About PhysOrg.com
About PhysOrg.com in 100 Words
PhysOrg.com™ is a leading web-based science, research and technology news service which covers a full range of topics. These include physics, earth science, medicine, nanotechnology, electronics, space, biology, chemistry, computer sciences, engineering, mathematics and other sciences and technologies. Launched in 2004, PhysOrg’s readership has grown steadily to include 1.75 million scientists, researchers, and engineers every month. PhysOrg publishes approximately 100 quality articles every day, offering some of the most comprehensive coverage of sci-tech developments world-wide. Quancast 2009 includes PhysOrg in its list of the Global Top 2,000 Websites. PhysOrg community members enjoy access to many personalized features such as social networking, a personal home page set-up, RSS/XML feeds, article comments and ranking, the ability to save favorite articles, a daily newsletter, and other options.
Mission
The PhysOrg.com™ staff mission statement is to provide the most complete and comprehensive daily coverage of the full sweep of science, technology, and medicine news. Sci-tech readers will find coverage of relevant and interesting current events. We strive to bring our readers a large assortment of stories, catering for scientists, researchers, engineers, academia, tech geeks, students, and graduates alike. With a highly educated and sophisticated readership and target audience, PhysOrg.com stories go beyond mere catchy jargon. We find out the who, the what, the where, the how, and the why of a story - and the why not. Our job is to find the interesting science and technology stories, uncover the details, and give our readers their daily dose of news at a single source.
12 Reasons for reading daily sci-tech news on PhysOrg.com
1. Publishing around 100 articles every business day, PhysOrg offers the most comprehensive sci-tech news coverage on the web.
2. PhysOrg offers the fastest news delivery to end-readers. We typically publish news 1-2 days before other news services.
3. Our stories originate from diverse information sources:
- PhysOrg exclusive feature stories are original and not found elsewhere on the web. Produced by our professional writers, these articles are linked from lots of esteemed websites. For example, the American Physical Society (APS) displays PhysOrg's feature article headlines on its home page.
- Licensed sci-tech news from all major news agencies is published on PhysOrg.
- PhysOrg PR has established relationships with major university research centers and private sector research and development centers, both in the U.S. and world-wide for breaking developments in science and technology.
4. All news stories are hand-processed and sorted out by qualified editors, obviating the problems of feed or bot aggregation. This ensures that high-quality, targeted sci-tech news stories are published on PhysOrg.
5. PhysOrg utilizes advanced programming technology to present news in clear and unambiguous classifications to create intuitive category and sub-category designations. Readers are able to identify news topics easily.
6. PhysOrg provides a comprehensive site search and sort feature. Readers may sort news stories by date, editor ranking, live-rank, popularity ranking, and most e-mailed news story.
7. The unique 'Live-rank' feature was specifically developed by the PhysOrg team to handle vast amounts of daily news. Live-rank combines artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms which determine the popularity of the story among readers, editor ranking, time relevancy, and other factors. Live-rank shows the best up-to-the-minute stories because it combines two factors: recency and reader appeal. In practice, (Al) Live-rank displays the most recent interesting stories in real time.
8. Reader input is particularly important to PhysOrg. Each article appearing on the site has a comment section for readers. This feature is designed to allow readers to ‘speak up’ about content appearing on PhysOrg, from which we can rectify errors and oversights. If we miss something or overstate a scientific principle, for example, our readers let us know very quickly. These readers keep the PhysOrg community vibrant and lively.
9. PhysOrg recognizes that every reader is unique and is looking for a unique experience. So, we provide customizable news filters and a variety of RSS/XML feeds. Our readers can track news specific to their interest areas and customize a personal PhysOrg home page and their RSS feed reader.
10. A personal PhysOrg Account opens up a host of useful features. Account holders can subscribe to our daily newsletter, track site activity, save favorite articles to bookmarks, set up their own homepage news filters, view new stories since last visit, instant message other users, and more.
11. Sharing sci-tech news with friends and colleagues is easy on PhysOrg. Convenient news sharing buttons for Digg, Delicious, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Facebook, Twitter, and many other sites may be accessed with a single mouse-click. Send your favorite stories via e-mail or publish them on your personal blog. Articles are also available in PDF format for your personal use.
12. PhysOrg is hi-tech. We love to stay on the cutting edge of web development. Unique artificial intelligence algorithms help sort out our news stories, Google IG Module and toolbar button, Facebook page and Twitter feeds, and much more. All these features allow PhysOrg go with the flow of internet innovation. Read more about PhysOrg’s hi-tech features and developments here.
