I completely agree...and couldn't have put it better myself. Although I now work as a science journalist (not for NS, btw!), I worked as a research scientist for a number of years and found that NS (among other publications) gave me a 'big picture' view on the relevance of my field (and of science in general) to society ...and was an occassional reminder of why I was doing it in the first place,
Regards,
Olive
-----Original Message-----
From: psci-com: on public engagement with science [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Murphy Glenn
Sent: Thursday, November 23, 2006 1:13 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [PSCI-COM] Does New Scientist help scientists?
The pretext for this question was "does NS help scientists?"
Most of the answers so far seem to have been to the question "does NS
give you watertight, peer-reviewed, up-to-date information on work being
done in your field, leading you to new avenues of inquiry?"
I would argue that this is not the purpose of a generalist publication
like NS. And I would also argue that it does help scientists, by
providing a wider context for our work.
True, NS might not tell you anything new about your own field - but why
would you expect it to? The very nature of science determines that
fields of study are divided and sub-divided until each individual ends
up working on a very narrow, specific question or area of research. Once
there, you become an authority on that area, and the longer you work on
it, the more of an authority you become. Possibly THE authority,
depending on how narrow the field is. (It's much easier to become the
world authority on the breeding behaviour of one species of abyssal
trench fish, for example, than it is to become the world authority on
marine ecosystem evolution, worldwide.)
Hence, it's easy to scoff at a NS article (about your, specific
sub-field) as being "old news" or "outdated" if all you ever do is study
that field and its developments. But unless you're so arrogant as to
presume that you know everything about every field of science (and if
so, please ignore my humble musings, as you are clearly a remarkable
polymath the likes of which I could not even hope to understand)...then
there is always something new to learn about other people's work (and
possibly even your own), provided you're open to it.
The way I see it, generalist publications like New Scientist have the
near-impossible task of trying to keep pace with rapid, worldwide
developments in an almost infinite range of infinitely-subdivided
fields...and then writing something new and interesting about them that
SOMEBODY OUTSIDE THE FIELD might want to read. I'm not talking about
someone outside the field of science - just outside the scope of the
article (be it marine ecosystems, abyssal trench fish, or whatever). We
are all laymen outside of our own fields of knowledge. Anyone that tells
you different is deluded or selling something.
Personally, I've always found NS to be extremely engaging and
interesting, and I feel that it helps by placing a huge variety of
contemporary research in context. In doing so, it can also introduce us
to associations between fields, and to the wider environmental,
socioeconomic and political issues involved - making us think about how
we feel about them. If you'd rather avoid dallying with these tedious
trifles, then a good field-specific journal should provide a welcome and
preferable haven.
Regards
G
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