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When we asked readers who their favorite science bloggers were last year, we started the discussion by reaching out to a number of leading science bloggers. The bloggers who responded were all men, and most of the blogs they recommended were written by men. So perhaps understandably, GrrlScientist and others wondered why we hadn't asked any women science bloggers about their favorites.

Well, we had. It's just that none responded to our query. When I mentioned that today at a panel on gender and race in science blogging panel at the North Carolina Science Blogging Conference, panelists gave me good advice: Next time, say so. Don't leave it up to readers to assume we left women out.

Of course there are lots of women blogging about science. But only about a fifth -- 22% -- of the bloggers at www.scienceblogs.com are women, panelist Karen Ventii, who blogs there at Science to Life, found when she counted up those bloggers who identified their gender.

Ventii's 22% figure resonated with me. It wasn't very far off from the percentage of women that Richard Gallagher, the editor of The Scientist, found when he looked at our editorial advisory board as he was writing his editorial for the January issue. That issue features a package of stories on women in science. One of those who has commented there is Patricia Campbell, who runs a great site called Fairer Science.

One way to help women stay in science, as our contributors have noted, to highlight great work by women. So here's one example, which a Michigan State University communications manager told me about right after the session: Vanessa Hull, a grad student, is blogging and vlogging -- that's video-blogging -- from China, where she's chasing pandas. She's putting together a great site. A highlight, from a section describing the bait the team uses: "Goat is an odiferous meat, picked for its 'come eat me' qualities."

Onward, women science bloggers!