Finding Story Ideas and Sources

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip M. Yam
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Popular Science ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Science Journalism ◽  
Oak Ridge ◽  
Medical Centers ◽  
Mailing Lists ◽  
Science News ◽  
Government Websites ◽  
E Mail

As a freelance or a staff journalist, you will face at some point dread and insecurity as you wonder if the story ideas you're about to pitch to an editor are any good. We've all been there. There is no formula for coming up with that novel angle or fresh topic. But certain approaches and strategies can help you hone your nose for science news and root out interesting stories editors will want. First, scope out publications, both print and Web. If you've contemplated science journalism, then you have probably read the science and technology sections of major newspapers and leafed through the popular-science magazines on the newsstands. Familiarize yourself with the weeklies, such as New Scientist and Science News, as well as the news section of Science. Gain a greater depth by, for instance, reading review-type articles, such as those that appear in Scientific American, Nature's News and Views section, or the News & Commentary section of Science. Check out clearinghouses for press releases, such as Newswise, Eurekalert!, and PRNewswire. They send periodic e-mail alerts and maintain searchable websites. Some require that you have a published body of work before granting you access to certain privileged information (such as the contact numbers of researchers). Others may require that you obtain a letter from an editor. You can also subscribe to mailing lists of media relations offices at universities, medical centers, and other research institutions and sign up for various industry newsletters. When surfing the Web for science information, don't forget major government websites, such as those of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, the National Institutes of Health, the National Institutes of Standards and Technology, and the Department of Energy, which manages the national labs. Besides weapons work, the DOE labs—including Los Alamos, Brookhaven, Oak Ridge, and Lawrence Livermore—conduct research in both physical and biological sciences. Other worthwhile online resources include listservs and Web logs, but keep in mind that the ideas there are not vetted as they are in journals. Plus, you have to have the patience to get past the ranting and raving that can obscure good postings. For beginning science journalists, it may be best to follow blogs of well-respected researchers.

scholarly journals Can scientists fill the science journalism void? Online public engagement with science stories authored by scientists

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yael Barel-Ben David ◽  
Erez S. Garty ◽  
Ayelet Baram-Tsabari
Keyword(s):  
News Media ◽  
Popular Science ◽  
Early Career ◽  
Science Journalism ◽  
News Stories ◽  
Science Story ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Science Stories ◽  
Science News

AbstractIn many countries the public’s main source of information about science and technology is the mass media. Unfortunately, in recent years traditional journalism has experienced a collapse, and science journalism has been a major casualty. One potential remedy is to encourage scientists to write for news media about science. On these general news platforms, scientists’ stories would have to compete for attention with other news stories on hard (e.g. politics) and entertaining (e.g. celebrity news) topics written by professional writers. Do they stand a chance?This study aimed to quantitatively characterize audience interactions as an indicator of interest in science news stories authored by early career scientists (henceforth ‘scientists’) trained to function as science reporters, as compared to news items written by reporters and published in the same news outlets.To measure users’ behavior, we collected data on the number of clicks, likes, comments and average time spent on page. The sample was composed of 150 science items written by 50 scientists trained to contribute popular science stories in the Davidson Institute of Science Education reporters’ program and published on two major Israeli news websites - Mako and Ynet between July 2015 to January 2018. Each science item was paired with another item written by the website’s organic reporter, and published on the same channel as the science story (e.g., tourism, health) and the same close time. Overall significant differences were not found in the public’s engagement with the different items. Although, on one website there was a significant difference on two out of four engagement types, the second website did not have any difference, e.g., people did not click, like or comment more on items written by organic reporters than on the stories written by scientists. This creates an optimistic starting point for filling the science news void by scientists as science reporters.

