PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

For effective science communication, ‘just the facts’ isn’t good enough

2025-07-02
(Press-News.org)

In a new communications landscape that feasts on polarization, the science community needs to rethink how it engages society in scientific discovery, controversy and policy.

The authors of a report in this week’s Proceedings of the National Academies of Science (PNAS) argue that the standard communication model of disseminating the facts and assuming “the truth will prevail” is increasingly falling on deaf ears. 

Instead, the science community needs to create a “collaboration model” that invites more public conversations, incorporates personal morals and values, creates a level playing field for input, and embraces uncertainty.

Report co-author Dietram Scheufele, an investigator at the Morgridge Institute for Research and professor of life sciences communication at UW-Madison, says the goal of the report is to address a perilous gap between science and society on major issues of the day, such as climate change, vaccines, gene editing and artificial intelligence (AI).

“Scientists do a good job of answering the technical questions they think are relevant, about the risks and the benefits, but these are not the questions communities are asking,” Scheufele says. “Communities are asking about what the science means for their personal identities, and what it means for their fears about a future that will look very different from what we have now.”

The technical answers are just one element of a scientific debate. They are really about people’s values and the tradeoffs that come with policy choices, he says.

“I think we’re beginning to see how technologies like AI and gene editing change how we think about what it means to be human,” he adds. “We can help make sure that science stays at the forefront of the discussions but also recognize that science alone doesn’t determine the outcome.”

Highlighting the flaws in current communication, the report cited a study of 819 different social media experiments aimed at increasing COVID vaccination rates. This “follow the data” approach shifted attitudes toward vaccines by only about 1 percent. 

The report was created by science communication experts assembled by the National Academy of Sciences and is part of a special section of PNAS looking at the latest research on public engagement in science.  In addition to Scheufele, authors include: James Druckman, University of Rochester; Kirsten Ellenbogen, Great Lakes Science Center; and Itzhak Yanovitzky, Rutgers University. 

Among the other conclusions, the authors argued: 

• Scientists often artificially position science as “value-free,” a viewpoint that ignores the fact that scientific evidence and societal values equally shape public policy.

• Top-down dissemination of science is an elitist approach to public interaction, in that it assumes people have a deficiency of knowledge and the facts will “correct” their beliefs. This approach ignores the uncertainty inherent in science and discourages dialogue.

• Polarization around science is getting worse. In 2000, 47% of Republicans and 46% of Democrats expressed a great deal of confidence in the scientific community. By 2022, those figures were 28% for Republicans and 53% for Democrats.

• Each political side exaggerates the other party’s views on science.

• Within the current communication ecosystem, politicized science ensures that the loudest and most extreme voices get the most attention. It also elevates pseudoscience to the same level and quality vetted science.

• There is a growing body of knowledge on how to do science engagement well, but very little action is being taken.

Scheufele says that communication approaches that rely on dialogue put the public on an equal plane with scientists and make participation the goal rather than altering opinions or behaviors. It also requires that scientists enter discussions with some healthy “intellectual humility.”

In this deeply challenging time for science, which faces drastic reductions in federal support, Scheufele says it’s more important than ever for scientists to address the growing divide between science and society — and recognize its own role in the problem.

“Unless we do that, we’ll end up in more and more situations like we’re in now, where science becomes a chess piece being used in political battles,” he says. “Science is the most important mechanism we have for creating, curating and disseminating knowledge.”

Scheufele is co-director of the Morgridge Science Communication Incubator Lab, which provides a test bed to experiment with new ideas in public engagement. The lab brings together scholars on science communication with outreach specialists at Morgridge who bring programs to thousands of citizens every year.

 

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

RT-EZ: A golden gate assembly toolkit for streamlined genetic engineering of rhodotorula toruloides

2025-07-02
For economic and sustainable biomanufacturing, the oleaginous yeast Rhodotorula toruloides has emerged as a promising platform for producing biofuels and other valuable chemicals. However, its genetic manipulation has been limited by its high GC content and the lack of a replicating plasmid, necessitating gene integration. To address these challenges, researchers at the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI), a Department of Energy-funded Bioenergy Research Center, developed the RT-EZ toolkit ...

