It’s time for November’s Science Writer Tip-Jar picks. For those new to this, here’s the low-down: Throughout the blogosphere, people produce fantastic writing for free. That’s great, but I believe that good writers should get paid for good work. To set an example, I choose ten pieces every month that were written for free and I donate £3 to the author. There are no formal criteria other than I found them unusually interesting, enjoyable and/or important. I also encourage readers to support these writers through two buttons on the sidebar. There are two ways to help. Any donations via “Support Science Writers” are evenly distributed to chosen ten at the end of the month. Donations via the “Support NERS” button go to me; I match a third of the total figure and send that to the chosen writers too. So without further ado, and in no particular order, here are the picks:
David Tuller for this thorough piece on the tangled history of research into chronic fatigue syndrome.
Shara Yurkiewicz for a beautiful post about a psychiatric interview.
Carl Zimmer on whether teaching is a uniquely human behaviour, and on Svante Paabo’s remarkable work on Neanderthals
Virginia Hughes for a personal take on peering into the minds of minimally conscious patients, and a story of the male birth control pill involving five decades, vitamin A, booze, bad jokes, and a potential compound called “Win”.
Emily Finke for a wonderful post on finding the spectacular in your own backyard
Steve Silberman for his story about Susan Kare, the iconic icon-designer who gave computing a human face.
Patrick Clarkin for his methodical look at the links between poverty, inequality, and obesity
David Dobbs for this clarion call: “I call on science writers everywhere, writing about behavioral genetics: Do Better.”
Al Dove for his lovely story about how a baby turtle reaches the sea, featuring Robo-turtle and Blake
Carin Bondar for her great idea of handing HD flip cameras to field biologists, editing them and shooting her own presenter segments.
