Comparing Lisa Friedman's online science journalism to Julia Cort's educational science television

Comparing a fun video about scientists who grow diamonds, complete with Indiana Jones references and goofy cartoons, to hard journalism about the effects of climate change on Bangladesh makes for some pretty stark contrasts. One is compelling because of its topic's Mr. Wizardesque appeal. The other demands attention with gravity rather than levity...

Consider both in terms of Cornelia Dean's measurements of "newsworthiness."

Extent: Climate Change, yes. Growing Diamonds, no.
Intensity: Neither, really. I'm used to people in Bangladesh doing worse than I am, and I'm not buying a diamond--grown or otherwise--anytime soon.
Consequence: Climate Change, yes. Growing Diamonds, no.
Celebrity: Climate Change, no. Growing Diamonds, yes--Neil DeGrasse Tyson is, to quote a colleague, "a scientist rock-star."
Proximity: nope and nope
Timeliness: Climate Change, ALWAYS. Diamonds? Timeless, maybe, but not particularly timely.
Novelty: Climate Change, good lord no. But Friedman's idea of going in-depth to observe direct and measurable effects of climate change is quite novel. Her approach is much of the story's success, I think.
Diamonds, obviously extremely novel. This is where Cort capitalizes.
Human interest: Friedman focuses here, and lets her subjects speak in their own voices. Photos add credence to the narrative. We see economic forces at the micro level.
Diamonds--A trip to New York's Diamond District puts human interest where there might've been none. We get to watch a veteran diamond appraiser react to a "grown" diamond. His disdainful joking about the idea of "grown" diamonds devaluing natural ones make us wonder if there is anxiety underneath. And his perspective begs the question: what do we value?
Currency: both are a yes

Interesting. These pieces of science communication are ostensibly opposites (with one making use of novelty and the other on consequence), except for the fact that both capitalize on human interest.

NYTimes vs. Wired

Shannon Maryman

Every year the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) acknowledges a distinguished writer for each writing style including large newspaper, small newspaper, magazine, television, in-depth reporting, radio, online, and children’s science news. Each style utilizes different approaches to communicate which has pros and cons in their specific medium.

I focused on the comparison of the magazine winner, Gary Wolf, and the large newspaper winner, Carl Zimmer.

Gary Wolf was acknowledged for “A Simple Plan to ID Every Creature on Earth” in Wired which discussed the work of Paul Hebert along with Dan Janzen on barcoding every species by analyzing the CO1 Mitochondrial Gene.

This lengthy piece of work included numerous pictures depicting researchers in the field which helped provide a visual connection with the story. Also, Wolf interwove Hebert’s past of how he got to where he is today along with the key intention of the story. Many quotes from various scientists were interjected in the piece which helped the reader to understand the viewpoint of barcoding and how it is not widely accepted.

For three articles in The New York Times, “Now: The Rest of the Genome,” “10 Genes, Furiously Evolving,” and “Blink Twice If You Like Me,” Carl Zimmer was also acknowledged. I focused on “Now: the Rest of the Genome” which discussed the misuse of the term gene and how it is not fully understood.

Above the article, a large picture of a scientist writing on a whiteboard draws the reader into the piece, but it is the only one included. Throughout the piece many terms are defined such as gene and RNA which draws away from the story. Also, the piece is divided into sections with each one starting with a bold title.

While this helps to keep the audience’s attention and for them to understand the important key points, it disrupts the flow of the story and becomes choppy.

I viewed both of these articles online which hindered my ability from seeing them in their natural medium.

When compared with one another my attention was maintained in the magazine article even though it was three pages longer than the newspaper piece because of the incorporation of pictures and the inclusion of story details that were not prevalent to the overall idea.

The newspaper piece can not incorporate as many pictures because of the competition it has with all the other articles. Also, there is not enough space in a daily paper to incorporate the minute details that Wolf displayed in Wired.

The New York Times circulates to a more expansive crowd than Wired so the inclusion of definitions and bolded titles help the general audience to understand the piece.

