You could interview someone working in STEM - think broadly about this though! These new terms shift the normative stance within the field and, indeed, divide experts and stakeholders who feel that they are at opposing ends of a contested issue: Is the pervasive human presence in nature bad or good? During peer review, referees should check not only the content of articles but also the language and metaphors used to communicate and illustrate concepts and arguments. Scientists should, nonetheless, seek in their communication to avoid language that is generally recognized to be loaded with emotion, such as apocalyptic warnings and dramatic hyperbole. Are you talking to a potential funder or to a local reporter? They report on a recent event or STEM breakthrough, and how this will help advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Public communication encourages scientists to think about the big picture. How could you communicate the paper’s findings in a way which would be more accessible to young people? They can contribute to controversial debates and express their personal opinion, but, to the extent that this is possible, they should explain the degree of subjectivity in their opinion and provide alternative ways to interpret the evidence. See, for example, this list of training opportunities compiled by COMPASS, an organization dedicated to improving science communication. Trapped within an either–or duality, these authors overstate this alternative view so that it becomes as misleading as the view that all nonnative species are bad. Science is increasingly interdisciplinary and the ability to communicate more effectively across disciplines fosters collaboration and innovation. Science Communication Articles have a more flexible writing style - depending on the type of article you want to write! The extreme of battling invasives may encourage managers to take rigorous action under all circumstances without considering alternatives and balancing implementation costs, opportunity costs, and benefits (Larson 2005), just as the other extreme of embracing invasives may encourage them to ignore the problem rather than to seek solutions. The same rules that apply to everyday life concerning socially acceptable language also apply to science. Herbers (2007), for example, condemns references to slavemaking and negro ants and reference to rape in animal behavior studies. Rhetorical stereotypes will be difficult to replace at those times. It is laudable, for example, that scientists increasingly engage with artists about their research and how to communicate it (e.g., Scott 2006). Scientific metaphors can, nonetheless, be interpreted in terms of their factual content, and, in this respect, they can be considered wrong. Instead, when scientists make public statements that build on their legitimacy as neutral and knowledgeable experts, their appropriate role is to act as “honest brokers of policy alternatives” (Pielke 2007). 2014). 2013). It also allows them to be better teachers and mentors for next-generation scientists. Science Communication Articles have a more flexible writing style - depending on the type of article you want to write! This view is known as the deficit model of the public understanding of science, and it has been discounted for numerous reasons, not least that knowledge is only one element of how people come to decisions. Our recommendations apply not just to public communication but also to original scientific articles. For instance, scientific and popular articles about research in synthetic biology often build on metaphors taken from the worlds of machines, computers, or consumerism (Cserer and Seiringer 2009, Keller 2009, Hellsten and Nerlich 2011). These article styles are less structured, giving you freedom to write in your own style. All rights reserved. In the long run, however, scientists and science journalists need to reiterate that science is not so much a collection of established facts as a process of inquiry; therefore, especially in the case of contested and complex societal issues, responsible science communication entails stating the facts in neutral language and acknowledging areas of uncertainty (Pielke 2007). Why is it important? Nerlich B Elliott R Larson B[MH], Raymond CM Singh GG Benessaiah K Bernhardt JR Levine J Nelson H Turner NJ Norton B Tam J Chan KMA, Rose DB van Dooren T Chrulew M Cooke S Kearnes M O’Gormand E, Yung L Schwarze S Carr W Chapin FSIII Marris E
If your article is time-sensitive (e.g. At least in longer texts, authors should explicitly reflect on the connotations and performativity of their chosen metaphors. Box 2. Criteria for assessing the appropriateness of metaphors for science communication. Discover world-changing science. Science Communication articles can be blogs, news, magazine articles or interviews. Given their societal role, scientists should make value statements such as this one in a more explicit way—for example, by calling the fern a problem rather than a monster. How can the situation be improved in practice? Fortunately, effective communication skills are no longer perceived as soft skills. All articles should be understandable to a broad audience of 12-22 year olds, but primarily to others who are at your educational stage. We focus on metaphors here because they are linguistic choices that have been shown to shape the thinking of scientists and, therefore, the direction of research fields (Keller 2002, Brown 2003, Larson 2011). 2009, Groffman et al. We welcome the more creative and engaging style of many contemporary scientific articles, but scientists should be aware that these rhetorical flourishes can be problematic and misleading (Nelkin 1994, Larson 2011). It is often difficult to assess the neutrality of a metaphor. They could be working in industry, academia, teaching, as a science communicator, or in your community…There are also lots of people who do science as a hobby or combine it with other interests such as art, sports or music: don’t just look for people who fit the stereotypical image of wearing a white coat - think outside the box! The use, here, of mechanistic language implies an ease of manipulation and a certainty of understanding that misrepresents the knowledge of these biological systems (Boudry and Pigliucci 2013), as well as what synthetic biologists actually do in their research and how they think about the associated risks (Cserer and Seiringer 2009, Marris C and Rose 2012). For example, you might want to talk about: Whether we should be spending more money on exploring our oceans, rather than space. Although there is no such thing as value-free communication (Weber and Word 2001), we argue that scientists and journalists should reflect carefully on their communication choices to minimize confusion and contested interpretations of uncertain knowledge. For example, know your audience. