The New York Times Reader: Science & Technology

Below find additional resources to help you explore the ins and outs of your beat. Check out the multimedia packages we couldn't show you in the book and start following your favorite writers via RSS or Twitter.

More Online | Follow the Beat | Multimedia Models | Additional Resources

  

More Online

Links to articles excerpted in the Reader.

1.6 A Leap for Teleporting, Between Ions Feet Apart
By Kenneth Chang

6.3 New York Times Magazine Toxic Shock
By Nan Robertson

 

Follow the Beat

Columns, beat blogs and writers to add to your science and technology RSS feed.

Columns and Special Features

Blogs

Writers to Follow

 

Multimedia Models

Multimedia packages that correspond with stories in the Reader.

"Tequila" [graphic]

Climate Change [photo]

"Sea Ice in Retreat" [interactive graphic]

"Pop Art Quiz" [interactive graphic]

"X Chromosome" [graphic]

Body illustration [graphic]

Space Shuttle Columbia Astronaut [photo]

"Signaling Machines" [graphic]

"The Mind of a Manatee" [audio slideshow]

"A Sensitive Creature" [graphic]

"The Hubble Repairman" [audio slideshow]

"The Bestiary of RNA" [graphic]

Gene [photo]

Science Times Podcast [podcast]

"Popular Science? High School Forensics" [video]

"Military Autopsy" [video]

[illustration]

"Reporter's Notebook Huntington's" [video]

"Huntington's Disease" [slideshow]

"Tale of a Dominant Gene" [graphic]

Motorcycle [illustration]

Human genome [illustraction]

Boy in boat [illustration]

Elephant eye [photo]

 

Additional Resources

Further reading and resources to help you master your beat.

Suggested Resources

Times Writers on Science, Science News and Public Perceptions of Science

Altman, Lawrence K., M.D. "The Doctor's World: For Science's Gatekeepers, a Credibility Gap." The New York Times, May 2, 2006.
The Times' resident physician examines the merits of the peer-review system in science and medicine. The system has its problems: "If peer review were a drug," say its critics, "it would never be marketed."

Goleman, Daniel. "Hidden Rules Often Distort Ideas of Risk." The New York Times, Feb. 1, 1994. (With chart: "Ranking Risks: Reality and Perceptions.")
Scientists have identified a variety of "outrage" factors that skew public perceptions of risk. Former New York Times reporter Daniel Goleman reports on these factors and how they often lead to a mismatch between actual and perceived risks. Goleman doesn't fall into the trap of portraying experts' risk estimates as right and public perceptions of risk as wrong. The implications of scientists' research on this topic are as true today as they were when Goleman wrote this story: The reality is that experts and lay people can have different perceptions of risks based on values, and both perceptions can have validity.

Kaufman, Joanne. "Need Press? Repeat: ‘Green,' ‘Sex,' ‘Cancer,' ‘Secret,' ‘Fat': The Unsubtle Art of Composing a News Release." The New York Times, June 30, 2008.
According to one PR consultant, "If you say something is first, most, fastest, tallest—that's likely to get attention. If you can use the words like ‘money,' ‘fat,' ‘cancer' or ‘sex,' you're likely to get some ink in the general audience media." This story—which begins with the case of the toxic shower curtain—catalogues the many ways research is hyped to get media attention.

Kolata, Gina. "Experts Strive to Put Diseases in Proper Perspective." The New York Times, July 2, 2002. (With chart: "Assigning Numbers to Health Risks.")
How a risk estimate is presented can have a significant effect on people's perceptions of the dangers to themselves. In this piece, medical writer Gina Kolata reveals some of the ways advocacy groups have manipulated public perceptions and concerns, leading people to exaggerate the risks of getting and dying from dreaded diseases. The experts Kolata interviews advocate presenting estimates in context and moving away from statistics to put risks in terms of individual people.

______. "Searching for Clarity: A Primer on Studies." The New York Times, Sept. 30, 2008.
Appearing in a special Science Times section, "Decoding Your Health," this article discusses the difference between observational studies and randomized clinical trials, using beta-carotene as an example. The article was accompanied by an informative graphic—"How to Read a Medical Study (Skeptical)"— which walked readers through three articles on beta-carotene, beginning with a review article in 1981. That article concluded that the more beta-carotene in people's blood the lower their risk of cancer. The final article, in 1996, was based on a randomized clinical trial and concluded that beta-carotene had no effect on cancer rates, after all.

