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14 December 2020
#AGU20 Sharing Science Week 2 Recap
While last week went really well, this week we found out stride and, with some experience under our belts, had some fun with it.
7 October 2016
The value of Wikipedia in science
Ever wonder how to make Wikipedia a more reliable source for scientific information? We’re part of a group doing just that.
4 February 2016
Science storytelling and AAAS 2016
By Shane M. Hanlon Being a scientist in Washington D.C. can be exciting with many opportunities in research, policy, and communication. This month is going to be an especially amazing time to be a scientist in the nation’s capital, especially if you’re interested in science communication. The annual American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) meeting is being held in D.C. on February 11th – 15th. The theme this year is “Global Science …
12 October 2015
Riding a “Roller Coaster” at National Geographic
“Is that it?” I ask the security guard at the desk.
“That’s it,” he says.
That moment marked the end of my roller coaster ride in a fellowship program with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in which scientists work summer stints as reporters in news outlets across the country.
17 July 2015
Falling in love with science all over again as a PhD-turned-journalist
“Please, please, please,” repeats in my mind. At least five other ideas were turned down this week, and I am on my third round of explaining this story idea, receiving my third, “I don’t think so,” from Mark Strauss, one of the quirky and brilliant editors at National Geographic. It’s 6:00 p.m. on a Friday afternoon. The office is nearly empty, the lights mostly off. But then, he hesitates. “Well,” he says before caving to the pitch—or rather my re-pitch—about redefining the mass of a kilogram. “I can’t guarantee we’ll post it.” But that doesn’t matter to me at the moment. I had what I needed: A chance to write my next piece.
4 June 2015
AGU’s 2015 Mass Media Fellow to report for National Geographic
Geologist and environmental chemist Maya Wei-Haas defended her thesis last month on flame retardants in lakes and streams of Arctic Alaska. Rather than set off on new studies with her Ph.D., though, Wei-Hass will spend her summer on a different kind of adventure: working as a science reporter at National Geographic in Washington, D. C.
17 February 2015
Science communication as a “responsibility”
“I am a scientist, first and foremost, but I feel it is my responsibility to answer questions from the public when I am asked,” Diffenbaugh said during a panel on communications Feb. 12 at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in San Jose, California.
16 July 2014
Adventures in the (other) field: Mass Media Fellow Julia Rosen reports from the Los Angeles Times
“Buzz! Buzz! We want you to have time to speak with the Los Angeles Times,” a woman named Christina interjected. I was standing, clutching my notepad and recorder, in Buzz Aldrin’s office in West Los Angeles on probably the most challenging assignment of my summer (so far) as a scientist-turned-reporter for the LA Times.
10 June 2014
2014 AGU Mass Media Fellow to Report Science for the Los Angeles Times
You could say many geoscientists are in the business of storytelling. They use strata of stone, ice, and other terrestrial ingredients to tell tales of the Earth as it was long ago.
After unlocking stories trapped in ice core bubbles for the past 6 years to earn her Ph.D., geologist Julia Rosen now has the opportunity to polish another set of storytelling skills as AGU’s 2014 Mass Media Fellow.
3 March 2014
Geo fashion, Wikipedia and Reddit: New social media tips for scientists
One of the most well-read posts on Kim Cobb’s blog is not about her travels around the world as a paleoclimatologist or her visits to congressional offices on Capitol Hill. It’s a 2012 post about women’s fashion choices at the AGU Fall Meeting that got people talking. Cobb highlighted this occasional dilemma for women in the sciences, showing photos of several successful AGU outfits and also alluding to more serious …
The Plainspoken Scientist is the science communication blog of AGU’s Sharing Science program. With this blog, we wish to showcase creative and effective science communication via multiple mediums and modes.
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