Looking for good science journalism

January 6, 2021 7:52 AM

Hi, folks. Like the title says, I'm looking for good writing on science -- not scholarly journals, but stuff aimed at curious and moderately intelligent mainstream reader. I'm defining science as physics, biology, chemistry, computer science, and not so much medicine/health/coronavirus.

The sources could be magazines (something like Discover, at least the way I remember it in the '80s) or reporters at mainstream orgs (Chris Mooney's writing on climate change at the WaPo and Ed Yong at the Atlantic, at least before he concentrated on covid-19, both come to mind).

There was an AskMefi thread on this, but it was 2009, which in the media landscape might as well be in the Ice Ages. That thread did list Scientific American, Nature, Science, and Science News, among others. Any suggestions that can expand on that would be much appreciated.

Secondarily, for my crazy brilliant coder/hacker/maker son, I'd love any magazines etc. where people write about making stuff -- 3D printing and modeling, making IoT devices, stuff you can do with Raspberry Pi and its ilk, etc.

Thanks!

posted by martin q blank to Science & Nature (22 answers total)

The Economist has a fairly good science section; about half their articles are written to the level of someone having had an advanced high school course in the relevant topic. About once every 2 months they write a longer form article which is often quite detailed.
posted by Nelson at 8:00 AM on January 6, 2021

The New Scientist is also pretty much what you are after - I currently have a subscription and really enjoy it. Caveat - it has been somewhat dominated by COVID for the past year for obvious reasons, but still covers a great deal that I think would be of interest to you.
posted by Chairboy at 8:06 AM on January 6, 2021

I can highly recommend two books by Bill Bryson. They are "A short history of nearly everything" and "The body a guide for occupants". They are intended for the non-scientific reader and written in his wonderful style of prose that is a joy to read. The first book covers "nearly" everything from the big bang to the building of civilization. The other book explains "everything" about how the human body functions. Both books are easy to read while covering heavy scientific subjects. Note: Bryson's other books are as wonderful to read and cover several different subjects. I like him so much I named my cat after him, and no, my cat's name is not Bill.
posted by ydaltak at 8:35 AM on January 6, 2021

There is a Best American Science and Nature Writing anthology that comes out annually (2020 here) - perhaps reading the table of contents will help you locate some magazines that have consistently good science writing. I also enjoy reading the selected essays each year (though typically I have read some of them already).
posted by hepta at 8:49 AM on January 6, 2021

Phys.org is pretty good (and not just physics, despite the name).

Honestly, though. I think one of the best sources of current science journalism is the podcast Science Vs. It is really well done, thoughtful science journalism. It doesn't explicitly avoid medicine/health/coronavirus, but it also does other things and talks interestingly about the science behind those topics.
posted by Betelgeuse at 8:52 AM on January 6, 2021

In Defense of Plants covers botany, along with many other aspects of biology, as well as conservation, paleontology, biological analysis, and sheer beauty. Endlessly fascinating, and the podcast is great!
posted by Drosera at 8:56 AM on January 6, 2021

Carl Zimmer is good. From WP, he " is a popular science writer, blogger, columnist, and journalist who specializes in the topics of evolution, parasites, and heredity. He is the author of many books and contributes science essays to publications such as The New York Times. "

Tetrapod Zoology is a good blog and podcast for that type of material.
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:59 AM on January 6, 2021

The weekly radio show from CBC Quirks and Quarks has been a staple of my media diet for decades. Each show covers a range of topics, often interviews the actual researcher. They often make concerted efforts to address systemic deficiencies, like they spent a year focused on promoting emerging scientists. Frankly I was skeptical at first, but these folks had an enthusiasm to share and WAS THE BEST. It rarely goes for 'novelty science' which is usually the problem with these sorts of general science programs.

Their years best show is a great introduction.
posted by zenon at 9:01 AM on January 6, 2021

Quanta Magazine has particularly good coverage of math and theoretical physics for a popular science outlet.
posted by yarntheory at 9:03 AM on January 6, 2021

I like Science Daily--they are articles about recently published research, so there is just enough speculation and commentary to get an idea about the findings.
posted by th3ph17 at 9:03 AM on January 6, 2021

One of my favorite science writers is John Horgan. He has a blog at the Scientific American website, and his other SciAm articles are here. He's also written some excellent books. You can see his Amazon page here.

Another good science journalist is Maia Szalavitz, though she does tend to focus more on medical issues (particularly addiction).

Richard Dawkins is another excellent writer, and he has the benefit of being an actual scientist, as opposed to a science journalist. His book, The Selfish Gene, is in my top-five books of all time.
posted by alex1965 at 9:05 AM on January 6, 2021

Sciencebasedmedicine.org goes after antivax, health fads, "alternative facts", and other unscientific shenanigans related to medicine and science. Almost always written by real MDs, but occasionally a lawyer or two.
posted by kschang at 10:02 AM on January 6, 2021

You might enjoy the Royal Institution Christmas lectures, which are aimed at schoolchildren but are very enjoyable for adults and cover modern science in an accessible way. Any of the lecturers would be a good reliable and relatable source.

My other recommendation is Ben Goldacre, who is about good evidence-based science, particularly medicine. He doesn't blog much lately but does write in other venues.
posted by plonkee at 10:50 AM on January 6, 2021

Nature's website and podcast are *great* when it comes to science journalism, giving approachable coverage for those with a science/engineering backgrounds to the articles they publish in their journals.
posted by chiefthe at 10:56 AM on January 6, 2021

Hakai Magazine is great. Tagline "Coastal science and societies."
posted by spamandkimchi at 11:10 AM on January 6, 2021

The Pulitzer Center has some environmental journalism projects.

I'd go for a snowball sampling / social network search and check out the Twitter accounts of science journalists you like to see who they follow and repost. I used to find a fair amount of science news via Deep Sea News, but they stopped posting regularly. It might be worth tracking down their writer/scientists via Twitter. They often partnered with Southern Fried Science, which is still posting.
posted by spamandkimchi at 11:21 AM on January 6, 2021

My scientist husband really likes Ed Yong
posted by The Librarian at 11:59 AM on January 6, 2021

If you're looking for journalism specifically, Emily Atkin does a great job covering climate science on Heated: https://heated.world
posted by crookedgrin at 4:01 PM on January 6, 2021

Unfortunately looks like it petered out in 2019 but Rob Reid's After On podcast was great longform science and technology journalism, centered on interviews with luminaries in their fields, on a variety of topics. Seemingly inspired by Reid's activities as a science fiction author, so it might particularly be a fit for the “crazy brilliant coder/hacker/maker son” demographic. (Though, I should note, IIRC in the episodes I listened to he'd mention his novels a few times so there was a bit of product placement, but he didn't get carried away.)
posted by XMLicious at 5:58 PM on January 6, 2021

A previous query on the green:
https://ask.metafilter.com/349624/Science-magazines-for-layperson
posted by sebastienbailard at 6:38 PM on January 6, 2021

Derek Lowe's multi-decade running "In the Pipeline" column/blog, hosted at Science Translational Medicine journal, has you covered for science-based analyses of COVID, the pharmaceutical industry and drug discovery.
posted by lalochezia at 11:48 AM on January 7, 2021

I think RadioLab is a great example of this. technically a podcast, but, hey, they transcribe their episodes!

This is a good one: https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/segments/91706-lucy
posted by jander03 at 12:35 PM on January 8, 2021