an art to telling those stories. Four panelists, each accomplished science profilers, discussed tactics and tips for getting... Read More
By Alex Fox BERKELEY, California—Too often, the most pressing environmental issues faced by humankind fade away when the news cycle ends. Without breaking news to inject them back into coverage, these stories can dwindle even as their impacts intensify. But there are reliable ways for journalists to forge compelling stories at any time from ongoing... Read More