Sarah Wild
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sarahemilywild.bsky.social
Sarah Wild
@sarahemilywild.bsky.social
Science Journalist, Scribbler, Question-asker, Audio-wrangler, Note-taker, Tea-drinker, and (Occasional) Author. She/her.
Pinned
Story hunting: Are you a researcher who is doing some interesting research? I'd love to hear what you're up to. Send me a message. :)
Here's my geeky deep-dive into cosmic dawn experiments in @physicsworld.bsky.social . I loved every moment of it.

physicsworld.com/a/cosmic-daw...
Cosmic dawn: the search for the primordial hydrogen signal – Physics World
Sarah Wild talks to astronomers across the world who are on a hunt for a subtle hydrogen signal that could confirm or disprove our ideas on the universe’s evolution
physicsworld.com
November 19, 2025 at 4:04 PM
AI models are neglecting African languages — scientists want to change that
Scientists record 9,000 hours of languages spoken in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa as free-access training data for AI models.
www.nature.com/articles/d41...
AI models are neglecting African languages — scientists want to change that
Scientists record 9,000 hours of languages spoken in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa as free-access training data for AI models.
www.nature.com
July 29, 2025 at 12:36 PM
“There are no standards for repositories; the journals are not telling you how to correct a data set or how to cite new data, so people are just winging it,” says @cghlewis.bsky.social Lewis, a freelance data-management consultant in St. Louis, Missouri.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Need to update your data? Follow these five tips
Researchers engaged in long-term projects often need to update their data sets over time. Here’s how to do it while maintaining reproducibility.
www.nature.com
July 14, 2025 at 3:50 PM
The third Q&A in my @nature.com series about how South Africa seeded the discipline of radio astronomy in Africa www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Giant radio telescope was ‘a natural magnet’ for African talent
Roger Deane has seen the investment in astronomy on the continent pay off both in his own career and with more young scientists joining the field.
www.nature.com
July 14, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Here's my latest in LiveScience: Why were the Texas flash floods so catastrophic.
www.livescience.com/planet-earth...
Why were the Texas flash floods so catastrophic?
More than 100 people have died in devastating flash floods in Kerr County, Texas. But what caused this extreme weather, and will events like this get more common?
www.livescience.com
July 9, 2025 at 8:14 AM
Reposted by Sarah Wild
Great tips from @sarahemilywild.bsky.social 👇
It's all about building relationships, 1st with the comms officers at universities, then with experts.
Grab ☕️ with the comms person, even a virtual one; talk to researchers once in a while to see when are they publishing something.
#abswss25 1/2
June 26, 2025 at 3:03 PM
This series in @nature.com is close to my heart: how South Africa seeded the discipline of radio astronomy on the African continent. In 2005, there were five radio astronomers on the continent. Today there are hundreds of talented people listening to the stars.

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Developing astronomers in Africa: ‘We wanted to create a discipline’
Astronomer Bernie Fanaroff helped to design South Africa’s plan to become a radioastronomy powerhouse — and it started with training the next generation.
www.nature.com
June 23, 2025 at 9:39 AM
Reposted by Sarah Wild
You have until next Wednesday to book an 'early bird' ticket and save up to 50%! I'm running a "Journalism From Scientific Papers" session with the amazing @emmastoye.bsky.social @sarahemilywild.bsky.social and @dalmeet.bsky.social, covering the basics and more sophisticated stuff. Sign up now!
📢 The programme for the ABSW Summer School 2025 on 26 June is out now!

The Summer School is at King's College London - I'm organising a session on misinformation - how to spot it and counter it: www.absw.org.uk/pages/the-pr...

👉 Sign up: www.absw.org.uk/pages/regist...

#scicomm #journalism
The Programme - 2025 | Association of British Science Writers
View the timetable for the 2025 Science & Technology Summer School
www.absw.org.uk
May 1, 2025 at 8:48 AM
Reposted by Sarah Wild
I'm just sending out a survey from Nature's news team asking about ethical ways to use generative AI tools to write or review research papers.
To reassure anyone who received this email and is finding this post: this is a genuine survey! Please message me if you have questions.
March 18, 2025 at 4:29 PM
My latest in @physicsworld.bsky.social The SKA Observatory has released the 1st images from its partially built low-frequency telescope in Australia. It contains 85 of the brightest known galaxies in that region. With the full SKA-Low, it will see more than 600 000.
physicsworld.com/a/milestone-...
'Milestone' as Square Kilometre Array Observatory releases its first low-frequency image of the cosmos – Physics World
The new SKA-Low image was created using 1024 two-metre-high antennas
physicsworld.com
March 18, 2025 at 1:54 PM
Another one from me this week. This time in The Economist: Satellites are polluting the stratosphere

www.economist.com/science-and-...
Satellites are polluting the stratosphere
And forthcoming mega-constellations will exacerbate the problem
www.economist.com
March 7, 2025 at 10:45 AM
In Tshilidzi Marwala's lab (@txm23.bsky.social) lab, "there I saw people who looked like me, who had backgrounds similar to mine. That experience changes you. He was also so generous with everyone, asking, 'How do we open opportunities for you?'" – @vukosi.bsky.social
March 5, 2025 at 9:49 AM
"If you’re just an individual, ‘superstar’ researcher, once you leave the field or retire, in effect, nothing has changed." – @vukosi.bsky.social in @nature.com

