Reposted by Shihab Jamal
👋Gathered, connected, and supported hundreds of journalists through fellowships, mentorships, and communities of practice ...
The Open Notebook's 15th Anniversary - The Open Notebook
For 15 years, The Open Notebook has been the trusted home for journalists worldwide who cover science. What started as an experiment to demystify the craft of science writing has grown into a vital, g...
www.theopennotebook.com
December 4, 2025 at 8:14 PM
👋Gathered, connected, and supported hundreds of journalists through fellowships, mentorships, and communities of practice ...
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
This is really good. You have to make readers care, and that means connecting the science to something they know, or something they can relate to.
Pitching a story about obscure science requires a different approach than one about a more familiar subject. But it can be done, writes TON/@bwfund.bsky.social @willvh.bsky.social. Here, he shows you how. 🧪
Isotopes, Archaea, and Cold-Water Physics—How to Sell Obscure Science Stories to Editors and Readers - The Open Notebook
Getting a story about unfamiliar and obscure fields such as geology, organic chemistry, or quantum mechanics off the ground often means jumping over hurdles—for editors and readers alike—that might no...
www.theopennotebook.com
November 25, 2025 at 5:57 PM
This is really good. You have to make readers care, and that means connecting the science to something they know, or something they can relate to.
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
In our latest in the #Changemakers series @nature.com, @astroroamer.bsky.social talks about the barriers she overcame to become the first female full professor at her institution and how she encourages other women in India to pursue science. As told to Kanika Sharma.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
I encourage women to claim their space in astrophysics and beyond
Debarati Chatterjee’s mission is to make science in India more welcoming towards women.
www.nature.com
November 28, 2025 at 1:34 PM
In our latest in the #Changemakers series @nature.com, @astroroamer.bsky.social talks about the barriers she overcame to become the first female full professor at her institution and how she encourages other women in India to pursue science. As told to Kanika Sharma.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
From @nature.com's 2025 global PhD student survey: trends in studying abroad - the motivations that drive students to do their PhD abroad and they challenges they face. Reporting by @lindanordling.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
On the move: why PhD students study abroad in 2025
Mobility turns pragmatic as living costs and politics bite, Nature’s latest graduate survey shows.
www.nature.com
November 18, 2025 at 7:56 PM
From @nature.com's 2025 global PhD student survey: trends in studying abroad - the motivations that drive students to do their PhD abroad and they challenges they face. Reporting by @lindanordling.bsky.social
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
I still have not yet read Candice Millard's book or started watching the Netflix adaptation, but for #HistMed types Charles Rosenberg's older account of how 19th-century debates over medical definitions of insanity played out during Guiteau's trial is also excellent: bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
November 15, 2025 at 6:49 PM
I still have not yet read Candice Millard's book or started watching the Netflix adaptation, but for #HistMed types Charles Rosenberg's older account of how 19th-century debates over medical definitions of insanity played out during Guiteau's trial is also excellent: bookshop.org/p/books/the-...
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
You don’t need to be a science reporter to cover science well. The Science Reporting Navigator from The Open Notebook and @rjionline.bsky.social helps any reporter confidently incorporate scientific evidence, perspectives, or context into their reporting— regardless of background or deadline. 🧪
Science Reporting Navigator - The Open Notebook
Bring Scientific Evidence into Any Beat Every story is a science story. From education and public health to transportation and local policy, science intersects with every beat journalists cover. The S...
www.theopennotebook.com
November 12, 2025 at 4:30 PM
You don’t need to be a science reporter to cover science well. The Science Reporting Navigator from The Open Notebook and @rjionline.bsky.social helps any reporter confidently incorporate scientific evidence, perspectives, or context into their reporting— regardless of background or deadline. 🧪
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
For @slate.com Plus members: Someone in academia worries about how to tell their mentor they're leaving academia.
Me: "You don’t have to apologize for leaving academia. Most people in academia leave academia. It’s a bit of a pyramid scheme, anyway..." slate.com/advice/2025/...
Me: "You don’t have to apologize for leaving academia. Most people in academia leave academia. It’s a bit of a pyramid scheme, anyway..." slate.com/advice/2025/...
