Hello, science students!

I'm hoping that over the next week or so a few science students notice this class and decide to at least look into it further. I think that developing an understanding of just how science is presented and perceived outside of the scientific community is very important for science in general and for many scientists in particular.

A course like this can help improve a student's skills in three areas of importance.

1. Scientists and non-scientists are interested in reading about science. The better a scientists (or a science student thinking of going into popular science writing) knows about the ways that people absorb scientific content, the better they can target their own writing.

2. Scientists need to communicate in order to earn money for research and to keep their jobs. Often this means communicating with non-scientists about their work. This course offers students a chance to practise their skills in writing about science for a more general audience.

3. Simply advancing scientific research often requires communication with a large group of other scientists. Developing writing skills is important in reaching that audience.

I've had a lot of experience studying and reading about scientific topics and a lot of experience with writing and with teaching writing. I feel that if a science student wants to take an essay course, then I can give them their best shot. Hopefully some of you will be reading this and sign up for the course!

Fitting the Curve

One of the ways to show that your scientific theory matches available data is to plot data points on a graph and show how your theory predicts a curve on this graph that passes through, or close enough to, these data points. This can have a great visual impact and this can have a great psychological impact on accepting or rejecting a scientific claim. This visual impact remains at work in our society even though contemporary scientific practise appeals to mathematical analysis on just how good a given curve fits the data rather than visual analysis. Thus this aspect of science and its acceptance seems like an apt choice for a blog primarily about the use and portrayal of science in media.

Of course, the title of the blog is a pun of sorts. This is somewhat ironic yet, if you know me, not unexpected. It is ironic because one of my pet peeves is the use of puns in what should otherwise be serious and informative news media. However, I just can't resist the urge to make and point out puns, intentional or unintentional. I apologize in advance.