Northwest Science Writers Association

Can a computer ace a high school biology exam? What about navigate a typical household, or play Pictionary? NSWA learned about artificial intelligence research at AI2 on Feb. 20.

We let our inner geeks out to play at our biggest and best event of the year on Jan. 10 at Paul Allen’s Living Computers Museum + Labs.

Environmental writer Ben Goldfarb spoke to Glenn Nelson, founder of The Trail Posse, on Dec. 13 at The Elliott Bay Book Company about his new book, Eager: The surprising, secret life of beavers and why the matter. Goldfarb joined us after his talk at Quinn’s Pub.

For writers, synthesizing information from research and interviews to produce a story is a challenging task. And it can even be more complex for those writing features, longform stories, or even books. On Nov. 28, we learned ways to think about narrative, and how to take our reporting and make it into a compelling story.

Geoff Nunn, adjunct curator of space history at The Museum of Flight, joined us for an IMAX screening of “First Man” on Oct. 20 at the Pacific Science Center. After the movie, we got to chat about how it represented Neil Armstrong and the Apollo 11 space mission.

This panel on Oct. 6 at Lane Community College in Portland, Oregon focused on story ideas, tips and resources you need to dig deeper into science-based stories such as opioids, climate change and more.

Whether you’re a print journalist, multimedia producer, or PIO, interviewing is hugely important to your work. On Sept. 27, we delved into best practices for interviewing sources: how to prepare, put your interviewees at ease, ask questions that will get you the details you need, and suit your medium.

Wildfires in the western United States have become increasingly more common. They burn through forests, damage the ecology and threaten property and lives. Members and guests joined us on Aug. 2 at the Pacific Wildland Fire Sciences Laboratory for an evening with wildfire researchers.

NSWA partnered with The People’s Science to put on an interactive workshop and write-a-thon for effectively communicating science to the public on July 29 at Naked City Brewery.

We toasted the summer with our friends at the Solutions Journalism Network (SJN) on June 19 at Pono Ranch in Ballard.

Members and guests joined us on May 16 for a tour of West Seattle’s High Point neighborhood redevelopment project and heard about the latest Washington-based research on stormwater pollution’s impacts on salmon and the green infrastructure combating this problem.

Members and guests joined us April 18 for a science-themed trivia quiz night and social event at Floating Bridge Brewing in the University District. This evening was hosted by the quizmasters at Geeks Who Drink and tested our knowledge of arcane facts about science, science fiction and geeky music.

Members and guests joined us on March 21 at the School of Visual Concepts for an evening with three talented visual professionals, who discussed the exciting possibilities when hard science and fine art collide.

On Feb. 27, members and guests got a behind-the-scenes (and behind-the-jars) tour of the Burke Museum’s Ichthyology Collection, housed on the University of Washington campus, and saw the largest fish collection in North America.

NSWA celebrated the new year on Jan. 11 at a Seattle landmark that has wowed science fans of all ages for more than 50 years, the Pacific Science Center.