Advanced Research and Technology Development Fossil Energy Materials Program

1988 ◽  
Vol 110 (4) ◽  
pp. 670-676
Author(s):  
R. R. Judkins ◽  
R. A. Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Technology Development ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
Development Program ◽  
Ceramic Composites ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Energy Materials ◽  
Alloy Development ◽  
Fossil Energy ◽  
Oak Ridge ◽  
Research Activities

The Advanced Research and Technology Development (AR&TD) Fossil Energy Materials Program is a multifaceted materials research and development program sponsored by the Office of Fossil Energy of the U.S. Department of Energy. The program is administered by the Office of Technical Coordination. In 1979, the Office of Fossil Energy assigned responsibilities for this program to the DOE Oak Ridge Operations Office (ORO) as the lead field office and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) as the lead national laboratory. Technical activities on the program are divided into three research thrust areas: structural ceramic composites, alloy development and mechanical properties, and corrosion and erosion of alloys. In addition, assessments and technology transfer are included in a fourth thrust area. This paper provides information on the structure of the program and summarizes some of the major research activities.

Development of Testing Methodologies for Onsite Radioactive Material Storage Containers

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew R. Feldman
Keyword(s):  
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory ◽  
National Laboratory ◽  
Nuclear Material ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Radioactive Material ◽  
Development Effort ◽  
Nuclear Facilities ◽  
Los Alamos National Laboratory ◽  
Oak Ridge ◽  
Transportation Technologies

Based on a recommendation from the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board, the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Nuclear Safety Policy and Assistance (HS-21) has recently issued DOE Manual 441.1-1 entitled Nuclear Material Packaging Manual. This manual provides guidance regarding the use of non-engineered storage media for all special nuclear material throughout the DOE complex. As part of this development effort, HS-21 has funded the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Transportation Technologies Group (TTG) to develop and demonstrate testing protocols for such onsite containers. ORNL TTG to date has performed preliminary tests of representative onsite containers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory. This paper will describe the testing processes that have been developed.

Progress on the Advanced Turbine Technology Applications Project (ATTAP)

1994 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. G. Berenyi
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle Cost ◽  
High Speed ◽  
Design Procedure ◽  
Department Of Energy ◽  
Laboratory Evaluation ◽  
Ceramic Component ◽  
Turbine Engine ◽  
Oak Ridge ◽  
Turbine Inlet ◽  
Ceramic Components

This technology project, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, is intended to advance the technological readiness of the ceramic automotive gas turbine engine. Of the several technologies requiring development before such an engine becomes a commercial reality, structural ceramic components represent the greatest technical challenge, and are the prime project focus. The ATTAP aims at developing and demonstrating such ceramic components that have a potential for: (1) competitive automotive engine life cycle cost and (2) operating for 3500 hr in a turbine engine environment at turbine inlet temperatures up to 1371°C (2500°F). Allison is addressing the ATTAP goal using internal technical resources, an extensive technology and data base from General Motors (GM), technical resources from several subcontracted domestic ceramic suppliers, and supporting technology developments from Oak Ridge and other federal programs. The development activities have resulted in the fabrication and delivery of numerous ceramic engine components, which have been characterized through laboratory evaluation, cold spin testing, hot rig testing, and finally through engine testing as appropriate. These component deliveries are the result of the ATTAP design/process development/fabrication/characterization/test cycles. Ceramic components and materials have been characterized in an on-going program using nondestructive and destructive techniques. So far in ATTAP, significant advancements include: • evolution of a correlated design procedure for monolithic ceramic components • evolution of materials and processes to meet the demanding design and operational requirements of high temperature turbines • demonstration of ceramic component viability through thousands of hours of both steady-slate and transient testing while operating at up to full design speed, and at turbine inlet temperatures up to 1371°C (2500°F) • completion of hundreds of hours of durability cyclic testing utilizing several “all ceramic” gasifier turbine assemblies • demonstration of ceramic rotor survivability under conditions of extreme foreign object ingestion, high speed turbine tip rub, severe start-up transients, and a very demanding durability cycle In addition to the ceramic component technology, progress has been made in the areas of low emission combustion technology and regenerator design and development.

