freelance science journalist and author
We all do it. Don’t give me that innocent puritanical look. I know you do. Hiding away behind your computer, in a private little room somewhere, casting furtive glances over the top of your screen in case someone walks in on you, ready to quickly stop what you’re doing and pretend you really were working. … Continue reading Procrasturbation
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 21 January 2014: Obesity surgery is hardly a new kid on the medical block. The first surgical attempts to help people lose weight were performed more than half a century ago. Bariatric or metabolic surgery, which involves either chopping out or tying off a section of the stomach, is now … Continue reading Is weight loss surgery the answer for diabetes?
From ABC Health and Wellbeing, 17 January 2014: In the 15th century, an unknown Dominican friar penned Ars Moriendi, or The Art of Dying. At the time, it offered an immensely popular guide on the attainment of a ‘good death’ and spawned a rash of translations and copycats across Europe. One wonders what its author … Continue reading Is there a right way to approach death?
The great thing about being a freelance journalist is I can work just about anywhere. As long as I have a mobile phone connection and my computer, I can work. Like right now, for instance. I’m sitting in the cafe at Sydney Aquarium while the rest of my family ogles the fauna, writing a news … Continue reading Oh the places you’ll work
I rarely write opinion pieces. I’m not the sort of person who is generally considered opinion-worthy in a media sense, although I have plenty of opinions and I’m pretty free and easy with them among friends and social media. I actually got to write something that amounted to an op-ed this week, and it gave … Continue reading Who comments on the commenters?
From ABC News in Science, 16 January 2014: Biodegradable microparticles could dramatically reduce the inflammatory damage that occurs during a heart attack, potentially making the difference between life and death. The study, conducted on mice, found that the microparticles significantly reduced the amount of scarring in the heart tissue and promoted repair. The serendipitous discovery … Continue reading Microparticles could reduce heart attack damage
When it rains, it pours. Poet Dorothea Mackellar wrote of Australia as a country of “droughts and flooding rains’. She might just as well have written the same about freelancing. I’ve been self-employed as a freelance science journalist for almost nine years, and it has taken me nearly that long to realise – and accept … Continue reading When it rains, it pours
You know that feeling when you’re so excited to tell someone about something that you do that little jiggle up and down on the spot – like you desperately need to pee? OK, maybe you haven’t had that since you were five years old, but that’s kind of how I feel about telling you about … Continue reading Writing excuses
This is a moment worth noting. I have the house to myself for a couple of hours. The entire house. I could moonwalk around the lounge room with my underpants on my head singing Puccini, and there’s nobody here to care … not that they’d care anyway because they’re either my husband, who loves me … Continue reading The write time
… you drop a piece of food on the floor while cooking and think, “that one’s lost to follow-up.” … you dismiss an unlikeable opinion with the line, “well, that’s just a sample size of one.” … anyone asking you whether something is good for them had better get comfortable while you give them a … Continue reading You know you’re a health journalist when …
Bianca Nogrady 