Seed (magazine)
Encyclopedia
Seed is an online science magazine published by Seed Media Group. The magazine looks at big ideas in science
, important issues at the intersection of science and society, and the people driving global science culture
. Seed was founded in Montreal
by Adam Bly
and the magazine is now headquartered in New York
with bureaus around the world. May/June 2009 (Issue No. 22) was the last print issue. Content continues to be published on the website.
Seed was a finalist for two National Magazine Award
s in 2007 in the categories of Design and General Excellence (100,000 to 250,000), is the recipient of the Utne
Independent Press Award, and is included in the 2006 Best American Science and Nature Writing anthology published by Houghton Mifflin
and edited by Brian Greene
.
The magazine publishes original writing from scientists and science journalists. Scientists who have contributed to the magazine include: James D. Watson
, Freeman Dyson
, Lisa Randall
, Martin Rees, Steven Pinker
, E.O. Wilson, and Daniel Dennett
. Seeds design
direction was created by Stefan Sagmeister
.
was among the senior scientists who contributed to the magazine.
Founding the media group SEED Group, based in Montreal and funded privately, Bly started Seeds publication in Canada in November 2001. The magazine focused on the meeting of science and culture at its inception: Bly's first editor's note declared that "SEED defines the science of contemporary urban culture
". In additional interviews, he explained that the magazine would connect to the reader by showing the widespread applications of science, as well as giving faces to "the people behind science" by placing people on the covers. The first issue had a circulation of 105,000 within the U.S. and Canada; popular science writer Matt Ridley
was among the contributors.
In its design, Seed was self-declared as "science couture
", with many pages where graphics outweighed text. The first cover featured a nude male-female couple, and included pieces themed around birth
. The Boston Globe
described two interior pages in which "Above a pacifier image is an essay on fluids
and engineering with curve
s. A purple balloon floats above a few sentences about the expanding universe." High fashion also permeated the magazine's advertising, which included "Hugo Boss
, Kaluha
, Evian
, Club Monaco
, Absolut Citron
, Kenzo
, [and] Skechers
" in the first issue; The Christian Science Monitor
describes the juxtaposition of the graphic design as "often making it difficult to tell where the journalism ends and the sales pitches begin".
The first issue received coverage in both Science
and Nature
.
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, important issues at the intersection of science and society, and the people driving global science culture
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
. Seed was founded in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
by Adam Bly
Adam Bly
Adam Bly is the founder and editor-in-chief of Seed and CEO of Seed Media Group. He is the creator of the data visualization platform Visualizing.org and editor of Science is Culture: Conversations at the New Intersection of Science + Society .Bly was formerly the youngest guest researcher at the...
and the magazine is now headquartered in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with bureaus around the world. May/June 2009 (Issue No. 22) was the last print issue. Content continues to be published on the website.
Seed was a finalist for two National Magazine Award
National Magazine Award
The National Magazine Awards are a series of US awards that honor excellence in the magazine industry. They are administered by the American Society of Magazine Editors and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York City...
s in 2007 in the categories of Design and General Excellence (100,000 to 250,000), is the recipient of the Utne
Utne Reader
Utne Reader is an American bimonthly magazine. The magazine collects and reprints articles on politics, culture, and the environment from generally alternative media sources, including journals, newsletters, weeklies, zines, music and DVDs...
Independent Press Award, and is included in the 2006 Best American Science and Nature Writing anthology published by Houghton Mifflin
Houghton Mifflin
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt is an educational and trade publisher in the United States. Headquartered in Boston's Back Bay, it publishes textbooks, instructional technology materials, assessments, reference works, and fiction and non-fiction for both young readers and adults.-History:The company was...
and edited by Brian Greene
Brian Greene
Brian Greene is an American theoretical physicist and string theorist. He has been a professor at Columbia University since 1996. Greene has worked on mirror symmetry, relating two different Calabi-Yau manifolds...
.
