Posts tagged Journalism

I’d like to blog about the Drayson / Goldacre debate before the topic gets too cold, but before I do I thought I’d mention Futurity. It’s interesting because it’s supposedly, an attempt to address a decline in science journalism. “In an increasingly complex world, the public needs access to clear, reliable research news. Futurity does the work of gathering that news,” says the about page of the site. That’s fascinating because, if they’re right, I’ve completely misunderstood what science journalism means.

Here’s an example. First up, a press release from the University of Michigan, Researchers find gene that protects high-fat-diet mice from obesity, which starts like this:

U-M researchers have identified a gene that acts as a master switch to control obesity in mice. When the switch is turned off, even high-fat-diet mice remain thin.

Deleting the gene, called IKKE, also appears to protect mice against conditions that, in humans, lead to Type 2 diabetes, which is associated with obesity and is on the rise among Americans, including children and adolescents.

Next there’s the press release on the publicly accessible Eurekalert, U-M researchers find gene that protects high-fat-diet mice from obesity. That reads:

University of More >