News Currents for January 27: Theoretical Basketball

This week, the journal PLoS One published a paper by a University of Minnesota physicist , Brian Skinner. His paper didn't describe a new particle or phenomenon, but it did reveal something basketball coaches might want to consider: their teams might be costing themselves wins by passing up good shots early in an offensive possession.

Update on Trapping Antimatter Atoms

Antimatter is the stuff of science fiction, but it is also occupies the center of many of the most pressing unsolved physics questions of our day. This afternoon, I attended a seminar by Harvard University's Phil Richerme at the Joint Quantum Institute on the University of Maryland campus providing an update on one of the difficult modern-day physics accomplishments: making antimatter versions of entire atoms. Anti-atoms have been made for about a decade now, but scientists are trying to move to the next step: holding and studying them for long periods of time, an endeavor that promises many new insights in physics.

Inking Your Science

Note: Neither a real squid, nor a real tattoo. 

Of all the tours taking place this afternoon during the ScienceOnline 2012 #scio12 conference, one in particular is likely to make quite an impression on some of its participants. More accurately, a very permanent mark indeed. In case you haven't figured it out, we're talking about tattoos here.

News Currents for January 20

This week, I have come across a number of interesting stories that touch on the boundaries of science's ability to answer significant questions.

The New York Times Magazine has a tremendous story on a double-amputee runner from South Africa, Oscar Pistorius, who has run the 400 meters in times that are respectable for Olympic-level sprinters. The science questions in this piece are about the quality of his prostheses and if they provide him with an unfair advantage in competition. Scientists disagree and some think he should be prohibited from competition.

Guardian Newspaper: Nine Ways Scientists Don’t Understand Journalism

At Inside Science, our role as science writers and editors is to disseminate news about science to as large and wide an audience as we can reach in the general public.  Ananyo Bhattacharya, Nature’s chief online editor, wrote the following article for the Guardian newpaper. It's circulating widely, and we thought it’s definitely worth sharing. We would love to hear your comments about it:

A Mutual Understanding: 'Let's do better'

A few days ago while perusing the #scio12 post on Twitter I came across a RT with a link to the below diagram.  

Blogging The MSM - Afternoon Discussion Session

There's a great discussion happening right now about the pros and cons, pitfalls, challenges etc. about science blogging and the mainstream media (MSM), Going from blogging to MSM: selling out or gateway drug?

Moderated by two Scientific American bloggers, Hannah Waters and Lucas Brouwers, we're discussing how the rise of science blogging has ushered in a new generation of writers who have more experience with blogging than with writing for traditional publications.