#science writing

[treesah]

My mom is in a science writing course and needs responses to a questionnaire about experiences with acne and acne treatments. If you could comment, reblog, or send me your responses in an ask, I would appreciate it very much!

First Name: (Feel free to make up a first name; I just need something other than your Tumblr username so I don’t have to explain to my mom how I got in touch with someone named ghostpenis or whatever)

Occupation:

1. What changes to your lifestyle and/or routine have you made due to acne, if any?

2. Does acne negatively impact your life, and in what way(s)? What would you gain if your acne were improved or eliminated (eg in terms of time, money, health, social, professional, or other considerations)?

3. What skincare products, medications, or other remedies do you currently use for acne? Where do you get these remedies from (brick-and-mortar store, online, prescription, etc)?

4. What skincare products, medications, or other remedies for acne have you tried in the past? Why did you stop using them? Are there any skincare products, medications, or other remedies that you know of that you’d like to try in the future?

5. Are you satisfied with the remedies you are currently using to manage your acne? If so, what do you like about the products you are using? If not, what improvements or changes would you like to see in those products?

6. What kind of promises about results, safety, ease of use, etc would get you to try a new acne product or treatment?

[a-typical]

The severity of the constraints imposed by physical law and mathematical precision does not squash creativity. The limits are the scaffolding enabling creativity. Limits can be worthy adversaries that galvanize our best, most inventive, most agile natures. Before I succumbed to the seduction of the elegance and transcendence of limits, I did not understand the thrill of imagination crashing into truth.

— Black Hole Survival Guide, Janna Levin

[greenteacology]

why did they name it PNAS. who thought that was a good name for a scientific journal.

[o2studies]

Just a mini update that I'll redo tomorrow as its currently 1am, but the next The Sci Journal entry has been uploaded!!

It is an easy read by @paledinosaurrebel the different cloud types, how they've been classified into their groups & the discussions around that, as well as how that's changed throughout history.

I really enjoyed reading it and I hope you do too!

[grison-in-space]

*squinting out at Tumblr* ah. so y'all do want to hear me banging my stick and yelling. okay. my reward for assembling all the pieces of the K99 my boss wants me to try and write for October, with word budgets, will be a span of uninterrupted time in which to write dopamine 101: what all DOES dopamine do? which will also include a long and crabby discussion of receptor/ligand dynamics, because I'm me and I miss working in the endocrine system more. (the ventral pallidum and perseveration post is its own reward. it's still coming but writing it will also force me to do a lot of reading, so CHECKMATE, BRAIN.)

should really set up a Standard Notes tag for drafting in, if Tumblr eats one more biology post I'm going to lose my entire brain and never stop screaming

[somelocusts]

One thing that blatantly fascist governments like to do with absolute and unchecked power (read: The upcoming and all-too-likely Trump regime) is to impose strict censorship laws. Laws like this will apply to all social media platforms based in the United States, including Tumblr, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, etc., and will effect US hosted archives such as AO3 and Archive.org, as well as physical media repositories such as libraries and archives. Censorship targets will include science media, anything expressing leftist politics, anything expressing criticism of the United States and its allies, anything expressing criticism of the Trump administration, and content created by or featuring lgbtq+ people, people of color, or anyone else one might consider "woke".

We know this is coming, but we still have at least a few months. Start downloading. Start archiving. Physical copies if you can. Especially if you aren't from the US. Make it harder to forget.

[judgeitbyitscover]

Dawn of the Deed by John A. Long

Cover art by Isaac Tobin

University of Chicago Press, October 2012

We all know about the birds and the bees, but what about the ancient placoderm fishes and the dinosaurs? The history of sex is as old as life itself—and as complicated and mysterious. And despite centuries of study there is always more to know. In 2008, paleontologist John A. Long and a team of researchers revealed their discovery of a placoderm fish fossil, known as “the mother fish,” which at 380 million years old revealed the oldest vertebrate embryo—the earliest known example of internal fertilization. As Long explains, this find led to the reexamination of countless fish fossils and the discovery of previously undetected embryos. As a result, placoderms are now considered to be the first species to have had intimate sexual reproduction or sex as we know it—sort of.

