Short and sweet

Every since Science Online 2013 ended, I have been very busy with a variety of things including work, developing some super-secret side-projects and more. But being busy is often a double-edged sword.

While these projects are developing and turning into some fantastic stuff that I am sure you all will enjoy - it has left me with little time to read the ever-increasing amount of books I endlessly accumulate and post on this blog.

But, take heed loyal reader, as I have not forsaken you.

Over the past week and a half, I've been communicating with experts in various fields, and asking them questions that can come up in normal conversation - for example: How can black holes exist if we cannot see them? Or, how hot is magma locked in the Earth's core?

The process is simple - I ask an expert in a field four questions. They pick two and answer each in four sentences of less so that anyone can understand.

I hope to continue this series going, so if you have any ideas for experts or questions to ask, please do so in the comments!


Man, that's heavy
 
The first expert is David Shiffman, a shark conservationist and ecologist graduate student in Florida. He blogs regularly at Southern Fried Science and tweets at @WhySharksMatter.

Question 1: Since it is right there in your Twitter handle, I must ask - Why do shark matter?

Answer: Many species of sharks are top predators in their food chains. Top predators can influence their ecosystem both by regulating populations of prey, and by influencing the behavior of prey. In short, they help keep ocean ecosystems healthy.

Question 2: How can whales grow so big in the water, but the biggest animal on land (the elephant) is only a fraction of that?

Answer: The answer to this is simple- gravity. There's a limit to how big things can get on land because after a certain point they get too heavy. Water provides increased buoyancy. Blue whales are bigger than the biggest land dinosaurs ever were.


Short, stocky and strong

This leads perfectly into our next expert, Brian Switek, a freelance science writer who spends his life getting to know anything and everything he can about dinosaurs. He blogs at National Geographic and is on Twitter as @Laelaps.

Question 1: Who would win in an arm wrestle, an average man or a T. rex?

Answer: There would be no question. Tyrannosaurus rex would win. Estimates based on bio-mechanics indicate that the arm of T. rex was about three and a half times more powerful than that of the average person. The arms of T. rex were short and stocky, but very powerful.

Question 2: How did mammals survive the extinction event 65 million years ago and the dinosaurs didn't?

Answer: Actually, dinosaurs did survive. Avian dinosaurs - birds - escaped extinction and carry on the dinosaur legacy today. And even though mammals also survived, many mammal lineages died out in the catastrophe. Exactly why birds, mammals, and other creatures persisted while the non-avian dinosaurs died out, however, is a mystery that hinges on how climate change, volcanic activity, and asteroid impact translated into pressures that changed the world.


Invisible doesn't mean it's not there

The final expert is Matthew R. Francis, a physicist and science writer who writes at Bowler Hat Science and tweets at @DrMRFrancis.

Question 1: How do we know black holes exist if we cannot see them?

Answer: We can't see black holes directly, but many of them are surrounded by matter - mostly gas stripped off stars or from other sources. When that gas falls toward the black hole, it forms a fast-rotating disk, that heats up and emits a lot of light in the form of X-rays and radio waves. So, even though black holes don't emit any light of their own, they can be some of the brightest objects in the Universe.

Question 2: What does E=mc^2 actually mean in terms of everyday life?

Answer: "E= mc^2" literally tells us that mass is a form of energy, and anything with mass will have that energy even if it's not moving. Most of the mass of your body is in the protons and neutrons in its atoms, but those are made up of the smaller particles known as quarks. The mass of a proton is a lot greater than the mass of the quarks that make it up; the rest of the mass comes from the energy that binds the quarks together. In other words, "E=mc^2" is responsible for most of the mass of your body!

Thank you very much to Brian, Matthew and David for all their help, time and effort - and remember, if you have any ideas for experts or questions to ask, please let me know in the comments.

Journalism's RISK-y Future

In the weeks since Science Online 2013, a lot of discussion has been taking place over how exactly science is communicated to the public and how we (as scientists, journalists, reporters, etc...) can improve it.

Imagine the game of RISK, the game of world domination, where warring fractions of different colours try to conquer the world through brute force and military strategy. The same can be said to showcase how some people think of the future of journalism.

See, the people in Print Town believe that “print is king,” while the denizens of the Online Realm believe theirs is the fastest and therefore superior method of getting a message across. The citizens of Radio-ville think their way of communication sounds superior, while the folks in TV Land believe they look the best.

Everyone is fighting everyone else for which area is the best and which will be able to survive the longest.

But who is right? Who is wrong? And is there a middle ground?

The short answers are, at least from my perspective: Everyone. No one. And yes

I used to identify myself as a “text monkey,” just science writer extraordinaire Ed Yong stated proudly during the conference. And I still mostly do, as I work in print and have had some success in that realm. However, I took a course during my Masters program that introduced me to online journalism – a field where I blogged, Tweeted and Facebooked regularly, but didn’t give much journalistic credence to.

But I quickly fell in love with it.

A professor once described online journalism as the great mixing pot, taking the best (or sometimes worse) of each discipline and displaying it all for people to see. And I quickly became proficient in it, even doing my Masters thesis in multimedia. I was able to use print, but also radio and TV to supplement what was written, and the resulting product was quite impressive.

I was still ever the resident of Print Town, but my allegiance was quickly shifting.

