There is a lot of discussion in the public sphere about how tools that use artificial intelligence (AI) to generate images and text will “disrupt” or “revolutionize” various industries – from journalism to advertising to education. There are also a lot of news stories detailing specific opportunities, challenges and limitations related to these tools. However, I’ve found few online resources that provide a relatively concise overview of those opportunities, challenges and limitations. So that’s what I’ll try to do here. First off, when we talk about “generative AI” or “AI content generators ..read more

News stories that talk about health and medicine can offer valuable insights into our understanding of the human body, its failings, and emerging treatments related to our well-being. But health stories can also be confusing or misleading. That means that we should all be critical consumers of health news. For many years, HealthNewsReview.org was a valuable resource for helping the public navigate the health news landscape. Unfortunately, a lack of funding led to HealthNewsReview closing up shop in 2018 – and the site has now gone offline. I’m writing this because I want to share one of its mo ..read more

It is easy to feel overwhelmed or powerless in the face of climate change. By the same token, it’s also easy to feel like you’re not doing enough, or that you should be overcome with guilt because of what you had for dinner or how you got to work. If you feel that way, you’re not alone. A new book tackles these issues head on, and focuses on practical ways that people can figure out how they can make a difference. The book is We’re All Climate Hypocrites Now: How Embracing Our Limitations Can Unlock the Power of a Movement, by Sami Grover. In broad strokes, Grover noticed that guilt and self ..read more

Photo credit: Keren Fedida. In many ways, being a parent is a truly wonderful experience. But it’s also scary. And one of the things that keeps many parents up at night is the fear that their kids might grow up to be jerks. Well, parents, there is good news. Not only is there a lot of research out there aimed at helping parents raise non-jerks, but Melinda Wenner Moyer has read an awful lot of that research in order to write a book titled “How To Raise Kids Who Aren’t Assholes.” It is exactly what it says it is – an evidence-based guide for parents who want to help their kids grow up to become ..read more

Some of you might think that toilets, or the biological necessities that inspired them, are disgusting. Others might think they’re boring. But, oh, my friends – you are wrong. Toilets, or other mechanisms for handling human waste, are important. Essential, even. And human “waste” is actually a valuable resource that we’ve been, well, flushing down the toilet. Chelsea Wald makes all of this clear very quickly in her new book, Pipe Dreams: The Urgent Global Quest to Transform the Toilet. The book spans centuries and continents, looking at the past, present and future of what humans do with thei ..read more

This is a seal of approval. (Photo credit: Craig Adderley. He is not responsible for my awful pun.) Scientific American has, for the first time, endorsed a presidential candidate. I have seen some commentators bemoaning this decision. I, however, believe that SciAm made the right call. Here’s why… The idea that science is apolitical is farcical. Science, and the scientific enterprise, are inherently political. For starters, a lot of the research in the U.S. is funded by the federal government (44% as of 2015 – the last year for which I could find data). That means Congress decides how much fun ..read more

A lot of people have a lot of questions related to COVID-19. I shared a version of this note with friends and family, and some of them asked me to put it somewhere that would make it easier to share. I don’t have all the answers. But I can provide some basic background, and offer suggestions for places you can turn for additional information as we move forward. I’ll also provide what resources I can find that are relevant for both reporters and anyone interested in being a savvy consumer of news. Testing If anyone is wondering why the U.S. does not have more tests available for COVID-19, the a ..read more

Approximately one gazillion years ago, I wrote a piece including tips from reporters about how to prepare for interviews with scientists. While that post is useful, several people have recently asked me for more specific guidance on how to interview researchers. Specifically, they wanted to know not only how to prepare, but what sorts of questions to ask. Since I’ve gotten this question quite a few times now, I thought I’d make a list of some of the things I usually want to ask about when interviewing someone about their research. (I also encourage people to check out the interview prep piece ..read more

Many scientists don’t understand why reporters won’t let scientists review draft versions of news stories before the stories are published. Some scientists think this is unfair and leads to inaccuracies in news stories about scientific research – but there are reasons that news outlets discourage this sort of pre-publication review. Let’s dig in to that a little bit. What Scientists Want There are generally three reasons that a reporter would interview a researcher. The first reason is that a reporter is writing a story about the researcher’s work, and wants to interview the scientist in order ..read more

Photo credit: Ryan Espanto. Shared under a Creative Commons license. Click for more information. If you are interested in sharks, and spend any time on social media, you have probably run across David Shiffman. Shiffman, a Liber Ero Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Simon Fraser University, has drawn thousands of followers on Twitter and Facebook by sharing facts (and correcting misconceptions) about sharks and other marine species. But while his social media feeds can be entertaining, they are not simply a collection of amusing facts. Through social media, blogging, and freelance writing, Shiff ..read more