Tag: science communication

7 Scientific Urban Legends Debunked Education Videos 

7 Scientific Urban Legends Debunked

Science Connected, ,

How reliable is common knowledge? If a large number of people believe something, that doesn’t make it true. Dr. Joe Hanson of the It’s OK to Be Smart series from PBS Digital Studios debunks 7 scientific urban legends. He also makes a compelling argument for why we desperately need open-access science information and effective communication. Sometimes common knowledge is wrong. For common knowledge to be right, then knowledge needs to be, well, common. It sounds like such an incredible fact. “Our own cells are outnumbered by our microbes 10 to…

Read More
Book Reviews Citizen Science Connected Blog 

Changing Methods of Science Communication Online

Science Connected, , , ,

by Dr. Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher Science Communication Online: A New Book Exploring How We Do and Share Science On the Internet. Free access! An open access copy under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND license is also available from The Ohio State University Press, and you can download a copy here: https://kb.osu.edu/handle/1811/87159 —or, you may purchase the book from the press or most major book retailers. When we discuss science communication, we often talk about it as either targeted at professional scientists or as targeted at the public. However, with the…

Read More
Citizen Science Connected Blog 

Citizen Science Connected, a New Blog Platform

Science Connected, , , , ,

SciStarter and Science Connected are partnering to produce a new blog platform: Citizen Science Connected. Citizen science is a way for regular people to do real research, and the Citizen Science Connected platform is a place to tell those stories. The fields that citizen science advances are diverse: ecology, astronomy, medicine, psychology, linguistics, genetics, engineering, and many more. Science Connected is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit publisher of science nonfiction for a general audience and resources for science teachers. The organization is powered by a global group of scientists and science communicators…

Read More
The Art of Scientific Illustration Animals Paleontology Science & Art 

The Art of Scientific Illustration

Science Connected, ,

By Shayna Keyles Twitter @shaynakeyles Instagram @shaynakeyles Scientific illustration is more than just cool artwork. It’s a way of conveying technical detail that other tools can’t provide; of capturing the complexities of organisms or fabrications that are too small, too far away, too extinct, or too difficult to dissect; of sharing intimate research in a globally understood language. Pictures of discovery Illustrations have always been used to track observations and inform others. There are drawings of animals in the Chauvet-Pont-d’Arc caves in France that date back 30,000 years and are…

Read More
Scientists and Social Media Science Policy Technology 

Scientists and Social Media

Science Connected, , ,

By Kate Stone @GotScienceOrg Dr. Bill Sullivan is a Showalter Professor of Pharmacology, Toxicology, Microbiology, and Immunology at the Indiana University School of Medicine. That’s an impressive job title, but it’s not his only one. Bill is also a blogger. Social media is an efficient way for research scientists to connect with the public at large. Scientists have tools at their disposal to reach out to millions of people, involve citizen scientists in projects, and collaborate with colleagues. Yet social media use is often stigmatized. Since Bill actively uses social…

Read More
Why Do We Mistrust Science? Science Policy 

Why Do We Mistrust Science?

Science Connected, , , ,

By Kate Stone @GotScienceOrg “The values of science and the values of democracy are concordant, in many cases indistinguishable.” —⁠⁠⁠⁠Carl Sagan Many of our public policies depend on how voters and elected officials understand science, but public attitudes toward science, and understanding of scientific research, depend on how people feel about uncertainty. What is uncertainty? To most of us, uncertainty means not knowing. To scientists, however, uncertainty expresses how well something is known. Therein lies the key difference, especially when trying to understand scientific method. “Absence of evidence is not evidence…

Read More
Learning Curve: Engaging in Science Communication Animals Citizen Science Photos 

Learning Curve: Engaging in Science Communication

Science Connected, , ,

By Steven Spence @TheStevenSpence “In its encounter with Nature, science invariably elicits a sense of reverence and awe. The very act of understanding is a celebration of joining, merging, even if on a very modest scale, with the magnificence of the Cosmos.” —Carl Sagan Curiosity takes you places How in the world did I wind up in science communication, as a contributor to GotScience.org? Curiosity and a determination to share original work on social media. Some years ago, I was bored with what I saw on Facebook. It seemed like…

Read More