写科技论文时一条重要原则是,不要误导读者。大部分论文都能做到这一点,因为存在比较严格的审稿机制。不过我发现,很多科技新闻发布(press releases)就是很误导一般读者的,即使来自顶级的学术单位。为啥会这样呢!为啥不努力给公众准确的信息。这些写 public release 的,写完后难道不让相关的研究人员审阅么?
举个比较近的例子,这个新闻发布来自哈佛大学,In Tiny Supercooled Clouds, Physicists Exchange Light And Matter。题目说的是,物理学家交换光与物质。看到题目我就短路了。查阅自然杂志上的原文 Coherent control of optical information with matter wave dynamics,可以看到免费看第一段。原来,研究者做的是,把光脉冲转换成物质波,等物质波行进一段距离后,又把它转换成光脉冲。要点是,在这个过程中,光信息被相干传递了。
这样的误导的例子有很多很多。
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新闻正文中不是说得
新闻正文中不是说得很清楚吗?误导你什么了呢?标题只是起吸引读者的目的。
Hau and her co-authors, Naomi S. Ginsberg and Sean R. Garner, found that the light pulse can be revived, and its information transferred between the two clouds of sodium atoms, by converting the original optical pulse into a traveling matter wave which is an exact matter copy of the original pulse, traveling at a leisurely 200 meters per hour. The matter pulse is readily converted back into light when it enters the second of the supercooled clouds -- known as Bose-Einstein condensates -- and is illuminated with a control laser.
即使正文里,也有多
即使正文里,也有多处说把光转换成了物质。
They accomplished this feat by completely converting the light pulse into matter that travels between the two locations and is subsequently changed back to light.
The period of time when the light pulse becomes matter, and the matter pulse is isolated in space between the condensate clouds, could offer scientists and engineers a tantalizing new window for controlling and manipulating optical information;
我也知道,标题是要吸引读者,但这就可以不管准确与否了么?而且我觉得 press release 里面最重要的就是标题了,很多人就只扫一下标题而已,具体正文内容就不见得看的懂了。
回楼上的楼上:吸引
回楼上的楼上:吸引读者,首先不能不择手段,其次不能弱智。
现在太多新闻为了题
现在太多新闻为了题目吸引人不择手段啊
不仅限于科学新闻
感叹一下
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