Andrew Peacock
asked
Neil deGrasse Tyson:
Hey NDT! From the desk of a budding science communicator focused on astronomy, which three academic journals would you recommend following to stay on top of scientific discoveries? To add to this question, which three books have been instrumental for you as you’ve grown into a science communicator?
Neil deGrasse Tyson
There's a difference between what we normally think of as "scientific discoveries" and what appears in academic research journals. Academic research journals report the bleeding edge of research, much of which may ultimately be shown to be wrong. Actual discoveries are research that have been verified at least once, preferably multiple times by independent researchers. Also, such papers are often arcane, readable only by others who are fluent in the sub-field.
I strongly recommend a news digest, such as Science News. https://www.sciencenews.org or Scientific American. From there you can dig out the relevant links to research papers that fed their reporting. That's a vastly more efficient exercise.
I don't know of good books about science communication. But I've found a subscription to the Skeptical Inquirer https://skepticalinquirer.org of immense value to my background in addressing so many topics that matter to so many people, especially the pseudoscience traps that people fall into.
I strongly recommend a news digest, such as Science News. https://www.sciencenews.org or Scientific American. From there you can dig out the relevant links to research papers that fed their reporting. That's a vastly more efficient exercise.
I don't know of good books about science communication. But I've found a subscription to the Skeptical Inquirer https://skepticalinquirer.org of immense value to my background in addressing so many topics that matter to so many people, especially the pseudoscience traps that people fall into.
More Answered Questions
Lisa Munroe
asked
Neil deGrasse Tyson:
I'm curious what you'd think of microscopic aliens visiting earth? Other than bacteria or viruses catching a ride on a meteoroid to us, this idea may only be realized in the realm of science fiction. Still I think it's an interesting thought that a microscopic earth life form might have the scientific advances of another civilization shared with it while humans are too busy on their phones to realize it.
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