Top picks Spoiler warning: spoilers don’t spoil experiences, by Jonah Lehrer Should you have the right to be “forgotten” online? In Europe, lawsuits & talk of regulations The science of yodelling. Pure joy by Jennifer Ouellette. I’d quote a bit, but it’s just golden throughout. Why do people confess to crimes they haven’t committed. A [...]
Top thirteen picks “It may seem nonsense to think of the (probably sceptical) intelligence with which you interpret these words as something on a par with plate tectonics or photosynthesis. But dam by dam, mine by mine, farm by farm and city by city it is remaking the Earth before your eyes.” A beautiful piece [...]
UK readers: exciting new science writing competition opens Fantastic! Bravo! The Guardian and Wellcome Trust have launched a new science writing prize for young talent. A similar prize (now defunct) organised by Roger Highfield at the Daily Telegraph helped to kickstart my career. All aspiring UK science communicators should enter this. Read Alok Jha’s advice [...]
A couple of house-keeping things. Firstly, if you cast your eyes a few pixels upwards, you’ll notice the snazzy new banner. All the Discover blogs now have them to give us a bit more of an individual feel. I love mine/them. The designer’s done a great job with reconciling the “rocket science” bit with the [...]
Look, I have a homepage. I wanted a site that pulls together my various social media stuff as well as a record of my other writing and speaking engagements. Top twelve picks “Dead world at sunset.” I’m not going to spoil the topic but just read this, okay? This is beautiful, lyrical and amazingly tight [...]
In which I take a retrospective look at the issues raised by our ScienceOnline panel on rebooting science journalism, including the blogger/journalism distinction, the issue of money, how to reach a wide audience, and duck sex.
Are there really cultural differences in how East Asians and Westerners see and think about the world?