Comment A secret to good science writing (Score 1) 65
I like how the neuroscientist Lisa Feldman Barrett explains great science writing, in the appendix of her new book, Seven and a Half Lessons About the Brain :
"The biggest challenge of science writing is deciding what to leave out. A science writer, like a sculptor, chips away at complex material until something compelling and comprehensible takes shape. The end result is necessarily incomplete from a strict scientific perspective, but (one hopes) still correct enough not to offend most experts.
"An example of “correct enough” is saying that a human brain is made of approximately 128 billion neurons. This estimate may differ from some others that you’ve seen, because I include the neurons that make up the cerebellum — a brain structure that’s important for using sensations like touch and vision to coordinate physical movements, among other things. Some research papers may underestimate neurons in the cerebellum. Even so, my estimate of brain cells is incomplete, because the brain is also made of 69 billion other cells that are not neurons, called glial cells, which have a surprising number of biological functions. But the 128 billion figure serves to make the point that the brain is a complex network of parts."