More on plain writing in the government
Regular reader Brian Curran sends us this link on the Plain Writing Act and the results thereof, following up on earlier discussions of clear language in government writing. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2013/11/19/plain-writing-in-government-agencies-plainly-speaking-arent-there-yet/ As the report card from the Center for Plain Language shows, NOAA gets a D for “Plain Writing”, although which documents were used was not stated […]
Tornadoes and the “Clash of the Air Masses”
Ever seen media reports talk about how tornadoes form in the central United States? It always seems to start with warm air from the south meeting cold air from the north. Need some examples? How about these? USA Today: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/06/08/oklahoma-tornadoes-ef5-moore/2401885/ The Independent: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/tornado-disaster-clash-of-air-masses-in-tornado-alley-1091490.html KTBC Fox News, Austin, Texas: http://www.myfoxaustin.com/story/21871999/weather-facts-tornado-rotation The BBC: National Geographic: http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2013/11/biggest-storm/tornado-formation I […]
Twenty tips for interpreting scientific claims
This Comment in Nature today by William Sutherland, David Spiegelhalter, and Mark Burgman is meant as a primer for policy makers who need to interpret science, but I would argue that this primer is also useful for scientists who might fall into this trap of overinterpreting or misinterpreting results in their own or others’ studies. […]
Epic Fail: What a Perfectly Putrid Poster Can Do for You
Nice article in Eos by Paul Cooper and Julia Galkiewicz who define a PPP (Perfectly Putrid Poster).
From the “You’ve Got to Be Kidding” Category…
I wonder if these authors chose this title, just to get the attention. Anyway, here it is.
Interview with Scientia Crastina
I did this great interview with Olle Bergman who runs the web page Scientia Crastina, which bills itself as “communication skills for the scientists of tomorrow”. Thanks, Olle! Readers, I hope you enjoy the interview. I had fun answering the questions that Olle posed for me!
Teaching Quantum Physics to Children: Ellie the Electron
Ellie the Electron is a children’s story about an electron who wants to be the star of the show. It was written by Dr. Yvette Hancock, a lecturer in Physics at the University of York. Yvette has done many outreach activities to promote physics to students (such as her Institute of Physics lecture at the […]
23 Things for Research
This is a list of 23 things that you scientists should be doing to help promote your research. It provides a good list of things to be thinking about as you aim to develop your career.
To collaborate or not to collaborate?
October 29, 2013 Filed under Blog, Featured, Publishing
You hear about these stories about how ideas from young scientists are stolen by more senior scientists. (The case of Rosalind Franklin’s discovery of the X-ray crystallographic photographs of DNA being a prime one.) Yet, it is always disconcerting to read more and more stories about how people with good scientific ideas are taken advantage […]
10 grammar rules you can forget: how to stop worrying and write proper
Jim Steenburgh sent me this article from The Guardian about “what pop music can teach you about building sentences.”
