Past events
Highlights from NSWA events, tours, and field trips
Science Scavenger Hunt
NSWA's science-themed scavenger hunt concluded on Sunday, August 9 Thanks to all who participated, and congratulations to the winners: First prize: Sally James @jamesian Second prize: Linnea Stavney @LinneaStavney Third prize: Chris Tachibana @ChrisTachibana Players...
Decolonizing Science Communication: Exploring Indigenous Views on Science and Journalism
In the first in a series of virtual panels focused on decolonizing science communication, we heard from Native American journalists and a researcher who focuses on health disparities among American Indian and Alaska Native populations. The speakers guided us in learning to deconstruct the differences between Indigenous and Western world views and how each of those views shapes science and journalism.
NSWA Science Trivia Night
NSWA's third-annual NSWA Science Trivia Night was held on April 28 via Zoom from the comfort of our own couches.Yes, neither rain nor snow nor deadly RNA virus could keep NSWA members from completing six rounds of online trivia fun. Building on the success of our...
Night Out at the Museum – A Press Party for Science Writers
NSWA members and AAAS newsroom registrants gathered on Feb. 15 at NSWA’s free networking event and dance party at Seattle’s newest science museum, the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.
2020 Annual Member Meeting
About 35 NSWA members gathered at Folio in Pike Place Market on January 16 for the annual NSWA member meeting. Board member Elizabeth Sharpe presented NSWA's first-annual Best of the Northwest Science Writing Awards, and outgoing president Jane Hu recounted highlights...
Can consciousness be computed? Can death be reversed? An evening with neuroscientist Christof Koch
In his new book The Feeling of Life Itself, Christof Koch outlines a quantitative theory of consciousness that suggests it is far more widespread than commonly assumed and is not some kind of computation or hack. And writing in Scientific American, Koch discusses the...
Volcano Camping Adventure at Mount St. Helens
NSWA experienced the majesty, awesome destruction, and amazing rebirth of the Pacific Northwest’s most violent volcano on our first-ever camping adventure Aug. 2 - Aug. 4. Hosted by the Mount St. Helens Institute, we saw parts of the national monument that few ever...
Searching for solutions to the opioid epidemic
The opioid epidemic is taking the U.S., by storm, with people dying every day from opioid-related drug overdoses. But within what seems to be a bleak situation, researchers are looking at interventions to treat opioid addiction and related overdoses. NSWA hosted an...
Trivia Night at Floating Bridge Brewing Co.
We grabbed our thinking caps for our second-annual NSWA Science Trivia Night on May 22 at Floating Bridge Brewing Co. Building on the success of last year's spring social event, this special NSWA-organized quiz game was hosted by Geeks Who Drink. We showed off our...
Mixer with grad students interested in science communication
NSWA mixed and mingled with the next generation of science communicators by joining the ComSciCon-Pacific Northwest participants on April 12 at Optimism Brewing on Capitol Hill in Seattle. Nearly 60 grad students from fields in science, engineering, technology and...
Finding Your Data Story with Tableau Public
Ever wanted to incorporate data into your storytelling? From interactive maps to engaging graphs and charts, this workshop on March 25 helped us understand how to turn raw data into compelling visualizations ready to share online, using Tableau...
Tour of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2) with CEO Oren Etzioni
Can a computer ace a high school biology exam? What about navigate a typical household, or play Pictionary? At the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (AI2), researchers are working on these questions, among others. CEO Oren Etzioni gave us an overview of...
NSWA 2019 Holiday Party and Annual Membership Meeting
2019 Holiday Party and Annual Membership Meeting We let our inner geeks out to play on Jan. 10 during our Holiday Party and Annual Meeting at Paul Allen’s Living Computers Museum + Labs. We talked shop and had fun with science-writing peers as we built and operated...
Chat with Ben Goldfarb, author of ‘Eager’
Environmental writer Ben Goldfarb spoke to Glenn Nelson, founder of The Trail Posse, about his new book, Eager: The surprising, secret life of beavers and why they matter, on Dec. 13 at The Elliott Bay Book Company. Goldfarb joined interested NSWA members in...
The Art of Feature Writing With Jacqui Banaszynski, Brooke Jarvis, and Craig Welch
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 at University House, we learned ways to think about...