Two long-running debates involving the supposed purity of science have flared anew. A recent editorial in the UK’s New Statesmen that cautioned against the politicizing of science (using climate change as a prime example) kicked up a Twitter storm and has provoked numerous responses, including this one from a science policy expert in the Guardian headlined (probably to the author’s…Continue Reading…
Yesterday, Nature’s online editor set off a mini squall with this Guardian column, titled “Nine ways scientists demonstrate they don’t understand journalism.” The response from the science blogosphere was pretty negative. For some reason, this surprised me–well the darts thrown at the piece by many writers did, anyway. I kinda got into it a bit…Continue Reading…
Randy Olson, in response to this post, offers an unstinting and thought-provoking commentary on science communication. Olson is a marine biologist turned filmmaker. One of his movies is called Flock of Dodos, which might best characterize his view of the science community–with respect to their overall communication skills. Although critical of scientists, Olson also offers some constructive suggestions below. Have a read and let’s discuss….Continue Reading…
What to make of this latest study charting American ignorance? Well, let’s see. Are we flunking history? Check. Are we flunking geography? Check. Are we this flunking basic science? Check. So it should come as no surprise that Americans are a wee bit challenged on the basics of climate science. I have two questions: Do…Continue Reading…
In yesterday’s NYT, I learned that Alan Alda has taught scientists how to use improvisational acting techniques so they can be better communicators. Alda explains: The idea is you can’t really communicate ideas unless you know what’s going on in the other person’s mind.
Carl Zimmer surveys the science communication landscape over the last ten years. As he notes, many scientists today are taking matters into their own hands. To understand how radical this is, Zimmer shares a hilarious anecdote on how scientists responded to the 1999 Kansas Board of Education decision on evolution.
[UPDATE: See comment # 5 for clarification and added detail about the Childs talk that I discuss below. Now I wish more SW archaeologists would weigh in…but most of them don’t read blogs, as far as I can tell.] Craig Childs advising archaeologists on how to write for a popular audience is about as useful…Continue Reading…