Organization
PhysOrg.com is wholly owned by Omicron Technology Limited, headquartered in Douglas, Isle Of Man, United Kingdom. The website was founded in March 2004 by two PhD students motivated by the void in hard science news designed for informed and educated readers. The initial idea behind PhysOrg was to cover physics, nanotechnology, and engineering news. While maintaining this focus, PhysOrg has expanded its coverage to other relevant science and technology fields. PhysOrg has filled the void and created a unique niche in science and technology daily news reporting. As proof of this, the site immediately soared in popularity on the web. Today, PhysOrg is a comprehensive sci-tech news portal for all major research disciplines. In 2005, Omicron Technology acquired PhysOrg, allowing a good idea to become even better.
PhysOrg has seven full-time staff and six contributing writers working around the clock to keep the site fresh and up to date.
Key editors and writers
John joined PhysOrg.com in 2006. His academic roots lie in bio-chemistry from the University College London (UCL). The UCL motto is, "Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward." Taking these words to heart, John has devoted over 25 years of his life to science consulting. John's guidance since joining PHYSorg in 2006 is invaluable in creating reliable and trustworthy science and technology stories for PhysOrg.
Andrew has a life-long interest in scientific news. As a youth he contributed science and technology news to local school magazines. Andrew achieved a Master's degree in physics with post-graduate work as a research assistant for five years, conducting scientific research. Throughout his career he has never forgotten the thrill and excitement of capturing the dreams of a young child through scientific discovery. Andrew is an accurate editor whose earnest efforts and youthful zeal play a major part in the success of PhysOrg.
Alex holds a PhD in nano-engineering from Delft University of Technology, (TU Delft) in the Netherlands. He is an author and co-author of numerous scientific publications. Alex served as a reviewer for various peer-reviewed scientific journals before launching his career in scientific journalism. PhysOrg values Alex's thoughtful and careful scientific insight in developing policy and creating standards for content.
Lisa graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor of Arts degree in rhetoric in 2004. She subsequently completed a science writing internship at Fermilab, followed by a communications internship at Caterpillar. Since then, she has been writing in a freelance capacity for a variety of science, technology, and other publications. Lisa began writing for PhysOrg in 2005, providing engaging and interesting editorials about scientific developments. Lisa‘s stimulating and accurate science and technology articles have made her very popular among PhysOrg readers.
Miranda has a M.A. in journalism from Syracuse University and is a life-long lover of science who now enjoys writing about it. A technology columnist for her local newspaper, Miranda has also had her work published in a range of print and online publications including Discover magazine. Miranda joined PhysOrg in 2005. Her passion for science and technology shows through in her writing, making her contributions lively and incisive.
Mary Anne has an undergraduate degree from the University of California, Irvine in social ecology with an emphasis in multi-cultural human development, legal system development and environmental factors. She was conferred a J.D. degree from Western State College of Law, Fullerton, California and was distinguished with American Jurisprudence Awards in Labor Law and Criminal Procedure. She has argued and briefed a variety of cases in the Appellate Courts. In recent years however, she has returned to her first love - writing about science, technology, ecology and the environment. Mary Anne always digs to the source and as a consequence her stories are cutting edge and detailed.
Lin has a Bachelor's degree in Chemistry/Biochemistry from the University of Sydney, and a Diploma in Freelance Journalism from the Australian College of Journalism. After many years as a technical writer, writing mainly in fields such as chemistry, electronics, heavy engineering, RFID, robotics, and lasers, Lin decided to return to university and has just completed a BA in Literature and Composition. She has also been working as a freelance writer and academic editor, and while she enjoys writing on many topics, science and technology are her first love. Lin began writing for PhysOrg in 2009.
Laura is a physical sciences writer, covering physics, nanoscience, astronomy/astrophysics, and materials science for PhysOrg.com. She began her career as a reporter covering local events on Long Island, New York and later worked at Brookhaven National Laboratory and the National Institute of Standards and Technology. She has been freelancing since 2005. She has B.S. degree in physics from Stony Brook University and currently lives near Boston, Massachusetts. Laura's association with PhysOrg began in 2006. Believing wholeheartedly that ‘the devil is in the detail’, Laura creates accurate and thought-provoking science articles.
After a 35-year professional career in the telecommunications industry, John's second-life career began in 2006. He has flourished as a freelance writer for various websites. John's passion is researching and writing electronic technology and science stories. He graduated from RCA Institutes in 1970 with an Associate Degree in electronic technology. John knows his stuff and readers appreciate his practical insights.
• Ben Mathiesen - contributing author
Ben graduated from Brown University with a Bachelor of Science degree in physics, earning Phi Beta Kappa and Sigma Xi honors. Ben received his Master’s and Doctorate degrees from the University of Michigan. He is a research astrophysicist specializing in X-ray astronomy, the numerical simulation of astrophysical fluids, and the evolution of the universe. In addition to writing and publishing numerous journal articles in astronomy and astrophysics, he has designed and taught several courses in physics, applied math, technical writing, and scientific programming. Ben tilts the world on its axis and back again with interesting stories hell bent on accuracy.
Please feel free to contact any of our staff or contributing writers. Send an email to feedback(at)PhysOrg.com with the person’s name in subject line.
