The Observatory

Add It Up

Bad math mars coverage of penguin banding, climate change

By Curtis Brainard   Jan 24, 2011 at 06:03 PM

In the last two weeks, reporters have repeated false numbers provided by a study and a report (and by their... More

The Hottest Thing in Science Blogging

ScienceOnline2011 conference puts convergence of old and new media on display

By Cristine Russell   Jan 18, 2011 at 05:22 PM

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, North Carolina — The hot ticket for science bloggers and online writers this year was a once-obscure... More

Giffords’ Medical Care

Healthy dose of science coverage adds context

By Curtis Brainard   Jan 12, 2011 at 08:30 AM

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords remained in critical condition on Tuesday afternoon after sustaining a gunshot wound to the head on Saturday,... More

Climate Conundrums

Slack coverage, quality issues stir debate

By Curtis Brainard   Jan 10, 2011 at 01:16 PM

2010 was “the year climate coverage ‘fell off the map,’” The Daily Climate, a website that tracks related news and... More

Tele-what?

Reporters must embrace the future with coverage of remote health monitoring

By Neil Versel   Jan 6, 2011 at 01:20 PM

As a journalist who for the last decade has covered the use of information technology in health care, I’m rather... More

Bye, Bye Blackbirds

Bizarre reports of dead birds and fish enliven a slow news week

By Cristine Russell   Jan 5, 2011 at 04:01 PM

With remakes of classic films all the rage, it may be time for Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller The Birds to be... More

Best of 2010: The Observatory

Curtis Brainard picks the top stories from 2010

By Curtis Brainard   Dec 29, 2010 at 01:11 PM

1. “New” Media Crucial in Aftermath of Haitian Earthquake With standard telephone, radio, and television communications disabled, “new” media platforms... More

Climate Change 101

Trio of articles re-cover some global warming basics

By Curtis Brainard   Dec 23, 2010 at 04:45 PM

A little more than a year ago, there was a feeling among many editors and reporters that the climate-change story... More

The U.N. Climate Caravan

Author of report criticizing coverage of Copenhagen summit reflects on Cancun meeting

By Richelle Seton-Rogers   Dec 21, 2010 at 01:14 PM

CANCÚN, MEXICO—There is no doubt that the United Nations climate-change negotiations here, which concluded just over a week ago, were... More

Show Him the Money!

Reporter Joydeep Gupta asks tough questions at the Cancún climate conference

By Laura Paskus   Dec 13, 2010 at 02:44 PM

CANCÚN, MEXICO—Joydeep Gupta wants to know where the money is, and he's going to keep asking everyone he can that... More

The Right Place for Scientific Debate?

Scientists snub media as controversy over arsenic-eating microbes rolls on

By Curtis Brainard   Dec 7, 2010 at 05:07 PM

First there was the wild speculation about the discovery of extraterrestrial life. Then came widespread, sometimes misguided, coverage of the... More

Can Rolling Stone Claim Blankenship’s Scalp?

By Felix Salmon   Dec 6, 2010 at 04:59 PM

Can Rolling Stone claim another scalp? Six months after ending the career of Stanley McChrystal, Rolling Stone published Jeff Goodell's... More

The Muzzling of the FDA

How government press officers stole our freedom

By Jim Dickinson   Dec 6, 2010 at 03:50 PM

It is 1978. I have just been refused admission to a Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association section meeting that is to... More

A Life Less Ordinary

After speculation about aliens, arsenic-eating microbe stirs wide coverage

By Curtis Brainard   Dec 3, 2010 at 01:23 PM

A bacterium trained to substitute arsenic for phosphorus—one of six elements considered essential for life—in some of its basic cellular... More

Close Encounters of the Media Kind

NASA press release leads to wild speculation about alien discovery

By Curtis Brainard   Dec 1, 2010 at 12:42 PM

Over the last two days, bloggers at a few of the country’s top news outlets have engaged in wild and... More