Understanding is what you eat
If there ever were a phrase to reap guilt out of those last few bites of greasy chips or fries, it must be you are what you eat. For myself, that must mean my blood...
Category: Opining
Pure opinion. Not always justified. Occasionally right, often ranty.
The best thing for science communication might not (always) be science communication
It’s time for a bit of a provocative thought. But first, a thought experiment: Let’s say there exists some crucial matter to social or environmental well-being in America that nearly all life scientists are...
SciComm: Alternative(s to) facts
Not all that long ago the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine released a whopping 152 page report on the need for and complications involved in communicating science (“SciComm”) effectively (for a shorter,...
Ditching the “public” in science communication
Every now and then it’s nice to catch an infectious meme of thought that probably isn’t all that helpful. And when you do, it can be pretty darn surprising how pervasively it’s held. So here’s a...
Does the public really need more science knowledge?
Spoiler Alert: Maybe not in the way you’d expect… You’ve probably heard this before: “About a quarter of Americans don’t know that the Earth revolves around the Sun.” And if you had hoped this...
Engaging Science! But without the sensationalism
Each Friday I tend to play the office nerdy guy by sending out a little round-up of the week’s significant science news (or at least my own thoughts on it) to my co-workers. And...
Science communication and outreach – What do we REALLY want for the public?
Sometimes when we’re doing a good thing, we forget to look at it critically, to dissect our ambitions with it and to see if we’re really accomplishing our goals. Sometimes we don’t really have...
It’s time to celebrate the conflicts between Religion and Science
About a summer ago I was sitting in on a teacher training when the topic of discussing evolution in the classroom came up. The air was a little tense at its mentioning (demographically, many...
Are scientists THE solution for science outreach?
In a world where a staggering third (or more) of the American public would just as soon argue against evolution, it’s hard to claim that we couldn’t use a bit more science outreach. And when we...
Why, in a world with terrorism, we need scientific thought
I must admit, having a heavy first substantial post really wasn’t on my agenda for this site. …But after an event like the recent travesty in Orlando, it seems nigh disingenuous to move on...