The magazine publishes original writing from scientists and science journalists. Scientists who have contributed to the magazine include: James D. Watson
James D. Watson
James Dewey Watson is an American molecular biologist, geneticist, and zoologist, best known as one of the co-discoverers of the structure of DNA in 1953 with Francis Crick...
, Freeman Dyson
Freeman Dyson
Freeman John Dyson FRS is a British-born American theoretical physicist and mathematician, famous for his work in quantum field theory, solid-state physics, astronomy and nuclear engineering. Dyson is a member of the Board of Sponsors of the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists...
, Lisa Randall
Lisa Randall
Lisa Randall is an American theoretical physicist and a leading expert on particle physics and cosmology. She works on several of the competing models of string theory in the quest to explain the fabric of the universe. Her most well known contribution to the field is the Randall-Sundrum model,...
, Martin Rees, Steven Pinker
Steven Pinker
Steven Arthur Pinker is a Canadian-American experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist and popular science author...
, E.O. Wilson, and Daniel Dennett
Daniel Dennett
Daniel Clement Dennett is an American philosopher, writer and cognitive scientist whose research centers on the philosophy of mind, philosophy of science and philosophy of biology, particularly as those fields relate to evolutionary biology and cognitive science. He is currently the Co-director of...
. Seeds design
Design
Design as a noun informally refers to a plan or convention for the construction of an object or a system while “to design” refers to making this plan...
direction was created by Stefan Sagmeister
Stefan Sagmeister
Stefan Sagmeister is a New York-based graphic designer and typographer. He has his own design firm—Sagmeister Inc.—in New York City. He has designed album covers for Lou Reed, OK Go, The Rolling Stones, David Byrne, Aerosmith and Pat Metheny.-Biography:Sagmeister studied graphic design at the...
.
History
Bly's first incursion into media came in 2000, when he launched an online magazine, the Journal of Young Scientists (www.joysnet.com). He was previously a researcher at Canada's National Research Council. JoYS shared Seeds focus on the roles of science in many aspects of society, as well as its emphasis on design. Nobel laureate Leon M. LedermanLeon M. Lederman
Leon Max Lederman is an American experimental physicist and Nobel Prize in Physics laureate for his work with neutrinos. He is Director Emeritus of Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois, USA...
was among the senior scientists who contributed to the magazine.
Founding the media group SEED Group, based in Montreal and funded privately, Bly started Seeds publication in Canada in November 2001. The magazine focused on the meeting of science and culture at its inception: Bly's first editor's note declared that "SEED defines the science of contemporary urban culture
Urban culture
Urban culture is the culture of towns and cities. In the United States, Urban culture may also sometimes be used as a euphemistic reference to contemporary African American culture.- African American culture :...
". In additional interviews, he explained that the magazine would connect to the reader by showing the widespread applications of science, as well as giving faces to "the people behind science" by placing people on the covers. The first issue had a circulation of 105,000 within the U.S. and Canada; popular science writer Matt Ridley
Matt Ridley
Matthew White Ridley, FRSL, FMedSci is an English journalist, writer, biologist, and businessman.-Career:...
was among the contributors.
In its design, Seed was self-declared as "science couture
Haute couture
Haute couture refers to the creation of exclusive custom-fitted clothing. Haute couture is made to order for a specific customer, and it is usually made from high-quality, expensive fabric and sewn with extreme attention to detail and finished by the most experienced and capable seamstresses,...
", with many pages where graphics outweighed text. The first cover featured a nude male-female couple, and included pieces themed around birth
Birth
Birth is the act or process of bearing or bringing forth offspring. The offspring is brought forth from the mother. The time of human birth is defined as the time at which the fetus comes out of the mother's womb into the world...
