Science News & Information

The economy and health care continued to lead the news last week as they have so often in recent months. But global warming, thanks in part to a controversy over emails, received a record level of coverage.

A vote in Switzerland to ban the construction of Muslim minarets and controversies over global warming research led conversations in the blogosphere last week. On Twitter, it was a story about a local billboard campaign with unintended consequences. And on YouTube, a pop singer made her second appearance in recent weeks.

Two subjects that didn’t generate much attention in the mainstream press last week remained hot topics in social media. The saga of six-year-old Falcon Heene and the phony balloon flight continued to provoke outrage in the blogosphere while a warning from the British Prime Minister triggered another debate over global warming.

Two different topics grabbed the attention of social media last week to an extent rarely seen in the New Media Index. On blogs, a BBC report questioning global warming triggered a mostly enthusiastic response while the strange saga of “balloon boy” led on Twitter. On YouTube, a speech by a pop singer at a political rally was the most viewed video.

The swine flu story quickly topped the American media agenda when the story broke in late April. How did coverage in other countries compare with the U.S.? Was there any correlation between the number of confirmed cases and quantity or nature of coverage? How did Spanish-language media in the U.S. react? A new report examining press coverage of the outbreak in several countries offers answers.

Fully 87% of online users have at one time used the internet to carry out research on a scientific topic or concept.