Tips on writing an introductory paragraph
#sciencewriters #medicalwriters #STEM

[NOTE, this is as seen on Twitter, and was developed by Dr Asad Naveed]

Are you stuck in your research paper's introduction paragraph again?

Here is a 3-step framework on how to write a compelling introduction section of your paper (see diagram):
1. Attention (labelled orange):

Write about what is known.

Define the problem and grab your reader's attention with a quote, or a statistic.
2. Connection (labelled light blue):

Write about what is unknown.

What is yet to be found?
3. Thesis (labelled dark blue & purple):

Write about how you will fill the gap and your rationale, purpose and hypothesis.

A well-written introduction can set the stage for your research and establish context and relevance.

This approach allows you to start broadly and narrow down as you progress.

Eventually, this framework will keep your reader engaged from the very beginning.

It'll also act as a roadmap guiding the reader through your argument.

If you want to see more tips like this and you have a blue bird account, look for: @dr_asadnaveed

You can't stop evolution
#evolution #sciencejournalists #medicalwriters #stem

A paper published in Nature yesterday reports on how an engineered minimal cell contends with the forces of evolution.

Open access paper available here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-06288-x

Dr Veera M. Rajagopal on Twitter has a good summary on the development of the minimal genome (the barest minimum of a bacterial genome required for life), which led to the engineering of the minimal cell.

If you're on Twitter, it's available here: https://twitter.com/doctorveera/status/1676734754995961858

According to the Nature paper: even when you reduce a bacterial genome to its absolute minimum where every nucleotide matters, the genome undergoes mutational events generation after generation as much as the non-minimal genome. One simply cannot stop the evolution.

As posted on the Nobel Prize profile on Twitter.
#sciencejournalists #medicalwriters #womeninstem

Today we remember one of the world's greatest scientists: Marie Skłodowska Curie, who died #OTD in 1934.

Curie was the first person to be awarded the #NobelPrize twice and is still the only person to receive the prize in two different scientific fields.

The link below gives a short overview of her achievements, as posted by the Nobel Prize on Twitter.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/xJ9G_jFqk2U

The myth that vaccines cause autism
#sciencejournalists #medicalwriters #womeninstem #vaccines #autism

Demystified by Dr Susan Oliver on Twitter. I am tooting her tweet here.

Thanks to Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the myth that vaccines cause autism is doing the rounds again. [Dr Susan Oliver says] Cindy and I explain why it is bollocks.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_w7vocY4YM

Five women scientists at the White House
#WomenInSTEM #womeninmedicine
#medicalwriters #sciencejournalists #medicaljournalists

An astronaut, an aquanaut, two astrophysicists and a molecular biologist.
Dr Sian Proctor, Sydney Hamilton, Dr Raven Baxter, Dr Jordan Foreman, and Amethyst Barnes.

@DrSianProctor
@SeeSydSoar
@ravenscimaven
@itsspacejordan
@Amethistaaa

This appeared to be an event to celebrate Blackspaceweek and the NASA Artemis Generation Roundtable (apologies if the information is incorrect)

New Nature article looks at how to end misogyny and inequalities in science
#WomenInSTEM #womeninmedicine
#medicalwriters #sciencejournalists #medicaljournalists

Don’t get mad, get equal: putting an end to misogyny in science
Subtle forms of misogyny attack female leadership and coerce women to conform to conventional gender norms. It’s time to call out these behaviours, say Alison Bentley and Rachael Garrett.
Article available at: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02101-x

Meet 10 Women in Science Who Changed the World
#WomenInSTEM #womeninmedicine
#medicalwriters #sciencejournalists #medicaljournalists

Great article in the March Discover magazine. The 10 women mentioned in the article are:
1. Ada Lovelace, Mathematician
2. Marie Curie, Physicist and Chemist
3. Janaki Ammal, Botanist
4. Chien-Shiung Wu, Physicist
5. Katherine Johnson, Mathematician
6. Rosalind Franklin, Chemist
7. Vera Rubin, Astronomer
8. Gladys West, Mathematician
9. Flossie Wong-Staal, Virologist and Molecular Biologist
10. Jennifer Doudna, Biochemist

The prognosis for women with early invasive breast cancer has improved substantially since the 1990s
#breastcancer #medicaljournalists #womeninstem #medicalwriters

[Retooted with hashtags and error amended]

The earlier we detect and treat breast cancer, the better the outcome.

FREE Science journalism masterclasses
#sciencejournalists #free #medicalwriters #womeninstem

The Open Notebook’s Science Journalism Master Classes will help you sharpen your ability to find and vet story ideas, craft effective pitches, report and write impactful stories, spot scientific hype, collaborate with editors, and more. Find out more about the classes below.

https://www.theopennotebook.com/science-journalism-master-classes/

Women diagnosed today are 66% less likely to die from breast cancer than 20 years ago
#breastcancer #medicaljournalists #womeninstem #medicalwriters

In a study looking at half a million women in England with early breast cancer, those diagnosed between 1993-1999 had a 5-year breast cancer mortality risk of 14.4%, but those diagnosed 2010-2015 had a 5-year mortality risk of 4.9%.