I Purposefully Misled My Boss. The Lie Is Catching Up to Me.
I don't want him to feel tricked!
slate.com
November 10, 2025 at 2:22 PM
For @slate.com Plus members: Someone in academia worries about how to tell their mentor they're leaving academia.
Me: "You don’t have to apologize for leaving academia. Most people in academia leave academia. It’s a bit of a pyramid scheme, anyway..." slate.com/advice/2025/...
Me: "You don’t have to apologize for leaving academia. Most people in academia leave academia. It’s a bit of a pyramid scheme, anyway..." slate.com/advice/2025/...
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
Camera being designed to search for alien life. 🔭 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Durham University designing camera to search for alien life
Durham University is working with a UK team to develop a camera that can examine Earth-like planets.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 9, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Camera being designed to search for alien life. 🔭 🧪 www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
James Watson died yesterday. He was a bad man with many bad ideas. We owe a debt of gratitude to the unknown hero who uploaded this picture of him to Wikipedia.
November 7, 2025 at 7:52 PM
James Watson died yesterday. He was a bad man with many bad ideas. We owe a debt of gratitude to the unknown hero who uploaded this picture of him to Wikipedia.
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
I'm excited to join @laurenfeldman.bsky.social, @tracybaim.bsky.social, @timafranklin.bsky.social, & @columbiajournalism.bsky.social's Duy Linh Nguyen Tu for a @nationalacademies.org session on strategies for advancing high-quality science journalism. Thurs, 11/13 (1 PM ET). Register: bit.ly/3WJZGYW
November 8, 2025 at 4:47 PM
I'm excited to join @laurenfeldman.bsky.social, @tracybaim.bsky.social, @timafranklin.bsky.social, & @columbiajournalism.bsky.social's Duy Linh Nguyen Tu for a @nationalacademies.org session on strategies for advancing high-quality science journalism. Thurs, 11/13 (1 PM ET). Register: bit.ly/3WJZGYW
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
Do you know The Open Notebook? Here's where to get started. #SciWri25 🧪
Where to Get Started at The Open Notebook - The Open Notebook
We're proud to be able to offer so many resources to help science journalists improve their skills—and, we know it's a lot to take in! If you're wondering where to even begin on your TON journey, we h...
www.theopennotebook.com
November 7, 2025 at 9:29 PM
Do you know The Open Notebook? Here's where to get started. #SciWri25 🧪
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
We’ve published our Writers’ Guidelines to help any journalist or editor prepare for an assignment, from how to source and fact-check to navigating deadlines. 🧪
The Open Notebook’s Writers’ Guidelines - The Open Notebook
Landing an assignment, especially a feature, is an exciting moment for any early-career journalist. But what happens next in the reporting, writing, and editing phases can sometimes be ambiguous. This...
www.theopennotebook.com
November 5, 2025 at 3:55 PM
We’ve published our Writers’ Guidelines to help any journalist or editor prepare for an assignment, from how to source and fact-check to navigating deadlines. 🧪
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
As a four-time immigrant who has learned how much you have to leave behind -- and how meaningful the things you can still hold on to are -- I was particularly happy to review Bee Wilson's new book about kitchen objects and the stories they tell.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/b...
The Wedding Cake Was a Triumph. The Marriage Went Stale.
www.nytimes.com
November 5, 2025 at 10:32 AM
As a four-time immigrant who has learned how much you have to leave behind -- and how meaningful the things you can still hold on to are -- I was particularly happy to review Bee Wilson's new book about kitchen objects and the stories they tell.
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/b...
www.nytimes.com/2025/11/05/b...
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
Let there be light-activated arynes!
Check out my write-up for @cenmag.bsky.social of
@cortnieroberts.bsky.social and her team's illuminating new work in Nature:
cen.acs.org/synthesis/re...
Check out my write-up for @cenmag.bsky.social of
@cortnieroberts.bsky.social and her team's illuminating new work in Nature:
cen.acs.org/synthesis/re...
Let there be light-activated arynes
Making these strained intermediates just got easier, thanks to new precursors that react in the presence of blue light
cen.acs.org
November 5, 2025 at 8:18 PM
Let there be light-activated arynes!