Both writers understand their audience and style of medium which has made them successful

Read More Wired: http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/16-10/ff_barcode#ixzz0hhN6ZCjQ
Photo Wired: http://jenruby09.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/coverimage1_681x440-1.jpg
Read More NYTimes: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/science/11gene.html?pagewanted=4&_r=1
Photo NYTimes: http://www.logicalscience.com/videos/index_files/NY%20Times%20Logo_250.jpg
Read More AAAS Winners: http://www.aaas.org/aboutaaas/awards/sja/winners.shtml

Magazine - Small newspaper

Imagine: Barcoding all life as we know it and a currently incurable disease best described as a merciless killer. These are two stories totally independent of one another minus their success as being AAAS Science Journalism Award Recipients - and with good reason.

Reporter Gary Wolf of Wired Magazine and staff writer Amie Thompson of the small newspaper known as Great Falls Tribune of Montana, contribute to the world of professional science journalism by reporting on two stories with different topics and target audiences, offering comparable intensity and grace in content and flow of information.

Wolf's story discusses the current “barcoding” of hard-to-identify creatures of the animal kingdom. Paul Herbert of the University of Guelph, Canada, has created an “automatic animal-identifying machine”. Not as impossible as it sounds, according to Herbert's story. By taking a section of DNA from an organism with the help of the lepidopterist Dan Janzen and his vast insect collection out of Costa Rican forests, Herbert was able to successfully begin the long but reliable process of identifying and documenting all living creatures. Though not without scrutiny, Herbert and Janzen both have visions of pocket sized organism-identifying machines in the future.

Thompson reports on a disease known as PPND that has reeked havoc on the lives of the people carrying its characteristic genetic deformity. Symptoms of this disease seem to only be visible in those over 40 years of age, giving a carrier ample time to pass it on to their children. Complete with the sad story of one woman's life and death at PPND's hand as well as pictures, Thompson delivers a heart-wrenching story that will hopefully make PPND patients suffering more visible to the medical world.

Gary Wolf: A Simple Plan to ID Every Creature on Earth
Amie Thompson: Lethal legacy: Rare disease devastating Turner-area family

Small Newspaper VS. Long-Form TV Show

In the AAAS awards given for outstanding science journalism in 2009, the small newspaper article written by Amie Thompson about a specific deadly genetic disease definitely fits the merit. In this article, Thompson develops the story around a specific family plagued with Pallido-Ponto-Nigral-Degeneration (PPND), a degenerative genetic disease occurring in middle aged people. The most horrible aspect of the disease is that the patient’s body increasingly loses functionality and has only about eight years to live after the onset. The story successfully connects with the reader’s emotions, but the extent of science information is minimal.

For the long-form TV show pick of the 2009 AAAS awards, recognition was given to the in-depth TV report by Doug Hamilton about the extinction of large land mammals about 12,900 years ago. This show focused on the current state of knowledge on the subject and about the developing new theories as to how the extinction occurred. The show walks the viewer through every detail in the discovery and is filled with computer animations and prominent scientist interviews to bolster the claims of the new theory.

In examining the small newspaper article, the author had much less time to develop a story and “connect” or “tug” emotionally at the reader than in the in-depth TV report. The newspaper article could not rely on visual pictures or music to capture the audience, but rather had to articulately use words to walk the reader through the story. In the case of the newspaper article, I felt as if the science was sparse throughout, but I definitely felt more of an emotional connection with the article than I did with the TV show. With the TV show, the producer did a good job of tying all threads together at the end, but I felt as if a lot of the information was repeated to a fault. I felt as if the TV show entertained nicely, but did not go as deep into the science as I would have liked. Lastly, the TV show was able to visually convey emotion and establish a connection with the audience quite easily, while the newspaper article was forced to develop and build up to the emotional connection through articulate writing.

Lasting impression: each specific media-form utilizes different techniques to explain the science, and inherently each will include science to varying degrees of difficulty.

Genetic Disease and Tidal Waves: Small Newspaper story and Website

You wouldn’t think that climate change and a rare gene anomaly would tug at your heartstrings, but two science journalists won an award for doing just that.