Despite my reservations about which medium I wanted to use in my future career, I knew exactly what field I wanted to go into – science journalism.

Science journalism, however, is an all-together different beast than straight-up news. Every genre of writing has jargon, experts and a certain amount of background knowledge to understand – but science also has a distinct stigma as being extremely complicated, hard to digest and simply, I hate to say it, boring.

That’s not to say it cannot be done well!

There are plenty of examples of good science writers out there - just look at the work from the Scientific American Blog Network (especially Scicurious and Kate Clancy, who blow my mind on a near-constant basis), as well as Maryn McKenna, Deborah Blum, Maggie Koerth-Baker, DeLene Beeland, Cara Santa Maria, Brian Switek and the list goes on and on and on. Everyone listed here and the countless others I did not name are doing fantastic things in print, radio and multimedia. Every time I read something of theirs, it makes me realize how far I have come and strive to go even farther.

But with the good, there is also the bad.

I’ve given lectures in the past on how to communicate and write about science effectively for the general public. In so doing, I’ve read through countless good and bad articles with the goal of helping advise researchers, public relations people and more on how to avoid common problems associated with science writing. Recalling these lectures naturally lead me to my store of examples, one of which I will share.

This here (http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/the-lay-scientist/2010/sep/24/1) is a piece from The Guardian, which magnificently lampoons traditional science journalism.

What Martin Robbins does so expertly is show how shoddy and Mad Libs-esque science journalism can be when it is done poorly. Take practically any science piece in your local newspaper and you will various methods Robbins described in full view for all to see.

There are a large number of people that struggle for a career in this industry (myself included), and every bad piece placed on the news, read in the paper or put online tarnishes what hard-working writers are trying to achieve.

How can this be solved?

I am no expert, but supporting good science writing and communication is a great way to start. The same can be said for pointing out when science (or really any discipline) is tortured on the rack of bad reporting or writing. Read and share good articles with others, be aware of what constitutes good writing and/or reporting and never stop discussing about the fantastic science that is constantly going on around you.

Take a breath, relax and think to yourself - is this worth the effort?

If so, don’t be afraid to roll the dice and take the risk.

Is the juice worth the squeeze? Source

Science Online 2013 - The Return to North Carolina

Another year, another Science Online conference under my belt, but this year’s was quite a bit different than last year.

To the uninitiated, Science Online can seem like a daunting experience – 450 scientists, journalists, bloggers, social media hounds and more discussing science communication. It’s very intimidating, even for veterans that have been to every single one of them.

But, it is a good group. Everyone is incredibly friendly, accommodating and willing to talk to you. As we were told on the first day, as soon as you get here, your associations leave with you. Reporters mingle with scientists, bloggers talk with accomplished writers and the passion from each and every one of them is almost palpable.

Last year, I was new. I had no experience at such a conference and I was dreadfully nervous about meeting people that I had been conversing with on Twitter for the past few years. But, my fears were ill founded. The friendships I had made with people online easily transferred to in person. Even “big” names in the industry, such as David Dobbs, Ed Yong and Carl Zimmer are just people (impressive as they may be).

As great as the sessions are, the best part of this conference is the socializing and reconnecting with what is almost an extended family. Last year was like meeting old friends I never knew I had, but this year was like reuniting with old friends - yes, friends.

All of the sessions I attended were quite good, and I tried more of a varied selection from last year. I attended sessions on how to explain difficult topics, improving press communication, issues of identity and the Internet and more.

My session, co-moderated by the lovely Jeanne Garabino, went extremely well. Our talk on using first-person narrative to communicate science fostered a lot of discussion and interest – I even heard from many people that they wished it could have go on for even longer! For a full report on what was said in my session, please see my wrap-up post here.

I also actively tweeted a lot more during this conference, which helped me chat with more people at the conference, sometimes without even seeing them. I was even asked to live-tweet the “online identity” session by some friends of mine, in order to have a record of the topics covered. And I was honoured to do it!

A few memorable moments:

• Talking with Ed, Liz and Erik about infectious diseases 
• Engaging in a live-tweet battle with a worthy adversary, which lasted the entire conference. And even though I conceded, we have become very good friends (though a new rivalry has been born) 
• Having far too much fun joking and tweeting with my Twitter nemesis 
• Learning from a mathematician how to calculate if a number really is prime (only at Science Online, folks!) 
• Celebrating Lou Woodley’s birthday with a large group of friends 
• Trading stories with Kiley
• Meeting a fellow Canadian at lunch who went to the exact same High School!
• Dancing with Melanie like nobody's watching, even though they were
• Singing and shouting “She blinded me with science” on stage at the open mike night and practically ruining my voice on day one
• Watching an insurance salesman hit on a friend of mine and fail miserably
• Singing Broadway songs with SciCurious, a pseudonymous blogger
• Asking to sign copies of “The Best Science Writing Online 2012,” where my twin article was featured (STILL shocked and honoured about that)
• Coming up with two different session ideas with two different people for next year before the conference was even over 

 Science Online 2013 was an amazing time and a special thanks to Karyn Traphagen, Bora Zivkovic and Anton Zuiker who organized the conference and everyone I met or didn't have the chance to - I am already counting down the days until next year!

What is your story?