Revkin, Andrew C. "In Debate on Climate Change, Exaggeration Is a Common Pitfall." The New York Times, Feb. 25, 2009.
In this news analysis, environment reporter Andrew C. Revkin discusses how easily climate change science gets hyped by figures on both the left and the right, confusing the public and polarizing debate on this important issue.

______. "News Analysis: Climate Experts Tussle Over Details. Public Gets Whiplash." The New York Times, July 29, 2008.
In another news analysis, Revkin discusses the cognitive whiplash that the public can experience when contradictory findings are reported one right after the other, as they historically have been in medical science, and as they often are now in the science of global climate change. His reporting uncovers some potential remedies.

Wade, Nicholas. "Crumpled Papers: Lowering Expectations at Science's Frontier." The New York Times, Jan. 15, 2006.


Writer Nicholas Wade explains the difference between emerging (or "frontier") science and "textbook" science.

Discussions between Times Journalists and Their Readers

Periodically, Times editors, reporters, columnists and executives respond to readers' e-mailed questions in an online feature called "Talk to The Times." Several of the journalists who have contributed to this Reader had done so when this book went to press, including Laura Chang, science editor; Henry Fountain, science writer; Amy Harmon, national correspondent; and Dennis Overbye, physics writer. Deputy science editor Barbara Strauch has also responded to readers' questions, along with The Times' graphics director, the editor of the Web newsroom and members of The Times' Interactive News Collaborative. Go to: www.nytimes.com/ref/business/media/asktheeditors.html/.reproduced

Other Collections of Science Writing

"The Best American Science Writing" (New York: HarperCollins, annual) and "The Best American Science and Nature Writing" (New York: Houghton Mifflin and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, annual).
These annual collections of science and nature writing aren't "readers" that explicitly show how to read—and learn—from others' work, as this Reader does. But the newspaper and magazine articles they contain comprise some of the best science writing of the year in the judgment of the scientists and science writers who have selected them. Great for bedside reading.

Zivkovic, Bora, series ed. "The Open Laboratory: The Best Writing on Science Blogs." Lulu.com, annual.
You are not likely to find these collections in your neighborhood bookstore, but if you have an interest in science blogging, you can download copies from the publisher for a small fee. The posts are by a variety of science bloggers—from award-winning science writer Carl Zimmer, whose work is also featured in this Reader, to blogs by graduate students in the sciences. Top posts are selected with the assistance of the science-blogging community, and the collection is released in conjunction with ScienceOnline, an annual meeting about science on the Web: www.scienceonline2010.com/index.php/wiki/.

Professional Associations for Science Writers

National Association of Science Writers (NASW): www.nasw.org
NASW is the premier professional association for science writers who work to convey science to the public through the news media. Membership includes writers for magazines, newspapers, broadcast media, Web sites and blogs, as well as public information officers, educators and students. The association produces a quarterly newsletter and holds an annual meeting in conjunction with science briefings organized by the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing. It also gives several awards for outstanding science writing. In 2009 NASW's award for excellence in medical writing went to The Times' Denise Grady, whose work appears in this collection and whose insights on science writing appear in the Q&A at the end of Chapter 1.

Society for Environmental Journalists (SEJ): www.sej.org
The Society for Environmental Journalists aims to advance the public's understanding of environmental issues. The SEJ publishes a newsletter, supports an active discussion list and mentoring program for members, and holds an annual meeting that brings together scientists, policymakers, journalists and others for workshops and panel discussions. To maintain journalistic independence, the organization restricts voting membership to working journalists and refuses financial support from industry and environmental organizations. Full-time students of accredited institutions are eligible for academic membership.

University Research Magazine Association (URMA): www.urma.org
This professional organization is for editors, writers, designers and others who produce magazines about research and scholarship conducted at universities, nonprofit research centers or institutes. The magazines cover faculty work in both the sciences and the humanities and are targeted to lay audiences, usually these organizations' constituents. URMA holds an annual conference on rotating campuses.

Books and Essays about Science Writing

Blum, Deborah, and Mary Knudson, eds. "A Field Guide for Science Writers." New York: Oxford University Press, 2005.
Produced by members of the National Association of Science Writers, this collection of essays by outstanding science writers discusses the many opportunities and challenges of a career in science writing. Despite significant changes in media and in science since its publication, much of the information and advice remains up to date. The Guide includes an essay by The Times' Andrew Revkin, who is featured in this Reader.

