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Health & Fitness

Are We Speaking the Same Language?

There is often a communication barrier between scientists and the public - how can we improve understanding?

A scheme? A theory? Bias? Is this science? At the , we are currently in the middle of our .

Last week brought out Dr. Dork Sahagian of Lehigh University for Climate 101 and 102. Dr. Sahagian described the major findings in climate science and discussed the history and purpose of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

After the talks, our staff had a long conversation about a point Dr. Sahagian made on science communication and terminology. He discussed the fact that scientists frequently use words differently than we do in our vernacular, which leads to misunderstanding and misinterpretation.

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Essentially, we are speaking a different language without realizing it. For example, people generally use the word ‘theory’ to mean a hunch or an idea. For scientists, there is no better tested and understood science than a theory. This means that when scientists describe the Theory of Gravity, people might say “Oh, don’t pay attention to that, it’s just a theory!” Other examples can be seen in the diagram with this post.

Words matter and communication is a two-way street. Scientists need to communicate effectively with the public so that people can make well-informed decisions and can understand the significance of scientists' work. Citizens need to meet scientists half way by asking for clarification when a meaning is unclear and by trying to understand basic science wording.

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Are there any words that you think are commonly misunderstood or any words that you have questions about? Please list them in the comment section and we will ask our scientific colleagues for better definitions.

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