Science Journalism And You (please help ;-)

[Bram]

Once more, I summon your collective intellect for advice.

I'm taking a rather renowned course in scientific journalism right now. Only candidates who are university graduates could apply, and lots of editors from leading Dutch science magazines (think along the lines of Scientific American and National Geographic rather than Nature and Science, though) give guest lectures. They want to 'recruit' intelligent young graduates** into their ranks, since they'd rather have a someone who has a certain degree of intelligence and knowledge with a reasonable grasp of writing, than a journalism school gradutuate who can write a perfect piece (form-wise) but can produce no content of his own and makes errors in the science behind it all (the basic premise is that a polular scientific article should always be brief, simple and true. It is allowed to be incomplete, but it may never be incorrect).

Now obviously I need subjects to write about. Subjects that are to do with science in general, and possibly (energy)technology in particular (though the latter is not a 'hard' requirement). I have several subjects I could write about (and some I already have). These are all subjects I have at least a working knowledge of. They include:
- Carbondioxide sequestration and why we should do it.
- Cogeneration of heat and power and why we shouldn't ;-)
- Renewable energy on the tropical island of Bonaire and why there isn't any.
etc. etc. etc.

But here's the thing. I want to write at least a FEW articles on subjects I don't readily know all that much about. You know, do actual research, learn something, talk to people etc.

So these are my questions to you:

1. When you pick up a popular-scientific magazine (or read one online) what are the subjects you are interested in? Which subjects actually make you buy the mag?

2. Is there any particular subject in this area you know about and would say that you feel that other people should know about it, too?

3. Is there any particular subject in this area that you don't really know about, but would be really interested in finding out about (for example, a 'how ~instert whatever~ works' article)?

I know all this is very subjective, but that's what I'm looking for. Right know, all I have is a list of what I'm interested in. What I want, is a list that also includes subjects you people are interested in (because, like it or not, you are by and large the target audience for these magazines).

Please feel free to list ANY subject as lonf as it pertains to science or technology. Oh, and thanks for reading ;-)



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**= So why they allowed ME to enroll is anyone's guess.

[jpmeyer]

I love reading about nanotech.

[kirdape3]

Big fan of aerospace technology as well as both nuclear physics and particle astrophysics.

[Dr. Sylvan]

Renewable energy is a topic that will attract my eyes. Specifically, I'd love to know what the obstacles are for each energy source becoming a winner.

- What kind of things (e.g., refinement techniques, small enough engines) need to be invented before cars will be powered by hydrogen? Is it just an infrastructure change? How much is the infrastructure (modifying gas stations, etc.) expected to cost? Is this particular energy source really going to be a Big Solution, or is it a popular myth/semi-myth?

- One time you mentioned that photovoltaics take more energy to make than they can collect, IIRC. I had never heard anything about this before, and every time I hear about solar energy, I pause and wonder if your statement means that solar is not The Solution. Explaining what the obstacles are to solar energy would greatly enhance popular understanding of probably the most widely known renewable energy type.

- WTF is this wave power thing I've heard about a few times, but never gotten any real detail on? Is it the Big Solution, or just a myth/semi-myth? If it's a real idea, how far away is it; what still has to be invented?

[Matt]

1. When you pick up a popular-scientific magazine (or read one online) what are the subjects you are interested in? Which subjects actually make you buy the mag?

Evolution and education. Also cosmology.

[Smmenen]

- Size of the universe
- Age of the universe
- cosmic topography
- shape of the universe (hypersphere, saddle shape, etc)
-Anything dealing with explaining gravity
-anything dealing with time as it relates to geometry

[MuzzonoAmi]

Renewable energy is always something I read, right after computers and cosmology, which come after anything related to molecular biology.

[Hi-Val]

1. I am interested in chemistry, and to a lesser extent physics, but I usually am unable to understand that. I really like anthropological studies too.

2. I really like the history of science, and it'd be great if every now and then, people could read about how mauve dye revolutionized industrial chemistry or why people killed for salt, etc. The historical part of science is neglected a lot.

3. SciAm has a general How X Works column about how CD-Rs work, how a tire works, etc. and I really enjoy those. Outside of that, I remember an article in Wired about how certain kinds of time travel would work and the physics behind it.

[Machinus]

The LHC goes online next year, doesn't it? It would be really interesting to read about what people think is going to happen there. Maybe thats QCD stuff? I don't know the level of these talks.

The applications of engineering to renewable energy are things I always want to know about, since they increase my predicted lifespan of the human species. Particularly, solving issues like fuel/engine mass, power, etc., and the methods used.

Any work that comprehensively addresses the impact of CFCs and greenhouse gases, toxic and chemical waste (in the oceans), or other massive pollution, would definitely be interesting to me.

[Bram]

2. I really like the history of science, and it'd be great if every now and then, people could read about how mauve dye revolutionized industrial chemistry or why people killed for salt, etc. The historical part of science is neglected a lot.

I love that, too. There's so many insanely cool anecdotes on the development of specific technologies and the lives of great scientists. I think I actually enjoy those more than reading about current events, even.

The LHC goes online next year, doesn't it? It would be really interesting to read about what people think is going to happen there. Maybe thats QCD stuff? I don't know the level of these talks.