Bubela, Tania, Matthew C. Nisbet, Rick Borchelt, Fern Brunger, Cristine Critchley, Edna Einsiedel, Gail Geller, Anil Gupta, Jurgen Hampel, Robyn Hyde-Lay, Eric W. Jandciu, Ashley Jones, Pam Kolopack, Summer Lane, Tim Lougheed, Brigitte Nerlich, Ubaka Ogbogu, Kathleen O'Riordan, Collin Ouellette, Mike Spear, Stephen Strauss, Thushaanthini Thavaratnam, Lisa Willemse and Timothy Caulfield. "Science Communication Reconsidered." Nature Biotechnology 27 (2009): 514–518.
For the more academically minded, this commentary in Nature Biotechnology reviews what academics have learned about the public communication of science, considers many of the challenges for scientists and science writers in this age of new media and growing private financing of academic research, and offers recommendations to enhance the communication of science to the public. The commentary grew out of a workshop on science communication involving experts from the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Germany and Australia.

Friedman, Sharon M., Sharon Dunwoody and Carol Rogers, eds. "Communicating Uncertainty: Media Coverage of New and Controversial Science." Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1999.
A readable introduction by science communication scholars, science writers and others to the timeless challenges that the unknowns and uncertainties of emerging science present for science journalists. (Disclosure: One of the chapters is by the editor of this Reader.)

Mooney, Chris. "Blinded by Science: How ‘Balanced' Coverage Lets the Scientific Fringe Hijack Reality." Columbia Journalism Review (Nov./Dec. 2004).
In this essay, author and science blogger Chris Mooney makes a forceful argument against the kind of journalistic balance that gives equal weight to unequally weighted scientific evidence.

Annotated List of Additional Stories by Chapter

Part I – News

Chapter 1: Discoveries

Broad, William, "From Scum, Perhaps the Tiniest Form of Life," The New York Times, Dec. 23, 2006.
The biggest, the smallest, the fastest, the best: Every PR person knows that if you can attach a superlative to an event, journalists will bite. In this story, writer William Broad reports on one scientific team's claim that they had found the tiniest form of life to date. This very short story reinforces points made in Joanne Kaufman's piece listed under Suggested Resources in the back of the collection: "Need Press? Repeat: ‘Green,' ‘Sex,' ‘Cancer,' ‘Secret,' ‘Fat:' The Unsubtle Art of Composing a News Release," The New York Times, June 30, 2008.

Brody, Jane, "Analysis of 23 Studies Suggests Abortion Can Slightly Raise the Risk of Breast Cancer, "The New York Times, Oct. 12, 1996.
This story, when examined in conjunction with the next story, gives a clear indication of how conclusions can quickly shift in emerging science. Taken together, the stories reinforce notions about frontier science (as distinct from textbook science) made in Nicholas Wade's piece, which is listed at the back of the collection: "Crumpled Papers: Lowering Expectations at Science's Frontier," The New York Times, Jan. 15, 2006.

Brody, Jane, "Big Study Finds No Link in Abortion and Cancer, The New York Times," Jan 9, 1997.
Just months after one scientific review concludes that abortion can raise the risk of breast cancer, a larger, more rigorous study concludes otherwise. Jane Brody, who wrote both stories, goes to considerable lengths to put this latest development into a context that has included many back-and-forths.

Carey, Benedict, "Report on Gene for Depression is Now Faulted," The New York Times, June 17, 2009.
Early on in a field of inquiry, a finding can appear clear-cut: A single gene may seem to account for a problem or difference, for example. Only later does it grow clear that reality is a lot more complicated. Here is a follow-up story in which scientists concede that early optimism about the role of a single gene in depression was premature. Once you've written a few stories like this one, skepticism about emerging science takes root.

Chang, Kenneth, "In Study, Researchers Find Nanotubes May Pose Health Risks Similar to Asbestos," The New York Times, May 21, 2008.
Stories involving risk require special care. In this news story, writer Kenneth Chang reports on claims that nanotubes, tiny carbon fibers of great strength discovered in 1991, may pose health risks similar to those documented for asbestos. The research on which the claims are based is just emerging, so caveats are important. Chang notes some of them: The nanotubes were injected in this case, so whether they would become airborne or lodge in the lungs if inhaled is not known. Still, in the short term, longer nanotubes created lesions in injected mice, while shorter ones did not. This piece complements Cornelia Dean's piece on ethical discussions needed for new technologies like this one (see her story listed under Chapter below) and her guest blog post on nanotechnology ("Nano Toothpaste" listed under Chapter 10).

