Session reviews

These are reviews written by voluntary delegates that will help you get a glimpse of the buzz around the 6th World Conference of Science Writers. Click on any title to read the full review. Then leave your comment: do you agree with this review? Did you hear a different message? We'd love you to discuss it with you!

2009-07-03 15:09

“You can see the headlines for tomorrow,” said the Guardian’s architecture correspondent Jonathan Glancey as we all started to bake gently in our post-lunch discussion on media hype. “Sun Hell… closely followed by Lightning Hell at the weekend (this being British weather)”. So we were glad to cool down as James Gillies, CERN’s communications director, told us about the world’s coolest (minus 271°C) and fastest racetrack – the 27 kilometre Large Hadron Collider.

2009-07-03 14:26

A strong historical flavour permeated this session, which nevertheless dealt with problems that face every modern science journalist who wants to produce high-class, ethical work.

2009-07-03 14:18

Of course the famous title “Audacity of Hope” belongs to U.S. president Barack Obama, whose election was the biggest story of last year. But another story also scored very high on news editors' radars: the Large Hadron Collider story, LHC, which makes some heavy lifters of news and information very hopeful and optimistic about the future science journalism.

2009-07-02 11:22

Imagine if you were asked to develop an advanced world-class research and education system in an area of the world that previously didn’t have much of either. It might seem one of the trickiest things in the world. But there is one more issue that totally flips it around. What if money was not an issue – at all – during this task?

This is the case with the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development.

2009-07-02 11:05

We all know them: The scientists whose research is always exciting and who are never stuck for an interesting opinion. You can call them anytime and their quotes are always pithy. But can you really trust such sources? How do you know whether the researcher you’re relying on is truly brilliant, just a marginal figure in his field, or even a complete idiot?

2009-07-02 08:04

Between now and Copenhagen, the economic recession could actually provide an opportunity for climate change policy makers to pin down what went wrong as a result of faulty national policies. And the media has an equally good opportunity of picking up these ‘fault’ stories and influencing governments to prioritise their Copenhagen ‘must-dos’.

2009-07-02 07:34

This hands-on workshop was run by Chris Smith, founder of The Naked Scientists and Jon Bohannon, contributing correspondent for Science and writer for The Gonzo Scientist.   

2009-07-02 07:21

How do you get started if you want to write your first popular science book? Is it necessary to have an agent? The Association of British Science Writers held a session where people could ask all kind of questions about popular science book production.

2009-07-02 07:12

It was a confirmation of the age-old journalism school lesson – that the best stories are often the ones that directly impact us; this session featured four science journalists who have ‘changed the world’ with their incisive reporting.  The panel was made up of three specialists in health and medicine - issues everyone effortlessly relates to. The fourth journalist on the panel has consistently crossed the line between good science journalism and good science by backing up her stories with personally conducted research surveys, complete with bar graphs and pie charts.

2009-07-02 07:00

It's just what I always suspected – science journalists are really would-be science fiction writers in disguise, desperate to release their inner nerd on the world of creative writing. Perhaps I’m generalising, but if the turnout for the parallel session on science fiction is anything to go by then the links between the two disciplines are alive and well.

It was standing room only as Oliver Morton – Nature’s chief news and features editor and a wearer of fine sideburns – introduced his panel, including science fiction writers Paul McAuley and Geoff Ryman.

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