Read the full paper by Professor Carolyn Taylor and her team here: https://www.bmj.com/content/381/bmj-2022-074684

MORE ON THE ROSALIND FRANKLIN DNA STORY
#medicalwriters #sciencejournalists #womenscientists #stem

Just published
@Nature

New evidence from 70 years ago: Rosalind Franklin was a co-discoverer of DNA's double-helix structure
by
@matthewcobb
@nccomfort

https://nature.com/articles/d41586-023-01313-5

The JOHN MADDOX PRIZE for courageously advancing public discourse with sound science

#womenscientists #medicalwriters #sciencejournalists #prizes #awards

https://senseaboutscience.org/john-maddox-prize/

Nominate your candidate for the prize at the link above. Be quick, nominations close on 1 May!

The John Maddox prize is a joint initiative of the charity Sense about Science and the leading international scientific journal Nature. The prize has been awarded annually since 2012 to individuals who have shown courage and integrity in standing up for sound science and evidence. In addition to the main award, there is an additional prize for an individual considered to be at an early career stage.

The prize brings into the spotlight the underappreciated efforts of people the world over who try to bring research and evidence to public debate even when it is challenging, and inspires and encourages others to do the same. The prize has a global focus and received hundreds of nominations from dozens of countries.

CALLING WOMEN AND GIRLS IN SCIENCE!
#womenscientists #medicalwriters #sciencejournalists

The world needs Science,
and Science needs Women

https://www.forwomeninscience.com/

Visit the website to learn more about the L'Oréal-UNESCO International Awards and programmes for women and girls.

TIPS FROM SCIENCE JOURNALISTS

Learn what top science reporters and editors have to say about the relationship between science and journalism

[As seen on Twitter]
#medicalwriters #journalists #sciencejournalists

https://www.aaas.org/programs/public-engagement/tips-science-journalists

The landscape of biomedical research
#STEM #medicalwriters

@emollick on the bird app has posted a link to an interactive 'map' of biomedical research.

Each dot is one of 21 million papers, based on connections between their abstracts identified by AI. Scroll for the tour, which is both beautiful & shows the method's ability to answer important questions about science. https://static.nomic.ai/pubmed.html

You can scroll the narration in the left part of the screen, and interact with the visualization in the right part of the screen. Zooming in loads additional papers. Information about each individual paper appears on mouse-over, and clicking on a paper opens its PubMed page in a separate window. Search over titles is available in the upper-right corner.

Is the tide turning on predatory academic publishers?
#medicalwriters #stem #predatorypublishing

Web of Science have just removed the MDPI flagship journal IJERPH from their lists. This means IJERPH has no more an Impact Factor.

This is significant because IJERPH is one of the largest open-access mega-journals in the world

~50 other journals are also affected.

See the Twitter thread on this here: https://twitter.com/PaoloCrosetto/status/1638526088908353537

Inspirational women
#stemwomen #medicalwriters

To mark International Women's Day, The Nobel Prize are celebrating women who have changed the world. Visit their website to see all of the amazing women who have received the #NobelPrize and their remarkable achievements at the time of the award.

https://www.nobelprize.org/

Was Rosalind Franklin a victim of sexism in research?

28 February – 70th anniversary of the day Francis Crick walked into the Eagle pub in Bene’t St, Cambridge, and announced: “We have found the secret of life!” Had he and James Watson discovered the chemical structure of DNA  by nicking Rosalind Franklin’s data, though?

#Stem #medicalwriters #stemwomen

See the whole of the tweet thread here:
https://twitter.com/OddThisDay/status/1630509585780883458

Dramatic fall in number of clinical trials in Britain between 2017 and 2021
#medicalwriters #STEM #pharmaceutical

The ABPI notes a 44% drop in the number of participants recruited to commercial clinical trials in the past 5 years.

The number of industry clinical trials started in the same period fell by 41%.

As a result The Office for Life Sciences has announced there will be an independent review into the UK commercial clinical trials landscape by Lord James O’Shaughnessy, Senior Partner at consultancy firm Newmarket Strategy, Board Member of Health Data Research UK (HDR UK), and former Health Minister

The Office for Life Sciences is supposed to champion research, innovation and the use of technology to transform health and care service

Thanks to Paul Agapow on Twitter for the information.

Worst fears about science in Britain confirmed

#medicalwriters #STEM #academicpublishing

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/uk-governments-ps16-billion-horizon-clawback-breaks-rd-pledge

A summary of John Gill's (Times Higher Education) tweet on twitter today.