Glossy Science Mag
Sara
Phillips
Today, the most exciting thing that happened to me was a story
I was expecting arrived in my inbox.
An English neuroscientist had recently made the British papers
for his outspoken views on animal experimentation. Tipu Aziz,
professor of neurosurgery at Oxford University, said he believed
experimenting on animals should not be condemned, as the practice
had, and would, lead to many vital human medicines. I approached
him after hearing this to ask whether he would be interested
in writing an opinion piece for Cosmos.
I believe that it is important for Cosmos to engage
with the big issues in science, our researchers
live within society, after all. Dr Aziz said he would be delighted
to contribute, and teamed up with a 16-year-old boy, Laurie
Pycroft, who had recently set up a pro-animal-experimentation
campaign – a brave thing to do in a country where some researchers
are physically assaulted by extreme animal rights lobbyists.
And so the story arrived in my inbox. I had a read, and found
that it was definitely what I was hoping for. I made
a few edits to make the introduction a little more
compelling, and I put in some references to the Australian
animal rights guidelines.
Then I sent it back to Dr Aziz and Mr Pycroft to make sure
they were happy with my changes. This kind of work is my favourite
part of my job. As deputy editor of Cosmos,
I spend most of my day reading press releases, looking for
story ideas. When I find a good one, I commission
a journalist to write the story for us.
Cosmos uses freelance science writers to do most
of our stories, and it's my job to manage them and their stories.
When the stories come in I change them (if they need it) to
suit our style and to smooth over any bits that seem a little
rough. The writers don't mind me meddling with their stories.
As any of them could tell you, a second opinion always helps
improve a story.
The editor of Cosmos commissions stories as well,
and maintains over all vision for how he wants the magazine
to turn out. I support him in helping that vision
come to life. I didn’t always know I wanted to be
a science writer.
For a long time I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to be. All
I knew when I was at school was that I was good at writing,
and I liked science. After an Arts degree and a Science degree
from Melbourne Uni, I stumbled across a course called the
Graduate Diploma of Science Communication
at the ANU. It was there that I really found that science
writing was my passion.
After announcing my career intention to my mother, she, of
course, said, Oh yes, I told you that years ago! |
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