Abstract

Cat Warren's expertise as a journalist impacted her experience and reflections in the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic. Warren saw good science journalism as a lifeline in the age of COVID. Good journalism, especially good science journalism, was critical at that time. It provided a way to understand some of the forces at work and to sort through information that might otherwise take us years of study to understand. Good science journalists help explain confusing science and medicine. They help us understand what is huge and befuddling. Note: This podcast was recorded in the spring of 2020.

Cat Warren, Ph.D., is a professor emeritus at NC State where she taught science journalism, editing, and creative nonfiction. She received a university outstanding teacher award in 2018. Before joining NC State, Dr. Warren was a newspaper reporter. She has covered bombers holding a school hostage, a physician who sexually assaulted dozens of patients over decades, and the deep poverty in Connecticut cities. She has also been a national education magazine editor and a communication director for a non-profit justice organization. Her first book, What the Dog Knows: The Science and Wonder of Working Dogs (opens in new window), became a New York Times bestseller and was long-listed for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award.

TRANSCRIPT

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS

1. Cat Warren’s website

2. Audio excerpt from What the Dog Knows by Dr. Cat Warren

3. Q&A with the College of Natural Resources: 5 Questions With Dr. Cat Warren, Author of What the Dog Knows

4. Interview with WUNC Public Radio on the Young Readers edition of What the Dog Knows: What Kids Can Learn From Four-Legged Laboratories

5. Article Cat Warren wrote for the New York Times Science section on using scent-detection dogs in archaeology: When Cadaver Dogs Pick Up a Scent, Archaeologists Find Where to Dig