. The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
described two interior pages in which "Above a pacifier image is an essay on fluids
Fluid mechanics
Fluid mechanics is the study of fluids and the forces on them. Fluid mechanics can be divided into fluid statics, the study of fluids at rest; fluid kinematics, the study of fluids in motion; and fluid dynamics, the study of the effect of forces on fluid motion...
and engineering with curve
Curve
In mathematics, a curve is, generally speaking, an object similar to a line but which is not required to be straight...
s. A purple balloon floats above a few sentences about the expanding universe." High fashion also permeated the magazine's advertising, which included "Hugo Boss
Hugo Boss AG
Hugo Boss AG is a German fashion and lifestyle house based in Metzingen, Germany that specializes in high-end mens- and womenswear. It is named after its founder Hugo Boss . It is owned by the Italy-based Valentino Fashion Group, itself owned by British private equity firm Permira.-Today:Hugo Boss...
, Kaluha
Kahlúa
Kahlúa is a Mexican coffee-flavored rum-based liqueur. It is dense and sweet, with the distinct taste of coffee, from which it is made. Kahlúa also contains sugar, corn syrup and vanilla bean.-History:...
, Evian
Evian
Evian is a French brand of mineral water coming from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva.Today, Evian is owned by Danone Group, a French multinational company...
, Club Monaco
Club Monaco
Club Monaco is a mid-priced, high-end casual clothing retailer owned by Polo Ralph Lauren. With more than 69 stores in North America, the retailer has locations in Canada, Hong Kong, Macao, Taiwan, South Korea, China, the United Arab Emirates, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, United...
, Absolut Citron
Absolut Vodka
Absolut Vodka is a brand of vodka, produced near Åhus, Skåne, in southern Sweden. Since July 2008 the company has been owned by the French firm Pernod Ricard who bought V&S Group from the Swedish government....
, Kenzo
Kenzo Takada
Kenzo Takada is a Japanese fashion designer. He is also the founder of Kenzo, a worldwide brand of perfumes, skincare products and clothes....
, [and] Skechers
Skechers
Skechers is an American shoe company headquartered in Manhattan Beach, California, founded by CEO Robert Greenberg. Greenberg started Skechers in 1992 after he left LA Gear which he also founded. Skechers was started with his son as a distributor for Doc Martens; they launched their own shoe line...
" in the first issue; The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor
The Christian Science Monitor is an international newspaper published daily online, Monday to Friday, and weekly in print. It was started in 1908 by Mary Baker Eddy, the founder of the Church of Christ, Scientist. As of 2009, the print circulation was 67,703.The CSM is a newspaper that covers...
describes the juxtaposition of the graphic design as "often making it difficult to tell where the journalism ends and the sales pitches begin".
The first issue received coverage in both Science
Science (journal)
Science is the academic journal of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is one of the world's top scientific journals....
and Nature
Nature (journal)
Nature, first published on 4 November 1869, is ranked the world's most cited interdisciplinary scientific journal by the Science Edition of the 2010 Journal Citation Reports...
.
Features
The magazine is laid out into the following departments. The departments are separated by a portfolio of science photography.- Notebook - The magazine's front-of-book department contains a mix of news, op-art, opinions, interviews and articles and includes columns by Chris Mooney (Politics), PZ MyersPZ MyersPaul Zachary "PZ" Myers is an American biology professor at the University of Minnesota Morris and the author of the Pharyngula science blog. He is currently an associate professor of biology at UMM, works with zebrafish in the field of evolutionary developmental biology , and also cultivates an...
(Pharyngula) and Mara Hvistendahl (Asia). - Incubator - Summary of various innovative Scientific ideas. This section also contains each month's entry in the Cribsheet; "SEED's tear-outable tool for living in the 21st Century", a series of small posters each summarizing a separate scientific field, printed on heavy card stock. The series is also available for free download on SEED's website in GIF and PDF formats.
- Features - Includes profiles, essays, photoessays, investigations and fiction. This section also contains the regular feature Seed Salon, which transcribes a conversation between a scientist and an artist or humanistHumanismHumanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
. - Reviews - A guide to global science culture; includes reviews and critiques of books, exhibits, plays, films, museums and art
- Laboratory - The magazine's back page captures science being conducted in unexpected places.