Informal Science Communication

Charlie Eppes

• Fictional mathematician from tv show Numbers.
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFRTgr7MfWw
• Pros
  • Paints a mental picture
  • Terminology? (gives listener something to Google later if they’re interested)
  • Citing a range of scales and time periods stresses the universality of the concept
  • Expresses is own sense of awe and mystery in nature
  • “nature’s method of communicating directly with us” is easier for laymen to interpret than “nature’s language”. This also stresses the idea knowing math and science allows you to appreciate nature on more levels than just the artistic level (Feynman also has a great quote on this idea when discussing the beauty of oceans with an artist friend - think you can find it in a video clip somewhere and in The Passion of Finding Things Out)
• Cons
  • Little condescending
  • Mixing natural and man-mad phenomena (not inherently bad but speech starts off like Charlie wants to talk about prevalence of math in nature)
  • Terminology? (ideas are important not the words, maybe seems like showing off)
  • Mixing math and science? (can these be separated? are they different things to laymen?)
  • Relies on the idea that the listener finds awe and interest in the same things Charlie does (is there any alternative?)

Randy Olson

• Tenured biology prof. at U of New Hampshire who left for UCLA film school, recently wrote the book Stop Being Such a Scientist
• You need a non-technical description of your research that is no longer than a few sentences long. One that you can get through during an elevator ride. Don’t overwhelm or bore the person who asks question.
• Think of your description like the plot of a movie
  • Set up your subject.
  • Give it a twist or a source of tension.
  • Offer some possible ways to resolve the tension.
  • Offer your most plausible solution to the tension.
  • Bring it all together and sum it up.
• EX) I study a starfish on the California coast - the only species that spawns in the dead of winter. I thought it might be due to predators of the eggs being less common at that time of year, then I thought it was due to the best timing for the spring algae bloom, but now it looks like it probably has something to do with a seasonal migration of the starfish, which is what I now study - the way the spawning season might be related to adult movements of starfish.
• Shorter description only sets up subject and introduces tension. Leaves listener wanting to know more.
• EX) I study the one species of starfish that spawns in the dead of winter instead of during the vibrant spring season.
• EX) I study what happens when you take a molecule of hydrogen, oxygen and chlorine atoms and you break the bond to the chlorine atom. Sometimes the chlorine will fly away almost immediately but other times it will hang around for thousands or even millions of times longer before escaping.

Neil DeGrasse Tyson

• http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-january-30-2007/neil-degrasse-tyson-pt--2
• Starts w/ a joke which helps relax audience that may be worried something complicated is coming.
• When Jon says “it’s the absence of matter” and Neil does not say “no” instead he says “oh, what is a black hole...” The better you make your interviewer look the better you look.
  • Depending on the importance/severity of the stated misconception sometimes you may need to directly say “no”. In this case if audience thinks a black hole is both the absence of matter and matter packed so tightly together that it has no size that’s probably not a huge problem.
• Uses hand motions even when not using them to explain but just to show excitement.
• Avoids unnecessary details (simply says speed of light is really fast).
• “flesh”, “snap”, “extruded” all good words for painting a picture
• Tyson talks about what would happen if you fell into a black hole rather than any other object (this is also the idea of his book). What better way to help you connect with the idea, when describing how you would stretch you can almost feel it in your back.
• Doesn’t jump all over Jon’s “didn’t carry the two” comment, we know Jon is joking and Tyson remains likable and avoids seeming like a “know it all”
• Many other great Tyson videos on Daily Show and Colbert Report websites