5th World Conference of Science Journalists

PRODUCER/CHAIR: Natasha Mitchell,

SPEAKERS: Deborah Blum, Jonica Newby, Fred Mendelsohn

SESSION REPORT: The brain: The final frontier of science

By Hannah Hoag

For the journalist, there’s a certain amount of seduction in covering the brain. It’s mysterious and carries cachet, perhaps because it is hidden from view. Covering the brain sciences is a sexy beat, but do journalists risk losing our skepticism when reporting on the brain and the mind sciences, Natasha Mitchell of ABC Radio, and the producer of You are not your brain scan: critical reporting on the mind sciences, asked her panel.

“We’re fascinated how this lump of jelly can give us consciousness and behavior,” said Fred Mendelsohn, director of the Howard Florey Institute, Australia’s leading brain research centre. Now, technology and other scientific advances have enabled scientists to dig deeper into the brain’s complexity and transmit colorful images of its activities.

These brain scans provide a way to visualize the information and suck consumers of television and print media into the story, said Jonica Newby, a reporter and producer for ABC’s Catalyst. But the tools can be misused too.

Brain scans risk simplifying the science and equating our brain scans with destiny, much like the early years of genetics and reporting on genetics.

Biological destiny appeals to certain groups and fuels debates on nature and nurture. Brain science risks following the same trajectory, even though the nature/nurture dichotomy is unreal, says Deborah Blum, a Pulitzer-prize winning science writer and a professor of journalism at the university of Wisconsin-Madison. “It’s a dance. Nature and nurture dance together,” she said.

Journalists have to remember that brain science, like health science, is about statistics, and that while the information can help reveal why there is variation among people, that there will always be exceptions to the rule. “Some of [the challenge] is getting journalists to be less afraid of statistics,” said Blum.