INTERNATIONAL
South African Public Radio Committing to Science News

At a press conference in Johannesburg in early July, the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) announced that it would send five radio journalists to study science journalism at AAAS in an unprecedented effort to boost science journalism in South Africa.

"This will be the first time we will attempt to establish a foundation for science reporting in the languages spoken by most of our listeners," said Philippa Green, SABC Head of Radio News. "The journalists coming to AAAS can broadcast in six or seven major languages between them."

The group of five South African radio journalists arrived at AAAS on 7 July to begin the 4-week program that will eventually help to communicate science to the SABC radio audience of more than 18 million people. The radio reporters comprise the third cohort of South Africa's Department of Science and Technology (DST)/AAAS Science Radio Journalism Fellows to come to AAAS, but they are the first group comprising only SABC reporters.

"In this era, when science is so central to every major issue of modern life, it is critically important that the public is informed of scientific progress," said AAAS CEO Alan I. Leshner. "This collaboration with South Africa is a key example of AAAS's mission to advance science and serve society."

Radio holds great promise as a means of communicating the work of scientists and engineers in addressing problems of hunger, ill health, and sustainable development. The BBC World Service estimates that for every 1000 Africans, there are 198 radios, compared to 52 televisions and 12 newspapers. And recent studies note the importance of the radio in transmitting information on HIV prevention and in alleviating rural poverty.

"For a long time South Africans have been focusing on politics, and science has sort of taken a back seat," said 2003 radio fellow Mahlatse Gallens. "But if we have a science desk at the public broadcaster, we can change all of that. We can make people realize that science is part of their daily lives."

The radio journalism program was launched in the summer of 2001, after the South African government asked AAAS to co-sponsor an effort to improve science communications in South Africa. The program was launched in 2001 as a collaboration between AAAS and DST. In its first two sessions--the summers of 2001 and 2002--the program included scientists among the fellows, but is now focusing on training radio journalists to write about science.

"We found that the first groups of fellows succeeded in continuing in science journalism only when they had professional positions to return to," says Rob Adam, the Director-General of the Department of Science and Technology. "If there was no infrastructure for them to return to, they were not able to follow through on the goals of the fellowship."

Gallens notes that the SABC broadcasts in 11 languages through 13 radio stations, and that some of those languages have no one-word translations for the concepts of modern science and technology.

"The language challenge is big," said Gallens, who reports in English and Northern Sotho. "We do not have some of the scientific terms in our African languages, so the trick here is to give the definition in our languages. I also have to be extra clear in my Northern Sotho story, because radio is still the only source of information for many people in the country. Often, you find that my Northern Soto story is longer than my English story."

AAAS
Award Nominations Face August Deadline

Each year, AAAS and Science recognize scientists, engineers, journalists, and public servants for contributing to the public understanding of science and to scientific progress.

A deadline of 1 August looms for nominations for most awards, including the Philip Hauge Abelson Prize, which honors either a public servant or a scientist or engineer for their "exceptional contributions"; the Award for International Scientific Cooperation; and the AAAS Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology. The AAAS Science Journalism Awards entries are also due on 1 August.

The deadline for nominations for the AAAS Mentor Award for Lifetime Achievement is 31 July. More information is available at www.aaas.org/about/awards.

EDUCATION
Science in the Summer Makes Converts of Kids

Tucked away in a Philadelphia library in the middle of July, 9-year-old Lyndsey Hoban learns about hydrothermic principles and simple machinery. Many children might consider this cruel and unusual punishment, but Lyndsey and her 14 classmates revel in the activities that the AAAS-sponsored program called Science in the Summer (SIS) provides them.

What could make ordinary, active children joyfully embrace an educational environment during their summer holidays?

"It was fun! It was like being in a candy store, it was that much fun," Lyndsey said.

Funded by pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Science in the Summer is the brainchild of a company scientist, Virginia Cunningham. Her goals were to reverse the declining interest in science studies and careers and to introduce students, especially girls and minorities, to hands-on experiences in science. Essentially, she wanted kids to have fun with the subject. Now the program, funded by GSK and administered by AAAS, is in its seventeenth year.

"In an urban center like Philadelphia, the opportunities to disadvantaged and minority kids for enrichment are critical for being able to pursue science later on," says Shirley Malcom, director of the AAAS Education and Human Resources Directorate.

The summer program is relatively brief (SIS classes run in 1-week intervals throughout the summer), yet several dozen children who had participated in the program reported that their SIS experience had helped them with science schoolwork and increased their interest in science overall. The SIS program's hands-on approach gives children a more memorable and educationally meaningful experience, says SIS teacher, Debra Liberman.

"No matter what the neighborhood or socioeconomic level, kids want to learn if they are actively engaged and immersed in the activity," Liberman said.

This summer, Liberman is teaching a course on paleontology. Students are learning about fossils, how they are formed, and how to identify the organism they came from. On the last day, the children will take part in a fossil dig. The fossils--sent up to Philadelphia from a mine in Florida--consist of small fossils consisting of teeth and leaf impressions. The students will be armed with a pan and tools that scientists use on digs, and will be allowed to keep all of the fossils that they identify correctly.
--Carol Hoy

In a speech she gave before the Council of Scientific Society Presidents in May, Paula J. Dobriansky, Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs, noted just how important science and technology (S&T) have become in foreign policy work.

"A strong partnership between American science and American statecraft is increasingly critical to addressing the global challenges of the 21st century — whether the issue is terrorism, homeland security, sustainable development, HIV/AIDS, or the environment," Dobriansky said in her 5 May talk, published on the Department of State Web site.

In several forums, Norman P. Neureiter, Science and Technology Adviser to the Secretary of State, has noted that AAAS plays a key role in helping foreign service officers understand S&T and how integral it has become to foreign policy, and in helping to increase the state department's cadre of scientists and engineers with the expertise to guide policy-makers. A course at the end of June (the fifth coordinated by AAAS) offered a week of instruction in relevant S&T issues to a group of 16 foreign service officers. And, recently, four AAAS Diplomacy Fellows, all scientists and engineers, were recognized by the State Department's Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs for their "meritorious contributions."

"It's important for AAAS to be involved because science is both an international endeavor and an increasingly important factor in foreign policy," said Sherburne (Shere) Abbott, AAAS's Chief International Officer. "Science helps in understanding the nature of problems that arise in the conduct of foreign policy, and in suggesting a range of possible solutions. Unfortunately, some people have used technological advances to do harm, but that also reinforces the need for a link between scientific expertise and foreign policy."

In addition to presentations by AAAS and federal agency staff, the workshop included talks by representatives of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, the Brookings Institution, the World Wildlife Fund, and the Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office.
Abbott said that the workshop organizers had tried to prepare participants to face diplomatic challenges in the field.

"A key objective was to demonstrate to the foreign service officers the way that science and technology underpin the nation's broader foreign policy objectives," said Abbott. "We first tried to set the stage by explaining the importance of these issues, and then we gave them substance in the form of information on sustainable development and other topics of policy, such as trade and environment, fisheries, energy, and health."