Reporting Science

Thomas Abraham

Where do we live?

Asking the big questions…

Composite image of middle of our galaxy from Hubble , Spitzer telescopes and Chandra X ray observatory www.hubblesite.org

Source: Christopher R Scotese, Paleomap project

Map: Christopher R Scotese

Map: Christopher R Scotese

Image from the Hubble telescope: www.hubblesite.org

Where are we going?

Are we alone?

Where will we live?

Santa Maria Crater, Mars. Photo taken by Nasa’s Mars exploration vehicle. Dec, 2010

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/apr/24/tech-tycoons-asteroid-mining-venture

Where did we come from…..and where are we going?

James Ussher, Bishop of Armagh, Ireland. 1581-1656

The first day of creation began on the night preceding October 23, 4004 BC

What was actually happening between 4000-5000BC?

Human beings learned to grow crops and settled down in settled communities

Rice began to be cultivated in China The wheel was developed in India Humans had learned to brew beer

It was assumed that all species were created in one instant…

Archeopetryx fossil

Charles Darwin (1809-1882)

Evolution through natural selection

The Voyage of HMS Beagle- 1831-1836

Genetics and re-engineering humans?

http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/craig_venter_unveils_synthetic_life.html

Good stories need to connect to broader themes

Explain the science What theories are being tested? What

are the prevailing theories? What experiments are being used to

test the theory? To do this, you need to understand

some of the science

Good stories need human beings, doing things, saying things, thinking things

Scientific concepts are abstract; science stories need to make these come alive

Understanding the science

Talk to the scientist..ask them to explain in lay terms

Read: you might find high school text books useful.

www.science.com www.nature.com http://discovermagazine.com/ http://www.newscientist.com/ http://www.scientificamerican.com/

Course work

One feature length science story ( 1,500-2,000 words) on the work of a scientist in Hong Kong

We will maintain a blog on science news: each of you will contribute two or three short stories during the course

Every class, each one of you will talk about the latest stories in a science magazine: Nature, Science, Discover, Scientific American, New Scientist

Read Michio Kaku book for book report

Homework

Do the assigned readings Think about your feature One person lead discussion for

tomorrow’s class