A new resource from my friend Laura, who does the excellent Environmental News Bits. From the University of Illinois Library: Communicating Science: Home. “A beginner’s guide for Prairie Research Institute researchers to learn how to effectively communicate their science.” Some of the materials are specific to the university, but most of it is open. Good stuff and lots of it.
University of Cambridge: The archive of Stephen Hawking has been saved for the nation. “A treasure trove of archive papers and personal objects – from Hawking’s seminal works on theoretical physics to scripts from episodes of The Simpsons – are to be divided between two of the UK’s leading cultural institutions following a landmark Acceptance in Lieu (AIL) agreement on behalf of the nation.”
International Journalists’ Network: Journalists can combat scientific misinformation with Science Pulse tool. “A project of ICFJ Knight Fellow Sérgio Spagnuolo, Science Pulse aggregates English, Spanish and Portuguese social media posts from scientists, scientific organizations and other experts in its database. Rather than wade through Twitter and Facebook feeds, journalists can now use Science Pulse’s tools to stay on top of the latest research and other scientific news shared on social media.” ENGLISH READERS! When you go to the application page, look for the dropdown menu reading “Escolha o idioma dos tweets”. Choose Inglés and enjoy.
Rutgers University: Rutgers’ Eagleton Institute of Politics Launches First Public Database of Scientists in State Politics. “The Science and Politics Initiative at Rutgers’ Eagleton Institute of Politics has launched the first publicly accessible national database of elected state legislators with scientific, engineering and health care training.”
Science Magazine: Want other scientists to cite you? Drop the jargon. “If you want your work to be highly cited, here’s one simple tip that might help: Steer clear of discipline-specific jargon in the title and abstract. That’s the conclusion of a new study of roughly 20,000 published papers about cave science, a multidisciplinary field that includes researchers who study the biology, geology, paleontology, and anthropology of caves. The most highly cited papers didn’t use any terms specific to cave science in the title and kept jargon to less than 2% of the text in the abstract; jargon-heavy papers were cited far less often.”
EurekAlert: Announcing the launch of Global Africa, a new African academic journal. “With Global Africa, the UGB’s LASPAD (Laboratoire d’analyse des sociétés et pouvoirs / Afrique – Diasporas) aims to report on political, social, economic, environmental, and technological issues, both in Africa and around the world…. Alongside the journal, training courses will be offered to improve the African research production and dissemination ecosystem. These will include online classes on preparing and publishing articles for both researchers and publishing professionals, as well as pop-up seminars for young researchers, helping to grow the community of authors interested in the journal’s key topics.”
PsyPost: Watching Anthony Fauci on Fox News makes people more willing to engage in pandemic reducing behaviors, study finds. “How warmly or coldly people feel toward scientists is associated with their compliance with measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, according to new research published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology. The study also found evidence that medical experts such as Anthony Fauci can help motivate people to maintain social distance from others and use disinfectant products amid the pandemic.”
The National Academies: Emerging Evidence Indicates COVID-19 Pandemic Has Negatively Impacted Women in Academic STEMM Fields, Endangering Progress Made in Recent Years. “Preliminary evidence indicates that the COVID 19 pandemic has negatively affected the well-being of women in academic STEMM fields in a range of areas, including productivity, work-life boundary control, networking and community building, and mental well-being, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.”
Oak Ridger: Alvin Weinberg Papers Collection goes live online. “It has been a privilege and an honor to work on the Alvin Weinberg Archive Project the past three years. Over the last six months I have had the opportunity to look into his collection of recently digitized papers and I would describe it as vast and impactful. This has not only strengthened my resolve to preserve Alvin’s legacy for the community, but it has become much more personal.”
Nature: How to shape a productive scientist–artist collaboration. “Art can be a powerful medium for exploring the deeper meaning of scientific endeavours. Collaborations between scientists and artists are under way around the world, and daily postings to social media with the #SciArt hashtag suggest that the often-disparate domains are merging in fresh and exciting ways. Although many such collaborations aim mainly to engage and educate the general public about science, scientists and artists are recognizing that creative partnerships can turn science into captivating art.”
EurekAlert: New coloring book salutes women pioneers in STEM. “In honor of International Day of Women and Girls in Science (February 11), the Vilcek Foundation has released a free coloring book that celebrates the scientific careers and contributions of 19 outstanding contemporary women scientists and physicians.”
News @ Northeastern: On Twitter, Journalists And Politicians Have More Credibility On Vaccines Than Medical Experts, Study Finds . “Black, Indigenous, and other non-white people in the United States are more likely to rely on trusted voices within their own communities for information about the pandemic and the coronavirus vaccine, finds a new study led by researchers from Northeastern. And, at least on Twitter, all people are more receptive to information shared by journalists and politicians on both the left and right than by epidemiologists, scientists, and medical professionals.”
ABC News: Kizzmekia Corbett, an African American woman, is praised as key scientist behind COVID-19 vaccine. “Corbett is an expert on the front lines of the global race for a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, and someone who will go down in history as one of the key players in developing the science that could end the pandemic. She is one of the National Institutes of Health’s leading scientists behind the government’s search for a vaccine. Corbett is part of a team at NIH that worked with Moderna, the pharmaceutical company that developed one of the two mRNA vaccines that has shown to be more than 90% effective.”
BBC: Prof Sarah Gilbert: The woman who designed the Oxford vaccine. “Born in Kettering, Northamptonshire in April 1962, Sarah Gilbert’s father worked in the shoe business while her mother was an English teacher and member of the local amateur operatic society. Speaking to Radio 4’s Profile, one school friend recalled Sarah’s silent steeliness – a trait which perhaps explains her decision, years later, to stick with her PhD despite her doubts.”
BuzzFeed News: Scientists Are Relieved About A Biden Presidency. They Say The Real Work Can Start Now.. “For scientists who have watched in horror as President Donald Trump relentlessly insulted, undermined, and ignored science, while more than 236,000 Americans died during a historic pandemic, Joe Biden’s victory on Saturday was a long-awaited cause for celebration.”