Inspired by this incredible find, Long began a quest to uncover the paleontological and evolutionary history of copulation and insemination. In The Dawn of the Deed, he takes readers on an entertaining and lively tour through the sex lives of ancient fish and exposes the unusual mating habits of arthropods, tortoises, and even a well-endowed (16.5 inches!) Argentine Duck. Long discusses these significant discoveries alongside what we know about reproductive biology and evolutionary theory, using the fossil record to provide a provocative account of prehistoric sex. The Dawn of the Deed also explores fascinating revelations about animal reproduction, from homosexual penguins to monogamous seahorses to the difficulties of dinosaur romance and how sexual organs in ancient shark-like fishes actually relate to our own sexual anatomy.

The Dawn of the Deed is Long’s own story of what it’s like to be a part of a discovery that rewrites evolutionary history as well as an absolutely rollicking guide to sex throughout the ages in the animal kingdom. It’s natural history with a naughty wink.

[strangebiology]

Science Writing Resources

There are TONS of resources for science journalists and science communicators out there. In fact, I only have room to make a list of lists of resources for science journalists. Here they are: 

The Open Notebook's Science Writing Resources (elsewhere) That We Like (includes my group, Authors of Nonfiction Books in Progress)

Council for the Advancement of Science Writing's Connector, "a library of resources for science journalism & communication." 

SciCommers Community Resources

Science Writers News Roundup (newsletter)

The National Association of Science Writers' Write that Book!. A list of guides and resources viewable by NASW members.

The ultimate science writing resource guide by Shel Evergreen 

If you're not already aware, The Open Notebook and NASW themselves are great.

[ninja-muse]

I've found my first review-worthy book of the year!

Eve by Cat Bohannon is a female-focused history of human evolution and a synthesis of pretty much every research field as it pertains to women. It's also readable and witty and one of those rare science books where I actively had to stop myself reading because I had to, say, go to bed.

Simply taking all the scientific research and turning it into layperson language would get this book praise. (You should see how many studies get cited.) Taking that research, relating it readably, and then drawing overarching conclusions? For instance, studies on how and when cis-female bodies produce sex hormones, and studies on how sex hormones affect neurology, and then saying something like, "this is why pregnant people are moodier"? That takes the whole thing to another level.

And it covers so much! It starts with the first mammals, moves through early primates and hominins, draws in studies of mice and apes and history and economics, talks about language and aging, and ends with the evolution of social relationships and thoughts on the future. There's a lot that I found enlightening, engaging, and validating, and a lot of moments where she reframed something and changed my thinking. And she's very comfortable calling out cultures and researchers and ways of thinking (and ducks and chimpanzees) for how they treat their species.

But like all books, it isn't perfect, though with such a subject, it probably couldn't be. For instance, because Bohannon is focusing so much on the average (i.e., cis-perisex) female body, trans and intersex folks don't come up much, though she's very clear that trans women are women, trans men are men, and intersex conditions are not problems. (Also, I'm sure the lack of info correlates strongly to a lack of studies, but she only mentions this a time or two.) *

More importantly, though, given that this is science writing and one expects scientists and writers to back up their claims, she doesn't always. Most of the time when she doesn't, it's clearly speculation or synthesis or some form of "if X, then Y" but sometimes it's less clear. I keep going back here to her statement that the first hominin culture with midwifery had exclusively female midwives. I would absolutely buy this, especially based on some of her points later in the chapter, but she never says why there couldn't have been the odd male. After all, later in the book she also mentions how men-who-help-women could have shifted the dynamics of the band/tribe/group closer to what we see today and that this probably started around the same time. To be fair, jumps like this are fairly rare but they do make me question if there were others I missed or more statements I should have questioned.

So basically, I'm saying this is an important book, and a good book, and a book that should be read by a lot of people, but also a book to read a little critically. Bohannon makes a lot of really great points and relates a lot of intriguing facts and tells some compelling stories about who we are and how we got here. She's done good work with this book and should be proud of it. But also, there might be some spots where her arguments could be tighter. *she also prioritizes words like "she" and "mother" and "woman" over words like "parent" and "person", which I can see not being great for some trans people even though I understand that she's trying to upend the notion that the average human is a cis male and show that female/afab bodies are pretty important.