I think it's in 2007. Widely publicized is the fact that they hope to discover the Higgs boson. Less widely publicised is the (remote) possibilty that particles may be compressed to a size smaller than their Schwarzschild radius, thus creating an unstable miniature black hole. Even more remote is the possibility that such a black hole would be stable, fall to he center of the earth, grow for thousands of years and eventually consume the entire earth. Seeing as how the energies relating to the LHC are in the order of magitude of 10 TeV, this is all very unlikely (especially if the fabled 'folded' extra dimentions don't happen to exist).  Even so, you naughty Americans are already working on a VLHC. 200 TeV might push it over the brink. Seven billion dollars is quite the bargain if you can destroy the world with it. Yeah, I guess that could make a good story

It could be a more serious story if I explain how and why they hope to discern he nature of mass and gravity with the LHC. There's enough to go on.

[dandan]

I'd LOVE to see articles about renewable sources of energy - hype versus reality and someone with a background in the field such as you could be the man to do it. Where is the world at in

1. Solar panels (current technology - what surafce area would be required to power New York)
2 Wave power
3. Wind power
4. Wind power (cow farts a other biomass)
5. Nuclear fission and fusion
6. Convection methods (those weird wind/water funnels)
7. Fossil fuels (which don't seem to be running out at the rate that some predicted)

It might be interesting to see how much easier it is to save a certain amount of energy than it is to generate it in thr first place.

I saw a programme last night where a couple shagged in a CAT scanner. His manhood was soooooo bent it looked painful. Clearly more research is needed in this field.

I'd also like a decent article about AI and supercomputers. How far are we from human intelligence assuming continual computing power growth of 2 times every 18 months (is it faster than that?)

[Bram]

Thanks for all responses, guys! Keep 'em coming. For my own reference, I'll C/P some suggestion I got via PM from people who can't post here.

1. When you pick up a popular-scientific magazine (or read one online) what are the subjects you are interested in? Which subjects actually make you buy the mag?

Pollution
science & government (as in Bush Administration lack of using scientific data / using bad data to prove points / limiting research in areas such as stem cells and cloning)
encryption
computer security or better yet lack of
companies / society consumerism and how it is harming the environment (McDonalds leading the way in south american deforestation due to cattle farming, Victoria's Secret Catalog practices causing deforestation in Canada)


2. Is there any particular subject in this area you know about and would say that you feel that other people should know about it, too?

Consumerism, lack of computer security, awful diets of the average person and how terrible the food people eat normally is. Open source science.

3. Is there any particular subject in this area that you don't really know about, but would be really interested in finding out about (for example, a 'how ~instert whatever~ works' article)?

Carbon Trading, International Environmental Policy, Superpowers envromental policy (US, Russia, Canada, EU etc.)


What I think would make a great article is the affect of Open Sourcing on science and technology. Read this months Wired magazine article on wikipedia.org is a great read that is a amazing project and story. Also some interesting articles on Emissions trading / carbon trading have caught my interesting lately. Compairing drug policies and health affects / crime/ econ of diffrent countries may also be a intresting topic

For the Victoria's Secret thing
http://www.victoriasdirtysecret.net/

Run by http://www.forestethics.org/

I haven't really checked into the scientific merit of there claims but looks intresting none the less.

Another intresting topic but more commercial is the rise of Documentaries. How factual or deceptive are they? They are making money but are they changing public opinion or habbits?

They keep coming to my head. US patents has been a big buzz issue on slashdot and EFF lately. Apple, IBM, and MS keep locking in pattent for the lameist shit. EFF (Electronic Fronteer Foundation) is trying to battle some of the more bogus pattents. The topic crosses the pond with EUs current fights about software pattents.

Then there is the issue with genetic patenting. Where companies play old old old African farmers under surveillance.. get a copy of the genetic strain they have manual developed over hundreds of years... patient it then threaten to sue the farmers for using their genetic patient.

The affect of media and govermental spin on people scientific knowlage and opinions.

[Eastman]

- Size of the universe
- Age of the universe
- cosmic topography
- shape of the universe (hypersphere, saddle shape, etc)
-Anything dealing with explaining gravity
-anything dealing with time as it relates to geometry

Some really fascinating developments have come about just recently relating to those bullets, that is in cosmology in general.

You might think about researching and writing up the recent developments that have led us to dark energy and how its theoretical existence has shifted our understanding of the universe. People are very fascinated by the concept that the majority of energy in the universe is thus far undetectable.

The fact that cosmological theorists now use Einstein's old 'cosmological constant' AGAIN in their equations, after having thrown it out as 'Einstein's worst blunder' for half a century adds a lot of flavor to the dark energy issue... people love to hear about Einstein. His old 'blunder' is now how dark energy is described in some very important equations.

The LHC goes online next year, doesn't it? It would be really interesting to read about what people think is going to happen there. Maybe thats QCD stuff? I don't know the level of these talks.

You might want to stay away from the details of HOW they'll be doing things at the lhc.

The Higgs is a good angle to cover though, people love gravity. If you present it in terms of how finding the higgs will answer a lot of questions about gravity and how it 'works' and lead us to many more, that could make a good article as well.

[Saucemaster]

I'll read just about anything, but I will add my voice to the "cosmology" camp.  Nothing else piques my interest quite as much.  However, I'd read a well-written article on any of the other subjects mentioned here, as well, so I might be a little too curious and easily entertained to be a good respondent here.