Mmmm

Skimmed milk, 0% fat frozen yoghurt, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries.  Enjoyed in a little green oasis between Oxford Street and Trafalgar Square.  Yum.

Research

I think I'm quite good at research.  I'm not always great at executing it perfectly, but I think I have a pretty good grasp of the basics of good study design and data analysis.  I try not to forget about simple things like specifying the population, intervention, comparator and outcome.

Yesterday the London correspondent (yes, really and would you believe she's from New Zealand) was running around the news room like a newly decapitated chicken looking for a 'researcher'.  Can I help?  Jean Adams, media fellow, here for a month. 

Yes, the deputy editor wants me to do a story on travel disruption around sporting events.  I need to know if there was any disruption on the tube lines serving the London football grounds during home matches.  Just do since January.  Just on the weekends.  Premiership matches only, don't bother about the FA cup or anything.  Just do Arsenal and Chelsea.

She seemed frantic, so I just did what I was told - found all the home, weekend, premiership fixtures for Arsenal and Chelsea since January.  Worked out what tube lines the stadiums were on.  Searched for disruption on the Transport for London website.  I knew it was stupid, (the population is neither complete nor a good sample - not all the clubs, not all the matches; there's no comparator; the specified 'outcome' doesn't seem necessarily relevant - station closure at the opposite end of the line from the stadium might not be important) but she seemed pretty clear that's what she wanted.  I rather forced at least a fuller sample on her by including Fulham and Spurs as well.

As soon as she saw the data, Ms London Correspondent worked out it was stupid too.  We shouldn't look at the whole of the lines serving the stadiums, just around the stadiums.

As soon as she saw that data, she worked out that was stupid too.  Jean, what do you mean by "around the stadium"?

As soon as she saw that data, she worked out that was stupid too, but I think by then time had run out and we were going with whatever we had.  At least she was kind enough to give me a credit on her article and there was another funky graphic.

You will notice that there is no mention of Arsenal at the Emirates here.  That's because there was no tube disruption around the Emirates during the study period.

Critical appraisal anyone?

Front page

No, obviously not THE front page.  But for a short time one of my pieces was featured on the on-line front page.

Just there in the beige bar on the right, fifth item down, it says "Blog: the science of bicycle lanes".  That's my blog post!  I'm sorry if you can't quite make it out - that's as big as I can make it.  Bet you wish you had an iPad now and could just stretch it and make it grow to your heart's content.

In other news, I did the research behind another graphic that I didn't get a print credit for.  This one's a bit more stupid, I thought.  The story was about the first full sequencing of a wheat genome.  This is big news because it opens up the potential for genetic modification to develop hardier types of wheat that can grow anywhere and solve all famine ever.  Or at least that's how the news editor wanted to spin it.  So we had to have a graphic showing that hungry countries rely on wheat.  But they don't, they generally rely on maize, rice and cassava. 

The graphic is all made up from real data. It's just a bit selective.

Copy

Well you might not think it's that interesting (I'm not sure I do), but given that my BPA copy didn't make it to print, I thought you might like to read it.  At least it proves that I've learnt to write like a journo.
----------------------------

Jean Adams

A chemical found in some babies’ bottles and food packaging has been linked to increased testosterone levels in men by new research.

The findings, from a team at Peninsula Medical School in Exeter, offer some support for laboratory studies that have shown an association between exposure to Bisphenol A (BPA) and changes in the sex hormones testosterone and oestrogen in animals.

Evidence on the link between BPA and sex hormones in humans has been more mixed and comes from very small studies. Two large studies have found a link between BPA and both heart disease and diabetes in the USA. Concerns have also been expressed about the influence of BPA on child development.

The new study of 715 Italian adults, which is published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, appears to support such suggestions of an effect on testosterone.

Independent scientists, however, pointed out that the changes seen are much smaller than natural variations in testosterone levels, and said the study does not reveal any health risks.

Professor Richard Sharpe from the University of Edinburgh, said: "The change in testosterone levels due to BPA [seen in this study] is far less than occurs naturally in men. There is therefore no reason to suppose that the observed change presents a health risk to men."