Great Falls, Montana, reporter Amie Thompson and ClimateWire reporter Lisa Friedman won Science Journalism awards for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Thompson won the small newspaper award; Friedman won the online award. One story had global implications; the other affected a small group of people. Yet by the end of each story, you knew who was affected, why they were suffering and what the future looked like. And in both cases, the future was bleak.

Thompson wrote a series for the Great Falls Tribune on a large Montana family that carries a rare gene anomaly known as Pallido-Ponto-Nigral-Degeneration (PPND). Her series is contained in six pages of text, with photos of family members lining the right side of each page.

Friedman developed a Web-based series on the plight of residents of Bangladesh. Her series begins with a page of text introducing some of the families in various villages, along with statistics and history of why the country is suddenly experiencing frequent tidal waves and flooding. The second part of the series is a video focusing on the village of Gabura, Bangladesh, and the story in this video is further developed in text on the third page of the series (with photos, one of which links to the earlier video).

Each reporter’s story is tailored for a different medium and a different audience. Thompson writes for a print newspaper in a small, rural town. Her audience would probably connect more with the family than with the science, so Thompson sneaks in some medical facts from time to time. Friedman writes for a globally-minded audience, possibly who are already interested in the subject of climate change, so she is free to intersperse more statistics, but she uses the human interest story to house them to keep the audience’s interest. Since her medium is online, she can incorporate inline photos and video.

The lesson for us: Know your audience and the capacity of your medium.

Living with Adult Children: Health Effects on Elderly Parents

On January 28th, 2006 a 66 year-old Alzheimer's patient went missing from a Charlotte, NC nursing home. She was found severely dehydrated in the facilities storage room after a four day search but died later on in the hospital (3). Increasing news stories, like the one in Charlotte, about neglect and abuse in nursing homes have steadily grown in the last few years. Many people believe that nursing homes are the proper place for the elderly population in the United States; however that may not be the case. A recent study by Dr. Feinian Chen of North Carolina State University and Dr. Susan E. Short of Brown University examined the health effects on elderly Chinese cohabiting with their adult children. They used the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) to gather subjective and quantitative data on the well-being of elderly Chinese citizens, particularly, those 80 and over.

Approximately 72.5% of the 7,534 participants lived with family members, defined as spouse, children, or both. 55.2% of elderly parents lived with their children. The researchers found that elderly parents who lived with their daughters reported higher well being than those who lived with their sons despite traditional living arrangements supporting the latter. The researchers hypothesize that “gendered care giving patterns” (a daughter is more likely to be more attentive than a son) played a role in the results. However, reported well-being lowered when the elderly parent was responsible for childcare; but the negative effects lessened as the age of the child increased, number of children decreased, and grandparent age decreased. The researchers needed more data to conclude if childcare for elderly parents caused an overall negative effect on their health. Drs. Chen and Short found that emotional health is improved when elderly parents lived with or were frequently visited by their family. The elderly Chinese who lived in nursing homes also reported a positive well-being. For the 10.1% who lived alone an overall negative well-being was reported. Overall, the study showed positive well-being for the elderly who lived with someone. There was no significant difference if they lived with family or in a care facility.

Dr. Chen has plans to do a similar study in the United States using the Health and Retirement Survey funded by the National Institute on Aging for the elderly population in that country. A significant difference may be found since previous studies showed that independent living in the United States has had a positive effect on the elderly. However, Dr. Chen plans to focus on African-American and Hispanic families where grandparents play a significant role in family life. With increasing news coverage on neglect and abuse in nursing homes, Dr. Chen and Short’s study shows how elderly parents can receive quality care and an increase in their overall well-being within their children’s home. Even if an elderly parent does not want to live with their children Drs. Chen and Short found that constant family contact and human interact contributes to the overall positive well being of elderly parents.



Works Cited:
1. Burns, Matthew. "Childcare: Good for Grandparents?" North Carolina State University. http://www.ncsu.edu/research/results/vol9n3/07.html (accessed February 4, 2010).


2. Chen, Feinian, and Susan E. Short. "Household Context and Subjective Well-Being Among the Oldest in China." Journal of Family Issues 29, no. 10 (2008): 1379-1403.