Kolata, Gina, "Study Says Implant Risk, if Any, is Small: Both Sides in Legal Battle Say Research Vindicates Their Claim," The New York Times, Feb. 28, 1996.
This 1996 story concerns the risks of breast implants, a highly contentious matter that had wound its way through the courts by the time the study on which the story is based was released. Writer Gina Kolata does a nice job of covering the research, which was greeted by both sides of the controversy as vindicating their claims. Her story covers the perceived significance of the claims, research methods, scientific context, caveats, and funding. In addition, it offers information on the absolute risk to individuals and the risk relative to the risk of lung cancer from smoking. In her reporting, Kolata consults the leading investigator and six other sources, an impressive job of reporting.

Richtel, Matt, "In Study, Texting Lifts Crash Risk by Large Margin: Hazard Rises 23-fold," The New York Times, July 28, 2009. With sidebar: Richtel, Matt, "How Driving Tests Were Conducted," The New York Times, July 28, 2009.
This page-one account of the first study of texting done inside drivers' vehicles is part of a series of Times stories on the dangers of using cell-phones and other electronic devices while driving. The study put video cameras inside truckers' cabs and found the risks of collisions much higher than the risks documented in studies using simulators. Technology writer Matt Richtel goes to great lengths to put the study into the context of other research on texting and cell phone use. In a sidebar, he talks about the methods used in the study, which when the story was published was undergoing peer-review but had not yet been published in a scientific journal. Several additional features appear on The Times Web site: Richtel discusses the dangers in a CNBC interview; a videotape shows a truck driver as he texts and an interactive graphic gives readers a chance to gauge their level of distraction while texting and driving. The site also links to other articles in the series.

Yoon, Carol Kaesuk, "For Scientists, a Beer Test Shows Results as a Litmus Test," The New York Times, March 18, 2008.
This silly story makes a serious point: Correlation does not equal causation. Scientists, according to a recent study, have found that "the more beer a scientist drinks, the less likely the scientist is to publish a paper or to have a paper cited by another researcher, a measure of a paper's quality and importance." Does the drink cause the lower productivity, or does the lower productivity lead to the drink? It's a good question, and one that this science writer has the good sense to raise.

Chapter 2: Meetings

Markoff, John, "Ay Robot! Scientists Worry Machines May Outsmart Man," July 26, 2009.
On occasion, journalists may be excluded from a meeting. But if the meeting is significant enough, it may be possible to reconstruct discussions that need public airing. For this report, which landed on page one, technology writer John Markoff interviewed those who months earlier had attended a secret meeting of computer scientists, roboticists, and artificial intelligence researchers. That meeting, to discuss the future of artificial intelligence, explored the dangers of computer-based intelligence systems that may soon outstrip humans' abilities to control them. This news stories pairs nicely with Cornelia Dean's feature on the ethics of emerging technologies, listed under Chapter 5 below and with her blog post on the same subject, listed under Chapter 10.

Overbye Dennis, "Pluto is Demoted to ‘Dwarf Planet,'" The New York Times, Aug. 24, 2006.
In 2006, astronomers registered at a meeting of the International Astronomical Union voted to demote the planet Pluto to a "dwarf planet." The vote, which followed the meeting, was seen as a triumph of science over sentiment and it prompted and a sprightly story from Times Writer Dennis Overbye. In his lede, Overbye notes what this will mean for all the placemats, classroom charts, and solar system mobiles with Pluto as one of the earth's planets, to say nothing of encyclopedias, which he discusses late in the story.

Overbye, Dennis, "Dark, Perhaps Forever," The New York Times, June 3, 2008.
This trend story, which takes stock of existing knowledge about dark energy, originated at a gathering of astronomers and physicists at the Space Telescope Science Institute of Johns Hopkins University. It complements an earlier story the writer wrote on dark energy scientist Adam Reiss (see Chapter 4 below).

Part II – Features

Chapter 3: Explanatory Features

Angier, Natalie, "Its Poor Reputation Aside, Our Fat is Doing Us a Favor," The New York Times, Aug. 7, 2007.


