Feed Your Feed!: 12 Science-Related Twitter Accounts to Follow

By Michael Burgin  |  February 7, 2014 | 6:00am
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Let’s face it: it’s a big, big Twitter-verse out there, filled with all the best and worst humanity has to offer. For many, the little blue bird and the service it represents are just further proof of the perversity of human nature—yes, even when restrained to 140 characters or less, people can be somehow spew novel’s worth of ignorance and pettiness. Yet amidst the cacophony and confusion, there persists plenty to love. Whether you’re a black belt-toting Twitter master, a dabbler in the social media substrate, or a neophyte looking for someone (or something) to follow, here are a few feeds of note for the science lovers out there.

1. WIRED Science – @wiredscience
Twitter Bio: Science, space, energy and robot sharks with lasers. Hosted by the Wired Science team: @betsymason, @9brandon, @adamspacemann, @dosmonos and @slugnads
Followers: 1.11 million
Need for Feed: A feed directly from the heart of Wired-ness—a collection of science bloggers providing a steady stream of fascinating stories and links. Though 1.11 million people can be wrong, they are not in this case.

2. Science Friday – @scifri
Twitter Bio: Science, technology, and other cool stuff from the folks behind public radio’s Science Friday.
Followers: 437K
Need for Feed: It’s likely that science lovers who still use that quaint social media device of the 20th century—radio—already know about NPR’s popular science program (hosted by Ira Flatow). Besides the normal allotment of interesting links, RTs and MTs, followers on Twitter receive the “DVD extras” equivalent of information to flesh out the material presented during the weekly broadcast.

3. Emily Graslie – @ehmee
Twitter Bio: Chief Curiosity Correspondent for the @FieldMuseum, Host of #TheBrainScoop, painter, photographer, violinist, baker, joker.
Followers: 19.5K
Need for Feed: Graslie’s feed is continuing stream of conveyed enthusiasm for all things science. (One could also describe it less metaphorically as a mix of personal stuff, links to The Brain Scoop and Nerdfighter-related material done with Hank and John Green.) Graslie’s calm, cogent perspective on the obstacles women face in the sciences is a must-view video for any parent with a daughter interested in a STEM field (or with a daughter, period).

4. NASA – @NASA
Twitter Bio: Explore the universe and discover our home planet with @NASA. We usually post in EST (UTC-5).
Followers: 5.83 million
Need for Feed: And in this corner, weighing in at a truly astronomical 5.83 million followers … one of the big daddies (or mamas) of science and technology in the world … the acronym with attitude … the National Aeronautics and Space Administration! NASA’s feed is a mix of space- and NASA-related project updates, images from their various telescopes, landers, and satellites, science-related policy discussions, and articles about NASA and NASA-sponsored research projects. The universe is full of amazing things, and if you’ve seen a picture or read a description of them, it’s likely through the auspices of NASA.

5. Neil deGrasse Tyson – @neiltyson
Twitter Bio: Astrophysicist, Am. Museum of Natural History. Author: Space Chronicles, Pluto Files, Inexplicable Universe [Video], Host: StarTalk Radio http://StarTalkRadio.net
Followers: 1.62 million
Need for Feed: The current bearer of Carl Sagan’s mantle as “The Face of Science to the Masses” (also worn, the Most Affable Face of Science), deGrasse Tyson reaffirms the justness of his position every day, tweet by tweet. (The books, lectures and TV appearances don’t hurt, either).

6. Chris Hadfield – @Cmdr_Hadfield
Twitter Bio: Canadian Astronaut, back on Earth after living aboard ISS as Commander of Expedition 35.
Followers: 1.06 million
Need for Feed: The first Canadian to walk in space and a commander of the International Space Station, Hadfield also walks away with the prize for most social media-savvy astronaut. (His Space Oddity rendition was particularly viral.) His feed is a treasure trove of insight and information about the challenges (practical and theoretical) of space exploration, much of it gleaned from his own experiences during multiple stints out of this world.

7. David Brin – @davidbrin
Twitter Bio: Scientist, Futurist & Author (The Postman, Existence,The Transparent Society). Interested in technology & our changing world
Followers:12.4K
Need for Feed: Besides the books in his bio, Brin is perhaps best known for his award-winning Uplift series, which posits a future where dolphins and chimpanzees have joined man as sentient beings, and all three must negotiate the perils inherent in the interaction with a host of other alien races. Brin’s feed is must for those who enjoy chewing on and debating some of the thornier—or at least, more philosophical—issues posed by technologies and discoveries arriving daily from the “future” to the “now.”

8. Elise Andrew – @Elise_Andrew
Twitter Bio: Just a liberal, freckle-faced slut. Also, I Fucking Love Science.
Followers: 55.6K
Need for Feed: Andrew is the brain and attitude behind that most popular of Facebook pages, I Fucking Love Science. (Basically, if you’ve had a science-related image shared with you on Facebook, that’s probably where it came from.) Her feed offers plenty of discussion, as well as biting insights and commentary on the inequalities of treatment faced by women in the field of science.

9. minute physics – @_minutephysics
Twitter Bio: minute physics as soon as possible .
Followers: 1,765
Need for Feed: For the feed of Henry Reich, the man behind the immensely informative and engaging YouTube channels MinutePhysics and MinuteEarth, try the above handle minus the underscore. For a steady stream of links to the fascinating videos he produces, this feed is the one you want.

10. Ben Goldacre – @bengoldacre
Twitter Bio: Doctor, nerd cheerleader, Bad Science person, stats geek, procrastinator
Followers: 309K
Need for Feed: Science is great. If you’re reading this list, you probably love it. Unfortunately, there’s potentially no limit to how much harm can be done by science that is misunderstood, badly done (or invented whole cloth) or cynically twisted. As the writer of the “Bad Science column” for The Guardian, the writer of Bad Science (2008) and Bad Pharma (2012), and a frequent lecturer on the subject, Goldacre does his part to curb the potential damage.

11. David Pogue — @Pogue
Twitter Bio: Doctor, nerd cheerleader, Bad Science person, stats geek, procrastinator
Followers: 1.5 million
Need for Feed: The personal tech columnist for the newly launched Yahoo Tech (and formerly the tech columnist for The New York Times), Pogue has written a number of Dummies books, as well as launched the Missing Manuals series providing “written manuals for popular consumer software and hardware products.” Not surprisingly given the recentness of his latest endeavor, Pogue’s feed lately is filled with links and references to articles generated in the new Yahoo! domain he helped create—a “change” that does nothing to lessen the value and interest inherent in the feed.

12. Joanne Manaster – @sciencegoddess
Twitter Bio: Read Science! host, @sciam blogger, book lover, biology lecturer, former international model, STEM advocate. Mashable says my tweets will make you smarter
Followers: 47.7K
Need for Feed: Like others on this list—and most personalities on Twitter, no matter the field—Manaster has multiple digital homes, including her blog, Joanne Loves Science, YouTube channel and Facebook page. Needless to say, her feed serves as a useful consolidator of her various efforts, but @sciencegoddess is also another valuable discussion leader in a fascinating field.

There you have it—a drop from an ocean (or at least a sizable lake) of good Twitter feeds for people who love science. How about you, Paste readers … what are some other good suggestions of Twitter feeds of interest for people who love science?

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