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MK asked, rhetorically, Do you still listen to the same music you listened to, say, 20 years ago? Sometimes, yes. Even the same books, on occasion... Of course I appreciate them at a much higher level now. Jon Turney 020 7639 5713 (home) >From: Michael Kenward <[log in to unmask]> >Reply-To: "psci-com: on public engagement with science" ><[log in to unmask]> >TMK o: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: [PSCI-COM] Does New Scientist help scientists? >Date: Thu, 23 Nov 2006 19:36:12 -0000 > >Susan Watts, Lawrence McGinty, Tom Wilkie, Bill O'Neill, Colin Tudge. The >lst of New Scientist alumni is endless. > >And it was wonderful to renew acquaintances with many of them at last >night's 50th birthday party for the scurrilous rag, which now sells more >than 170,000 copies a week. (I forget the exact number, maybe it was >180,000, a mere 70 per cent or more increase over the past 15 years.) The >publishing director puts a lot of the recent growth down to the fact that >people find New Scientist through its web sites and then sign up for the >magazine. > >Whenever a reader complains of inaccuracy, they often mean that the stuff >they read fails to have all the provisos and qualifiers beloved of >scientists in their own usually turgid output. (I'm not complaining about >the crap writing of researchers, I earn a living rescuing it, but rare is >the scientists I will listen to when it comes to writing.) > >In my day, the line was that New Scientist wrote physics for chemist, >biologists, geologists etc, and geology for chemists... I would be most >surprised if this were not the line today. > >Today's New Scientist is not the sort of magazine that I would want to >edit. >But apart from the fact that I don't want to edit any magazine, there would >be something terribly wrong if it were. > >A magazine that fails to develop is doomed to failure. And a reader who >fails to develop new interests, and ways of looking at the world, is dull >beyond belief. (Do you still listen to the same music you listened to, say, >20 years ago?) > >As the editor of New Scientist said at the party, the magazine has the >great >virtue in that its subject makes it future proof. And that is something >that >you cannot say for every area of science. > >MK > >_______________________________________________________________________ >Michael Kenward OBE / Phone: +44 (0)1444 401064 > / Mobile: 07779 294 283 >Science Writer & Stuff / Have words will travel > > > > >-----Original Message----- >From: psci-com: on public engagement with science >[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Hugh Aldersey-Williams >Sent: 23 November 2006 15:34 >To: [log in to unmask] >Subject: Re: [PSCI-COM] Does New Scientist help scientists? > >Further to this, I think it's important to note the trickle-down >effect (legacy?) NS has had in the wider press. Many broadsheet and >other science correspondents (Steve Connor, Pallab Ghosh, Charles >Arthur et al) cut their teeth at the magazine, and for better or >worse the stylistic idiom they picked up there colours the way we all >read science in Britain. > >Hugh > > >Hear hear! > > > >I'm pleased somebody has spoken up for New Scientist. I personally think >is > >an excellent publication but even if I didn't rate it at all somebody >needed > >to put the grumpy comments we've been getting into perspective. The > >responses so far seem to be addressing features rather than reporting and > >comment sections. It may be that the features are the least 'useful' to > >scientists qua scientists, but it would be a mistake to judge the utility >of > >the whole magazine by just one type of article. A large chunk of the > >high-quality science reporting and comment (as distinct from features) >we've > >come to rely upon is accounted for by New Scientist. Scientists should >value > >New Scientist simply because it helps to keep reporting standards high. >Who > >else could you rely upon to place your field in its wider context? > > > >Adam > > > > > > > >-----Original Message----- > >From: psci-com: on public engagement with science > >[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Murphy Glenn > >Sent: 23 November 2006 13:13 > >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 > > > > > > > > > >This e-mail and attachments are intended for the named addressee only and > >are confidential. If you have received this e-mail in error please notify > >the sender immediately, delete the message from your computer system and > >destroy any copies. Any views expressed in this message are those of the > >individual sender and may not reflect the views of the National Museum of > >Science & Industry. This email has been scanned for all viruses by the > >MessageLabs Email Security System. > > > >********************************************************************** > >1. To suspend yourself from the list, whilst on leave, for example, > >send an email to [log in to unmask] with the following message: > >set psci-com nomail > >2. To resume email from the list, send the following message: > >set psci-com mail > >3. To leave psci-com, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the > >message: > >leave psci-com > >4. Further information about the psci-com discussion list, including list > >archive, > >can be found at the list web site: > >http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/psci-com.html > >5. 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The psci-com gateway to internet resources on science communication and >science >and society can be found at http://psci-com.ac.uk >********************************************************************** > >********************************************************************** >1. To suspend yourself from the list, whilst on leave, for example, >send an email to [log in to unmask] with the following message: >set psci-com nomail >2. To resume email from the list, send the following message: >set psci-com mail >3. To leave psci-com, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the >message: >leave psci-com >4. Further information about the psci-com discussion list, including list >archive, >can be found at the list web site: >http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/psci-com.html >5. The psci-com gateway to internet resources on science communication and >science >and society can be found at http://psci-com.ac.uk >********************************************************************** > >********************************************************************** >1. To suspend yourself from the list, whilst on leave, for example, >send an email to [log in to unmask] with the following message: >set psci-com nomail >2. To resume email from the list, send the following message: >set psci-com mail >3. To leave psci-com, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the >message: >leave psci-com >4. Further information about the psci-com discussion list, including list >archive, >can be found at the list web site: >http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/psci-com.html >5. The psci-com gateway to internet resources on science communication and >science >and society can be found at http://psci-com.ac.uk >********************************************************************** _________________________________________________________________ Be the first to hear what's new at MSN - sign up to our free newsletters! http://www.msn.co.uk/newsletters ********************************************************************** 1. To suspend yourself from the list, whilst on leave, for example, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the following message: set psci-com nomail 2. To resume email from the list, send the following message: set psci-com mail 3. To leave psci-com, send an email to [log in to unmask] with the message: leave psci-com 4. Further information about the psci-com discussion list, including list archive, can be found at the list web site: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/psci-com.html 5. 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