A new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine provides a comprehensive assessment of the literature on science misinformation, its origins and impact, and strategies for mitigating its spread and potential harms.
Welcome! You are reading the Science Writing News Roundup, a newsletter for science writers. You can also read this edition online. Did someone forward you this newsletter? Sign up here.
🧭Resources
Create a beautiful portfolio & automatically back up your work: Authory aggregates everything you've ever written or recorded and generates a beautiful portfolio page so you can showcase, share, and save your life's work. With this special invite, you get to use Authory free for 30 days!
How to care for your mental health over the next four years: Being a journalist during the last Trump administration and covering the COVID-19 pandemic were both unprecedented and unpredictable experiences, frequently frustrating and often chaotic — if not downright scary.
If you’re looking for help with online research or data entry projects, please let me know at sciencewriting@substack.com and I’ll do my best to help you.
The Oceans Investigations Guide by The Outlaw Ocean Project: This encyclopedia from The Outlaw Oceans Project offers pointers for investigating ocean crimes and concerns.
How to Become a Great Health Reporter: Reporters Alexander Tin of CBS News and Aneri Pattani of KFF Health News share advice with journalists on pursuing health and science beats.
3 Things Young Journalists Should Do: Samantha Cheng, a journalist-turned-documentarian, advises reporters on pitching, finding a mentor and bringing confidence and flexibility to newsrooms.
👩🔬Opportunities
Apply by Jan. 15! The acclaimed MBL Logan Science Journalism fellowships immerse journalists, writers, producers & editors in biomedical or environmental research training. Get invaluable, hands-on experience with scientific discovery in world-renowned Woods Hole! Apply at mbl.edu/sjp (Photo by Barbara Moran)
ABSW Awards 2025: Open to entry until January 31. Categories include news item of the year, feature of the year and the video of the year.
The Knight Science Journalism Program at MIT offers fellowships to science journalists from around the globe: This year, KSJ will run simultaneous application cycles for two of its fellowship programs. Both the Academic-Year Fellowship and the Africa and Middle East Fellowship are accepting applications until January 15, 2025.
Applications for The AAAS Diverse Voices in Science Journalism Internship will close January 10, 2025. The Internship takes place at the Washington, D.C. headquarters of AAAS’s Science magazine, the largest interdisciplinary journal in the world. The program is a paid, 11-week experience, under the guidance of the weekly magazine’s award-winning staff of professional science writers and editors.
More opportunities and calls for pitches👉Bonus content for monthly supporters.
💡Articles
How a Prizewinning Science Writer Found Himself Immersed in Birding: A few years ago, the Pulitzer-winning science journalist Ed Yong discovered birds could be a balm for modern anxieties.
Digital safety: A holiday checklist for journalists. Whether covering a beat for years or launching into a new area of reporting that could prove contentious, all journalists can benefit from taking a beat to consider the tools they use and spruce up their digital safety and security practices.
Journalism Finds a Way: Hakai Magazine will close at the end of the year, but its science-based coverage will live on.
Why health journalists should write more about shooting survivors: Amplifying the voices of survivors is critical for understanding the full extent of firearm violence.
A day in the life of Manuela Callari, freelance science journalist and content specialist. Callari’s career boasts a two-year stint as an editor at Australia’s national nature engagement charity Remember the Wild. Since then, she has collected bylines in the MIT Technology Review, The Guardian and Cosmos, among other international publications.
🔎News
Sentient to Expand Its Editorial Team in 2025: Meet Sentient’s new hires: two investigative reporters (Nina Elkadi and Grey Moran), a fact checker (Gabriella Sotelo) and a science journalism fellow (Dawn Attride).
Inside SJAI’s second conference: How innovative engagement formats can spark science conversations. The second conference of the Science Journalists’ Association of India (SJAI) was held during 4 – 5 December 2024 in IISER Pune. Built around the theme ‘The Underreported: Bridging Gaps in Science Journalism’, the meeting showcased a range of innovative engagements formats that fostered discussion and deliberation between journalists, communicators, and scientists.
🗺️Events
🖼️Jobs
Thanks for reading! Subscribe for free to receive the next post in your inbox:
Worried you missed something? See previous posts here. What would you like to see in the newsletter? Please send me your suggestions: sciencewriting@substack.com