Has blogging changed science writing?

Badges made for our housewarming last year. Bonus points if you get the ref. There is an oft-made joke that the answers to questions posed by news headlines are always, when take time to consider them, a simple ‘no’. With that in mind, here’s a question headlining my essay in the latest edition of the … Continue reading »

Context context context

Context context context. It’s what the mainstream media’s reporting on science always lacks, isn’t it? It’s the oft-repeated line ‘I think you’ll find it’s a bit more complicated than that’ which media critics such as myself can grump about from the cosiness of their ivory tower. Context context context: Easy to say, but hard to provide? Context … Continue reading »

The BBC Trust Report on Science

EDIT, July 2012: Slightly updated version for Open Democracy. Last week the BBC Trust published their review of impartiality and accuracy in science coverage. This included research undertaken by my group at Imperial. My name’s on the front but I should stress that I only did a small part of the work. It was lead … Continue reading »

Funding science communication

This is a picture of a large plaque at the front of London’s Science Museum. It’s thanking their various sponsors. Most museums have them. It’s as normal as a gift shop and a cafe. I photographed it because I wanted to think of such signs not just as a vote of thanks, or as the … Continue reading »

Anti-quackery underpants

Something ticked off the lifetime to-do list: I have managed to get the words “anti-quackery underpants” into a scholarly publication. An encyclopedia. This encyclopedia. It’s page 586 of volume two, if you’re interested, part of the entry on Popular Science Media. It’s these underpants I’m referring to; the ones sold via badscience.net. I noticed recently … Continue reading »

The discipline of science communication

The latest edition of the Journal of Science Communication is up, and I’m in it. I was asked to discuss the question ‘does science communication deserve special attention as an academic discipline?’ Read my contribution, and you’ll see I don’t really answer the question. Or rather I answer with a simple negative and then, um… … Continue reading »