It’s been a scary few months for science. If you’re anything like me, you’ve alternated between doom-scrolling, calling your representatives, and trying to keep experiments going, all while wondering if your lab will still be funded in a year. I read a new headline every day: NIH indirect cuts that will decimate research funds, pauses […]

When we are discussing something controversial or otherwise difficult like vaccines, it can be challenging to know where to begin. Emotion, culture, context, past experiences, among many other factors, can play a part in this. It can also depend on what one is attempting to achieve with a discussion. Are you trying to change the […]

Publication Details: Why I Chose This Paper: Understanding public trust in scientists is crucial for science communicators. This paper offers a large-scale, global perspective on trust dynamics, providing actionable insights to enhance engagement and address skepticism. The Larger Issue: Trust in Science Public trust in scientists is essential for effective decision-making and policy implementation to […]

Have you ever had one of those days where you think, “There has to be a word for this”? Now imagine, you pick up a dictionary and find that it’s in a language you can’t understand. You move on to the next one and, thankfully, you can read it, but instead of a word you […]

On September 17th, 2024, science met storytelling in an unforgettable evening at the Alberta Rose Theatre in Portland, OR, thanks to a powerful collaboration between ASC, The Story Collider, and Make You Think Inc. This unique live event blended science communication and personal stories, showcasing how the two can intersect to inspire, entertain, and connect […]

My experience with graduate school was that I was as much of a public speaker and a writer as I was a scientist in the lab. In my five years in a biomedical research PhD program, we were constantly under pressure to not only produce interesting data, but to communicate it clearly, quickly, and concisely, […]

When I started in research over a decade ago, I was motivated by the scientific topics that interested me: I wanted to learn more about infections and their role in global health. But if I’m honest, I never loved the lab. I enjoyed the fine motor skill component, listening to podcasts while I worked, and […]

Imagine standing in front of a packed auditorium, your groundbreaking research condensed into a PowerPoint presentation. As you begin to speak, you notice eyes glazing over, attention wandering. Sound familiar? Don’t worry – you’re not alone. Many of us struggle to convey the excitement and importance of our work to non-specialists. But what if you […]

As the world becomes more technologically connected, science communicators have really expanded their networks. From blog posts such as this one, to discussing the next vaccination platforms on TEDx, and to sharing quick facts on X or Instagram about the new weight loss drugs; we as scientists are excelling at getting information out into the […]

Locked inside the 14 million cubic kilometers of the disappearing Antarctic ice sheet is enough frozen water to bring the surface of the ocean 57 meters closer to the clouds. I am a science communicator and host of South Pole, a podcast about the science of Antarctica. In creating this series I have learned how […]

Over 500 million people around the world are listening to podcasts. Figures from Backlinko show that 40 million of those started listening in the last calendar year. The world of podcasting is rapidly expanding and represents an extremely powerful sector of digital communications. While we have some amazing examples of science podcasts: Ologies, Science Vs., […]

Q: Can you tell us about your educational and professional background? A: I have a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree from the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University with a focus on small animal medicine. Additionally, I trained in veterinary dentistry through the Veterinary Dental Education Online program. My professional journey began as […]

Have you heard people talking about agenda-setting, the elaboration likelihood model, or the spiral of silence and been unsure about what they were referring to? Do you need to explain to your clients or collaborators the importance of alt-text, targeted messaging, or trust in communication? Just like any other field, science communication has jargon that creates barriers between scientists, communicators, and science communication researchers. […]

Life is filled with decisions that involve risk, the uncertain possibility of something bad happening. How do you decide whether to eat genetically modified food (Hunt & Wald, 2020)? How do you decide whether to evacuate during a flood or hurricane (Carr et al., 2016; Ruginski et al., 2016)? How do you decide whether to get […]

Q: Can you tell us about your educational and professional background? A: I have an eclectic education! An undergraduate degree in Physiology (BSc Hons), a PhD in Health, and most recently, a Master’s with Distinction in Film. I thought I was going to be a bench scientist, but a disability and orthopedic surgeries stopped me […]

You have a fascinating dataset, and you want to create an eye-catching, easily understandable visualization—how do you choose a color palette? In addition to using a colorblindness simulator to ensure accessibility, you can use best practices revealed by research in cognition and psychology. You’ve likely seen countless visualizations that represent continuous data using a rainbow colormap, with colors spanning […]

The social science of science communication is a vast field of research, with new papers constantly being published on topics such as science misinformation, people’s perceptions of risk, climate change communication, and more. How can you keep up to date with it all? Many of the strategies you might use to keep up with physical […]

The COVID-19 pandemic brought with it an explosion of new misinformation, leaving many science communicators wondering why people believe false information and how to counter its spread. Even before COVID, social scientists were finding answers to these very questions. A 2019 PNAS piece by Dietram Scheufele and Nicole Krause provides a good overview, starting with the blurry line between […]

You’ve got a great idea for a new scicomm project—but before you dive in, you should ask yourself a set of strategic planning questions. What are the long-term goals of your project, in terms of changes to your audience’s attitudes and behaviors? What are the short-term objectives of each individual piece of communication? And what are the tactics that you can […]

When talking about climate change, you might emphasize the economic benefits of climate action, our moral responsibility to future generations, the importance of regulations, the importance of individual actions…the list goes on. A wise choice of emphasis frame can resonate with people’s values and foster support for pro-climate policies. One promising but underused option is a public […]

ASC volunteers represent a wide variety of science communication paths: editing Wikipedia, responding to foodborne illness complaints, designing museum exhibits, and more. Today we’re featuring someone who has trained hundreds of scientists to communicate about their science with broad audiences. Scott Hershberger (ASC’s newsletter editor) spoke with Tamara Poles, ASC’s accessibility director, about her full-time […]