“Don’t use the same word twice.”

There’s always that memory that you have from your childhood that still influences your life today. When I was probably 8 years old, someone showed me a centipede on the ground and then said, “Don’t touch it. It’s poisonous.” Of course, now I know better, but I still can’t help but be unrealistically reluctant today. […]

Tribute to Jinny Nathans, AMS Archivist and Librarian

Jinny Nathans (Photo Source: Cambridge Rotary Club) It is devastating to hear that Jinny Nathans passed away this past week due to COVID-19. From American Meteorological Society Executive Director Keith Seitter: “I’m sorry to report that AMS staff lost one of its own to COVID-19. Longtime archivist and librarian Jinny Nathans died this past Sunday. […]

Eloquent Science Workshops for Your Organization

I am delivering online and in-person workshops on scientific-communication skills designed specifically for your needs.

How to download a reference from AMS Journals Online

. 1. Go to an article, say http://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/MWR-D-16-0460.1 2. On the red bar, click on the download button (third icon from left). 3. This screen appears: http://journals.ametsoc.org/action/showCitFormats?doi=10.1175%2FMWR-D-16-0460.1 4. At the bottom, you can copy the text for the reference list, including the doi. Steenburgh, W.J. and L.S. Campbell, 2017: The OWLeS IOP2b Lake-Effect Snowstorm: Shoreline […]

How Bill Paxton Helped Us Understand Tornadoes in Europe

Today I learned that Bill Paxton died at the age of 61. I never met him, although I knew people who had met him during the filming of Twister. He was said to be friendly and curious about the science on set. Many meteorologists of a certain age group are likely in this career because […]

“Improving Together: Better Science Writing Through Peer Learning”

How do you motivate early-career researchers to improve their communication skills? Mathew Stiller-Reeve from the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research in Bergen, Norway, and colleagues reveal how they were able to develop their writing and communication skills through the development of the ClimateSnack project, described in this journal article in Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. […]

Book review: Designing Science Presentations: A Visual Guide to Figures, Papers, Slides, Posters, and More

Here is another in my series of reviews for books that I read a while ago and were sitting on my desk waiting for the time to write the review. This review is of Matt Carter’s Designing Science Presentations: A Visual Guide to Figures, Papers, Slides, Posters, and More. Outside of my own book, I’ve […]

Book Review: Science Communication: A Practical Guide for Scientists

Bowater and Yeoman’s Science Communication: A Practical Guide for Scientists provides a nice overview of the topic. If you’re starting out with public engagement or outreach to the public through the media, schools, or science festivals – or if you are planning your own event – I would recommend this book. The book was written […]

Book Review: Just My Type by Simon Garfield

I had bought Just My Type: A Book About Fonts while waiting in Kings Cross waiting to get home. It’s a book that I’d been wanting to read for a while. I’ve been fascinated with fonts ever since the early Macs got me trying out new fonts. Now, I find myself mostly stuck in my […]

Minute Earth and Phil Plait (Bad Astronomer) Get Clouds Wrong (NOW FIXED AT MINUTE EARTH!)

I like both Minute Earth and Phil Plait’s column at slate.com. They are both great ways to communicate science to the public. That’s why writing this post is upsetting to me. At about 0:50 into the video, it says this about a rising bubble of air: “In fact, the more water vapor it collects before […]

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