3. Perlmutt, David. "Missing Patient Found, but Dies: Woman, Focus of 4-Day Search, Was in Nursing Home Storage Room." Charlotte Observer 28 Jan. 2006: 1. Print.

Don’t join a Frat – You could Die!

Your average binge-drinking frat guy may be too busy funneling beer to chain smoke. A nonsmoker student riding in a car with a “heavy smoker” may be at greater health risk than a “puffer” who smokes once every few days.

A study done at Wake Forest in December separated a previously homogenous group of college smokers into five subgroups, and the study’s results can be used to see which and when college students are at greatest health risk.

Previously, whether a college student smoked one or 300 cigarettes in the past 30 days, he or she was labeled a college smoker. However, recent nicotine and tobacco research done by Mark Wolfson at Wake Forest has removed this façade of homogeneity.

A survey done of 1,102 past-month smokers from 10 North Carolina colleges identified five heterogeneous groups of college smokers. Participants completed a Life-Cycle Assessment developed by the EPA and were divided into homogenous groups with similar smoking patterns including: “smoking behavior, including quantity and frequency of smoking, smoking contexts, and weekly patterns of smoking.”

The subclasses included "heavy smokers", “moderate smokers”, “social smokers”, “puffers”, and “no-context smokers.”

Because of the lack of homogeneity in previous college smoking studies, which used the previous definition of “college smokers”, new insight is found on what and when groups of college students are at the greatest health risk.

“Puffers” made up 26% of the North Carolina college smokers sample. Underclassmen were more likely to be “puffers” than were upperclassmen. This study reflects the addictive nature of cigarettes, “puffers” turning into “moderate smokers” and “heavy smokers” as time passes. This study shows that as students progress through college, the amount they smoke also increases.

Surprisingly, Greek members are more likely to be “puffers” and “social smokers” (19% of NC college smokers sample) than “moderate smokers” (22%) or “heavy smokers” (28%).

Further, “puffers” and “social smokers”, which were more likely to be involved in Greek organizations than any other subclass, are also more likely to be current drinkers or binge drinkers than were “heavy smokers”.

The study surprisingly found evidence against the cliché of Greek members binging on every drug available. Although Greek members are smoking less than the average college student, they are binge drinking far more.

Wolfson’s study only covered smokers, just half of the concern of state officials. Universities across the state have been trying to eliminate sources of second-hand smoke for years.

For example, the University of North Carolina incorporated a campus-wide smoking ban. At North Carolina State University, students were banned from smoking too close to campus buildings. To determine the primary sources of secondhand smoke, Wolfson conducted further research.

Wolfson surveyed 4,223 students (smokers and non-smokers) at 10 universities in North Carolina about their exposure to secondhand smoke. Eighty-three percent of students reported exposure in the seven days prior to the survey. With studies showing links between secondhand smoke and morbidity from heart disease, lung cancer, etc., discovering where students are being exposed provided insight on how to cut down on secondhand smoke health risks.

Sixty-five percent of college students surveyed were exposed to second-hand smoke in bars and restaurants. This puts upperclassmen at greatest risk, who are able to enter the 21-and-up bars as well as have enough money for $7 cocktails. However, North Carolina’s recent smoking ban in restaurants and bars will eliminate this source of exposure unless a person is unlucky enough to walk through the cloud of smoke effacing the entrance.

Fifty-five percent of students were exposed to secondhand smoke from being in the same room as a smoker at college students’ homes. Only 38% were exposed to secondhand smoke from being in the car with a smoker.

Although Greek members are not the heaviest smokers, the vast amounts of people at Greek events, and results showing an increase of smoking amount while binge drinking, caused an increased risk of secondhand-smoke exposure.

Wolfson’s studies split a previously homogenous group into five smaller homogenous groups to better determine when college students are at greatest risk, as well as which students are at greatest risk of secondhand-smoke exposure.

For the anti-Greek like me, we finally have a study showing that you should not join a fraternity or sorority if you do not wish to increase your risk of become a binge drinker, become a casual smoker, or increase exposure to cancer-causing secondhand-smoke at every oh-so-fun Greek event.

