Science

Feature
 Science Feature
Human interest story that also looks into science
Things to consider:
Write for your audience
Research, research, research
Simplify, but don’t dumb it down
Complex Word Layman’s
term
precipitation > rain
Conjunctivitis endemic > sore eyes
Moringa oleifera > malunggay
Pithecophaga jefferyi > Philippine eagle
Storm surge > storm-generated sea
wave
MAKING THE COMPLEX
SIMPLE
7 Tips in Turning Newspaper
Article
Into an Easily Understood and
Interesting to Read Article:
LEO O. LAPARAN
II
Research Head
News & Feature Writer
1.Use imagery to explain
complicated topics.
2.Explain the broader Science
concepts through the
experiences of your
characters.
3. Connect scientific
situations to the people
in your story.
4 Ask yourself:
. “Who is affected by my
story?”
5 The characters in your
. story don’t have to be
people.
6 Only use quotes when
. someone says something
better than you can say it
yourself.
7 Hone every sentence
. to
down
its simplest, strongest
elements.
What can student science journalists
feature?
What they see in media
Products they use
What affects them and
their communities
directly
Their bodies
 Essential Leads
A simple statement and a bullet lead
We all know people who have trained their dogs to
fetch the daily newspaper without tearing it.
Similarly, we all know that horses can be trained to
respond to the slightest movement of their riders.
And we all know that goldfish can be trained to
come to the front of the fish bowl at the sound of a bell.
Now it turns out that even octopi (Octopus
vulgarus) can be trained to perform certain simple tasks,
and that they actually learn those tasks more quickly
from each other than from a human trainer.”
 Essential Leads
• Narrative lead then a summary lead

Sitting at the bottom of a large glass tank is a 2-

pound octopus. The octopus has been trained for
several weeks to avoid balls of one color and to pick up
balls of a different color. Every day for 6 hours he has
been rewarded with food for choosing the right balls,
and punished with mild electric shocks for choosing the
wrong ones. Now, he sits idly in the tank, his eyes
apparently following every movement of the
researchers as they prepare to set up the next
 Essential Leads
Continuation…
The researchers bring over a tank containing another octopus,
one that was freshly collected that morning from the warm and
inviting waters just outside the marine laboratory. The 2 octopi
quickly crawl toward each other in their respective tanks, peering
through the glass with apparent interest. “Now watch this,” one of
the researchers says to the newcomer, as she puts the trained
octopus through his morning
paces. The newly collected octopus watches, and seems genuinely
interested in what the other octopus is doing.
Now the researchers offer the same choices to the new
octopus. Remarkably, after watching only 4 trials, the observing
octopus chooses the correct ball over the other one in every one of
the trials. The surprising finding that octopi can learn from
watching each other was recently published in the research
 Essential Leads
• Surprise or Paradox Lead
Biologists have for years spent many tedious hours
training animals
to perform simple tasks, by rewarding the desired
behavior and
punishing the undesired behavior. Now it seems that at
least some
animals may learn far more quickly by simply watching
each other than
by being trained by humans.
Two Italian scientists, Professor Graziano Fiorito and
Professor
 SWEETHEARTS NO
MORE
I haven’t known you, but I think I have loved you since
childhood. I was just like any other girls – playful and
happy-go-lucky. I was a cute, chubby little girl back then.
And I thought to myself, maybe you liked me too!

In high school I continued to cherish you, though I

still don’t know your name. I just can’t resist you. You were
the one whom I turn to when I’m sad, and you pacified me
with chocolates, candies, and cakes.
We’ve been together at parties, Christmas and all those
happy and not-so-happy moments of my life. You stick with
me through thick and thin. Since I started to gain weight,
felt bloated and ugly you’ve never left me, but rather loved
me even more. That surprise me darling. Coz, the more I
ate, the more I gain weight, the more I felt your presence.
You became my sweetheart!

The time has come when I am at my lowest – I feel ill.

Much older now, I have been in and out of the hospital,
feeling weaker and weaker each day. The doctor says it’s
complicated. Shots of insulin make
We’ve been together at parties, Christmas and all those
happy and not-so-happy moments of my life. You stick
with me through thick and thin. Since I started to gain
weight, felt bloated and ugly you’ve never left me, but
rather loved me even more. That surprise me darling.
Coz, the more I ate, the more I gain weight, the more I
felt your presence. You became my sweetheart!

The time has come when I am at my lowest – I feel ill.

Much older now, I have been in and out of the hospital,
feeling weaker and weaker each day. The doctor says it’s
complicated. Shots of insulin make
me live each day. All the while I thought we were
sweethearts - until I found myself in this cold
wheelchair, feet amputated.

Now, all I can do is just reminisce the past –

the days that I should have lived a healthy life. I no
longer cared by your sweetness. I’m now useless.
And its all because of you,
DIABETES!
 Exercise
• Write a science feature about __________________________.
Thank you so much!