ScienceBlogs

{{Sciencenav}}
'''ScienceBlogs'''&trade; is an invitation-only blog network/community focusing on, yes, you guessed it, [[science]]. The site is run by Seed Media Group, former publishers of science magazine ''Seed''.  

They launched in 2006 with 15 blogs and as of March 2010, boasted 79 and as of October 2025 have no blogs at all anymore since this was a thing of the 90s. Instead they have moved to a channel-focused approach. A streak of problems culminated in early July 2010 with a Pepsi advertorial blog, which led many regulars to decide they were sick of the place and were leaving for sites such as [[FreeThoughtBlogs]] in the '''Scienceblogs diaspora'''. A sister site, scienceblogs.de, contains blogs in German.

==PepsiGate==
Pepsi [http://scienceblogs.com/foodfrontiers/ joined ScienceBlogs]{{dead link|fix-attempted=yes}} on 6 July 2010, under the guise of "Food Frontiers," a blog intended to discuss food- and health-related topics that were relevant to Pepsico's business. This created a great deal of concern amongst many of the other bloggers, who were angry that a company could just buy a place at the table and present  "advertorial" content on an equal footing with the other blogs on the site.<ref> [http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2010/jul/07/scienceblogs-blogging-pepsi Guardian article.]</ref> Many ScienceBlogs authors announced a "hiatus" in their contributions<ref>Go to the site and Google ''pepsi''</ref> and quite a few simply up and left over the controversy. [http://scienceblogs.com/seed/?utm_source=bloglist&utm_medium=dropdown The owners] (the Seed Media Group) produced an unconvincing "announcement" to counter this "rebellion", but stayed silent for a long while.<ref name=pzmyers-strike/>

PepsiCo's Food Frontiers blog didn't last long<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20100709060912/http://scienceblogs.com/seed/2010/07/food_frontiers.php We have removed Food Frontiers from SB]</ref> but everyone else's other concerns came to light: the utter technical neglect of ScienceBlogs<ref name="bora quits"/>, Seed Media and Adam Bly's habit of not paying freelancers<ref>http://wanderinggaia.com/2010/07/10/why-i-exposed-seed/</ref> (the worst crime an editor can perpetrate, as far as freelancers in general are concerned) and, significantly, Bly's past complete lack of comprehension of the wall between editorial and advertising. ''Seed'' articles had been pulled because they could potentially offend an advertiser<ref>http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/blog/2010/jul/09/seed-editorial-independence-scienceblogs</ref> and writers had been asked to blatantly shill for advertisers in editorial copy.<ref>http://twitter.com/EmilyAnthes/status/18131707104 archived https://archive.ph/E7XLL/again?url=http://twitter.com/EmilyAnthes/status/18131707104</ref>

On 19 July 2010, Bora left the site.<ref name="bora quits">[https://scienceblogs.com/confessions/2010/07/19/bora-leaves-scienceblogs]</ref> This was arguably the most significant departure to date as he had always presented the professional face of ScienceBlogs. On top of that, RW's own [[User:PalMD|PalMD]] left.<ref>https://scienceblogs.com/whitecoatunderground/2010/07/19/ethics-always-a-challenge</ref>

On 20 July, [[PZ Myers]] announced that he was "going on strike" until the website cleaned up its act,<ref name=pzmyers-strike>https://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/07/20/pharyngula-on-strike</ref> though he came back two days later saying progress was being made<ref>https://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/07/22/still-alive</ref> and has moved away from ScienceBlogs circa 2017.

A number of the exSciblings resurfaced at [http://scientopia.org/blogs/ Scientopia], including our own [http://scientopia.org/blogs/whitecoatunderground/ PalMD].

In April 2011, ScienceBlogs was taken over by [[National Geographic]]. While Seed would still maintain ownership of the site, National Geographic would acquire editorial control and responsibility for advertising sales on the site.

===July 2010===
[http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/network-central/2011/07/05/welcome-the-scientific-american-blog-network/ Scientific American]{{dead link|fix-attempted=yes}} had begun its own blogsite - but also ended that phase circa 2018 hiding some blog posts behind a paywall. Several Scibloggers seem to be jumping or ready to jump.<ref>[https://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/2011/07/05/scientific-american-blogging-n Deltoid]; [https://scienceblogs.com/thoughtfulanimal/2011/07/05/goodbye-scienceblogs-hello-sci Thoughtful Animal]</ref> Even PZ sees the end in view.<ref>[https://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/07/05/new-stars-rising-old-ones-fadi PZ on Sciblogs]</ref>

PZ and a handful of others have started [http://freethoughtblogs.com/ ''Freethought Blogs''].<ref>[http://freethoughtblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/07/31/welcome-to-the-new-digs/ PZ's ''"Welcome"'' post.]</ref>

==Survival of scienceblogs.de==

Much turmoil at the English scienceblogs was linked to wider struggles in the USA and UK, such as whether [[New Atheism]] was wonderful or a Trojan horse for right-wing politics, and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Republican_War_on_Science Chris Mooney's argument] that being pro-science in the USA meant being anti-Republican. In search of relevance or ad revenues, many English scienceblogs came to focus on cultural conflicts and personal politics. A number of German blogs continued on the scienceblogs.de domain because they were more focused on math or science and less involved in these struggles between Brits and Americans.  As of April 2025, a few are still active.

==Channels==
*[http://scienceblogs.com/channel/life-science Life Science] 
*[http://scienceblogs.com/channel/physical-science Physical Science]
*[http://scienceblogs.com/channel/environment Environment]
*[http://scienceblogs.com/channel/humanities Humanities]
*[http://scienceblogs.com/channel/education Education]
*[http://scienceblogs.com/channel/politics Politics]
*[http://scienceblogs.com/channel/medicine Medicine]
*[http://scienceblogs.com/channel/brain-and-behavior Brain & Behavior]
*[http://scienceblogs.com/channel/technology Technology]
*[http://scienceblogs.com/channel/information-science Information Science]

==Former blogs==
* Last post 2017 [http://scienceblogs.com/deltoid/ Deltoid], Tim Lambert's blog, general skepticism with a strong focus on environmental issues and especially global warming denial.
* Last post 2017 [http://scienceblogs.com/denialism/ Denialism blog], run by the Hoofnagle brothers and PalMD. Has a lot of good material, like the Denialist Deck of Cards.
* Last post 2010 [http://scienceblogs.com/dispatches/ Dispatches from the Culture Wars], [[Ed Brayton]]'s blog focusing on pseudoscience in politics (esp. creationism), politics in general, and law.
* Last post 2011 [http://scienceblogs.com/neurophilosophy/ Neurophilosophy], a blog on neuroscience, psychology, and skepticism about pseudo-psychology and neuro-woo.
* Last post 2017 [http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/ Pharyngula], PZ Myers' blog, focusing on biology and secularism.
* Last post 2017 [http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/ Respectful Insolence], [[Orac]]'s blog on general skepticism with a focus on medical quackery.
* Last post 2010 [https://scienceblogs.com/author/palmd The White Coat Underground] written by RationalWiki founder member and occasional visitor PalMD. The posts have a medical focus.

==See also==
*[[ScienceBlogs/Articles of interest|A few selected articles]]

==External Links==
*[http://scienceblogs.com/ The main page]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120304093014/http://ataraxiatheatre.com/2010/03/12/what-erv-really-stands-for/ 'Toon] [https://scienceblogs.com/grrlscientist/2010/03/13/ninja-grrlscientist-strikes Additional 'toon]

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:Blogs]]
[[Category:Gates]]

Categories: Blogs, Gates