Tag Archives: Science communication

The importance of science communication

Posted on August 27, 2022 by ...and Then There's Physics

I’m just back from teaching at a summer school on the Dynamics of Exoplanetary and Solar System Bodies. It started in Inverness and then moved to Skye, which was a lovely place to visit. I gave a couple of lectures … Continue reading →

Posted in Philosophy for Bloggers, Research, Scientists | Tagged , , , | 249 Comments

The science-society interface

Posted on May 8, 2022 by ...and Then There's Physics

I came across an interesting paper by Dietram Scheufele on Thirty Years of science-society interfaces: What’s next, which focusses mostly on science communication. Although – as the article mentions – this isn’t the only possible science-society interface. Since I have … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Philosophy for Bloggers, Scientists, The philosophy of science, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 120 Comments

Science communication

Posted on October 12, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

I listened to one of Andy Revkin’s Twitter broadcasts with Randy Olson which discussed if science communication was worse now than it was 100 years ago. I’ve actually read most of Randy Olson’s book, where he introduces his 3-step model … Continue reading →

Posted in Pseudoscience, Science, Scientists | Tagged , , , , | 48 Comments

A chat with Mallen Baker

Posted on August 19, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

Mallen Baker is a commentator who runs a youtube channel called Dangerously Reasonable. He tackles contentious issues and tries to assess the various lines of evidence that may, or may not, support what someone is promoting. For example, Mallen did … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Climate sensitivity, Global warming, Policy, The philosophy of science | Tagged , , , , | 175 Comments

Speaking out

Posted on July 22, 2021 by ...and Then There's Physics

Bill McGuire, who is Professor Emeritus of Geophysical & Climate Hazards at UCL, has written a post suggesting that climate scientists should speak out more and that they should Come down off the fence and choose the path you know, … Continue reading →

Posted in advocacy, Climate change, Climate sensitivity, Scientists | Tagged , , , , | 85 Comments

Responsible SciComm

Posted on March 25, 2020 by ...and Then There's Physics

Yesterday, a group in Oxford released a paper that implied that a signifcant fraction of those in the UK may already have been infected. This was quickly picked up by numerous media outlets who highlighted that coronavirus could already have … Continue reading →

Posted in Scientists, The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , | 115 Comments

This. Is. Not. Science’s. Job.

Posted on August 16, 2019 by ...and Then There's Physics

My title is a paraphrase of something Michael Tobis said during the marathon Twitter discussion about RCP8.5, which I thought I would use to discuss something about science communication that I’ve mentioned a number of times before. During the RCP8.5 … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate change, Research, Scientists, The philosophy of science | Tagged , , , , | 83 Comments

If it seems obvious, it probably isn’t

Posted on May 13, 2019 by ...and Then There's Physics

There’s an interesting paper that someone (I forget who) highlighted on Twitter. It’a about when science becomes too easy. The basic idea is that there are pitfalls to popularising scientific information. Compared to experts, laypeople have not undergone any specialized … Continue reading →

Posted in Pseudoscience, Research, Science, Scientists, Sound Science (tm), The philosophy of science, The scientific method | Tagged , , , , , | 44 Comments