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10 February 2014
Modelling Middle Earth’s climate: How I borrowed some of Tolkien’s magic for paleoclimate science
Dan Lunt, a paleoclimate modeler at the University of Bristol (UK), describes how he reached out to new audiences about climate science by modeling the climate of Tolkein’s Middle Earth.
5 February 2014
Calling for Science Valentines: Combine Your Passions!
Valentine’s Day is a great time to share what you love with whom you love. That’s why we’re asking you for your science-themed valentine submissions.
24 January 2014
How to Bore Everyone with Science
Ever wondered if your thrilling science is dull to others? Maybe you should start.
13 November 2013
Epic Fail: What a Perfectly Putrid Poster Can Do for You
After months, perhaps years, of fieldwork, lab work, and analysis, you have results that you simply have to share with the world. You’ve shelled out for your Fall Meeting registration. You’re stoked that your poster session doesn’t coincide with any of the talks you’ve marked as essential. And because your BFF has agreed to share accommodation costs, you have a suite at the Hotel Nikko. No one can deny that you’re as confident as a Kardashian and as primed for launch as a fully fuelled Titan rocket. Ain’t no stoppin’ you now!
5 November 2013
What Would Leonardo Do?
Want to communicate about science with kids in a compelling way? Guest blogger Rick Colwell and his geomicrobiology group at Oregon State University learned from experience that it helps to give young folks something fun and informative to do and to give them something to take away with them, too. Figuring that out took a couple of tries, Colwell recalls.
25 June 2013
Making scientists into scientific spokespeople
How would you bring up scientific funding if you bumped into your senator while he’s buying cheese and cured meats at the local market? How about getting a stranger interested in safer alternatives to lead-based welding solder? Communicating science to lawmakers and laypersons is important, but scientists too often get tongue-tied talking with everyday folks.
13 June 2013
Emotional responses may open up common ground between people with different views on climate change, communication consultant says
The evidence for climate change and its impacts can make people feel threatened, arousing emotions a little like a hostile hippo might stir up, according to communications consultant Karen Raucher. But those uncomfortable reactions can also provide opportunities to connect with people about climate change issues, Raucher told scientists and others at a conference this week devoted to climate science communication.
12 June 2013
Tiny vocabulary spurs scientists’ verbal creativity
Here’s a challenge for scientists who want an eye-opening experience of what it takes to communicate in simple language: Give up 90-plus percent of the thousands of words you rely on in everyday life, but try nonetheless to convey the key concepts and ideas of your science.
That’s what about 30 scientists did last week at a science communication workshop offered by the American Geophysical Union. The workshop was part of the American Meteorological Society’s Summer Policy Colloquium.
3 May 2013
Challenging but crucial: linking science to solutions
Conducting fire-related research in California can be far from “academic.” Like many scientific endeavors, it means tackling difficult questions about human interactions with the environment, and more importantly, figuring out how to effectively inform potential solutions by connecting that science to decision-makers. This connecting is a key function of the University of California Cooperative Extension, of which I am a part.
2 April 2013
Simple Math Gives Readers X-Ray Vision
As a staff editor for Eos, I see all types of articles pass my desk, from those littered with the alphabet soup of undefined acronyms and the jargon best reserved for textbooks, to lovely pieces that describe the science of atmospheric rivers and the emerging field of isoscaping. A few weeks ago, a gem came across my desk.
The Plainspoken Scientist is the science communication blog of AGU’s Sharing Science program. With this blog, we wish to showcase creative and effective science communication via multiple mediums and modes.