BPA is thought to interfere with the natural breakdown of testosterone in the bloodstream. It may also trigger the body to produce more testosterone than normal.

Prof David Coggon Professor from the University of Southampton, said: "This is an interesting observation, but it needs to be independently replicated. If it is confirmed then further research will be required to understand the biochemical mechanisms underlying the relationship and its significance for health."

In the study, BPA in urine was monitored over 24 hours and levels of testosterone and oestrogen measured in blood. Higher BPA was associated with small increases in testosterone in the 332 men included. There was no association between BPA and testosterone in women, or between BPA and oestrogen in either men or women.

Professor David Melzer from Peninsula Medical School, who was involved in the research, said: "This is the first big study of BPA from a European country and shows that higher exposure to BPA is statistically associated with modest changes in levels of testosterone in men. This finding is consistent with the evidence from laboratory experiments."

As BPA is rapidly broken down by the body and excreted in the urine, BPA in urine is only a short-term measure of exposure to BPA. The long-term effects of BPA exposure are not known. Nor are the implications of today's findings for human health.

BPA is one of the world's highest production volume chemicals. It is found in some baby and water bottles, medical and dental devices, dental fillings, and as a coating on the inside of many food and beverage cans. Most human exposure to BPA is thought to occur when BPA leaks from food containers into the food we eat.

A number of countries have now banned the use of BPA from baby's bottles. The UK Food Standard's Agency current position on BPA states that "Current level of consumer exposure to BPA from food contact materials does not represent a food safety risk for consumers." BPA use has not been banned in the UK.

ends
----------------------------
 
Presumably there's no BPA in my metal water bottle.
 

Graphics

After my rant the other day about sourcing images, I thought I should say something nice about graphics.  Today the science editor was working on a story on biosynthetic corneas.  As corneal surgery doesn't make for pretty pictures, he thought a graphic of the process would be better.  I got the job of researching and sketching out what the graphic should include, before sending the brief to the graphics man.

A couple of hours later, look what the nice graphics man brought round for me to check:

How cool is that?  How good would it be if we had a graphics man on site at the university who could whip up this sort of thing in a morning?  Ooooh.  I want one.  And I almost want my graphic to get to the paper more than I want my writing to.

Press conferences and responsible journalism

Well I went to my press briefing.  It turned out there really wasn't very much to it and I probably didn't need someone to show me what to do after all.  I"m not sure why there needed to be a press conference - it could have gone in a press release.  But if I hadn't gone, I wouldn't have got a pre-publication copy of the paper and the press pack.

The story was not quite as I had anticipated.  The new findings were not to do with cocaine, but to do with teachers rather than professional counsellors delivering an alcohol/drugs programme to school age children.  When I got back to the office I had to pitch the story to the health correspondent and get the go ahead to write it.

The research is about a form of screening and brief intervention for drug and alcohol use in children.  Year 9 kids are screened for personality traits associated with substance use.  Those who score more than one standard deviation above the mean on any of the four personality traits of interest are given two 90 minute sessions of counselling based on cognitive-behavioural therapy, motivational interviewing and positive psychology.  At two years follow up, the intervention is associated with a 40% decrease in binge drinking, and similarly large decreases in use of other substances.  The new work has shown that teachers can be trained to deliver the counselling as effectively as psychologists.

This is what I thought the lead was: "Teachers can reduce the likelihood that 13 year olds will become binge drinkers by 40% with just two sessions of counselling, new research has revealed." 

This is what the health correspondent told me the real lead was: "A simple class-room test can identify those teenagers likely to become binge drinkers, said psychologists today." 

The news editor was interested, but only if we could print the screening test.  So I wrote the story, found the test and added it in.  But then just as I was sending it through, I thought: "we can't do this; this is not a diagnostic test; this counselling will not be available to all and sundry; this is totally irresponsible."  When I voiced my concerns I was told that that's what we're paid to do.  In retrospect, I probably should just have said I couldn't find the test.  But I didn't think of that soon enough.