Old Standards Threaten Infant Life

The way that newborns are cared for in hospitals may see drastic revision after a startling study by the Duke University and the University of North Carolina’s Schools of Nursing shows that abdominal temperatures considered “normal” may be fatal to many infants. Neonates, in the first hours of life, often cannot regulate their body temperatures on their own and require external heating from nursing heaters called “servos”. The study concludes that “the traditional cut point of hypothermia (97.5 °F) may not be enough to minimize abnormalities in heart rate” and that because of this, there should be widespread reform to have nurses raise infant servo temperatures from the dangerously low 97.5 °F to between 98.24 °F and 98.42 °F. What may seem as a small difference in temperature (1.8 °F or 1°C) is the difference between life and death for preemies.

The study’s main focus was on the first 12 hours of life of extremely low birth weight infants (ELBW) in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). These infants weigh between 14.1 and 35.3 ounces, or from 0.88 to 2.21 pounds, and have dangerously thin skin making them susceptible to heat loss. ELBW infants are usually only 28 to 29 weeks gestational age. Prior research has established that hypothermia during the first 12 hours is especially harmful to premature infants and can lead to increased mortality and morbidity. A study by Deussen in 2007 reported that “Once the body temperature falls below 93.4 °F, cardiac output reduces due to bradycardia” (a heart rate under 100 bpm). Infants are unable to self-regulate body temperature until around week 32 gestational age. According to National Vital Statistics reports, there were roughly 33,000 ELBW infants born in 2003, which was about 0.8% of the total children born that year (Matthews and MacDorman).

Approximately 66% to 93% of ELBW infants are admitted to the NICU with hypothermic temperatures. Additionally, ELBW deaths accounted for almost 49% of all infant deaths in 2003. The U.S. Census Bureau found in 2006 that approximately 4.3 million babies were born in the U.S. According to a study by Dr. Bennett of the University of Washington School of Medicine, “Of the approximately 4 million annual live births in the United States, 7.5% are classified as low birth weight (LBW, < 5.51 lbs)

Reforms in nursing practice have been suggested by Dr. Knobel et al. and include the raising of incubator (servo) temperatures, using polyethylene bags for heat insulation, and the pre-heating of intravenous fluids, bedding, and delivery rooms. Anything that an infant may come into contact with during these critical first 12 hours must be warmed, even the air. Only 20% of 125 NICUs surveyed by Knobel in 2005 adhered to the American Academy of Pediatrics and American Heart Association recommendation to use polyethylene bags for heat loss prevention during delivery room resuscitation.

Admitted limitations of the study include a small sample size (10 ELBW infants) and an insufficient demographic. Reforms must be enacted quickly to help protect the 33,000 ELBW infants born each year.

By: Jim Allen

Original articles:

"Optimal Body Temperature in Transitional Extremely Low Birth Weight Infants Using Heart Rate and Temperature as Indicators." Journal of Obstetric Gynecologic and Neonatal Nursing 39.1 (2010): 3-14.

"Thermoregulation and Heat Loss Prevention After Birth and During Neonatal Intensive-Care Unit Stabilization of Extremely Low-Birthweight Infants." Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing 36.3 (2007): 280-287.

"Hyperthermia and hypothermia. Effects on the cardiovascular system." Anaesthesist, 56, 907-911.

Infant mortality statistics from the 2003 period linked birth/infant death dataset. National Vital Statistics Reports, 54, 1-30.   

Songbird Study May Help Vocal Learning

Birds burst into song as you step into the room. Behind you, the door closes with a small metallic click and the birds’ song fades as the buzzing of electric lights and machinery begin to overpower it. Despite the white noise, you notice that one bird sounds different from the others. This bird is one of the test subjects in research conducted by scientists at Duke University Medical Center who are trying to discover how a songbird’s brain functions when learning a song.

The study, published online in Neuron on January 13, 2010, is the first to identify an auditory feedback pathway in the brain that controls vocal learning. This research lays the foundation for improving human speech in people whose auditory nerves are damaged and who must learn to speak without the benefit of hearing their own voices.