[oldwaysofknowing]

have you ever had an animal show up frequently in your life?

for me, about every year itʻs a different animal that shows up-- to teach me something, i tend to think.

a couple of years ago, the animal i kept seeing everywhere (and by that i mean this animal kept popping up in real life, in random thought, in the media i consumed, etc-- kind of like seeing the same angel number over and over and thinking, ʻhey. maybe that shit means something?ʻ) was bees. last year, it was frogs. both of these were animals toward whom i felt indifferent, but i started observing them more closely once i realized how recurrent they suddenly were. i took what message i wanted from them, tried to emulate them that year, + then move on to the next one. 2025ʻs animal has brought me full circle back to 2006, to memories of when my elementary school class went on a field trip to a nature reserve. there was a lady with a hawk + the special hawk glove, we probably hiked a little bit, identified plants + such. i donʻt remember, to be honest; that was a rough season of life for me, so iʻve unfortunately blocked out a lot of even the good memories. but one thing that remains is my childhood affection for bats. this seems to be the creature comfort for 2025, and it couldnʻt have been confirmed in a sillier way: in trying to log back into this tumblr account after several weeks away, i accidentally logged into an old one of mine, + wouldnʻt you know it? the profile picture for that old account was also-- am i coming in clear? it was also a bat. wild.

anyway, i loved bats, never understood why they had such a negative public image, + i think on that field trip we also got to go inside a bat cave, + i remembered feeling some of my first waves of female-toward-female disgust when most of the girls in my grade screeched at the mere thought of being around bats, let alone actually going in to experience it.

disdain for stupidity starts early when youʻre surrounded by it 24/7. all girls are taught that acting unintelligent + miming a need for protection makes them more endearing.

female bats, + in fact, all animals except humans, are completely the opposite: like every other creature on earth, bats live in a way that boosts their survival chances. even down to mama bats being able to hear + sniff out their one baby among the hordes of millions of bat pups clinging to the wall. amidst the cacophony of the cave's interior, female bats can locate their own young down to a radius of mere inches.

more fun facts about bats:

vampire bats produce a chemical in their saliva that encourages blood to keep flowing, so doctors are currently studying that as a possible anticoagulant. 2) desert ecosystems are almost entirely dependent on bats because bats pollinate desert flowers in a way no other creature can-- and in fact some desert plants have specifically evolved to suit bats. 3) bats could be the saviors of the forests: they can replenish deforested tree populations within 2-3 yrs just by their droppings simply falling to the forest floor. 4) as usual, humans are dicks because weʻre the main threat to bat populations. anyone who spray-paints on or eats bats need to get lobotomies so they canʻt procreate.

anyway. check yes or no if you want more bat content. we need to talk about beautiful things more.

[rutidon]

Tina

There was a time before we lived in our world, when the Earth was just the cradle for the infant human race. It was a time when the snowy landscape was as immutable as the stars above, and a time where the forests and plains stretched beyond the point where anyone would dare to venture.

There was a time when we shared our world with beasts that would fill us with unimaginable terror. The Iberian Peninsula was stalked by hyenas and bears, if one could imagine. Wild horses and cattle would have grazed on the edges of Spanish forests, and the islands off the coast would have seen giant rodents crawling alongside the last of Europe’s elephants.

In this strange world, there were people not unlike you or I. There had been people living in small groups on the continent for hundreds of thousands of years. They lived off the land, knowing which plants would keep the group alive and where they could safely rest. They knew which animals were safe to hunt, as well as the best methods of taking them down.

These people were (like all other humans to come before and after them) skilled thinkers. They could see the signs of change in the leaves on plants or in the stars of the night sky. Through reading their world, they could think ahead and form plans. These plans had brought them to what is now Spain.

We know that these people were problem-solvers: They made tools from the materials available to them in order to make survival easier. They had made fires, either to cook their food or to offer warmth and light during the long nights.

We know that they lived in groups. These tight-knit bands were built around cooperation, mutualism, and care from birth until death.

Kindness was a way of survival among these people. Perhaps they had recognized that the survival of the group depended on ensuring that the youngest could reach maturity and inherit the skills and knowledge that had kept the band alive. Perhaps they recognized that caring for an injured member of the band would guarantee a quicker recovery for that individual and, eventually, more hands to assist in the day-to-day labors of survival.

