Not all accomplished scientists like talking to reporters, and not all of them are good at it. Brian Marsden embodied these rare characteristics: He was an amazing contributor to his field and he was approachable, helpful and kind, even on the tightest of deadlines. And so even though I never met the man, I feel [...]
I was the only journalist who attended a press conference in person today at the American Astronomical Society’s Solar Physics Division meeting in Boulder (several others participated by phone). I’m attending just because I happen to live here, as of two weeks ago. What a rare treat! The meeting is a hotbed of brand new [...]
As a newcomer to the blogosphere in recent months, I’ve stumbled on a few really innovative sites. One of the first was “Framing Science,” a blog at scienceblogs.com authored by Matthew Nisbet. Nisbet is a communications professor at American University, and he’s churning out some incredibly helpful ideas. I love the blog — and Nisbet’s [...]
Tabitha Garcia had just left Texas to work the Christmas holiday at Sacks Fifth Avenue in New York. Shortly before her seasonal turn was set to expire, she was hunting around on CraigsList.org for her next opportunity, and when she saw a link asking “Are you the right one?” or some such, she clicked. The [...]
This afternoon, I wrote a post for Universe Today about Jay Melosh, a planetary scientist from the University of Arizona in Tucson. Melosh has an interesting idea about how life could have developed on Earth — after being flung from the surface of Mars along with impact ejecta. And when I went back to check [...]
