I'm an extrovert, and I can be a bit too loud, and yet either in spite of that or because of it... I love to write and to read. So I've been doing these Snippets at Life Science Editors (https://www.lifescienceeditors.com/snippets), shooting for 1-2 a week, where we enthuse about a recent paper.

The goals: to point to some cool new science, to call out the authors as best we can, to comment on the writing in some way, and (for me) to feed my love of biology and of writing. We aim for diversity in topics, authors, and continents and we love nominations!

The newest Snippet went up today. I unwisely muse about my vicarious "experience" of #pregnancy to introduce a paper about how mammals manage body temperature during pregnancy. Have a look. I'd love feedback of every kind, and suggestions for the next one!

https://www.lifescienceeditors.com/2025/05/01/prolactin-modulation-of-thermoregulatory-circuits-provides-resilience-to-thermal-challenge-of-pregnancy/

#scientificwriting
#sciencewriting

Short essay on the value of #scientificWriting in the age of #AI. One of my rare blog posts, for enthusiastic collectors. https://manywordsandnumbers.org/2025/04/05/what-is-the-value-of-human-scientific-writing-in-the-age-of-ai-%f0%9f%93%9d/

I wrote something... about writing. #ScientificWriting to be exact, but I think it applies to all kinds of #writing. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-025-02584-1

Liebe Editor*innen, Conference Chairs und akademische Verleger*innen – wenn ihr wissenschaftliche Arbeiten zur doppelblinden anonymen #PeerReview-Begutachtung verschickt, achtet doch bitte darauf, dass die PDF-Dateien keine Metadaten enthalten, aus denen man die Namen oder Zugehörigkeiten der Autor*innen ablesen kann.

Ansonsten weiß man halt, wer das Paper geschrieben hat und die ganze weitere Anoymisierung ist für die Katz.

Vielen Dank an alle.

#AcademicWriting
#ScientificWriting

Academic wishlist:
What if funding/fellowship/grant agencies would simply allow submission of a LaTeX template (as in Overleaf's Submit to button). I understand why it's currently a mix and match of web forms and docx/pdf, but a single interface that easily allows for inclusion of references, mathematics, figures, schematics, etc, would allow me to focus on the application, and not the logistics. #LaTeX #Academia #WishFulThinking #ScientificWriting

I have been digging out my old copies of John McPhee's #books, dipping in, remembering what it was like to be a new #geologist, and how it has carried across into #spatial #data, #geomorphology, #geomorphometry, #hydrology, #landcover, #engineeringgeology, #environmentalscience, #landuse, #massmovement and so much more......
This one paragraph reminded me so strongly of that time,, although I cannot of course write as eloquently:
--
"I used to sit in class and listen to the terms come floating down the room like paper airplanes. Geology was called a descriptive science, and with its pitted outwash plains and drowned rivers, its hanging tributaries and starved coastlines, it was nothing if not descriptive. It was a fountain of metaphor—of isostatic adjustments and degraded channels, of angular unconformities and shifting divides, of rootless mountains and bitter lakes..."
#GIS #JohnMcPhee #science #scientificwriting #readingforpleasure #geology #water #landforms #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal

Wisdom from @StephenBHeard :

"Yes, I’m better than I once was; it’s hard not to improve over a long career. But that really means that instead of awful first drafts moving through mediocre fifth drafts to half-decent tenth drafts, I now have mediocre first drafts becoming half-decent fifth drafts. Along the way, my writing still benefits hugely from peer review and from editing. Everyone’s does."

https://scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com/2024/05/14/the-tortured-poets-department-vampires-and-scientific-writing/

#ScientificWriting
#ScienceWriting

Just in case you've been wondering about indexications of #TATuP: ... https://tatup.de #TechnologyAssessment #Technikfolgenabschätzung #ScientificIndexication #ScienceCommunication #Wisskomm #ScientificJournal #Academia #AcademicWriting #ScientificWriting #ScientificJournal

#today was my first (and only) midterm evaluation. The pedagogical model here at Roskilde University is a "problem-oriented project learning" one. Effectively, this means students work a whole semester in a small group (3-6) on a self chosen problem (while having other courses).

It was astonishing to see what these first semester students were able to do in just a month. Of course, there are things which need improvement, like #scientificwriting, but overall kudos to them.

If you want to combine the best of both worlds: Here’s a quick tutorial on how to enable and use #LaTeX in #Markdown files with #MathJax:

https://www.fabriziomusacchio.com/blog/2021-08-10-How_to_use_LaTeX_in_Markdown/

And for a deeper dive into the topic, check out: Markdown vs. LaTeX for #ScientificWriting

https://www.fabriziomusacchio.com/blog/2021-08-18-Markdown_vs_LaTeX/

What happens when #ChatGPT writes an entire scientific paper? And more importantly - what might this tell us about ChatGPT and about #ScientificWriting? https://scientistseessquirrel.wordpress.com/2023/07/11/what-happens-when-chatgpt-writes-an-entire-scientific-paper/

Please boost/forward/tape to lab fridge etc.

Are you currently working on a #scientificwriting project such as a manuscript, grant proposal, job application, or research/teaching statement? Struggle to find place/time to write? Interested in learning how to improve the clarity and effectiveness of your professional writing? If so, consider applying to the CSHL Scientific Writing Retreat!

DM me with any questions. See interview with us here:
https://currentexchange.cshl.edu/blog/2021/8/a-word-from-32

https://meetings.cshl.edu/courses.aspx?course=C-WRITE&year=23

AI driven language processing tools like #ChatGPT and their usage are highly debated in #ScientificWriting. We've assembled a page with info about #ChatGPT in #academia! Check it out and let us know if we've missed an interesting article: https://www.lib4ri.ch/chatgpt-and-scientific-writing-0

If your Sunday morning inclines more to the casual browsing of interesting snippets, I published a page of useful tools and resources for #ScientificWriting + #LiteratureReview as well as #Julia language

Feel free to add more:
http://sternaparadisaea.net/research-tools-and-resources/

The other day in my Scientific Writing class, I asked students how many had been taught NOT to use I/we or the active voice in #ScientificWriting.

Almost every hand went up.

This makes me sad. Writing is hard enough without our teaching like it's still the 1960s!