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has, for instance, recently listed the giant salvinia (Salvinia molesta) as one of the world's 100 worst invasive species and reported this in Nature in a letter entitled “Alien species: Monster fern makes IUCN invader list” (Courchamp 2013). However, knowledge is often uncertain or incomplete. © 2020 Youth STEM 2030 CICYouth STEM 2030 is a registered Community Interest Company (SC652132) and is limited by guarantee, with its registered office at 272 Bath Street, Glasgow, Scotland, G2 4JR. Public communication offers scientists ways to learn and practice the basics of effective communication. Written communication is an essential part of advancing and understanding science ; accordingly, an integral part of learning and engaging in science is training to 'write' and 'talk' science. Indeed, researchers in the field think about the problem in diverse ways, which leads to differing assessments of the negative effects of nonnative species and the urgency of the problem (Humair et al. For instance, scientists can get bogged down with the specifics of a research question or use too much jargon to explain a concept. Some conservationists fear that these terms could endorse human domination of the planet (Crist 2013) and could exacerbate the shifting cognitive baseline whereby humans tend to become accustomed to new and often degraded ecosystems and thus forget the nature of the past (Caro et al. NB: If you’re under 16, you should ensure you have the permission of, and are accompanied by, your parent/guardian when interviewing people. Caro T Darwin J Forrester T Ledoux-Bloom C Wells C, Groffman PM Stylinski C Nisbet MC Duarte CM Jordan R Burgin A Previtali MA Coloso J, Kahan DM Peters E Wittlin M Slovic P Ouellette LL Braman D Mandel G, Larson BMH Kueffer CZiF Working Group on Ecological Novelty, Nisbet MC. it is a News article, or celebrates a specific day, such as World Water Day, or LGBT+ month) then the regular submissions process may not suit your needs. Humanities education for modern biologists. When scientists communicate more effectively, science thrives. Are you trying to reach peers in your field or are you communicating across fields? The titles of recent articles in New Scientist, for example, proclaim “Evolution machine: Genetic engineering on fast forward,” “Genetic code 2.0: Life gets a new operating system,” “Synthetic biology's Ikea,” and “Synthetic ‘upgrade’ for fruit fly's DNA.” These titles often encapsulate the core metaphor of an article, but such metaphors are usually prevalent throughout a text. We have argued that scientists should—with the help of journalists and social scientists—find ways to communicate (often uncertain) results in an engaging way that explicitly attends to its metaphors and values. At each deadline, we review all the submission and pair each successful author with a Science Communication Editor - this allows us to work together to make your article the best it can be. As experts, scientists have a deep knowledge of particular subjects. To change environmental attitudes, a focus on solutions and cultural values—as opposed to danger and loss—is often more effective. Scientific American is part of Springer Nature, which owns or has commercial relations with thousands of scientific publications (many of them can be found at, , an organization dedicated to improving science communication, Project Superhero: Using Pop Culture to Inspire Kids’ Interest in Science, How Designers Can Improve Health Care For Everyone, Escape from the Ivory Tower: A Guide to Making Your Science Matter, Communicating Science: Tools for Scientists and Engineers, #GradSciComm: How COMPASS is Answering the National Demand for Science Communication Training, Building Buzz: (Scientists) Communicating Science in New Media Environments, Practical Science Communication Strategies for Graduate Students, Successful Science Communication: A Case Study. 2012). Recently, new terms such as novel ecosystem and Anthropocene have gained prominence in biodiversity conservation to denote the dominant role of humans in nature. It weakens creativity and threatens our ability to foresee unknown problems and risks (“unknown unknowns”), and it also excludes members of society who do not share the implicit values of the dominant narrative, which can lead to public opposition and controversy (Marris C and Rose 2012). Participatory processes can help increase democratic deliberation about metaphors in research in order to legitimize their use and to ameliorate their outcomes for science and society. It allows them to write better and more comprehensible research papers. Such a tunneling of our intellectual engagement with an emerging topic is problematic for a number of reasons. Environmental humanities: Why should biologists interested in the environment take the humanities seriously? 2012). In contrast, neutral and balanced language will help ensure that policymakers and scientific advisers are not in the difficult situation of needing to overcome stereotypes when seeking solutions to the problem that adequately address its sociopolitical and biological complexities. 2013). Evolving genomic metaphors: A new look at the language of DNA, The mismeasure of machine: Synthetic biology and the trouble with engineering metaphors, Studies in History and Philosophy of Science C, Balance as bias: Global warming and the US prestige press, The values and vulnerabilities of metaphors within the environmental sciences, Alien species: Monster fern makes the IUCN invader list, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life, The conception of life in synthetic biology, Developing the environmental humanities: A Swiss perspective, Restarting the conversation: Challenges at the interface between ecology and society, Arming Mother Nature: The Birth of Catastrophic Environmentalism, Welcome weeds: How alien invasion could save the Earth, Synthetic biology: Building the language for a new science brick by metaphorical brick, Watch your language! 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