I worried about it overnight.  I hoped that no one whose opinion I respected would see my name on the story.  I shouldn't have worried.  Of course Sam Cam's baby bumped all other health news....  Once again my story didn't make it.

So just as I was coming to terms with "irresponsible" journalism, a curious thing happened.  The science editor asked me to do a story on BPA and testosterone.  BPA is a chemical used in food packaging and baby's bottles.  There has been some concern about the health and neuro-developmental effects of BPA, but existing non-animal evidence is limited.  "This is a story that will need some care" I was told.  "You need to make it interesting, but be careful not to sensationalise it.  Even if this doesn't get in the paper, it will be a really good learning experience for you to give this a go."

I gave it a go.  I tried to be measured, but highlight the new findings.  I got in all the good quotes about increases in testosterone don't necessarily mean detrimental to health.  I was pretty pleased and it was filed with minimal rearrangement.

So is the Times responsible or irresponsible?  Sober or sensationalist?  I had thought the former, but my experience with the screening test made me start to worry about the latter.  My conclusion is that different journalists really are different.  The science editor has enough clout that he can be a bit more measured.  The health correspondent is still trying to establish his own career.  Me?  Turns out I just do what I'm told and then worry about it later.

Bloggin'

There must be a hack-speak word for when your story doesn’t get printed. My piece on worldwide shortages of radio-isotopes for medical imaging didn’t make it to the paper or the web-site. But my blog post on placebos did make it to the blog.

There is something slightly strange about the this. There is more on the Times on-line site than in the paper. You have to pay to view the on-line site. But as a “journalist” it’s easier for me to get my stuff on-line than in the paper. Obviously there are space and lay-out constraints in the paper that don’t apply on-line. But you have to wonder if the paywall is a bit of a swizz, if all you’re getting access to is the detritus that didn’t make it to the paper. Probably if they employed me I would get sacked for saying that. It is totally inappropriate to describe all of their on-line content as “detritus”. I haven’t even looked at most of it.

Today I have to go to a “press briefing” at the Royal Institute. This is sort of exciting – morning out of the office. But also a little scary – I’m representing the Times. Everybody else is too busy. Which is probably a good indication of how important the Times feels the press briefing is. I have never been to a press briefing, press conference, press anything before. When I asked what I was supposed to do it went along the lines of “oh just go and take some notes”. And you thought “see one, do one, teach one” was rushing it. Maybe there genuinely isn’t much to it, and I’ll work it out when I get there.

The briefing is on reducing smoking, drinking and drug-use amongst school children, with a particular focus on some new research on preventing cocaine use. I have done my homework. In 2009, the one-year incidence of cocaine use in 11-15 year olds was 1.2%. I’m not sure this is a serious public health problem. Which is presumably why I’m going.

My oyster card and me

Today me and my oyster card went on an adventure in the big smoke. 

The first thing we did was go to this very, very cool yarn shop.  You don't get yarn shops in Newcastle.  Well.  There is a yarn selection at John Lewis and Fenwicks.  But they don't stock a very exciting range.  You couldn't really call them Yarn Shops.

This yarn shop extended over two floors of lovely natural fibreness.  Lambswool, alpaca, cashmere, organic cotton.  Ooooh.  It was all very soft and snuggly.  And in beautiful colours.  But it was also VERY expensive.  There was even some very lovely Cashmere for £32 a skein.  I costed some nice merino yarn for a crochet blanket at around £180.  And at that thought I was on my way out.  But then I decided that was a bit daft.  So I did buy just a few little skeins.  Nothing too extravagant.  It was a bargain really.

It is a worsted weight organic cotton from Blue Sky Alpaca, in case you need details.  I will use it for some crochet cushion covers for my study, I think.  It wasn't a bargain at all.  It was REALLY expensive and I was glad for that "significant public salary".  It was a totally extravagant treat.

Oyster card didn't get any yarn.  He's a bit upset because his mum said that from now on she's only going to give him money for essential travel.  But he quite liked looking.

