science communication
Find out how to enter this year's challenge in which entrants must explain to an 11-year-old what sleep is.
This morning Queen Elizabeth made her first foray into the world of social media when she sent the first royal tweet under her own name to declare the opening of a new Science Museum gallery.
Here is an idea worth following: “share” for tenure; “like” to get cited
Graduate students might seem to live in some sort of parallel existence, immersed in esoteric research that the person on the street can’t understand.
The barbarians were at the gates, the handwriting on the wall. Their digital firepower was unstoppable.
Without further ado, they stormed the ramparts, overrunning scientific strongholds. There is no turning back now. Social media is a juggernaut, its impact profound and already making itself felt in ways that few could have envisioned.
Scientists are beginning to embrace social media as a viable means of communicating with public audiences.
To many, the image of a scientist is that of a white coat, alone in the lab peering into a microscope or computer monitor, interested in nothing but the facts.
Contests that challenge young scientists to explain their research without jargon are turning science communication into a competitive sport.
In an effort to find and train promising science communicators – perhaps even find the "Carl Sagan of chemistry"–the American Chemical Society (ACS) is launching the Chemistry Champions contest. Semifinalists in the contest will be flown to the ACS National Meeting in San Francisco for communications training and finalists will compete in front of a live audience. Contest details are available at http://www.acs.org/chemchamps.
