The Open Desk

Margie Beilharz

Freelance editor and writer in science, environment, education, health

Tag: science writing

  • Plantastic!

    Plantastic!

    I enjoyed writing the Teacher Notes for CSIRO’s new picture book, Plantastic! A to Z of Australian plants. I took the opportunity to speak to the author, Cat Clowes, and the illustrator, Rachel Gyan, about producing the book. You can read my article and check out the book on the CSIRO blog.

  • Review: Junkyard Planet

    My review of Adam Minter’s Junkyard Planet:  travels in the billion-dollar trash trade is out on Science Book a Day today: Do you recycle? Separate out your paper, cans and labelled plastic from your landfill waste? Take your computer waste to a resource recovery centre? Go you! I do too, and every little bit helps, […]

  • Australia’s best science writing 2015

    Australia’s best science writing 2015 If you’re in Sydney next Tuesday (27 Oct 2015), you could attend the launch of the Best Australian Science Writing 2015 anthology, edited by science journalist Bianca Nogrady. The winner of the $7000 Bragg UNSW Press Prize for Science Writing will also be announced. More info and link to registration on the UNSW Science website. […]

  • Decoy nest protects young yellow-rumped thornbills

    Decoy nest protects young yellow-rumped thornbills

    These little brown birds, seen flitting around woodlands and occasionally my garden, are clever architects whose nest deceives potential predators. I discovered this after I chose to write a piece on the yellow-rumped thornbill for the Bimblebox 153 Birds Project—a conservation meets art project highlighting the bird species recorded in Bimblebox Nature Refuge in Queensland, which is […]

  • Book review: ‘At the edge of uncertainty’

    Book review: ‘At the edge of uncertainty’

    My review of Michael Brooks’s book At the edge of uncertainty: 11 discoveries taking science by surprise was posted on Science Book a Day today. You can find it at http://sciencebookaday.com/2014/10/23/margie-beilharz-reviews-at-the-edge-of-uncertainty-11-discoveries-taking-science-by-surprise/ Thanks Science Book a Day George Aranda, it was fun to write. Read my other review posts.

  • Ten or more of just about everything science communication

    You know how blogs posts/tweets etc entice you in with a number in the heading (ten best …, five tips on …)? Here’s even better: a compilation of lists and articles on all aspects of science communication from this week [update – old link removed], put together by Kirk Englehardt, Director of Research Communication and Marketing at Georgia Institute of […]

  • Write for conservation, and art

    I’ve picked the yellow-rumped thornbill to write about for the Bimblebox 153 Birds Project. 153 because they’ve recorded 153 bird species at Bimblebox Nature Reserve in central western Queensland (although their website now says 154). The privately owned high-biodiversity remnant woodland reserve is now under threat

  • Eliminate the negative

    As a bit of professional development, I’m taking a Stanford Uni MOOC, ‘Writing in the Sciences’. Week 1 done: It’s reassuring to see that most of the editing tips are pretty familiar (clear out ‘dead words and phrases’, cut repetition, avoid lots of verbs turned into nouns etc.). It’s still great to have them spelled […]