After nosying around the Islington outdoor antiques market for a while, we headed up here:

I was going to treat Oyster Card to a cake and a cup of tea and a little sit down.  But Ottolenghi Islington turns out to be pretty small.  Or at least the counter area is small.  It was absolutely heaving with people.  All cramped and noisy and busy.  So I just bought a cake and decided to take it to the park to eat in the fresh air.  They didn't want me to take pics inside, but I thought you might like to see the cake display from through the window.  The savoury display was just as gorgeous. 

A little flustered by the general busy-ness of the place, I found selecting a cake a bit difficult.  This was my choice:

Cherry chocolate cupcake with sour cream and pistachio.  Outrageously, it cost almost as much as a skein of yarn.  But it was a pretty good cake.  Very good quality chocolate, a good quantity of real cherries in the actual cake, and the sour cream provided a nice, sharp, clean contrast to the sweetness of the chocolate and cherry.  Frankly a significant improvement on the cherry chocolate cupcakes in one of Nigella's books.  I might try and see if I can work out how to replicate....

Reinvigorated, we pushed onto the main business of the day: The Foundling Museum.  Oyster Card made me walk.  He reckoned it wasn't "essential travel" and so he probably shouldn't spend money on transport.

The Foundling Hospital was established in the mid-eighteenth century.  Apparently it was one of the first places for abandoned children in the country.  It pre-dates Barnardo's by about 100 years.  It was set up by a guy called Capt. Coram with the help of, amongst others, Hogarth and Handel.  This little remnant of the original infirmary houses a small history of the Hospital, plus a Handel collection, and some other foundling related art. 

It was great.  Obviously some very sad little objects, letters and poems left by mothers with their babies.  But also some rather uplifting tales, paintings and photos.  The whole enterprise was dismantled between the wars and the Hospital building torn down.  But the community managed to save some of the land - now Coram's Field (after Capt. Coram).  This is the reason that all adults have to be accompanied by a child in order to go into Coram's Field.  It's the same Coram as book and play Coram Boy.

Although clearly very institutional and regimented, apparently the regime was rather enlightened for the time.  All children were inoculated against small pox (there's a Jenner Street around the corner).  They were also provided with a 'healthy' diet - although this didn't include any fruit or vegetables.  Children under 6 were placed with families.  No explanation was given for why they couldn't stay with those families.

In one place a display said "seventy-five per cent of children in London died before the age of five".  No details given about when or what was counted as London.  But this seems unbelievable to me.  Surely this can't be true?

Now home, Oyster Card and I are both a little exhausted by our adventure.  I don't think he'll be going out again for a while.

Sourcing images

Neither my piece on the Samoan earthquakes (filed with only minor changes), nor my one on breastfeeding stats (totally rewritten by health correspondent) made it to the paper.  They didn't even make it to the website.  What a big fat waste of time.  Frankly, it's inefficient.  We should get the Office of Budget Responsibility onto it.

Over the last few days I've been relegated to sourcing pictures from Google Image.  I'm trying hard not to think that this is direct a result of my total failure to get my last few pieces into print.  But it might be.

The Times publishes Eureka! - a science magazine - on the last Thursday of every month.  This month is the one year anniversary of Eureka!, and to celebrate they are releasing an iPad app on sports science.  I think this also has a lot to do with the Times charging for access to on-line content.  If they're going to charge, they'd better provide something good. 

My job has been to find images to accompany the text pieces that will go in the app.  For some reason they all have to be 'small' - as in microscopic, molecular, or just a good close-up.  I'm not sure what this has to do with sports science at all, but that's what I was asked to do.  I also have to provide 20-30 words on each image providing "an explanation, not just a description, of what we're seeing".

I have spent about 10 hours over the last two days doing this.  Searching Google Image, choosing pics, copy and pasting them into a word doc, writing 20-30 words.  For a while I was quietly amused that this is the sort of thing I would normally get someone else to do.  But what would happen if the Sun found out that I was being paid a significant salary from public money for this?  What about all my education and skills?  Don't anyone make the "all that education and no real-life skills" comment - I already know I'm doing this because I have nothing much else to offer.