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
I want to ensure that Africans take part in the AI revolution
Vukosi Marivate learnt that communities, not just superstar individuals, can open doors in artificial intelligence.
www.nature.com
March 5, 2025 at 9:46 AM
The SKA's development has been shaped by a suite of smaller experiments and telescopes that are already resetting the agenda – and flagging problems that the giant telescope could face.

physicsworld.com/a/thirty-yea...
Thirty years of the Square Kilometre Array: here’s what the world’s largest radio telescope project has achieved so far – Physics World
The precursors to the world’s most sensitive radio telescope are already changing our view of the cosmos
physicsworld.com
March 4, 2025 at 10:19 AM
Well. That didn't make me feel better about the world, now did it?
Spiders can run just as fast after two of their legs drop off. When spiders self-amputate two of their legs, they quickly adjust their running gait so they can return to full speed www.newscientist.com/article/2466...
Spiders can run just as fast after two of their legs drop off
When spiders self-amputate two of their legs, they quickly adjust their running gait so they can return to full speed
www.newscientist.com
February 4, 2025 at 4:25 PM
Reposted by Sarah Wild
We are covering the recent executive orders in the US and the impact on the scientific community. If you have been affected then feel free to get in touch (anonymous or otherwise) by sending an e-mail to physics.world AT ioppublishing DOT org🧪⚛️
January 29, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Reposted by Sarah Wild
I wrote a piece about why kids need risky play and 'scary joy'.

I went into this @nature.com story feeling kind of like I screwed up because our kid is naturally cautious, but actually came out feeling much better. Kids need the *chance* to take risks--they get to decide whether to take them
Why kids need to take more risks: science reveals the benefits of wild, free play
Studies reveal how risky play can benefit child development. But encouraging it can be a challenge for parents.
www.nature.com
January 8, 2025 at 6:28 PM
Starting the new year with a bang: my latest feature for Nature Magazine:

‘One of the last taboos’: breaking the stigma of substance-use disorders in academia

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
‘One of the last taboos’: breaking the stigma of substance-use disorders in academia
Those recovering from drug or alcohol misuse speak up — and say they wish more researchers could do so freely at work.
www.nature.com
January 6, 2025 at 2:46 PM
Reposted by Sarah Wild
For Maths fans, 2025 is a square.
45² = 45 x 45 = 2025
Also,
9² x 5² = 2025
40² + 20² + 5² = 2025
My favourite?
1³+2³+3³+4³+5³+6³+7³+8³+9³ = 2025
#Mathematics #teaching #education
January 1, 2025 at 1:56 PM
My latest in @physicstoday.bsky.social : Vast amounts of hydrogen are likely hidden under our feet – potentially more than enough to meet the projected H2 needed to achieve net-zero carbon emissions for about 200 years.

pubs.aip.org/physicstoday...
Vast amounts of hydrogen are likely hidden under our feet
Enough of the gas is trapped beneath our planet’s surface to satisfy our energy needs for decades, a new study finds. The question is whether it’s economically viable to use.
pubs.aip.org
December 19, 2024 at 10:13 AM
My first story in @physicsworld.bsky.social

Africa targets 2035 start date for synchrotron construction

physicsworld.com/a/africa-tar...
Africa targets 2035 start date for synchrotron construction – Physics World
The African Light Source Foundation’s conceptual design report hopes to encourage African leaders to support the project
physicsworld.com
December 16, 2024 at 9:23 AM
Reposted by Sarah Wild
Framing indigenous knowledge in a way that empowers the communities it comes from goes beyond good journalism

It’s “fundamentally decolonial”

Traditional knowledge & Western science are different ways of knowing. They can inform each other in powerful ways.

www.theopennotebook.com/2024/10/29/w...
Weaving Indigenous Science into Reported Stories - The Open Notebook
Incorporating Indigenous-led research into science stories adds key perspectives and expands the often-narrow definition of science. To report on Indigenous science accurately and fairly, journalists ...
www.theopennotebook.com
November 30, 2024 at 5:29 PM
I lie awake at night thinking about this.

In 100 years, the knowledge people can access will mostly be from the Global North. It will be as though scholarship from most of the Global South – unless published in US, UK, or European journals – did not exist. 1/n

www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Act now to stop millions of research papers from disappearing
Digital preservation is not keeping up with the growth of scholarly knowledge. Recognizing its causes is the first step to securing records everywhere for future generations.
www.nature.com
November 27, 2024 at 10:58 AM
Story hunting: Are you a researcher who is doing some interesting research? I'd love to hear what you're up to. Send me a message. :)
November 11, 2024 at 12:04 PM