Sunday 8 May 2011

Recommendations for Further Information


For the ones interested in the topic of science and media I prepared a few links.
This is the official page of Science Media Centre, mentioned previously regarding the article of its director Fiona Fox. The page offers a service for journalists who want to promote science in a proper way, but it is also useful for readers interested in professional opinion. In the section “Press Releases”, there are experts’ answers to current media science news, which may be educational and interesting (e.g. reaction to the concerns over nuclear energy after Japanese earthquake)
v     Bad Science
This page, previously mentioned in the article assessing Goldacre’s “Don’t dumb me down”, is unique critical piece definitely worth attention. The page’s description begins with “Each week, Ben Goldacre skewers the enemies of reason.” It threatens journalists who distort science because of sensation, politicians who lie and ignore facts and advertisers who misuse science. Goldacre critically approaches current media-science issues and explains them in detail.
v     True about Mice
Remember the mice “turning gay”? This analytical and comprehensible article in Scientific American explains the results of the study mentioned in my second posting and points to how media misinterpreted it. I recommend reading this long article mainly because it is a great example of clash between scientific results and their representation in media. The author not only criticizes misunderstanding of the study, but also courageous statements of the scientists who conducted it.
v     Webcomic
Finally, I would really recommend looking at this part of XKCD webcomic series. XKCD is a popular entertaining webcomic dealing mainly with scientific topics, so it is often incomprehensible for an internet user not interested in science. This part deals with media sensationalizing and exaggerating small scientific results. 

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