You will understand that there are no images to accompany this post.

Cycling, part 2

I wonder if you know what this is?

It's a ghost bike.  A memorial for a cyclist, left near where they were killed on the road.  This one is on the southern approach to Tower Bridge on my way to work.  I noticed it the very first time I cycled past.  There was a bus in front of me with an advert about cycling safety on it.  I find it very poignant and especially like the little bundle of dried flowers.  But it also makes me a gulp.  How stupid is this cycling in the city lark?  "Lethal" according to my landlord.

Someone spotted me cycling the other day.  "You look like a real Londoner", they said.  I'm not sure if that's a complement or not.  I'm trying hard not to act like a real Londoner.  I have a real concern that if everybody just starts jumping red lights, the whole nature of society as we know it will collapse. 

In print

Can you see that?  The most important thing is that you can see a) my name, and b) that this is definitely a proper newspaper.  My technical adviser recommended a screen shot from the on-line version.  But I wanted you to see the real thing.  Page 6 of today's Times.  Aren't I clever?  Well actually not very.  The science editor was nice enough to say that what he did to my draft was just "tarting up".  I think it was a little more than that.

But somehow I managed to learn something from yesterday.  Today I wrote a piece on a Nature paper on a Samoan earthquake.  This time I got "okay, I'm going to file this with just a few stylistic changes".  Woopee.  Result.  Maybe you can have another picture of a newspaper tomorrow.  Depends on the subs and senior subs and the copy tasters and a bunch of other people who don't come in until 3pm but might work all night.

Then this afternoon it all went bad again.  New DH statistics on breastfeeding show not much change from last year.  Have a look and see if you can find a story in there.  Phone the NCT and the Royal College of Midwives.  See if they've got anything to say.  There's probably nothing.  But then me prodding seems to lead to the Royal College of Midwives writing and circulating a press release to all and sundry.  So now everyone's going to have it and will be writing something so we have to too.

So I scrapped about and tried to draw my quotes together.  I write nice things about the organisations who had helpful press officers.  I somehow forget the 500 words limit.  I knew what I'd written wasn't any good.  But it was nearly 7pm and I wasn't quite sure how to make it better.  A lot more than "tarting up" happened to my breastfeeding story.  Serious surgery.

Today's lessons: focus on the so what, don't feel you have to be nice about the people who spoke to just because they were nice about you, don't ever write too much....

It's only day three.

First days

When I walked into the news room at The Times I almost blurted out how like The Wire it looked.  It must be the real thing - it looks like it does on the telly.  A massive room jam packed with desks, computers and people.  Overflowing with books and reports and general paper detritus.  Miles to the nearest window.  Men outweigh women by about 5:1. 

The Health Editor is on holiday so I have his desk for the next few weeks.  Lots of people seem to be on holiday, which means that the daily science team is currently made up of me, a health correspondent and the science editor.  The science editor reports to the news editor.  Upstairs there is, allegedly, another team working on the monthly science pull-out, Eureka.  But I haven't met them yet so can't confirm this.

So far, I've written a few posts for the science blog and written a story for the print edition on an evolutionary biology paper exploring the effect on brothers on female sexual maturation.  Well, I wrote a draft of a story on the paper.  Then the science editor showed me how he might revise it before filing it.  He was very complementary about my first try.  But really I think he wrote more of it than I did....  He said almost exactly the same thing as I say to so many students: the ideas are good, it's just not expressed very well.  Maybe it'll get into tomorrow's paper, maybe it wont. 

Today's learning points: short sentences; a new paragraph for each new idea; simple; cut to the chase.  I thought I knew all that.  Must keep practicing.

Cycling

According to google maps, where I live in Stockwell is 4.2 miles from where I work in Wapping.  Google suggested a walking route that I thought would be fine for cycling.  It was and is fine.  But guess what else I found?  What's blue, 1.5m wide and is almost as good as the information superhighway? 