It is not far-fetched to assume that they did recognize these facts. We know that these people left behind traces of their existence in the form of carefully-crafted images on rock faces in caves. They understood their world, or they were at least trying to make sense of it and communicate what they did understand. They were, potentially, on track to recognizing their place in the universe.

Through the description of untold thousands of bones, we have pieced together a loose history of Homo neanderthalensis. Through the identification of artifacts or marks made on rock surfaces in caves, we have been able to recognize the continued habitation of Spain by Neanderthals. The staggering level of detail put into every tool, ornament, or work of art has led some to argue for the existence of a culture.

Recently, one more piece of material was identified as belonging to a member of this culture: It was a bone fragment from the inner ear of a child. I am writing this only a few days after hearing this news.

Archaeologists and anthropologists studied the fragment extensively, by comparing it to other Neanderthal bones and the bones of modern humans. Through their work, they found five variations in the bone. These five little differences led them to diagnose this six year old girl with Down Syndrome. The researchers determined that the child would have had difficulty hearing or demonstrating coordinated movement. The researchers inferred that additional health complications would have existed alongside cognitive delays.

Despite this, the girl had grown out of infancy and into childhood.

We may not know what happened or how this child had managed to survive against all odds in a period where the infant mortality rate was so high for individuals without any noticeable conditions. The scientists began to think up all sorts of questions and theories.

Perhaps the group had recognized that this child was different. Perhaps they had recognized the care that she needed. Perhaps they had recognized her value to the group. Perhaps she had demonstrated it on her own. Perhaps they had treated her as any other child, and she had survived through luck and the kindness provided by her community towards all children.

Did she stay by her Mother’s side, or did she play and learn alongside the other children? Did the others bring her food, or did she join them to practice foraging for wild plants and hunting small game?

Did she find a way to communicate? Did others find ways to communicate with her? Were her thoughts and knowledge ever shared? If so, were they recognized as being uniquely hers?

When the group moved, who did she travel with? When it came time to leave ritual marks on walls, where did her hands lie? When it was time to eat, was she encouraged to get her food before the others?

How had she died? Was it an illness or injury, like those which claimed other Neanderthal children so frequently? Had it been an animal or another Neanderthal? Was it another health condition connected to Down Syndrome? Had she been buried with care, as other Neanderthals were?

Did the Neanderthals interpret anything about her as being “non-typical”?

Such a small segment of her story was told through that one fragment of bone. I am certain that she was remembered by those around her, and the rest of her story was shared among her people until they disappeared from the planet. I know that it is certainly not my story to tell.

So much mystery surrounds little “Tina”, but I know only one thing:

Towards the tail end of the Pleistocene, over two-hundred thousand years ago, in a cave in Spain, there was a little girl who was loved by those around her. I am equally certain that she was missed by them as well.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2024/06/27/neanderthal-dna-down-syndrome-fossil/

[a-typical]

When in pursuit of a black hole, you are not looking for a material object. A black hole can masquerade as an object, but it is really a place, a place in space and time. Better: A black hole is a spacetime.

Black Hole Survival Guide — Janna Levin

[tetw]

20 Great Articles by Philip Ball

He's one of the best science writers around -- he seems to be interested in everything and has an amazing ability to make any subject fascinating. Click through for 20 of Philip Ball's best articles from around the net.

[o2studies]

23:04 || ༻`` 3 Dec 24 — Tuesday

So the chemistry mock went 🦎 ok, we'll see how I did in 2 weeks maybe? It's definitely motivated me to try harder and push myself more now. I didn't do any further revision today but I did work on the TSJ website and have uploaded the next entry!

I have written about Sleep And The Sleep Cycle — the sleep stages within the cycle, some chemicals or parts of the brain involved in memory processes (particularly while asleep) and how our memory generally works. It was a lot of fun to research and I hope you enjoy reading it!

(also new member forms are being released on the 5th)

Day 0 I'm being more conscious about it tho!