This explanatory feature, which appeared in Angier's column Basics, works to transform popular understandings of fat tissue – from vilified thief of beauty and health to efficient absorber of excess energy. The piece succeeds in part by softening readers up with humor. Not surprisingly, given obsessive concerns about fat in our culture, it was one of the most popular science and technology stories on The Times Web site in 2007.

Green, Brian. "Op-Ed: The Origins of the Universe: A Crash Course," The New York Times, Sept. 12, 2008.
One week after scientists threw the on-switch for the Large Hadron Collider, a professor of math and physics used an op-ed piece to explain the particles that could be expected to be produced in the collider. Terms are nicely defined and put into an historical context. This is the same scientist who wrote the essay on science mentioned under Chapter 8 below. This op-ed appeared just months after the editorial on the risks of Large Hadron Collider in Chapter 7 of the collection.

Wade, Nicholas, "How a Patient Assassin Does Its Deadly Work," The New York Times, Oct. 23, 2001. With chart: "The Life Cycle of Anthrax."
In this sidebar to news related to the anthrax scare of 2001, writer Nicholas Wade explains the anthrax spore as "a patient assassin waiting for its sleep to be disturbed. One day, perhaps when a grazing cow yanks up a plant by its roots, the tiny spores shake loose and are eaten, or are sniffed into the cow's lungs, or dust its skin with a deadly bloom. Then begins a precise but terrible execution." The organizing metaphor works.

Wade, Nicholas, "Nice Rats, Nasty Rats: Maybe It's All in the Genes," The New York Times, July 25, 2006.
Some stories explain the science through narrative. This piece about ongoing research on the genetics of domestication is one such story. Writer Nicholas Wade vividly describes two strains of rats bred from the same stock on an animal-breeding farm in Siberia. In experiments that date back to 1959, one strain has been bred for tameness and the other strain for aggressiveness. In explaining the science, Wade tells the story of the early research in the former Soviet Union. He then brings the research up to date by describing recent efforts to cross the tame rats with the aggressive rats and score their offspring for the amount of each trait they inherit. The hope, Wade says, is to identify the sites along the genome at which the tame rats and the aggressive rats differ. The story is not only clear but engaging. Wade who regularly writes on genetics, responds to reader questions about the article on The Times Web site. A researcher-supplied video of tame and aggressive foxes is also included on the site.

Wade, Nicholas, "From One Genome, Many Types of Cells. But How?" The New York Times, Feb. 24, 2009. With graphic: "The Epigenome: Guiding Cells to Their Specialized Roles."
Some of Nicholas Wade's explanatory features can appear dense to non-scientists, but for the more attentive and knowledgeable readers, they can offer satisfying windows into the inner workings of biological systems. This particular piece appeared as the first in a series of occasional articles on the "Secrets of the Cell." The story explains the epigenome, which has become a major area of study since the decoding of the genome in 2003. If you are unfamiliar with the epigenome, it may help to first read Carl Zimmer's feature on the 100th anniversary of the discovery of the gene, which ran a few months earlier. That feature, in Chapter 5 of the collection, places the epigenome in historical context.

Chapter 4: Stories about Scientists: Q&As, narrative interviews, profiles Q&As

Dreifus, Claudia, "A Conversation with Frans de Waal: Observing the Behavior of Apes, Up Close," The New York Times, June 26, 2001.
Assuming you have a great subject, questions informed by strong background information can make or break a Q&A. In this particular interview, Claudia Dreifus brings background knowledge of the scientist and his living quarters and some additional knowledge of animal intelligence to the interview. The resulting questions elicit telling anecdotes, descriptions, and insights.

Dreifus, Claudia, "A Conversation with Pepper Schwartz – A Sociologist of Sex for the Benefit of the Masses," The New York Times, April 10, 2007.
Here Claudia Dreifus interviews a sociologist who has done much to popularize sex research, both inside and outside of the classroom. The subject would be a natural at any time, but the forthcoming publication of the scientist's book gives the story added cachet, as does the nod to ‘Sex in the City: "Carrie Bradshaw with a doctorate." This story is a counter-point to the longer story on the enduring challenges many sex researchers face in this country (see Benedict Carey's feature, "Long After Kinsey," under Chapter 5 below).

Narrative Interviews:

Hoffman, Jan, "Where Risk and Choice and Hope Converge, a Guiding Voice," The New York Times, Sept. 18, 2007.
Some narratives are slices of life. This slice-of-life story follows a genetic counselor as she works with a Spanish-speaking couple to convey the uses and limitations of prenatal genetic testing and the couples' choices. Heavily dependent on the writer's observational skills, the story unfolds as one extended scene. It is an interesting contrast to Amy Harmon's extended narrative on the impact of a genetic test on one young woman's life, in Chapter 6 of the collection.