It's the Cycle Superhighway.  Isn't it beautiful?  Isn't that a nice shade of blue?  On the bit across Southwark Bridge, it is even physically divided from the main carriageway.  Around Elephant & Castle it takes a slightly round about route through the back streets which is a bit of a pain.  But truly even I, with full bike swagger, am a little scared to cycle a folding bike around Elephant & Castle.

The Cycle Superhighway is sponsored by Barclays.  I think that might be why it's blue.  But maybe it was going to be blue all along and they had to find a sponsor who was happy with that.  I find it a bit odd that a bike route might be sponsored by anyone.  But why not?  If that's what it takes.  Cycling on the superhighway is a bit like a bike race.  People flying past, jostling of wheels at junctions.  My limited gear ratio means that I must maintain a stately plodding speed and not race anyone.  At the moment this is fine.  It gives me a chance to have a look at the world.  Maybe when it's raining and I'm late, it will become more frustrating.

But look what else there is.  Not just nice blue lines, also some nice blue bikes.

These are available to hire on an hourly, daily or yearly rate.  I think GBP45 per year.  What a bargain.  And yes I did see some people riding them, not dumping them in the river.  I saw 4 or 5 men in suits on blue bikes this evening, presumably riding home.

Is it sad that it makes me happy to be alive because there is a city in the world where there are big blue cycle lanes that drivers respect and nice bikes to hire to ride on them?

Preparation

I am an academic. Academic habit no. 1: When in doubt do a literature review. First thing I did on hearing I was going to be spending a month at the Times? Ordered some books on science writing from amazon.

The first book was pretty poor. I can't remember what it was called - probably just as well. It was a skinny little thing on writing magazine and newspaper features in general, not science in particular. It devoted a lot of space to grammar and making sure you tell the truth. Maybe it's skinniness was its key redeeming feature - it didn't take too long to read. I put it in a pile with a vague thought that it could be useful for a particularly illiterate future undergrad.

Book number 2 was more promising. Again fairly skinny but this time written by the editor of an American university's science magazine. I had never heard of such a thing. In fact, maybe the best thing I learnt from this book was that big American universities have in-house science review magazines. These are written by journalists and intended for alumni. They function both to keep people in touch with their unis, do a bit of PR for the unis, and also to inform. What great idea. We should have one. I might suggest it. Given that a key feature is that they are written by journalists, this is a good idea that giving voice to could never back fire in a "good idea Jean, why don't you lead on that"?

I have carried the third book with me on various trips and journeys over the last few months. Until this afternoon it remained unread. Now I've managed to read the first 50 pages or so. It's an edited volume of top tips. On the whole I'm not a big fan of edited volumes. I get sea sick from too frequent changes in style and voice. But actually I'm quite liking this. Each chapter is only about 2000-4000 words, so it's good for the distracting circumstances of a train journey. But each writer also seems to have been given a pretty clear brief and stuck to it. There is a feeling of progression, if not narrative. Is it only academics who can't keep to a brief and sling in contributions to edited volumes that barely hit somewhere 500yds from the mark? Maybe it's to do with a lack of experience of editorial control. Or maybe they're just not journalists.

Friday 13th August

Today is my last day at 'work'.  I've been trying pretty hard to do all the last jobs that need to be done before I leave for five weeks.  To be honest, I've been a bit distracted.  By the rain outside.  By not knowing what I'm going to be doing next week.  By trying not to think about whether I might be homesick.

I have managed to: read and mark an MSc thesis, plan lots of meetings for when I get back to 'work' in September, and off-load all the jobs I haven't managed to do on other people.  I also spent about half an hour being outraged at another case of someone publishing a paper that was definitely my idea.  How do these people get in my brain, steal my research ideas and execute them, all before I've managed to find the time to coalesce my vague thoughts into a coherent plan?  Perhaps this is an important topic for a Times science feature.  It's not been a good day's work, but frankly who's checking?  Everyone else is on holiday and from about an hour ago, I'm on my adventure in London.

Tomorrow I will be super-organised and put little stickers in my A-Z for important places over the next few weeks, print out my tickets, and make lots of nice neat piles.  Today I'm still trying to be at home.