Science journalism Blog

Science journalism is a wonderful profession, and also a unique one compared to other specialities in journalism. Science journalists usually write about science, but in this blog they reflect on the trade itself.

Would you like to discuss your opinion with fellow science journalists from around the globe, get in touch with the editor Frank Nuijens .

Understanding scientific uncertainty

People expect a lot from scientists. Preferably ready-made, unambiguous answers, valid for eternity. But because of science’s critical character and rigorous reality checks of hypotheses, various scientists can give different answers to the same questions. If these questions concern cutting edge research, this is more the rule than the exception. Only after years or even decades of extensive checks, some scientific hypotheses make it into handbook science, that is hardly doubted anymore. But even some handbook science might get overthrown after some time.

Petrikgate

A big scandal is going on in Russia. An inventor with no scientific degree and no serious scientific publications may receive a huge part of taxpayers’ money allocated to the national program called “Clean Water”. The total cost of this program would be 15 trillion rubles (500 billion dollars), and the money can be spent to buy water filters created by the inventor, for them to be placed in Russian kindergartens, schools, polyclinics, and other public places.

When Science Journalism meets Citizen Journalism

This article was written by Chao-Ping Hong (Taiwan), a Master student in the science journalism course at Delft University of Technology. Her assignment was to write an opinion article about the influence of citizen journalism on science journalism. I hope her fresh take will inspire you.
Twitter, hyperlinks, comments. Type, click, and send. Without doubt, the [...]

2010 02 02 Frank Nuijens Featured
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Critical and smart 2010

“In this world of ours now, to be an informed participant in the great conversation of mankind is to have an alert awareness and understanding of what’s happening in the world.”

2010 01 01 Frank Nuijens Featured
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Leap into the Unknown Future

I remember the very first issue of Russian Newsweek back in 2004: it was about the Russian economy being an “oil junky”. For many years, experts have talked about the huge problems that Russia is going to face if it doesn’t build an economy based on something other than these raw materials. But only last year president Dmitry Medvedev started to talk more or less persistently about innovations.

2009 12 21 Karina Nazaretyan Featured
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Copenhagen: over to you, men and women of the press

With 5,000 journalists accredited by last week to cover the United Nations Climate Change Summit in Copenhagen, this will be one of the most journalists’ populated global meetings in many years.

2009 12 07 Ochieng' Ogodo Featured
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Stick to the science

Even after 2 days of debates revealing the widely held view that science and religion can co-exist, journalists and scientists were still finding themselves challenged by creationist views on the last day of the “Darwin’s Living Legacy” conference in Alexandria (14-16th November 2009).
“If Adam and Eve were so beautiful, how can they be descended from [...]

2009 11 19 Julie Clayton Darwin Conference
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Communicating Darwin’s Theory of Evolution

Alexandria, Sunday 15 November 2009: An ape gradually changing into modern man is the most common image associated with evolution. ‘The Missing Link’ is probably the most overused phrase when significant fossils are discovered. At best both are inaccurate; at worst they are feeding the public evolutionary myths. This is the view [...]

Tagged Darwin evolution journalism communication

2009 11 16 Sallie Robins Darwin Conference
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Debate about Darwin and Islam raged over 100 years ago in the Arab World

Journalists could be forgiven for thinking that this year has seen the first widely publicised debates about Darwin, evolution and religion in the Arab world.

Tagged Darwin, evolution, Islam, media

2009 11 15 Julie Clayton Darwin Conference
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A clash of cultures in Alexandria, also for journalists

By Alejandra Folgarait – Entrar a la Biblioteca Alexandrina es una experiencia emocionante para cualquier humano que valore el conocimiento. Pero hacerlo para debatir el legado de Charles Darwin, en un ambiente donde predomina la impronta musulmana en la

Tagged Darwin, evolution, religion

2009 11 15 Julie Clayton Darwin Conference
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