Overbye, Dennis, "Scientist at Work: Adam Reiss; His Prey Dark Energy in a Cosmic Abyss," The New York Times, Feb. 18, 2003.
Writer Dennis Overbye illuminates dark energy through the story of one scientist who is seeking to understand it. It's clear the writer was on the scene with the scientist and his co-workers, for the story contains finely observed moments with dialogue. The piece antedates by five years the trend story on dark energy by the same writer (see "Dark Perhaps Forever" under Chapter 2 above).

Wilford, John Noble, "An Abolitionist Leads the Way in Unearthing of Slaves' Past," The New York Times, Sept. 5, 2006.
A narrative interview need not focus on one individual. As this story shows, it can follow several people associated with an entire research project. In this case, John Noble Wilford talks to multiple sources on the site of an archeological dig at the childhood home of former-slave-turned-abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Profiles:

Dawidoff, Nicholas, "The Global-Warming Heretic,"The New York Times Magazine, March 29,2006. With "Letters: The Civil Heretic," The New York Times Magazine, April 12, 2009.
Freeman Dyson is a visible scientist. But he's not an expert on global warming. Still, when someone of his stature comes out against global warming science, it can create quite a stir. Writer Nicholas Dawidoff has built an entire story around the controversy that Dyson's views have instigated. Part profile, part issue story, the piece enraged many climate scientists and Times readers when it appeared as a cover story in The New York Times Magazine. It also prompted a blog post by Times environment writer Andrew Revkin. The article raises an important journalistic question: Is it responsible to draw this kind of attention to the marginal views of a visible scientist, especially when he is not an expert in the field?

Overbye, Dennis, "They Tried to Outsmart Wall Street," The New York Times, March 10, 2009. With chart: "A High-Risk Formula." And sidebar: Dennis Overbye, "Mathematical Model and the Mortgage Mess."
Sometimes a story will profile an entire group of people. This story by Dennis Overbye profiles a growing group of scientists known as "quants" who do quantitative finance on Wall Street.

Stevens, William K., "Scientist at Work: Benjamin D. Santer. At Hot Center of Debate on Global Warming." The New York Times, Aug. 6, 1996.
This 1996 profile by William Stevens is of a scientist who drafted a major chapter on humans' impact on global climate for the U.N. report on global climate change. The story goes behind headlines at the time, many of which characterized this researcher as politically motivated. By the end of the story, which contains convincing character assessments by other scientists in the field, it's clear that this scientist had only good science in mind when he drafted his part of the U.N. report. When headlines focus on conflict and many media accounts give equal weight to unequally weighted science, features like this one can sometimes help to set the story straight. This piece picks up on issues illuminated by Chris Mooney in his article in the Suggested Resources section at the end of the collection.

Chapter 5: Trends, Issues and Other Stories

Butler, Katy, "The Grim Neurology of Teenage Drinking," The New York Times, July 4, 2006.
Some studies can't be done on humans. But they can be done on animals. This story, about the neurological costs of heavy drinking among teenagers, relies heavily on data taken from experiments with adolescent rats given binge doses of alcohol. Notice how the writer, Katy Butler, weaves back and forth between human data and rat data, and how she uses both kinds of data to suggest that what is so for adolescent rats may also be so for adolescent humans.

Carey, Benedict, "Long After Kinsey, Only the Brave Study Sex," The New York Times. Nov. 9, 2004.
Events in popular culture can prompt science features. On the occasion of the release of the film, "Kinsey," on sex researcher Alfred Kinsey, Benedict Carey wrote this story on the status of sex research in America. By the end of the feature, we know a great deal about what sex researchers do and the enduring challenges they face in a country that is deeply ambivalent about this subject. This piece is a counter-point to the more upbeat Q&A with sex researcher Pepper Schwartz, under Chapter 4 above.

