Two scientists talk honestly about the role scientists play in leveling the playing ground
The headline on the cover of the March 2015 edition of National Geographic blares: "The War on Science," with a list of subtitles arguing against everything from evolution and the moon landing to climate change and vaccinations.
Sound familiar?
While the modes have changed, the proliferation of misinformation casting doubt on science is nothing new. Fueled by emotion-driven and easily shared social media, however, the current waves of online misinformation have grown in size, frequency and intensity.
A new episode of Health Science Radio focuses on this timely topic and features two guests from the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus who are passionate about preventing and reversing the trend: Aimee Bernard, PhD, associate professor of immunology and microbiology, and Laura Scherer, PhD, associate professor of medicine in the cardiology division. Both Bernard and Scherer are faculty members at the CU School of Medicine.
Listen to the episode:
On this episode, they talk about sources of misinformation, how it is disseminated, the challenges of social influencers and predatory journals, as well as nuanced strategies all science communicators can consider to help rebuild trust in science.
"People have always believed in health phenomena that aren't evidence-based," Scherer said. The information chains were just much slower in the past, and they are now open to everyone, she said. "People who share these beliefs can connect with each other and feed off of each other, and it makes it a much bigger issue than it ever has been before."
Bernard, who co-directs an on-campus workshop series called Communicating Your Science to the Public, said scientists need to find more creative ways to underscore the importance of their work to the public and make their research more relatable and accessible to everyone.
"Wouldn't it be awesome if instead of people going to watch baseball, we'd have scientists on the home plate talking about science?"
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