A Q&A about philosophy in journalism
Earlier this year, Varun Bhatta, assistant professor of philosophy at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhopal, reached out to ask me some questions for something he was writing…
science journalism
89 posts
Waters and bridges between science journalism and scicomm
On November 24-25, the Science Journalists’ Association of India (SJAI) conducted its inaugural conference at the National Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delhi. I attended it as a delegate. A per…
An 'expanded' heuristic to evaluate science as a non-scientist
The Hindu publishes a column called ‘Notebook’ every Friday, in which journalists in the organisation open windows big or small into their work, providing glimpses into their process and thinking – th…
A new science page at The Hindu
Starting today, The Hindu has a new science page, available to read in the premium e-paper edition. It will be published on all days except Saturday. I will be anchoring the page from Monday to Thursd…
Notes for a ‘The Open Notebook’ report
I was quoted in a new reported feature in The Open Notebook, entitled 'Expanding the Geographical Borders of Your Source List'.…
On that anti-mRNA vaccines video
The Times of India has published an irresponsible article today on a video by a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) claiming with dubious evidence that all mRNA vaccines are h…
Should journos pay scientists for their expertise?
I recently came across a question posed on Twitter, asking if experts whom journalists consult to write articles should be compensated for their labour, especially since, in the tweeter's words, &…
The identity of scientific papers
This prompt arose in response to Stuart Ritchie's response to a suggestion in an editorial "first published last year but currently getting some attention on Twitter" – that scientists s…
Saying bye to The Wire
November 30, 2022, is my last day.…
The strange NYT article on taming minks
I'm probably waking up late to this but the New York Times has published yet another article in which it creates a false balance by first focusing on the problematic side of a story for an inordin…
Yes, scientific journals should publish political rebuttals
If they can.…
What makes 'good science journalism'?
From 'Your Doppelgänger Is Out There and You Probably Share DNA With Them', The New York Times, August 23, 2022: Dr. Esteller also suggested that there could be links between facial features…