Scientific Media: Gift from the Gods or poisoned chalice?

Author : Kate Sleeth

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When I was doing my graduate studies I was concerned about publishing papers and my thesis.  Then once I moved to my first postdoc position I learned that if you have a particularly good finding you are expected to do press releases which may lead to you appearing on TV or the radio!  As social media has taken off you can now announce results very quickly in a blog, Facebook or even a Tweet! (check out #iamapostdoc for exciting scientific updates!).  But how do we scientists ensure that the message we are giving about our research is correct and not over hyped?