Dean, Cornelia, "Handle with Care: The Ethics of ‘Geoengineering,'" The New York Times, August 12, 2008.
It is a rare story that focuses on the ethics of science or technology without a precipitating incidence of fraud or catastrophe. But this story by Cornelia Dean manages to focus on the ethics of emerging technologies by surveying the growing number of scientists, engineers, philosophers who have begun to discuss the ethics of robotics, nanotechnology, and other new technologies. Dean describes some of the discussions underway in scholarly journals, online discussion groups and conferences, and considers the resistance many researchers and engineers have to considering the ethical implications of their work. It's a quote-heavy story, but a crucial one given a pervasive tendency to applaud new inventions without considering their potential threat to humans and their environment. The story could easily be paired with Kenneth Chang's story on the risks of nanotechnology (under Chapter 1 above) and Dean's own guest blog post on the same subject (under Chapter 10 below).

Harmon, Amy, "Fear of Insurance Trouble Leads Many to Shun or Hide DNA Tests," The New York Times, Feb. 24, 2008.
Occasionally a story about science or technology will require anonymous sources. In this piece, about Americans who shun or hide genetic tests out of fear of losing insurance or paying higher premiums, writer Amy Harmon was able to round up a number of people willing to go on the record with their tales. Some sources, though, weren't so willing. Harmon used them anyway, as anonymous sources late in her story. This piece was one of many in the series that won Harmon her second Pulitzer Prize. Another was the extended narrative on genetic testing in Chapter 5 of the collection.

Harris, Gardiner and O'Connor, Anahad, "On Autism's Cause, It's Parents vs. Research," The New York Times, June 25, 2005.
Anecdotal evidence can be very persuasive. And a lot of anecdotal evidence concerning a link between childhood vaccinations and autism is traded on blogs and Web sites, enough to convince many parents that vaccinations are to blame for their children's condition. In this story, Gardiner Harris and Anahad O'Connor show the uphill battle scientists are waging to convince many parents that the culprit that caused their child's autism is not a mercury preservative in vaccinations. The evidence across studies is much stronger than the anecdotal accounts, as this story reveals, but many parents still greet it with skepticism if not outrage. (For an editorial on the same subject, see "Eli Stone's Overleap of Faith" under Chapter 7 below.)

Chapter 6: Extended Narratives

Darcy Frey, "George Divoky's Planet," The New York Times Magazine, Jan. 6, 2002.
This extended narrative in The New York Times Magazine is the tale of a lone researcher-adventurer. Without financial or institutional support, George Divoky has for more than a quarter of a century braved freezing cold, polar bears, and bird poop to document the effects of global warming on a colony of birds in the Arctic. Freelance writer Darcy Frey accompanies the scientist to his research site, a remote barrier island off the northern coast of Alaska and vividly documents the man's heroic struggles to make visible a threat that at the time this story was written was invisible to all but the most attentive.

Part III – Commentary

Chapter 7: Editorials/Op-Eds

Editorial Desk, "Eli Stone's Overleap of Faith," The New York Times, Feb. 2, 2008.
When misperceptions of science are reinforced in popular entertainment, editorials can set the record straight. This particular editorial addresses the decision of a fictional television lawyer, Eli Stone, to suddenly switch sides – "from representing a vaccine manufacturer to representing a mother who believes her son contracted autism from a mercury preservative in the company's influenza vaccine." To counter the implications of the portrayal, the editorial marshals the science: Major scientific bodies have reviewed studies and concluded there is no scientific evidence of a causal link between mercury in vaccines and childhood autism. Moreover, after the preservatives were removed from almost all childhood vaccines, the incidence of autism continued to climb. This editorial picks up on themes in the story "On Autism's Cause, It's Parents vs. Research," in Chapter 5 above.

Editorial Desk, "Wolf Season Begins," The New York Times, Sept. 2, 2009.
The first legal wolf hunts in decades are misguided and premature, according to this editorial. The wolves, which have had an extraordinary impact on their ecosystems, have not recovered to sustainable levels as the Interior Department argues. Moreover, the plans for the hunts in the two states that have legalized the hunts are inadequate. To the writer of this piece, the hunts are "indecent" for a number of reasons, including "an implacable, and unjustified, hostility to the wolf." The mention of hostility toward wolves echoes the theme of Natalie Angier's essay on "biobigotry" in Chapter 8 below.

Editorial Desk, "Texting to Death," The New York Times, Sept. 15, 2009.
This editorial reviews research that shows texting while driving is even more dangerous than driving while drunk. Then, based on the accumulating evidence, it urges the federal government to pressure states to do more to crack down on this dangerous practice. The editorial complements the discovery story on texting, in Chapter 1 above.

