EB09 Media Coverage: For the 2009 EB meeting we produced 11 press releases and disseminated them to the press. Topics ranged from the development of new antedrugs to computational modeling of Alzheimer's pathways to the benefits of laughter for individuals with diabetes.
During the first 24 hours of release our tracking service logged more than 250 mentions of the studies on TV and radio. Print and internet coverage was likewise extensive. News of the studies profiled at EB were reported on by the BBC, UPI, Reuters, USAToday, WebMD, Forbes, Newsweek, Science News, and Washington Post.
EB Symposium: The Wiki Wiki Workshop: Your Fast Track to the New APS Website provided participants with a hands-on tutorial introduction to the APS wiki. The nearly two dozen attendees heard from broadcast journalist Meg Farris, CBS affiliate Channel 4 in New Orleans, Marin Allen, Deputy Associate Director for Communications and Director of Public Information at the National Institutes of Health, and Christie Nicholson, a freelance science journalist, podcast and Internet video series producer and host, and contributing editor at Scientific American's online service, SciAm.com.
Releases: For the period, staff wrote and promoted 19 scientific releases versus 13 the prior year. Three of the releases highlighted recent journal articles: "Chemical Used in the Production of Intravenous (IV) Bags and Other Medical Equipment Can Reproduce Complications Seen in Patients Following Extracorporeal Circulatory (EC) Support," based on an article published in the American Journal of Physiology Heart and Circulatory Physiology; "Babies Born to Native High-Altitude Mothers Have Decreased Risk of Low Birth Weight," based on findings published in the American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology; and "As Good As it Gets: Octogenarian Muscles Don't Get Stronger With Exercise," from research published in the Journal of Applied Physiology.
Podcasting: Two new podcasts were released in the current period, which brings the total number of podcast the society has released to 21. Podcast downloads continue to rise.
AAAS Mass Media Fellow: The APS 2009 Mass Media Fellow is Vanessa McMains of the Graduate Partnership Program of the National Institutes of Health and Johns Hopkins University. Her fellowship is at the Chicago Tribune.