Professionalising Natural Science Education and Multipronged Open Distance Learning

2012 ◽  
pp. 306-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. PanduRanga Narasimharao
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Natural Science ◽  
The Other ◽  
Science Journalism ◽  
Physical Sciences ◽  
Master's Programs ◽  
Natural Science Education ◽  
And Training

Tobias et al. (1995) postulated in their book on “Rethinking Science as a Career” that Master’s programs could produce graduates who provide the same level of expertise and leadership as professionals do in other fields. They say that they would do so by having the ability to use the products of scholarship in their work and by being familiar with the practical aspects of emerging problem areas. If we consider natural science consisting of physical sciences, biological sciences, mathematics, geosciences, and computer science, degrees in computer science and geosciences served as credentials for practice, whereas physics, chemistry, and biological sciences served as classical graduate education. Robbins-Roth (2006) collected 22 career descriptions for science graduates ranging from public policy to investment banking, and from patent examining to broadcast science journalism. There are several sectors of the society where the principles and knowledge of these science disciplines are used. On the other hand, there are many of the graduates in these disciplines who either are working in areas completely unrelated to their education and training or are unemployable. The need for preparing the science graduates professionally is well recognized (Schuster, 2011; Vanderford, 2010; Narasimharao, Shashidhara Prasad and Nair, 2011; Chuck, 2011).

Solvable and Unsolvable Problems (1954)

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Turing
Keyword(s):  
Turing Machine ◽  
Popular Science ◽  
Systematic Method ◽  
Starting Position ◽  
Universal Turing Machine ◽  
Science News ◽  
Mathematical Problems ◽  
Substitution Type ◽  
Sharpened Form ◽  
Unsolvable Problems

In Chapter 1 Turing proves the existence of mathematical problems that cannot be solved by the universal Turing machine. There he also advances the thesis, now called the Church–Turing thesis, that any systematic method for solving mathematical problems can be carried out by the universal Turing machine. Combining these two propositions yields the result that there are mathematical problems which cannot be solved by any systematic method—cannot, in other words, be solved by any algorithm. In ‘Solvable and Unsolvable Problems’ Turing sets out to explain this result to a lay audience. The article first appeared in Science News, a popular science journal of the time. Starting from concrete examples of problems that do admit of algorithmic solution, Turing works his way towards an example of a problem that is not solvable by any systematic method. Loosely put, this is the problem of sorting puzzles into those that will ‘come out’ and those that will not. Turing gives an elegant argument showing that a sharpened form of this problem is not solvable by means of a systematic method (pp. 591–2). The sharpened form of the problem involves what Turing calls ‘the substitution type of puzzle’. An typical example of a substitution puzzle is this. Starting with the word BOB, is it possible to produce BOOOB by replacing selected occurrences of the pair OB by BOOB and selected occurences of the triple BOB by O? The answer is yes: . . . BOB → BBOOB → BBOBOOB → BOOOB . . .Turing suggests that any puzzle can be re-expressed as a substitution puzzle. Some row of letters can always be used to represent the ‘starting position’ envisaged in a particular puzzle, e.g. in the case of a chess problem, the pieces on the board and their positions. Desired outcomes, for example board positions that count as wins, can be described by further rows of letters, and the rules of the puzzle, whatever they are, are to be represented in terms of permissible substitutions of groups of letters for other groups of letters.

Professionalising Natural Science Education and Multipronged Open Distance Learning

2015 ◽  
pp. 138-152
Author(s):  
B. PanduRanga Narasimharao
Keyword(s):  
Biological Sciences ◽  
Public Policy ◽  
Computer Science ◽  
Natural Science ◽  
The Other ◽  
Science Journalism ◽  
Physical Sciences ◽  
Master's Programs ◽  
Natural Science Education ◽  
And Training

Tobias et al. (1995) postulated in their book on “Rethinking Science as a Career” that Master's programs could produce graduates who provide the same level of expertise and leadership as professionals do in other fields. They say that they would do so by having the ability to use the products of scholarship in their work and by being familiar with the practical aspects of emerging problem areas. If we consider natural science consisting of physical sciences, biological sciences, mathematics, geosciences, and computer science, degrees in computer science and geosciences served as credentials for practice, whereas physics, chemistry, and biological sciences served as classical graduate education. Robbins-Roth (2006) collected 22 career descriptions for science graduates ranging from public policy to investment banking, and from patent examining to broadcast science journalism. There are several sectors of the society where the principles and knowledge of these science disciplines are used. On the other hand, there are many of the graduates in these disciplines who either are working in areas completely unrelated to their education and training or are unemployable. The need for preparing the science graduates professionally is well recognized (Schuster, 2011; Vanderford, 2010; Narasimharao, Shashidhara Prasad and Nair, 2011; Chuck, 2011).

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