Science communication generally refers to public media presenting science-related topics to non-scientists. This often involves professional scientists (called 'outreach' or 'popularization'), but has evolved into a professional field in its own right. It includes science exhibitions, science journalism, science policy and science media production.
Science communication can be important, not just to maintain a demand for ongoing science, but because some information is directly applicable. Science can also inform political and ethical thinking. There is an increasing emphasis on teaching the methods, and not just the authoritative findings of science. These issues may be especially critical in the face of scientific misinformation, and how much easier it is to spread (because it is not subject to the many constraints of accurate science information).
Communicators can use all the same methods of entertainment and persuasion as in other professions, including humor, story telling, and metaphors. Scientists are sometimes even trained in some of the techniques used by actors.
Science communication can also simply describe communication between scientists (e.g. through scientific journals) as well as between non-scientists.
Read more about Science Communication: Motivations, Methods, See Also
Famous quotes containing the word science:
“It is impossible to dissociate language from science or science from language, because every natural science always involves three things: the sequence of phenomena on which the science is based; the abstract concepts which call these phenomena to mind; and the words in which the concepts are expressed. To call forth a concept, a word is needed; to portray a phenomenon, a concept is needed. All three mirror one and the same reality.”
—Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794)