The psychology of soundbites

Erin Zimmerman, Science in Society co-editor “Political language – and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists – is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind.” – George Orwell, Politics and the English Language (1946) Political discourse […]

Continue reading


Science essays: Another way to explore the facts

pexels-photo-261510 (1) CC0_pixabay

Erin Zimmerman, Science in Society co-editor “A piece of writing has to start somewhere, go somewhere, and sit down when it gets there.” – Essayist John McPhee, Draft No. 4 What is it? Many people are unaware that science essays are their own genre. They can masquerade as other things: features, reviews, researched personal essays, […]

Continue reading


Meet the Science Borealis team with #SciBorSelfies!

This year, Science Borealis celebrates our 4th anniversary by paying tribute to our amazing team of volunteers! These are the folks who do the hard work every day to keep things running. We had each team member draw a simple line drawing self-portrait, which was then colourized and SciBorated by art team member Peggy Muddles. […]

Continue reading


A Q&A with The Atlantic’s Ed Yong

Erin Zimmerman, Science in Society co-editor Following his recent keynote address at the Canadian Society of Microbiology conference in Waterloo, Ontario, my Science Borealis colleague, Robert Gooding Townsend and I chatted with Ed Yong, author of the New York Times bestseller, I Contain Multitudes, about getting started in science communication, using humour in your writing, […]

Continue reading


Turning science into stories: The craft of Ed Yong

Robert Gooding-Townsend, Science in Society co-editor Last October, at the height of the American presidential election, the internet was talking about nothing else. Well, almost. Amongst all the takes on Sanders and Clinton and Trump and Rubio and the future of America, one story rose to the top of The Atlantic’s website and stayed there. […]

Continue reading