Krauss, Lawrence M. A One-Way Ticket to Mars, The New York Times, Sept. 1, 2009.
Shortly after the 40th anniversary of the Moon landings, theoretical physicist Lawrence M. Krauss wrote this op-ed piece proposing one-way manned trips to Mars. One-way trips into new frontiers have historical precedents, he argues, and given the expense of two-way trips, they may be necessary if we are to improve the survivability of our species. Krauss adds that he knows many scientists right now who would be willing to leave earth never to return. The largest obstacle, he says, is likely to be political. Krauss is the author of "The Physics of Star Trek."

Chapter 8: Essays

Angier, Natalie, "Noble Eagles, Nasty Pigeons, Biased Humans," The New York Times, April 29, 2008.
This essay, in Natalie Angier's bi-weekly column Basics, concerns biobiogtry, "the persistent and often irrational desire to be surrounded only by those species of which one approves, and to exclude any animals, plants and other life forms that one finds offensive." It ends by noting that bats, long considered vermin, have now "taken on a magical air, as the mosquito-eating Tinkerbells that if you're lucky will take up residence near you." Because of this ending, the essay makes a nice companion piece to the trend story on bats in Chapter 5 of the collection. Some readers might also relate this subject of this essay to the growing public resistance to beavers, which are not yet appreciated for their contributions to humans (again, see Chapter 5 in the collection).

Greene, Brian, "Put a Little Science in Your Life," The New York Times, June 1, 2008.
This personal essay by physics professor and author Brian Green appeared as an op-ed piece in The Times. Science, Green writes, "is the greatest of all adventure stories." Green is the same scientist who wrote the explanatory op-ed on the particles that could be expected to be produced in the Large Hadron Collider (under Chapter 3 above).

Chapter 9: Reviews

Angier, Natalie, "Book Review: ‘Science Verse' and ‘The Story of Science,'" The New York Times, Nov. 14, 2004.
When multiple books come out on related topics, science writers will sometimes review the books together. This is what Natalie Angier has done in this engaging review of two children's book about science.

Dizikes, Peter, "Book Review: The Unraveling," The New York Times, Nov. 22, 2007.
Many people exaggerate their own good qualities, so when a scientist writes a memoir, it's important to include the views of others too. This Peter Dizikes does in his review of a memoir, "A Life Decoded," by J. Craig Venter, the entrepreneurial scientist.

Markoff, John, "Rethinking What Leads the Way: Science, or New Technology," The New York Times, Oct. 20, 2009.
Technology writer John Markoff joined the science desk of The Times in 2009. This review of a book on the relationship between science and technology suggests why it was a smart move: According to the book, The Nature of Technology by W. Brian Arthur, technology is not the handmaiden of science, as is popularly believed. Rather science and technology co-evolve, with technology usually taking the lead. The review incorporates an interview with the author as it lays out the book's arguments and places them into context.

Chapter 10: Blogs and Columns

Dean, Cornelia, "Dot Earth blog: Nano Toothpaste," The New York Times, Aug. 27, 2009.
In this guest post on Andrew Revkin's Dot Earth blog, environment writer Cornelia Dean summarizes growing concerns about the unintended consequences of nano technologies, which are turning up in everything from toothpaste and sunscreen to tennis rackets and non-stick cookware. In the end, she seeks to take the pulse of readers: "Are you worried about nanoparticles? And if so, what worries you about them?" This post complements the discovery story on the potential risks of nanotubes, under Chapter 1 in this list, and Dean's own issue story on the ethics of geoengineering, under Chapter 5.

Judson, Olivia, "Optimism in Evolution," The New York Times, August 13, 2008.
This guest column by Times blogger Olivia Judson is a spirited defense of the teaching of evolution in science classrooms. As such, it harkens back to Amy Harmon's narrative account of a high school teacher teaching evolutionary science to deeply resistant high school students (see Chapter 6 in the collection).

Revkin, Andrew C. "Dot Earth blog: NASA's Hansen: Humans Still Loading Climate Dice," The New York Times, June 23, 2008. With Andrew C. Revkin, "Years Later, Climatologist Renews His Call for Action [print story]," The New York Times, June 23, 2008.
This blog post concerns a well-known climatologist's appeals to Congress. Compare it to the print story it links to: In the print story, we see the formal prose of a news story. In the post, we hear a reporter talking to us as if we are friends; Revkin also shares a video clip of the interview he had with his scientist-source, creating the kind of "transparency" he talks about in the introduction to Chapter 10 of the collection.