Our own co-founder Liz Neeley Yong sat down with scientific editor Cheryl Sirois of Cell for a wide-ranging conversation about tackling technical complexity and engaging with broad audiences when we talk about science. Then our Board member José Ordovas-Montanes reached out to Liz to keep the conversation going, and that conversation turned into the latest episode of Talking Heads with Liz and Gabe Murphy—an extra interesting extended one at that!
In this conversation, Liz Neeley and José Ordovas-Montanes discuss the importance of effective communication in immunology and science in general. They explore the distinction between what is important and what is interesting, the challenges of communicating complex concepts, and the need for storytelling to bridge gaps between different scientific disciplines, not just with the public. They also touch on the role of language and syntax in communication and the potential for drama and narrative to engage and draw in new audiences. Overall, the conversation emphasizes the need for scientists to be conscious of their audience and to find ways to make scientific communication more enjoyable and accessible.
Some highlights:
From Liz:
- "The most important thing is not jargon. It's about structure. It's about connection. It's about how we harness our storytelling tools and our conversations and our connections to help people, to welcome people into the science we do."
From Jose:
- "We're always caught between this, are you doing applied research that has obvious importance to it? Or are you doing something that is maybe quite beautiful to a small subset of the field, but perhaps to others without the proper interpretation, you're kind of, it's like, I don't know if you go look at modern art, right? And you kind of wonder, oh, this might look nice, but I don't understand why it's in a museum, right?"
And from Liz again:
- "Perceived fluency can sometimes translate into an assumption that, well, the science isn't that hard, actually."
Chapter headings:
01:08 The Conversation and Its Cool Aspects
03:14 The Importance of Effective Communication in Immunology
06:21 Balancing Importance and Interestingness in Science Communication
10:01 The Role of Language and Syntax in Scientific Communication
13:01 Challenges of Communicating Complex Concepts
22:01 The Value of Storytelling in Science Communication
27:30 The Need for Conscious Communication and Bridging Divides
32:58 Closing Thoughts
