60秒科学:Future of Science Coverage

Future of Science Coverage¹

At the World Conference of Science Journalists in London last week, outgoing Scientific American Editor in Chief John Rennie talked to writers about the future of what they do, remarks that also pertain² to this podcast. Steve Mirsky reports

[The following is an exact transcript³ of this podcast.]

At the World Conference of Science Journalists last week in London, outgoing Scientific American Editor in Chief John Rennie talked to writers about the future of what they do, remarks that also pertain to this podcast:

The question then is, how could science writing for the public possibly be better? I think there are a couple of different ideas. One of them is, maybe there should just be less of it. And because I would like to leave this room unlynched, let me amend⁴ that to say that at least there should be less of some of it. If our job is, ultimately as we see it, to try to inform the public better about science and technology, I for one think that we could all do with a lot fewer of the “what causes/cures cancer this week” story.

I think that in fact is directly related, that kind of story is really related to a different problem, which is that we have a model of following what defines science news as that 95 percent of the time it is “interesting paper that appears in prestigious⁵ journal this week.” That constitutes science news. Except that we’re all smart enough to know that that has absolutely nothing to do with how science works. That has to do with how publishing works. That’s what did they put into press this week.

Science actually doesn’t change when one, new important paper comes out. We all know that. The reality of science is it takes time for science to play itself out. When interesting new results come in, they’re tested and they’re confirmed and people rework them. One paper can be the landmark⁶ that starts to affect some of that, but the reality is the actual change in the science follows that often by a considerable amount of time. Sometimes long after we’ve actually written the big headlines about the exciting, dramatic, revolutionary change of whatever has come about because of something.

And I think that’s something that I don’t have a particular prescription⁷ on all of this. But I really think this comes down to why it is that we have a responsibility as editors to try to rethink what counts as science news.

—Reported by Steve Mirsky

1 coverage   

n.报导，保险范围，保险额，范围，覆盖

参考例句：

• There's little coverage of foreign news in the newspaper.报纸上几乎没有国外新闻报道。
• This is an insurance policy with extensive coverage.这是一项承保范围广泛的保险。

2 pertain   

v.(to)附属，从属；关于；有关；适合，相称

参考例句：

• His remark did not pertain to the question.他的话同这个问题不相干。
• It does not pertain to you to instruct him.你不适合教训他。

3 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

4 amend   

vt.修改，修订，改进；n.[pl.]赔罪，赔偿

参考例句：

• The teacher advised him to amend his way of living.老师劝他改变生活方式。
• You must amend your pronunciation.你必须改正你的发音。

5 prestigious   

adj.有威望的，有声望的，受尊敬的

参考例句：

• The young man graduated from a prestigious university.这个年轻人毕业于一所名牌大学。
• You may even join a prestigious magazine as a contributing editor.甚至可能会加入一个知名杂志做编辑。

6 landmark   

n.陆标，划时代的事，地界标

参考例句：

• The Russian Revolution represents a landmark in world history.俄国革命是世界历史上的一个里程碑。
• The tower was once a landmark for ships.这座塔曾是船只的陆标。

7 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。