150 Years of Advancing Science: A History of AAAS
Change and Continuity: 1971 to the Present
In recent years, AAAS has devoted increasing attention to
improving public understanding of science. The Association's most ambitious
venture in this realm was a popular magazine whose name changed with the
year, beginning as Science80. It quickly achieved a circulation
of nearly 700,000 and received numerous awards but ultimately fell victim
to economics and was sold to Time, Inc. in 1986. Time immediately
folded the magazine and added its subscription list to that of its chief
rival, Discover, which Time owned.
Earlier, AAAS had helped launch what has become the longest-running
science program on television, "Nova." AAAS used funds from a large
NSF grant for public understanding of science to provide seed money to
producer Michael Ambrosino at WGBH in Boston.
Since its establishment in 1974, under grants from NSF and the Russell
Sage Foundation, the Mass Media Fellows program has placed science and
engineering graduate students in ten-week summer internships at media outlets
throughout the United States. The program has helped launch the careers
of numerous science journalists while giving other fellows first hand experience
in the world of journalism. Fellows and alumni of the program have improved
science coverage in numerous media outlets, including many smaller newspapers
and radio stations.
As AAAS's programs have expanded and Science has increasingly
become a source of breaking news for the popular media, the AAAS News and
Information Office has taken on a growing role.
A recent addition to popularization efforts is a radio program aimed
at seven to 12 year-olds. Called "Kinetic City Super Crew," the program
features a group of children whose travels on the Kinetic City Express
train provide a vehicle for a wide range of science-related adventures.
The program won a coveted Peabody Award in 1997.
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