It used to be that scientists reached the public directly. Galileo started that, early in the 1600s, by writing in the people's Italian instead of the elite's Latin. Newton wrote Principia Mathematica himself, too, and earned his reputation from a broad European readership who worked out his examples themselves. Even as late as 1859, Darwin published On the Origin of Species By Means of Natural Selection with the lay reader in mind as well as his fellow naturalists.
Those days are mostly gone. Science, the press, and the public are too complex now, and science news reaches the public through science writers and reporters.
The Writers
Today the highly educated audience is relatively small, and while many scientists still write books for the general public and for students, their research is confined to the journals. For the mass audience, which is not highly educated and which doesn't have time for a lot of detail, print and electronic journalists serve the need. The best of these can follow the experts while describing their work with a common touch.
The National Association of Science Writers formed in 1934 and remains the foremost body in this field. The NASW Web site hosts home pages for about 75 very different science writers, some of whom have geology backgrounds. The FAQ for New and Aspiring Science Writers on the NASW site is a good look at this profession.
The Ancillaries
Among the members of the NASW are some of the little-celebrated PIOs, or public information officers. These people are not flacks, but valuable intermediaries between the ivory tower and the pressroom—because reporters need all the help they can get. A career as a PIO is a viable life path for anyone whose interests straddle science and news.For instance, take a look at AGIWeb, a large and active site maintained by the American Geological Institute, or the American Geophysical Union's site. The people who produce these are science writers, no matter what their titles are, and while much of the material on the site is aimed at journalists or scientists, you can also join the audience.
Another part of the scene is the field of science editing. It's how I got my own ringside seat in the scientific arena, and if it piques your interest you might contact one of the NASW's local affiliates, like the Northern California Science Writers Association or the SWINY branch serving New York. There's also the more specialized Association of Earth Science Editors.
Although nearly every company and university on the Web has a page for press releases, few are as elaborate and useful as the EurekAlert! service maintained by the American Assocation for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), publishers of Science magazine. This is a one-stop shop for the latest science stories and wannabe stories from hundreds of institutions ranging from the AAAS itself to Zynyx Marketing Communications. Whatever big science story you heard about this week, there's probably a fat press release full of background on EurekAlert. Often that's the closest you can get to the source, but just as often a press release is only the start of exploring behind the news.
The Bloggers
With the rise of easy blogging software, the Web has opened a new arena for disseminating science news. It is hard to say much about today, because blogging is so new its future is not clear and yet blogging is so common we all know what it's about. But if Galileo lived today, I am sure he would have a blog.
Some blogs are featuring discourse of the highest quality and are worthy outposts of the "clear literature." Others merely pass along headlines, but that is not something to dismiss when readers seek them out. In the matter of geology blogs, I side with Mao: let a hundred flowers bloom.
Every kind of science writer I've mentioned—including the scientist—has made inroads into the blogs. But for all of them, blogging is a part-time occupation today, at least in geology.
PS: For a contrarian view, read and digest Jon Franklin's essay on "The End of Science Writing," where he argues that science writers should drop the "science" from their titles as fast as they can.
