Scientific meetings — it’s nice to see you again

Coverage of scientific meetings has always been one of the pillars of Science News’ journalism. From the early days, our reporters showed up in person to get stories that no one else had. In the 1920s, Jane Stafford regularly reported from medical meetings, covering topics from the common cold to cancer. In 1981, Julie Miller, life sciences reporter at the time, attended a meeting where medical researchers were discussing the first cases of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, or AIDS. She came back knowing she had to write about it (SN: 11/14/81, p. 309). And Ivars Peterson, who covered physical sciences, math and technology, was introduced to a Web browser at a physics meeting in the 1990s.