In 1989, the communist dictatorship oddly named Union of Soviet Socialist Republics reached the extent of a third giant hole in the Arctic Circle, Kola Superdeep Borehole SG-3, where they'd been drilling for 19 years. It clocked in at nearly 8 miles deep.
"Scientists must improve communication tactics, Science article proclaims"
No, I didn't write that headline. The PR firm for an article written by Seed magazine writer Chris Mooney and American University professor Dr. Matthew Nisbet did.
They are co-authors of an April 6th Science article titled “Framing Science.” The article suggests that as the 2008 election approaches, scientists should adopt new communication techniques, rather than merely seeking to “get the facts out there.”
They highlight global warming, evolution and embryonic stem cell research as politically hot topics that need help from scientists to 'frame' the debate in ways the public understands.
Obviously I couldn't agree more that scientists should be actively getting information out there.
On a Greek mountainside, sensors in the walls of a high-tech villa will record stresses and vibrations, temperature and humidity levels. Nothing out of the ordinary there.
Aileen Thompson, writing at Blog Herald, took note of the recently ended "Science Week” and had some comments I think the science community should note:
In case you missed it, there was an entire week (Feb. 4-10) of science blogging called “Science Week” - when an entire stable of science bloggers committed to at least one blog a day actually focused on… Science! This may seem a little bit strange to blogophyles who reasonably presume that science blogs must *of course* be about science, but this is unfortunately not always the case.
Here are the good ones. Read the entire piece here.
1. Engineering is done with numbers. Analysis without numbers is only an opinion.
5. Three points determine a curve.
6. Everything is linear if plotted log-log with a fat magic marker.
10. When in doubt, estimate. In an emergency, guess. But be sure to go back and clean up the mess when the real numbers come along.
16. The previous people who did a similar analysis did not have a direct pipeline to the wisdom of the ages. There is therefore no reason to believe their analysis over yours. There is especially no reason to present their analysis as yours.
19.
In The Sunday Times Nigel Calder writes:
When politicians and journalists declare that the science of global warming is settled, they show a regrettable ignorance about how science works. We were treated to another dose of it recently when the experts of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued the Summary for Policymakers that puts the political spin on an unfinished scientific dossier on climate change due for publication in a few months’ time. They declared that most of the rise in temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to man-made greenhouse gases.
