Science, Media, and Improbable Research at AAAS

This year's AAAS (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Meeting just happened to be in San Diego, so I decided to attend. Luckily, the Physics Department at UCSD had slots for students to get into the meeting for free. I don't think that many of the physics students were interested in going, though, because I applied late and got a slot!

The meeting's theme was “Bridging Science and Society”. I was mostly there to bridge myself to the rest of the science community. The National Association of Science Writers (NASW) has a mentorship program that pairs beginners with veteran science reporters. Luckily again, I was able to get a great mentor through the program and shadow her for a day. She interviewed an avid science blogger who writes on A Blog Around the Clock. He explained to me that he writes about the “meta” of science communication – that is, he reports on science reporting. During his interview he talked about the dynamics of the blogosphere. I thought it was interesting when he mentioned that a NYU journalism professor likes to spend 45 minutes composing one message on Twitter. I guess the professor likes to maximize linguistic efficiency.

In general I got the sense that within science writing and reporting, some attention has been shifting towards multimedia, like video, podcasts, photos, and the hodge-podge of media you can find online. Writers don't just write anymore; they take their own videos, they tweet and facebook people, and do whatever it takes to capture our attention when we're online. This is my impression, at least.

While at the meeting I also saw an Improbable Research show. What is improbable research, you ask? It is “research that makes people laugh and then think”. These are the guys that administer the Ig Nobel Prizes. I got to the show late, just as they were finishing up with “objects found in patients' rectums”. Huh, I think they got the order right – it does make you laugh, and then think. That was followed by research linking romantic love to obsessive compulsive disorder. That was followed by the emergency bra. It's a bra that doubles as a face mask in unexpected disasters and emergencies! You take the bra cup and apply it over your face to filter out harmful dust and chemicals in the air. The emergency bra is readily available, which is great considering that almost no one in the audience had a face mask on them. Furthermore, since we have two breasts and not one, ladies, you can save yourself and the lucky man sitting next to you! The researcher also gave a demonstration. It looked pretty effective, if you ask me.

Not to end this on an absurd note... Well, actually, yes, I will, but next time I'll be sure to have some more substantial, meaty science in the works.