✍️Science Writing News Roundup #223
How—and Why—to Write a Science News Release + Climate and health: Stories to watch in 2025.
Meet Retraction Watch’s two new journalists: Managing editor Kate Travis, and reporter Avery Orrall. Kate Travis has served as digital director at Science News, an editor for Science’s careers website, Science Careers, and news editor of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Avery Orrall is a recent graduate of New York University’s Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program, and has also interned at JAMA Medical News. Image: Kate Travis (left) and Avery Orrall (right).
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
Self-publishing vs. Traditional publishing: what to expect? Once you decide to publish a book, you are faced with a lot of choices. Here are some tips to help you make that easier.
How—and Why—to Write a Science News Release: The role of the news release is to get reporters interested in writing about new research findings, with the resulting news stories letting a much broader potential audience know that the related journal article exists.
Scrivener unites everything you need to write, research and arrange long documents in a single, powerful app: If you’re working on a long writing project, Scrivener gives you multiple ways to see and edit the sections of your work.
Here are all the journalism terms you need to know, defined. Whether you’re a veteran journalist, an aspiring reporter or simply a curious reader, this guide will help you navigate the language of journalism with confidence.
🪼Opportunities
The Best American Science and Nature Writing is open to submissions from publishers, editors, readers, and writers. Pieces must have been published, online or in print, by an American or Canadian periodical in 2025. They must be about science, nature, or the environment.
More opportunities and calls for pitches👉Bonus content for monthly supporters.
🤖Articles
Climate and health: Stories to watch in 2025. Here are some climate story ideas to consider reporting on in 2025.
Tsvangirayi Mukwazhi on Climate Change and Deaf Communities: After witnessing the absence of sign language climate terminology create barriers to information in a crisis, Mukwazhi is setting out to fill the gap.
Less screening, fewer cases: What our audiences should know about breast cancer rates. It’s important to communicate that while screening rates have decreased, this has not translated into a clear increase in advanced cancers or more aggressive treatments.
How to deal with mis- and disinformation in times of uncertainty. To communicate effectively in times of uncertainty, it is helpful to be transparent about what we know and what we don't. It’s also important to pay attention to the formats in which we receive information, as well as cautiously analyze any data we come across.
🍄🟫News
Flora Lichtman To Host Science Friday Alongside Ira Flatow: Veteran science journalist Flora Lichtman has been named a Host of Science Friday, joining Ira at the mic.
MIT welcomes spring 2025 Environmental Solutions Journalism Fellows: This fellowship supports freelance and staff journalists associated with U.S. local and regional newsrooms to develop high-impact news projects that connect local perspectives, values and priorities with climate change science and solutions. Congratulations to Karina Atkins, Chicago Tribune; Carolyn Beans, Lancaster Farming; Elena Bruess, Houston Landing; Nina Ignaczak, Planet Detroit; and Paul Ruffins, Streetcar Suburbs News.
10 Journalist Fellows from nine countries are joining the Reuters Institute this term. The cohort brings a wealth of experience and insights to their programme for mid-career journalists.
🦗Videos & Podcasts
Science Journalism and Social Justice – meet Deborah Blum. In an age of rapid scientific advancements and an overwhelming volume of information, good science journalism has never been more important. Deborah Blum, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and director of the Knight Science Journalism program at MIT, is leading the charge on this mission.
Climate Solutions Journalism: A Community-informed & Equity-focused Approach. The goal of this program is to increase the number of news outlets publishing solutions-focused stories on the climate crisis.
How Climate Change Was Covered In 2024: In this conversation, Evlondo Cooper discusses the evolving landscape of climate media, why it remains critical to connect extreme weather events to climate change, and how that still continues to be absent from major news coverage.
🌎Events
SCIENCE TALK ’25 (April 3-4, 2025 at McKimmon Center in Raleigh, NC… and virtually everywhere March 17-28!)
More events 👉Bonus content for monthly supporters.
📒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