Washington Post: Science Twitter Needs a New Home. “Twitter also helped create a venue for public accountability in science. People like Dutch microbiologist Elizabeth Bik used the forum to shed light on research improprieties in both academia and biotech companies. Even with its warts — and we all know there are many — those things are not only worth keeping alive, but important to maintaining a healthy scientific ecosystem.”
New York Times: Twitter Was Influential in the Pandemic. Are We Better for It?. “When I wanted immediate feedback on an epidemiological model at 2 a.m., colleagues in Australia were awake and online to help. Twitter helped me to reach hundreds of thousands of concerned people, online and via news media, and help them understand what was happening. My Twitter following exploded from just over 10,000 to over 100,000 followers in six months. Many of my colleagues could tell a similar story. And they could tell another as well.”
Nature: Should I join Mastodon? A scientists’ guide to Twitter’s rival. “Bolstered by positive news coverage, it’s becoming the most popular alternative to Twitter. Since 27 October, almost half a million new users have flocked to the service, roughly doubling its user base. As Twitter users wonder whether, and when, they should make the leap, Nature looks at the benefits and drawbacks for researchers.”
Vanderbilt University: Attend ‘Scientist-Artists: Embracing Duality’ virtual event on July 27. “Now more than ever, people are recognizing and exploring how art and science interact and influence each other, within research fields and scientist-artists themselves. Join Kendra Oliver, assistant professor of pharmacology and director and founder of ArtLab, for our next Lab-to-Table Conversation, in which we will explore how a group of self-identified scientist-artists are embracing this particular duality.”
The National Academies: Breakthrough Prize Foundation Partners with U.S. National Academy of Sciences to Support Scientists Forced to Flee Ukraine. “The Breakthrough Prize Foundation today announced a new partnership with the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) to support humanitarian relief efforts for scientists forced to flee from Ukraine by the Russian invasion. Part of a $3 million fund pledged for humanitarian relief, the Foundation will dedicate $1 million to the NAS’s Scientists and Engineers in Exile and Displaced (SEED) initiative, which helps scientists and engineers maintain their livelihoods and dignity during the current upheaval, remaining employed and connected to the global scientific community.”
The Verge: Russian government bars its scientists from international conferences. “Russian scientists will not participate in international conferences this year, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation said via its Telegram channel. The decision comes as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has strained the relationships between Russian scientists and the international research community.”
The Verge: “We Don’t Live In A Research Bubble”: The Hopes And Fears Driving An Online Movement To Help Ukrainian Researchers . “Members of the international scientific community have also found it hard to look away from the conflict or ignore the plight of their colleagues like [Vitalii] Palchykov. In recent weeks, this desire to help has resulted in an earnest and extensive online movement made up of individuals, groups of volunteers, and institutions, which are using the internet and social media to offer Ukrainian scientists and students affected by war all the support they can: jobs, a place to continue their studies, a new home.”
Smithsonian Magazine: Using Data Science to Uncover the Work of Women in Science. “Margaret W. Moodey was one of the first women to work at the Smithsonian in science. Beginning around 1900, Moodey worked as a scientific aide in the Smithsonian’s Department of Geology. Her work included identifying, classifying, and cataloging samples, including gems and fossils…. Moodey was an important resource for anyone seeking answers about the collection. In total, she worked for more than 40 years at the Smithsonian…. The papers of her male colleagues are often preserved in the Smithsonian’s archives. Moodey’s were not.”
Politico: Email: Government scientists prep to slash Covid research in funding gap. “Scientists at the National Institutes of Health are scrambling to decide whether all its coronavirus research and development can continue after Congress dropped new funding from its sweeping budget bill. There are immediate implications for government trials on Covid-19 therapies, tests and vaccines that run out of funds as soon as this month, according to an internal email obtained by POLITICO.”
Morristown Daily Record: Thousands of original Thomas Edison recordings digitized, available for free streaming. “History’s on-demand playlist has expanded significantly with the release of 2,400 Edison sound disc recordings — some recorded by the famed inventor himself — that have been digitized for free listening by the public. The collection, which has been preserved for years at Thomas Edison National Historical Park in West Orange, features many rarities, including unissued test pressings that were recorded in New York and European cities between 1910 and 1929.”
Nature: Social-media platforms failing to tackle abuse of scientists. “Social-media sites such as Facebook and Twitter are not doing enough to tackle online abuse and disinformation targeted at scientists, suggests a study by international campaign group Avaaz. The analysis, published on 19 January, looked at disinformation posted about three high-profile scientists. It found that although all of the posts had been debunked by fact-checkers, online platforms had taken no action to address half of them.”
Madison 365: Madison doctoral student launches Twitter account to highlight Hmong in the bio sciences. “A new Twitter account launched last week to celebrate Hmong people in the biological sciences – and its creator calls it a ‘positive outcome’ of an unfortunate situation.”
PR Newswire: Lost Women of Science Launches Podcast Series to Promote the Remarkable Women of Science You’ve Never Heard Of (PRESS RELEASE). “Journalist and author Katie Hafner, and bioethicist Amy Scharf, today announced the launch of the Lost Women of Science podcast series on November 4th, in partnership with public media organization PRX and the award-winning Scientific American magazine. The first season will include four in-depth episodes centered on Dr. Dorothy Andersen (1901-1963), a pediatric pathologist who identified and named cystic fibrosis in 1938. It will be available free on-demand across all major podcast listening platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and Amazon Music.”
Boing Boing: Survey finds 22% of scientists who do media interviews about COVID get violent threats. “Nature surveyed 300 scientists who’ve done media interviews about COVID. The results had some surprisingly positive notes — 85% said ‘their experiences of engaging with the media were always or mostly positive, even if they were harassed afterwards’. But as you might expect, a significant chunk described some ghastly abuse. Fully 15% got death threats, and 22% “received threats of physical or sexual violence.”
American Institute of Physics: MEDIA ADVISORY: Physics Digital Images Available for Free from AIP Niels Bohr Library & Archives. “Trying to find the right image for a scientific story can be daunting. The American Institute of Physics’ Niels Bohr Library & Archives is making it easier to locate that visual impact for a news piece. More than 28,000 digital images from the Emilio Segrè Visual Archives are available for free to anyone who is searching for historic images of labs and researchers, headshots, and candid photos of physical scientists with their co-workers, families, and friends. The new, searchable location of the photos also houses manuscripts, publications, audiovisual materials, and more from the Niels Bohr Library & Archives.”
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