Never sure about anything
How scientists think. Plus: book and music appearances, interesting links and more!
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Scientists are never certain about anything. In many other careers, like politics or sales, admitting that you aren’t really sure about your knowledge can make you seem uninformed or even incompetent. But for scientists, it’s an important part of their job to say not only “I am not sure” but to give an estimate of how sure they are. And that estimate rarely, if ever, reaches 100%, because there is always a chance that a new discovery comes along that refines the previous one. So scientists will often use the words “likely”, “possible”, or “may”.
I haven’t been a researcher in years and I still do it myself. Earlier in this paragraph I wrote “many other careers”, “can make you seem” and “rarely, if ever”. It’s a habit that stuck from my days as a scientist, but it’s also very useful in journalism as a way to still be able to talk about things for which evidence is unclear.
I got to thinking about uncertainty and scientists because Physics World asked me to review Third Millennium Thinking, by Saul Perlmutter, Robert MacCoun and John Campbell. This book teaches you how you can think like a scientist in all kinds of situations, and considering uncertainty is a big part of that.
Before we move on to the Interesting Links, I’ve got to let you know about a couple of book/music/scicomm updates and appearances. Sorry, it’s a lot. I’ve been busy.
Music updates
Did you know that I’m also a violinist? On May 12 I’ll be in Holland as part of the international B.A.N.D.O.C. orchestra that will accompany nine Dutch/British/Swedish bands and singers for one night only. It’s a Buswell & Nyberg production, and all their projects are always very fun and unique so this is not to be missed. If you’re in the Hoofddorp area you can listen in person, and if you’re anywhere else you can listen to the livestream (or re-listen later). We’d love a big audience and your support would show that there is a demand for creative new ideas in live music.
Book updates
Hey, There’s Science In This is starting to get reviews on Amazon and Goodreads and people seem to like it! Everyone seems to get a favourite new piece of science trivia from the essays, and that’s exactly what I was hoping for. If you haven’t got a copy yet, check here for a non-exhaustive list of some bookstores that carry it worldwide.
I’m also doing a few HTSIT-related talks in the coming weeks.
On June 7 I will be speaking to researchers about finding a “hook” for your science stories, and relate that to some examples from the book. This is online and on-demand via Bitsesize Bio. Register here.
On June 19 I’ll be in London at PubSci to do a book talk where I’ll also have some copies of HTSIT available for signing. (Or bring the copy you already own!) Once tickets are available (in early June), they’ll be here.
Finally, in other book news, I have a whole other book coming out on May 2nd! Biology: 100 Ideas in 100 Words is part of a series of books from DK Books and the Science Museum that takes readers through 100 of the main topics in a field. It’s for adults (and young adults, age 16+) and covers topics at approximately high school level, so it’s ideal for people who want a quick crash course.
(Don’t worry, I am only in the very early stages of a proposal for the next book, so it will be a while until I have another book out. I’m not James Patterson!)
SciComm updates
This is only relevant for those of you who are science communicators or science writers, but I recently made a bunch of changes and upgrades to the SciComm Coworking Discord server. You can explore there to see what it’s all about.
💡Interesting links
Finally, after all those messages, here’s your fortnightly dose of interesting links.
Scientists translate sleeping birds’ silent songs into sound—and they may have recorded a nightmare. By Sarah Kuta for Smithsonian Magazine.
Cicadas are emerging now. How do they know when to come out? By Carl Zimmer for New York Times (gift link)
How scientists are making the most of Reddit. By Hannah Docter-Loeb for Nature
Can you really run on top of a train, like in the movies? By Rhett Allain for Wired
Millions of Borderlands 3 players have helped microbiome research. By me for Forbes online