Where Do You Get Your Science Information?
A friend of mine and I are putting together a little science-related blog ((because, you know, I clearly don’t spend enough time blogging as it is)) and I have a question ((a little unscientific survey, if you will)) for one of the blog postings I’m going to write over there.
Where do you get your science information from?
Doesn’t matter what kind of science – be it health, environmental, astrophysics, agriculture, geology, whatever – I’m curious as to where people get their scientific facts from.
Do any non-scientists ever read scientific journals (or do any scientists read journals from outside their field of training)? Popular magazines? Scientific American? Health care professionals? The media? Government agencies (like Health Canada or Stats Canada or Environment Canada or the BC Centre for Disease Control)? Random forwarded emails telling you that [fill in name of common food or drug] causes [fill in name of disease]?
Let me know in the comments section!
Comments |9|
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Great idea! I'm always up for new sources of sciencey stuff.
I do read things outside of my training. Trained in math & stats, BUT I read a lot of papers pertaining to public health, spatial epidemiology, decision frameworks, decision analysis, fisheries management, adaptive management, food safety, etc.
Where do I get my science on? Apart from specific journals (i.e., the Royal Statistical Society, the International Journal of Chaos and Bifurcation, Trends in Ecology and Evolution, Nature, Science, etc.), I also opt for random Google searches, twitter requests, blogs and of course, pestering friends based on whatever brand of geekery they call a speciality.
I also have some RSS feeds (of journals), and tend to share articles with colleagues.
What are you going to call your Shiny New Blog-o-Science? And does it have a theme or will it be general sciencey goodness? Will it include statistics (hint, hint, wink, wink, nudge, nudge).
Thanks for the reply, Dan!
The theme of the blog is basically about the scientific enterprise (e.g.,
our views on science training/funding/communication/etc.) in Canada, rather than as being a place of just talking about scientific findings or anything like that. It's called "The Black Hole" (where the "Black Hole" in question "the postdoc position" (and academia as a whole, really), as my friend who started this is a newly minted postdoc.
We haven't started blogging in earnest yet (that starts next week), but you can see our intro postings at: http://scienceadvocacy.org/Blog/ (and sign up for our RSS feed so that you get our bloggy goodness right in your Google Reader) if you are interested.
As a non-scientist/pro-science person, whose formal training is in Onyxology and Fine Art, I get my science on by reading NewScientist, National Geographic, and other random magazines. I read everything my sister writes, and nearly everything else placed in front of me. I watch tons of documentaries, Daily Planet and other nerdtastic TV. Random internet searches are also good.
My husband and I play a game called "Ask a Scientician" where we call my sister really early in the morning or really late at night to demand answers to such questions as "Do spiders pee?" and "Is is pronounced vaze or vase?" .
"Ask a Scientician" sounds like the BEST GAME EVER. Although, I believe I speak for both Dr. Beth and myself when I say that IF spiders pee, they pee pure EVIL, because spiders are EVIL. PURE. EVIL. Granted, I don't believe they pee because, naturally, they like to store up their EVIL inside their EVIL bodies for other EVIL business. And that, is my Scientician take on the matter.
It is THE BEST GAME EVER. Give me your phone number and you too can play đŸ˜‰
I forgot one place, nerdy music.
http://symphonyofscience.com/
and assorted nerdcore.
Then it can be the "Battle of the Scienticians" – phone Linda then phone Dan and then if they give you different answers it's time for a scientician fist fight!
That symphony of science site just made my evening.
I get my bad science from Ben Goldacre, cause I like my science baaaaaad, baby.
If it's health-related, I'll check pubmed to see whether there were actual studies done and what they conclude, or if the media is just making stuff up again.
I like livescience.com for my science info.