The Observatory

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

Press Pass Problems

Cetacean Society’s decision to deny a reporter raises questions about access

By Curtis Brainard   Nov 12, 2010 at 04:30 PM

On Tuesday, the American Cetacean Society denied a freelancer’s request for a press pass to attend the society’s annual meeting... More

Man(n) the Torpedoes

Climate scientist Michael Mann goes on the offensive

By Cristine Russell   Nov 11, 2010 at 04:58 PM

NEW HAVEN, CONN.—It’s been exactly a year since “Climategate” broke, putting Penn State University researcher Michael Mann and climate scientists... More

A Referendum on Energy Issues?

Not so fast

By Curtis Brainard and Cristine Russell   Nov 5, 2010 at 05:14 PM

There is something ironic about the post-election surge of articles about the environmental consequences of various outcomes at the polls... More

A Future for Cooperative Politics?

New York Times story on candidates’ psychology is overly optimistic

By Curtis Brainard   Nov 3, 2010 at 02:49 PM

Thankfully, the days of “neuropunditry,” which sought to decipher voters’ thoughts with brain imaging and which blighted coverage of the... More