At this stage, using humans in experiments is impossible, but these songbirds are working well as substitutes. Amazingly, the brains of songbirds and humans function similarly during the process of vocal learning. Richard Mooney, PhD, Duke professor of neurobiology and senior author of the study, said, “The problems that juvenile birds solve when they learn a song from a tutor bird are similar to the problems humans solve when we learn to speak, and birds and humans exploit similar neural systems to reach this solution.”

The team sought answers to how the brain programs and channels auditory feedback to shape the vocal performance in juvenile birds that are learning to sing.

Initially, the scientists identified the neurons in the songbird brain that convey the auditory feedback needed to learn songs. Then they passed a brief pulse of electricity through the implanted electrodes to alter the brain’s activity associated with one of the notes that the pupil was learning to sing.

Three interesting dynamics emerged. First, the distortion in the bird's singing was delayed and showed up anywhere from hours to weeks after the bird first heard the electrical noise pulse in its song. Second, the distortion always came in the same place in the bird’s song, at the exact point in the song where the electrical "noise" was introduced. Third, by disrupting neural activity at different stages of the learning process, they determined that the distortion effects were strongly age-dependent. Younger birds sometimes showed changes within an hour while older birds kept singing properly for a while but eventually changed over a period of weeks.

Mapping the brain pathways for this auditory feedback might eventually make it possible to find a way to stimulate those pathways in humans. Speaking intelligibly when you cannot hear is not an easy task and one which can only be accomplished after years of exhausting training. If an easier way is found, it could help to facilitate communication between people who can and cannot hear.

Essence of Zebrafish

Since the 1970’s, the curiously cute and scientifically essential Zebrafish has been used in various studies as an experimental representative for all vertebrates. Though this fluorescent, black-striped fish has no obvious superficial qualities characteristic of humans, it still offers scientists a unique view into human embryo development as well as offering vital information regarding the growth of cancer cells. A study published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry by North Carolina State University (NCSU) researchers discusses and explains these newly found insights.

The protein Sp2 is a kind of gene on-off switch that controls cellular growth. These NCSU researchers had the hypothesis that the over-production of this protein could be used as an indication of the formation of a tumor. Considering the Sp2 protein found in Zebrafish is identical to that found in mammals, its purpose can be directly related to the same Sp2 protein found in humans. First, a fluorescent marker was attached to the Sp2 proteins found inside Zebrafish. When these fish were exposed to ultraviolet light, their Sp2 proteins glowed bright red, allowing scientists to track exactly where Sp2 was active inside the Zebrafish. For example: an adult, egg-carrying Zebrafish had a bright red glow located only in her ovaries when exposed to this ultraviolet light. After this female laid her eggs, it was apparent that the red glow was also seen within the eggs themselves, suggesting not only the transfer of Sp2 from parent to possible child, but that the Sp2 protein is vital to the earliest stages of embryonic development. It was also observed that when eliminating this protein within an embryo, the embryo ceased to develop. This is big news considering how delicate, complicated and significant the development of an embryo is to the lifespan and health of all vertebrates.

Associate professor of oncology at NCSU, Dr. Jonathan Horowitz, believes that not only is this ongoing research telling of the development of an embryo, but that it may play a big role in answering specific cancer related questions. These questions include more than just if a tumor is forming but what type of tumor it is. Making these possible findings even more tantalizing is that this could all be figured out within the earliest stages tumor development. Subsequently, it is to be noted using Sp2 as a marker to catch tumor development is an educated hypothesis of Dr. Horowitz and his team, not an actual finding. Since cancer plays a very prominent role in the life and death of organisms, this study is possibly a small but important step forward in cancer research. According the Centers for Disease Control, cancer is second only to heart disease in deaths in America. This would account for over 20% of the population.

“We think that these fish may be a useful tool – an aquatic canary in the coal mine – that will allow us to detect early tumor development." - Horowitz

http://news.ncsu.edu/features/tpfish/
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/lcod.htm
http://www.neuro.uoregon.edu/k12/FAQs.html#Research