Check out my write-up for @cenmag.bsky.social of
@cortnieroberts.bsky.social and her team's illuminating new work in Nature:
cen.acs.org/synthesis/re...
Check out my write-up for @cenmag.bsky.social of
@cortnieroberts.bsky.social and her team's illuminating new work in Nature:
cen.acs.org/synthesis/re...
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
Noninvasive Assessment of Liver Fibrosis
The prognosis of liver disease depends on the extent of fibrosis, which is usually staged with the use of liver biopsy. The limitations of biopsy have led to the development of noninvasive tests
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
The prognosis of liver disease depends on the extent of fibrosis, which is usually staged with the use of liver biopsy. The limitations of biopsy have led to the development of noninvasive tests
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
November 5, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Noninvasive Assessment of Liver Fibrosis
The prognosis of liver disease depends on the extent of fibrosis, which is usually staged with the use of liver biopsy. The limitations of biopsy have led to the development of noninvasive tests
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
The prognosis of liver disease depends on the extent of fibrosis, which is usually staged with the use of liver biopsy. The limitations of biopsy have led to the development of noninvasive tests
www.nejm.org/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
Charlene Yeong works as a veterinarian with animals from zoos and those native to Singapore
go.nature.com/47kxja2
go.nature.com/47kxja2
From pangolins to primates: how I use zoo facilities to treat wild animals
Charlene Yeong works as a veterinarian with animals from zoos and those native to Singapore.
go.nature.com
November 4, 2025 at 9:17 AM
Charlene Yeong works as a veterinarian with animals from zoos and those native to Singapore
go.nature.com/47kxja2
go.nature.com/47kxja2
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
Reporter @virginiagewin.bsky.social interviewed 19 current and former US federal agency scientists about the science being dismantled at EPA, NOAA, NASA, CDC, NIH, & USGS.
They say it's making America unprepared for environmental and public health crises.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
They say it's making America unprepared for environmental and public health crises.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Dismantling of US federal agencies will ‘destroy science’
From NASA to the National Institutes of Health, federal agencies conduct research that universities cannot. Agency scientists speak out about the irreplaceable facilities, institutional knowledge and ...
www.nature.com
November 4, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Reporter @virginiagewin.bsky.social interviewed 19 current and former US federal agency scientists about the science being dismantled at EPA, NOAA, NASA, CDC, NIH, & USGS.
They say it's making America unprepared for environmental and public health crises.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
They say it's making America unprepared for environmental and public health crises.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
Olympe de Gouges was executed #OTD 1793. A pioneering French feminist and abolitionist, de Gouges wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen in 1791, demanding equal rights for women during the French Revolution.
November 3, 2025 at 5:19 PM
Olympe de Gouges was executed #OTD 1793. A pioneering French feminist and abolitionist, de Gouges wrote the Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen in 1791, demanding equal rights for women during the French Revolution.
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
“I think it’s important to share knowledge as journalists with each other” on how to do this work well, @mariaparazorose.bsky.social tells @willvh.bsky.social, “so that media is better at large.” She and other journalists share how to report well on communities to which they don’t belong. 🧪
Outside In: Covering Communities as an Outsider - The Open Notebook
Plenty of important science stories happen in communities where some people, for a variety of valid reasons, might be hesitant to talk to journalists coming from outside their borders or culture. That...
www.theopennotebook.com
November 4, 2025 at 1:26 AM
“I think it’s important to share knowledge as journalists with each other” on how to do this work well, @mariaparazorose.bsky.social tells @willvh.bsky.social, “so that media is better at large.” She and other journalists share how to report well on communities to which they don’t belong. 🧪
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
Nature reporters' ongoing coverage of Trump 2.0 impacts on science and scientists is collected here: www.nature.com/collections/...
Reach me at alexwitze.01 on Signal, or witzescience[at]gmail.com, with tips, feedback, follow-ups, anything we should be covering, etc.
Reach me at alexwitze.01 on Signal, or witzescience[at]gmail.com, with tips, feedback, follow-ups, anything we should be covering, etc.
