ScienceGeist

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, science is crucial to inform public policy. At the same time, mistrust of scientists and misinformation about scientific facts are rampant. Six scientists, actively involved in outreach, reflect on how to build a better understanding and trust of science.

Scientists have a responsibility to communicate effectively and compassionately, says Samantha Yammine. Here's how.

A biology professor who spent his career studying two seemingly disparate topics, emerging infectious diseases and networked misinformation, sees them merged into one the moment reports of a mysterious respiratory illness emerged from China in January.

In recent months, claims with some scientific legitimacy have spread so far, so fast, that even if it later becomes clear they are false or unfounded, they cannot be laid to rest.

Calling on the community to make concerted efforts to develop strong, community-governed infrastructures that support diversity in scholarly communications (referred to as bibliodiversity).

The current COVID-19 crisis has prompted hand-wringing and self-reflection among some museum professionals. What, they are asking, is the point of a museum that remains closed to the public?

No model whose purpose is to study the overall benefits of mitigations should end at a time-point before a steady-state is reached.

eLife hosts online seminars to support early-career researchers to present their research online instead of in person.

In recent years traditional journalism has experienced a collapse, and science journalism has been a major casualty. This study suggests that filling the science news void by scientists as science reporters leads to normal levels of audience engagement.

News organizations should take political reporters – and perhaps even more importantly, political editors – entirely out of the loop on this story. It’s too important to be covered as a two-sided battle over who’s winning the narrative.

The virus doesn’t follow the news and doesn’t care about Twitter. This article proposes that reporting should distinguish between at least three levels of information reliability.

OPERAS runs a survey to find out more about social sciences and humanities (SSH) scholarly communication.

The conference will debate the role of the editor in supporting and promoting sustainable science, and ensuring diversity through stimulating plenary speakers, panel discussions and interactive sessions.

His original submission was rejected as being "too narrow" - but later authors who presented the same idea as a new technology rather than as a scientific finding have been hailed as inventors of optogenetics.

Craig Cormick explains how scientists can get their arguments across to members of the public.

Taylor & Francis has acquired open research publisher F1000 Research from its founder Vitek Tracz. The acquisition sum was not disclosed.

Working alongside physicists made him a better science communicator, says Ken Kosik, and helped him to clarify knowledge gaps in his own field.

Exhausting, expensive, and exclusive, these conferences needs to be modernized. The future of science depends on it.

Many scientific organizations struggle with teaching and incentivizing science-communication practices. Here's what they can do differently, says communication researcher Jessica Eise.

Altmetric list of scholarship getting the most online attention shows that authenticity in science, and society more generally, is major theme of the year.

Ten people who mattered in science in 2019 according to nature.

The research that caught the public imagination in 2019.

An image of three perpetually bouncing droplets, whose behaviour embodies a key theory in quantum physics, has won first place in the Royal Society Publishing photography competition. The award celebrates science and its beauty as portrayed through photography

Horizons should stimulate debate about research and science policy, writes Matthias Egger, the President of the Research Council of the Swiss National Science Foundation.

Mosaic, Wellcome's digital platform for long-form journalism, is closing on 10 December 2019.

The scientific literature is riddled with bad charts and graphs, leading to misunderstanding and worse. Avoiding design missteps can improve understanding of research.  

Climanosco believes that changing the language can make the debate around climate science can become more inclusive. The organisation publishes papers that have been reviewed by teams of both scientists and laypeople.

Das Wissenschaftsmagazin higgs setzt Forschung ab sofort in den Kontext.

The evidence is too weak to justify telling individuals to eat less beef and pork, according to new research. The findings "erode public trust," critics said.

Notes for a class called "Writing about Science, Medicine, and the Environment," which Carl Zimmer has taught for several years at Yale.