Also..... thank you for the 400 of you that are following!! That number is insane.... That's too many of u.... 😊💕

Day 76 clean keeping the streak up 💪🌱 it's been hard

Floor time ☑️ // 🍊

[rebeccathenaturalist]

Hi Rebecca! I'm a recent(ish) graduated student interested in pursuing a career (or any other form of involvement) in environmental education. I was curious how you built your writing portfolio, especially writing for other sites/organizations? What first steps would recommend someone take (particularly if they're already graduated) to get into environmental education and scicomm? Thanks so much, love all your writing!!

Hi there, @misopossum! So I am a pretty atypical case. I have a BA in English, but I mainly used it for technical writing/editing (and personal journaling) for a number of years.

Most of the scicomm folks I know are either A) scientists who also have good writing and interpretation chops, or B) are science journalists who went through a formal journalism program in college/grad school. You haven't mentioned what your area of study was, but your department may have some resources to draw on if you haven't already spoken with them. Check with related departments as well, as they may have ideas too. You're a recent grad, but that doesn't mean that you can't still make use of those connections if they exist.

If you want to go a more traditional scicomm route, good places to start are The Open Notebook and the National Association of Science Writers. ScienceBites may be a good spot for you to start pitching a short article here and there to build up your portfolio, too. And this article from CrossTalk is a pretty good summary on how to get started with science writing.

Other people get involved with environmental education programs like forest schools, summer camps, and the like; some conservation nonprofits also may run these, and you can even check with state and federal parks, National Wildlife Refuges, and other governmental entities who may be in need of volunteers (or occasionally seasonal staff) for environmental ed programs.

You didn't mention where you are, but here in the PNW US there are a lot of these, especially in the Portland and Seattle areas. Depending on what your education level is you may not find the pay to be what you expected, and a lot of these programs are primarily in summertime. But if you can at least get in as a side gig, that will get some experience started.

A lot of what I do is meant for a general audience and not just specific to one locality. I do a lot of blogging online, to include articles on my website, plus some shorter form commentary on various news articles I find online that I think are worth exploring, and I have my quarterly chapbooks that let me dive deeper into various topics. These get me a pretty broad audience, beyond just my local area.

But I really got my start as a nature writer several years ago by writing pieces for the nonprofit Friends of Willapa National Wildlife Refuge, from Facebook posts to 2-3 minute radio segments for their Willapa Nature Notes segment on our local public radio station. I've also helped with other scicomm efforts they've run, from our 4th grade environmental education program in local schools, to giving talks and tours at our annual Wings Over Willapa birding and nature festival. And later this track record helped me get in as a regular columnist with the Coast Weekend paper (and occasionally a longer piece for related publications.) These are all incredibly local to where I am in the Columbia-Pacific region, but they've been good experience and they've helped me get my footing in my local community, which has helped me to facilitate other regional efforts like my independent guided tours.

I think the best choice I made overall was teaching non-credit community education classes through various community colleges, as well as municipal parks and recreation departments and libraries. It's a great way to connect with people who aren't pursuing a degree, but just learning for the fun of it. You do need some credentials of some sort, but expertise counts if you can show that you know your stuff--for example, the people teaching art classes don't all have art degrees, but they may have X number of decades' experience in their art medium. I don't have a degree in the natural sciences because my math skills are terrible, but I am a certified Oregon Master Naturalist and I also have a lifetime of experience of exploring nature and learning how to identify the living beings around me. It doesn't pay a lot, but it's a lot of fun and I get to meet a lot of new students every semester.

Be aware that people like me who take a more unorthodox route usually end up doing like eight different things for a living, rather than having one (1) career path. If you are going to do more of a "professional potpourri" like I am, you're going to need to seek out multiple niches, and perhaps create a few yourself. You're likely going to be very busy, and there's not going to be a lot of payoff immediately (as opposed to a regular job, where you start at a particular rate immediately and hopefully gets raises as things go along.)

On the bright side, having multiple professional directions means that if one of them isn't really active, I can often put more time toward another to make up for it. For example, I'd like to expand to writing for more varied venues that aren't just based in the PNW; it's just a matter of making the time to prep some cold pitches to publications and websites. This time of year I'm really busy with the tours business, so writing tends to be emphasized more in the off season. And either way you slice it, I'm still very much in the "building" process.

Aaaaanyway. That is my very long, rambling answer to your question. Please feel free to let me know if I can clarify anything for you, or if you have further questions.