How Trump 2.0 is reshaping science
Since US President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, his team has made major changes to the federal government that have disrupted research and ...
www.nature.com
April 7, 2025 at 5:54 PM
Nature reporters' ongoing coverage of Trump 2.0 impacts on science and scientists is collected here: www.nature.com/collections/...
Reach me at alexwitze.01 on Signal, or witzescience[at]gmail.com, with tips, feedback, follow-ups, anything we should be covering, etc.
Reach me at alexwitze.01 on Signal, or witzescience[at]gmail.com, with tips, feedback, follow-ups, anything we should be covering, etc.
In war torn regions, scientists face harassment, destroyed laboratories and lost funding. In exile, they struggle to rebuild careers amid insecurity, trauma and new academic systems. My new feature "Science in exile: how displaced African researchers are rebuilding careers abroad".
Science in exile: how displaced African researchers are rebuilding careers abroad
In war torn regions, scientists face harassment, destroyed laboratories and lost funding. In exile, they struggle to rebuild careers amid insecurity, trauma and new academic systems.
doi.org
November 2, 2025 at 9:23 PM
In war torn regions, scientists face harassment, destroyed laboratories and lost funding. In exile, they struggle to rebuild careers amid insecurity, trauma and new academic systems. My new feature "Science in exile: how displaced African researchers are rebuilding careers abroad".
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
By studying the process through which a soil bacterium naturally produces a well-known drug, scientists have discovered a powerful antibiotic that could help to fight drug-resistant infections
go.nature.com/4oQ8bxO
go.nature.com/4oQ8bxO
Powerful new antibiotic that can kill superbugs discovered in soil bacteria
Surprise discovery could pave the way for new treatments against drug-resistant infections.
go.nature.com
October 31, 2025 at 5:17 PM
By studying the process through which a soil bacterium naturally produces a well-known drug, scientists have discovered a powerful antibiotic that could help to fight drug-resistant infections
go.nature.com/4oQ8bxO
go.nature.com/4oQ8bxO
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
Know what's spooky 👻 ? Searching for a science writer and NOT finding them in The Open Notebook's global Science Writer's Database. Slither on over 🐍 and add yourself today. 🧪
Science Writers Database - The Open Notebook
A free, global database of journalists, writers, editors, and other science communicators.
www.theopennotebook.com
October 31, 2025 at 4:41 PM
Know what's spooky 👻 ? Searching for a science writer and NOT finding them in The Open Notebook's global Science Writer's Database. Slither on over 🐍 and add yourself today. 🧪
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
The historic Vivian Slate Quarry in Llanberis, Gwynedd, rises out of dense autumn woodland with its narrow galleries visible 😮🍂
Now a scheduled monument, the quarry forms part of the Welsh Slate World Heritage Landscape
📷 My own, last weekend
🤔 coflein.gov.uk/en/site/40571
Now a scheduled monument, the quarry forms part of the Welsh Slate World Heritage Landscape
📷 My own, last weekend
🤔 coflein.gov.uk/en/site/40571
October 30, 2025 at 7:00 AM
The historic Vivian Slate Quarry in Llanberis, Gwynedd, rises out of dense autumn woodland with its narrow galleries visible 😮🍂
Now a scheduled monument, the quarry forms part of the Welsh Slate World Heritage Landscape
📷 My own, last weekend
🤔 coflein.gov.uk/en/site/40571
Now a scheduled monument, the quarry forms part of the Welsh Slate World Heritage Landscape
📷 My own, last weekend
🤔 coflein.gov.uk/en/site/40571
Reposted by Shihab Jamal
Interested in science writing degree programs? Here’s a list of more than 50 in the U.S. that offer specialized undergraduate or graduate degree programs or individual courses in science, health, or environmental writing. 🧪
Science Writing Resources (Elsewhere) That We Like - The Open Notebook
We aren't the only show in town when it comes to supporting high-quality science journalism! On this page, you’ll find lots of other resources (elsewhere) that center on science journalism craft, incl...
www.theopennotebook.com
October 30, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Interested in science writing degree programs? Here’s a list of more than 50 in the U.S. that offer specialized undergraduate or graduate degree programs or individual courses in science, health, or environmental writing. 🧪