Science & Society

Assessing The State Of Science Journalism

Based on a survey of UK science journalists and 52 in-depth interviews with specialist reporters and senior editors in the national news media, researchers from the Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies say that specialist science news r ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 25 2010 - 3:59pm

Science: It's More Than Just Words

Science: It's More Than Just Words Science, like law and many another discipline is widely noted for its jargon.  I love jargon because I love language.  I love language because I was blessed with parents who loved language.  I came to love science t ...

Blog Post - Patrick Lockerby - Jan 22 2010 - 7:24pm

UK Ban On Explosives Detector Exports

UK Ban On Explosives Detector Exports The ADE 651 is a lump of plastic with a wobbly telescopic antenna attached.  It is claimed by its manufacturers to be able to detect many things and substances at long ranges.  The US Government says that during tests ...

Blog Post - Patrick Lockerby - Jan 23 2010 - 10:40am

Games Don't Cause Rickets

Games Don't Cause Rickets In the latest bad science reporting saga, many media reports are saying that scientists have said that gaming causes rickets.  Just do a Google search for "games + rickets" to see some examples.  As soon as I see t ...

Blog Post - Patrick Lockerby - Jan 23 2010 - 11:55am

Wikipedia all potholes, no street; Find alternate route

Today Grant Barrett, co-host of Public Radio’s A Way with Words, complained, “Wikipedia is not reliable. There are times when I’ve entered information into a page, gone back later, and found someone has, excuse me, crapped all over my work.” I have long a ...

Blog Post - Fred Phillips - Jan 25 2010 - 12:22am

Death By Fraud

Death By Fraud Jim McCormick has been charged with fraud over his sales of a totally bogus explosives detection device, as reported in my earlier post  here.  I was beaten to the punch in writing about this bogus device by Barry Leiba back in November 2009 ...

Article - Patrick Lockerby - Jan 25 2010 - 1:04am

Planet Earth's Vanishing Act

Planet Earth's Vanishing Act Dr Frank Drake said the phasing out of analogue transmissions from television, radio and radar was making our planet electronically invisible from outer space. "I was watching the image on my display, and it just sor ...

Blog Post - Patrick Lockerby - Jan 26 2010 - 3:12am

Global Warming May Be Real, But Americans Aren't Concerned

The scientific community may agree that anthropogenic global warming poses a real threat, but the general public isn't all that worried about the changing climate. Public concern about global warming has dropped sharply since the fall of 2008, accordi ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 27 2010 - 11:45am

Blowing Things Up: Is It Science?

We scientists have a desperate need to make our science interesting to everyone-- including ourselves. Our terminology reflects this. In astronomy, we have the Big Bang. In comp sci, computers Crash. In engienering, "Test to Destruction". But at ...

Article - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Jan 31 2010 - 1:15am

Can Biotech Companies Patent Your Genes?

The trial over gene patents, Association for Molecular Pathology, et al. v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, et al., is beginning. Discover summarizes the case: When Lisbeth Ceriani, a 43-year-old Massachusetts woman, was diagnosed with breast cancer last ...

Article - Michael White - Feb 4 2010 - 9:55am