Facebook seems to be a better place to share comments and ideas on science.

To get some more ideas on my work as a freelance science writer I post longer pieces on this new site science@antville
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Never heard about this problem, but Zhong You of Oxford University showed recently how to fold rigid tall shopping bags - using some origami techniques and maths simulations. Here the paper, and my work at wissenschaft.de, featured at Spiegel Online. Obviously, Zhong You has got lots of fun combining maths and origami - check for the pictures of his website here.

There are journalistic principles to write an accurate and balanced medical story, focus on the news, don't skip side effects of a therapy or medication, mention alternatives of the treatment. But journalists produce under pressure, and hence often neglect their own standards. My colleague Marcus Anhäuser, a senior science and medical journalist in Germany, heads an editorial team to check health stories after publication and rates them regarding to journalistic standards and usefulness for the general reader. Their ratings on medical stories in German papers, radio and TV are available at www.medien-doktor.de (in German). But there are obviously examples from the U.S. and elsewhere:

www.healthnewsreview.org
www.mediadoctor.ca

12 events that you wish should never happen or at least will change our live completely lists Scientific American magazin in an interactive presentation. Its web science journalism at its best.

Machine learning, the use of cellphones as data collection devices in science, energy efficiency in computing and privacy are the four research topics that Internet gigant Google pursues by university research funding, writes Steve Lohr in a NY Times blog post (1.2.2010). Approx 5.7 million US-Dollars are spent for a dozen university research projects.

As early as year 1928 researchers found clues that blows to the head results in brain injuries and a higher risk of dementia. However, sports managers ignore the scientific facts, writes Deborah Blum in an opinion piece for the NY Times (4.2.2010).

Theoretical physicists around Martin Plenio from Imperial College, London, propose to introduce into research papers by short videos that highlights the essentials of the paper and the results. The video is self-made by a small webcam and posted to the Quantiki portal. The video may be linked to the pre-print server arxiv.org, where researchers in the branches of mathematics, theoretical physics, and astronomy are used to deposit their papers in advance to publication.

The main goal is to give users an easier access to research, to expand the audience and to push scientists to explain their research to a broader readership. The video is essentially a presentation with maximum 6 minutes length.