The Observatory

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

The Risk of Poor Coverage of Risk

Why does a healthier-than-ever world feel so scary?

By David Ropeik   Nov 30, 2010 at 03:30 PM

There is a hidden danger in this modern world of unprecedented plenty and healthier, longer lives: our growing fears about... More

From Copenhagen to Cancun

A challenging year for the climate story

By Cristine Russell   Nov 24, 2010 at 01:57 PM

It’s been a challenging time for the climate change story on just about every front. A year ago, the unauthorized... More

How to Place a Story?

Survey finds top environmental newsmakers still target traditional media

By Curtis Brainard   Nov 18, 2010 at 10:00 AM

Despite disruptive changes in the media industry, which have made it more difficult to place stories and develop relationships with... More

Echoes of Grit and Humor

Great Lakes news startup brings on an inspiring new voice

By Curtis Brainard   Nov 16, 2010 at 02:30 PM

If all goes as planned, Tom Henry’s decision to take on more work—in the form of a monthly column for... More

Gruesome Graphic Labels

FDA’s new anti-smoking labels light up the web

By Cristine Russell   Nov 12, 2010 at 06:08 PM

It was inevitable that the FDA’s new proposal to put graphic, and often gruesome, pictures of dead bodies and diseased... More