You are browsing the archive for Science in plain English Archives - The Plainspoken Scientist.
14 January 2019
The Science of Our Stories, Part II: Moving the Needle on Effective Science Communication
By Sunshine Menezes Young scientists-in-training face a variety of communication challenges, from writing their first lab report to drafting their first proposal, perhaps culminating in their dissertation. All along this part of the career spectrum, students are taught—too often implicitly—what “good” scientific communication looks like. Unfortunately, most corners of academia still emphasize a narrow definition of science communication that focuses on communication with scientific peers. This leaves early career scientists …
8 January 2019
The Science of Our Stories: How Communication and Training Bridges the Gap Between Scientists and Journalists
All of our lives are made up of stories that help us make sense of the constantly changing world around us. Stories help us understand what is happening, why it’s happening, and the ever-important-question of what can be done about it; They often provide us with the familiar narrative elements – an introduction, plots, main characters, setting, climax, and conclusion – that our brains readily accept as the way the story should go. But when it comes to the story of science, sometimes things get more complex, messy, and completely non-linear.
3 January 2019
AGU18 debrief: Y’all love scicomm…and that makes us happy
Yes, I know. Fall Meeting was last month (and year), so what took us so long? Honestly…we were exhausted, but for the best reasons. Turns out that y’all love scicomm so much and helped to make AGU18 one of most successful for Sharing Science yet!
28 December 2018
Drawn to Geoscience: Really, though…what was the OG paleo diet?
By Shane M Hanlon At our annual meeting early this month, researchers presented new findings that brings insight into the diets of Neanderthals. Here a good summary of the work via Eos. AND, we were fortunate enough to have our old friend JoAnna Wendel draw a comic describing the findings! Check it out below. Shane M Hanlon is a Program Manager in AGU’s Sharing Science Program. Follow him @ecologyofshane. JoAnna Wendel is a freelance science …
17 December 2018
Drawn to Geoscience: Tornadoes form from…wait, the ground up?! Seriously?
At our annual meeting last week, researchers presented new findings showing that contrary to popular views, tornadoes may (might) form from the ground up versus from clouds down. Here a good summary of the work via The Washington Post. AND, we were fortunate enough to have our old friend JoAnna Wendel draw a comic describing the findings!
19 November 2018
Having “The [Climate Change] Talk” with your family
By Shane M Hanlon Thanksgiving can be a time for food, football, and family. And sometimes…uncomfortable family chats, especially around science. We live in a nation where there are disconnects between understanding and acceptance of major scientific issues such as GMOs, evolution, vaccinations, and (especially relevant to AGU scientists*) climate change. With climate change specifically, politics plays a role. Over half of Americans accept human-induced climate change, as well as …
16 November 2018
Register for scicomm workshops, Open Mic Night, & more at AGU18
AGU18 is…oh wow…less than a month away! We in the Sharing Science program are busily putting the final touches on all the content, logistics, swag, and more to make this the more Sharing Science-y meeting yet!
23 October 2018
Imagine how hot the future will be by looking to your past
How do you frame the messaging behind changes in future climate? Remind people of the hottest days they’ve ever experienced.
12 October 2018
Sharing stories of consensus building: the missing step in the scientific method
By Kathy Kelsey As a kid in school, I learned the narrative of the scientific method: a scientist makes an observation about the world which inspires a question, they pose a hypothesis, carry out an experiment, and produce and share their results. Now that I am a practicing scientist I have learned that this narrative neglects a key component: the process of building consensus among scientists. It’s important that we …
12 September 2018
Talking health might shift attitudes on global warming
By Shane M Hanlon Global warming is a political issue. It shouldn’t be, but it is. I recently wrote a post about it that outlined political views on the subject, probably best summarized by this1: Takeaway: majority of folks think that global warming is happening but views vary widely based on political affiliation. You might ask, “Yeah, but there are a bunch of different people in political parties. What about …
The Plainspoken Scientist is the science communication blog of AGU’s Sharing Science program. With this blog, we wish to encourage scientists to reach out to non-scientists and to do so with plainspoken discussion.
Recent Comments