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
>
>
>
>
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