Friday, August 02, 2013. Last Update: Fri 2:50 PM EST

The Observatory

Extreme Measures

Must reporters cite climate change in every article about severe weather?

Last week, the journal Nature made a big splash in the press with the publication of two studies which found... More

Coming to Terms with the “Value” of Life

The rhetorical debate behind the NYT’s front-pager

Last week, my colleague Felix Salmon expressed his love for The New York Times’s front-page article on Thursday about federal... More

Dr. Search Engine

NYT prompts needed discussion about the relative merits of health websites

Eighty percent of Internet users seek out health information on the web, according to a survey released by the Pew... More

The Scientific Method for Reaching a Wider Audience

How digital media is helping science escape the “echo chamber”

“Are science blogs stuck in an echo chamber? Chamber? Chamber?” Ed Yong, an award-winning science blogger at Discover, wondered in... More

Snow Job

Just what constitutes a “record”?

The snowstorm that hit much of the United States last week was one for the books. In Chicago, the 20.2... More

The Cost of Living, Part IV

Digital mammograms in the medical marketplace

Containing the runaway costs of medical care is perhaps the thorniest of health care issues. Despite the rhetoric about getting... More

Introducing ‘Earth Journalism’

A global view of a local beat

In the grand scheme of environmental affairs, journalism is almost always an afterthought. The media world seems to return the... More

Science Faltering?

Obama wants more R&D, but few willing to discuss research productivity

President Obama wants “to reach a level of research and development we haven’t seen since the height of the Space... More

Blogging from Biology Class

Staten Island high school students team up with Nature Education

If you’re worried about the future of science journalism, take solace in two fourteen-year-old students named Sam and Naseem who... More

In Deep Water

Reporters explore socio-economic complexity underlying floods in Brazil, Australia

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — No one is singing in the rain. The mudslides here and the floods in Australia... More

Add It Up

Bad math mars coverage of penguin banding, climate change

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

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

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

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

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

Old TNR vs. New TNR

In one tweet

Luke Russert is the Golden Boy of DC

And it drives young journalists crazy

Oh, #Florida!

Why does Florida produce so much weird news? Experts explain

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Who Owns What

The Business of Digital Journalism

A report from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Study Guides

Questions and exercises for journalism students.