Communication is intrinsic to all organisms. It exists in the form of cell-cell biochemical interactions, translation of experiences from the environment to our brains, perfume… Have you ever thought about why flowers are so attractive and colourful? It is their way of shouting: “Hey! Hello pollinator!!! I am over here!”. Or, why fireflies keep shining tiny yellow lights at night? They communicate using light: “Wow, your are a handsome buggy”. Communication is a powerful word. It is a part of all beings. It occurs in an array of diverse forms. It can even impact evolution.
As a mature biology student I see that the scientific community is driven by curiosity and continuously aims to understand and explain the “why” and “how” behind what it is observed. That, in addition to the opportunity to change the world is what gives shine to most researcher’s eyes. Communication lyes between our answers and questionings.
But, to be able to change the world with our findings, we need to connect them to other research paradigms, we need to expand the scientific world in an understandable way to different groups of the public. We need to explore ways of engaging people with science, since science plays a central role in everyone’s lives. Learning about science can connect them back to their natural world. Science communication can influence the development of passion to beings that surround us. To our seas, sprouts, trees, sky. It is by understanding that we stop destroying.
Communicating science is a political act. By understanding and learning we can start to critique and debate. It is a way to fight ignorance, that if in mass, can lead to bad consequences, for example, to an anti-vax group formation during the COVID pandemic; or to groups of people supporting forest devastation to create more space to conventional agriculture, or to killing bees!
Science communication is a way to include, to promote the diffusion of knowledge. Our society is becoming faster. Social media, new technologies are interconnecting people in a way never seen before. It is a free continuous flow of energy, and we researchers need to break trough shyness, lift our heads (for some minutes) out of complex articles and peer-reviewed journals and think about how can we contribute to the expansion of information written in small letters on a research paper.
Because of my background, I see artistic visual and sound representations as text. Why not incorporate art to our discoveries? It might create something that will impress, touch someone’s emotions and be never forgotten. People don’t strictly have to read two paragraphs to get informed. As we see, figures in the result sections of long articles are the most intriguing, because of their ability to simply communicate what has been discovered. Information travels through different platforms. It is not separate, being a good researcher, nowadays implies being an activist, engaging people, shouting out (in the right way) to be heard, understood and to change the world.
To see art in action when communicating science go to: https://www.un.org/en/climatechange and appreciate the amazing collage
Or access: https://www.un.org/en/climatechange/graphics to check some beautiful posters!
Anna Agazzi Migotto
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 