By Alyson Smith Saturday, July 20th, was the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, which made it a fitting day for SANDSWA members to tour the historic Hale Telescope at the Palomar Observatory in the Cleveland National Forest, some 60 miles northeast of San Diego. Our guide, Thomas Murphy of UCSD’s Center for …
SoCal Science Writers Symposium
On Saturday, May 18, nearly 90 science communicators made their way by plane, train, and automobile to the tony 226-acre campus of the University of Southern California, three miles from downtown Los Angeles. The daylong second annual SoCal science writing symposium, organized by the SoCal Science Writing group (with help from SANDSWA) and sponsored by …
Inaugural SANDSWA book club recap: Big Chicken by Maryn McKenna
By Deb Bright and Mike Price The SANDSWA book club met for the first time last week to discuss Maryn McKenna’s newest book, Big Chicken, an eye-opening, historical account of the interplay between antibiotic resistance, politics, and industrial chicken farming. On April 24th, SANDSWA members braved rush hour traffic to appear in the eclectic Subterranean …
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How I moved from academia to industry, thanks to SANDSWA
By Deb Bright It was a stunningly bright summer afternoon by the ocean, and the breeze was cool. SANDSWA was holding its inaugural happy hour at The Farmer and the Seahorse restaurant in La Jolla, and I didn’t feel like going. Work had been rough lately. But I went anyway because a number of my …
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To write or not to write: science blogging as a side gig?
At a recent SANDSWA event, I noticed most science writers I met did it professionally. Freelancing, working at an agency, teaching; SANDSWA members often get paid to write about science. I do it for free. Is it worth it?

