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From: khcg0492@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Kenneth Holden Chang)
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.psychology,sci.math,sci.med,sci.bio,sci.chem,sci.environment,sci.physics
Subject: Help for science writer
Message-ID: <1991May29.054220.4963@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 29 May 91 05:42:20 GMT
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Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
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This summer I'm taking leave of my regular persona of physics graduate
student to be a science writer for the San Francisco Chronicle. I'd like
some help from net people about possible article ideas as well as general
comments about the state of science journalism. More specifically:

1) Do you know of neato-keen areas of research that haven't been
reported widely? If so, please a) tell me what it is, b) tell me who
to talk with and and c) tell me the relevant journal articles.

2) If they let me, I want to do a science column about simple things
that 99% of the people on this planet never think about, such as
how do you convince yourself that the Earth is indeed round and that
it's not actually one big practical joke? Any ideas for such columns
gratefully welcomed.

3) What do you think about the media's coverage of science? Most
people I know regard as pretty mediocre (I've generally heard 
favorable things about only Science News and Scientific American.)
Science people complain journalists don't really understand what's going
on and report something only if it is a "possible cure for cancer" or
promises "to revolutionize our lives." I'd appreciate it if people
could cite examples of good and bad science journalism. (Citations
are sufficient; you don't have to send me the article.)

Please reply through e-mail. If you do post, be sure to edit the
header down to the relevant groups. (Sorry about the mass crossposting,
but I did want to cover all of the fields.)

And thank you for your help.
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  Kenneth Chang                         ~   khcg0492@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu
  Center for Complex Systems Research   ~             or
  University of Illinois                ~   kc@complex.ccsr.uiuc.edu
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~