Author Archive

Articles by Curtis Brainard | Email the Author

 

1. Campaign Desk

   Candidates Decline Science Debate

   April 9, 2008 01:10 PM

   One thing about the scientists, academics, journalists, politicians, and business leaders pushing for a presidential debate about science - you can't say they haven't tried. There's been a lot of chatter about the possibility of such an event since early... Continue reading

2. Campaign Desk

   Big Play for Candidates’ Green Cred

   April 8, 2008 02:00 PM

   The environment's importance to the presidential campaign hit a fresh zenith, media coverage-wise, yesterday, with a Newsweek cover that asks, "Who's the Greenest of Them All?" The article, by veteran science reporter Jerry Adler, revives, to certain... Continue reading

3. The Observatory

   Medical Stories Take Four Pulitzers

   April 8, 2008 09:48 AM

   Four health/medical series won Pulitzer Prizes yesterday. The Washington Post's Dana Priest, Annie Hull and photographer Michel du Cille received the public service award for their stories about mistreatment of wounded veterans at Walter Reed Hospital. Walt Bogdanich... Continue reading

4. The Observatory

   Remember FutureGen?

   April 4, 2008 01:04 PM

   It was a week of firsts, but not in the U.S. In Canada, British Columbia announced "pioneering" cap-and-trade legislation yesterday, and on Monday, Australia opened the southern hemisphere's first, and the world's largest, carbon capture and storage (CCS) demonstration... Continue reading

5. The Observatory

   E&E News Launches ClimateWire

   April 1, 2008 09:59 AM

   Two months ago, a reporter interviewed me for a story about the sustainability of "green" news-whether journalists' current interest in environmental journalism is the sign of enduring social change or just a passing fad. The reporter's employer, Environment &... Continue reading

6. The Observatory

   Separation Anxiety… the Antarctic Way

   March 28, 2008 05:15 PM

   All environmental reporters should sign up to receive the regular blog posts sent out by Marc Morano, the chief communications officer for James Inhofe, the minority leader on the Senate's Environment and Public Works Committee. Morano's boss achieved... Continue reading

7. The Observatory

   CT Scans and Tobacco Funding

   March 27, 2008 11:59 AM

   Nick Naylor, the anti-hero and suave spin-doctor at the "Academy of Tobacco Studies" in Christopher Buckley's satirical novel, Thank You for Smoking, would be very unhappy with Gardiner Harris. Yesterday, Harris, one of The New York Times' veteran... Continue reading

8. Campaign Desk

   Been There, Done That

   March 6, 2008 01:47 PM

   Despite the obligatory stump-speech mentions of renewable energy and "green-collar" jobs, the two remaining contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination don't argue much about global warming. Their platforms for promoting alterative fuels and reducing greenhouse-gas emissions are very similar. <br... Continue reading

9. The Observatory

   The Skeptics Ball

   March 4, 2008 02:04 PM

   To cover, perhaps, but how? That has been at least one journalist's dilemma this week while dealing with a recent, but diverse, mobilization of climate skeptics, some of whom have used a bout of cold weather to cast aspersions on... Continue reading

10. The Observatory

    Wiring Journalism 2.0

    February 29, 2008 11:00 AM

    How are the media adapting to the new digital technologies that power blogs, interactive graphics, and social networks? Quickly is one answer, but the advent of digital (what used to be called "new") journalism is more complicated than that. Last... Continue reading

11. The Kicker

    Bro, Sweet Chemistry Tat!

    February 27, 2008 05:02 PM

    Yes, even science nerds get ink done - a double helix on the back, the chemical structure of serotonin on the side, some binary computer code on the forearm. It's all showcased at Carl Zimmer's Science Tattoo Emporium. Zimmer... Continue reading

12. The Observatory

    Science Journalism

    February 22, 2008 10:55 AM

    Around the block from the Miracle of Science café, in a corner of Cambridge surrounding the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a few hundred of the world's most accomplished science journalists gathered this week to celebrate history, and spend a lot... Continue reading

13. The Observatory

    Dispatches from AAAS

    February 19, 2008 08:00 AM

    Despite the surge of recent interest in environmental articles, global warming remains a “fourth-tier” story in the press. So said The New York Times’ Andrew Revkin to the audience at a panel on media coverage of global warming at the... Continue reading

14. The Observatory

    Dispatches from AAAS

    February 18, 2008 03:45 PM

    Boston - The American Association for the Advancement of Science's annual meeting concluded here today. Every year, the extravaganza inspires an incredible amount of science news, but for a media critic, that makes it nearly impossible to parse and weigh... Continue reading

15. Campaign Desk

    The Environment, Writ Small

    February 15, 2008 10:12 AM

    On Monday, the day before the presidential primaries in Maryland, the Baltimore Sun published what has now become a very typical story-the generalized rundown of the candidates' positions on science and environmental issues. That so many newspapers,... Continue reading

16. Campaign Desk

    Blue Genes (or Red)

    February 13, 2008 02:35 PM

    On Monday, I wrote a column about "neuropunditry," a new trend in campaign journalism. Basically, it is the idea that scientists (and campaign strategists) can use brain-imaging techniques to find out how voters truly feel about candidates by looking... Continue reading

17. The Observatory

    Columbia Presents 2007 Oakes Awards

    February 12, 2008 12:55 PM

    For the second year in a row, the Los Angeles Times carried home the annual John B. Oakes Award for environmental reporting, this time sharing the prize with the New Orleans Times Picayune. Harper's won in the magazine category.... Continue reading

18. Campaign Desk

    Beware of “Neuropunditry”

    February 11, 2008 12:22 PM

    On Super Tuesday, CNN broadcast a weak science news segment about a brain-imaging machine that the reporter called a "neurological lie detector test." The point? Voters may say that they prefer one candidate, but the brain actually... Continue reading

19. Campaign Desk

    Obama’s Energy Equivocations

    February 5, 2008 08:52 AM

    A little more than a year ago, Barack Obama caused a bit of an uproar when he introduced legislation in the Senate that would have supported coal-to-liquids technology. The energy industry contends that the process reduces the environmental impact... Continue reading

20. Campaign Desk

    GOP Candidates Back Emissions Waiver

    February 1, 2008 03:14 PM

    Earlier this week, I posted a column about an editorial in The Sacramento Bee, which pressed all the presidential candidates to say whether or not they support a federal waiver to allow California to determine its own automobile... Continue reading

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