Stem Cell Reports announces five new early career editors

2025-07-02
The ISSCR has selected five distinguished early career scientists to serve as new Early Career Editors for Stem Cell Reports, the peer-reviewed, open access, online journal of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR). During their term, Early Career Editors provide strategic advice, participate in the editorial review process, and receive mentorship from current editors. They join other Early Career Editors currently working with the journal. The new Early Career Editors are: Harsha Devalla, Ph.D., Amsterdam University Medical ...

Support networks may be the missing link for college students who seek help for excessive drinking

2025-07-02
College students who want help overcoming high-risk drinking could benefit from a two-pronged approach that combines an individual-focused psychological theory with social network analysis. That’s according to a new study from Texas A&M University School of Public Health Assistant Professor Benjamin Montemayor and former doctoral student Sara Flores, both in the Department of Health Behavior. High-risk drinking is defined as drinking resulting in a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or higher, the legal threshold for intoxication in the United ...

The New England Journal of Medicine shines spotlight on forensic pathology

2025-07-02
Forensic pathologists play a unique role in monitoring and responding to public health threats and advancing our understanding of human disease and injury, according to a new review article published July 3 in The New England Journal of Medicine. Recognizing that there is little understanding about this key medical subspecialty among the public and even among physicians, the journal asked several forensic pathology leaders to write an overarching review of the field. “Many people may picture forensic ...

Scientists discover protein that helps lung cancer spread to the brain

2025-07-02
Researchers at McMaster University, Cleveland Clinic and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center have uncovered how a protein long associated with Alzheimer’s disease helps lung cancer spread to the brain – a discovery that offers hope that existing Alzheimer’s drugs could be repurposed in preventing cancer’s spread. The study, published in Science Translational Medicine on July 2, 2025, details how the protein (BACE1) is instrumental in the development of brain metastases – tumours that ...

Perceived social status tied to cardiovascular risks in women but not in men

2025-07-02
Women who see themselves as having lower social status are more likely than other people to show early signs of heart stress linked to future disease risk, according to a new study led by researchers at McGill and Concordia universities. “One in three women in North America die from heart disease. Yet, women are less likely to receive important cardiac interventions or therapies than men. This highlights the need to rethink how we assess cardiovascular risk in women,” said co-lead author Dr. Judy Luu, Assistant Professor in McGill’s Department of Medicine ...

Brain tumor growth patterns may help inform patient care management

2025-07-02
As brain tumors grow, they must do one of two things: push against the brain or use finger-like extensions to invade and destroy surrounding tissue. Previous research found tumors that push — or put mechanical force on the brain — cause more neurological dysfunction than tumors that destroy tissue. But what else can these different tactics of tumor growth tell us? Now, the same team of researchers from the University of Notre Dame, Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital, and Boston University has developed a technique for measuring a brain tumor’s mechanical force and a new model to estimate how much brain tissue a patient has ...

This might be America's first campus tree inventory

2025-07-02
Ask anyone what comes to mind when they think of Northern Arizona University and they’ll probably say something about the trees. NAU's Flagstaff mountain campus is home to an estimated 5,000 to 6,000 trees—most of them ponderosa pines. This precious resource is worth protecting. That’s why, this summer, students, faculty and staff at NAU are working together to take stock of the campus tree collection. Slowly but surely, a team of forestry and environmental scientists will collect information about the health, ...

Emoji use may impact relationship outcomes

2025-07-02
The use of emojis in text messaging improves perceived responsiveness and thereby enhances closeness and relationship satisfaction, according to a study published July 2, 2025, in the open-access journal PLOS One by Eun Huh from The University of Texas at Austin, U.S. Text-based messaging is a primary use of smartphones, with near-universal adoption across age groups. The use and variety of emojis in such messages have also surged, particularly among young adults. Defined as digital representations of emotions and ideas, emojis enrich text-based communication by conveying emotional nuance and increasing expressiveness. ...

Individual merit, not solidarity, prioritized by early childhood education policies

2025-07-02
Do we climb the social ladder alone or with help from our communities? Early childhood education (ECE) policies are betting on the former, according to a study published July 2, 2025, in the open-access journal PLOS One by Katarzyna Bobrowicz from the University of Luxembourg and University of Liège in Belgium, and colleagues. A 53-country survey of global ECE policies indicates favoritism of competition over cooperation, individualism over solidarity and talent over luck. Recent decades have seen a rising belief in meritocracy: a 1950s-era Western ideal that one’s individual merit (i.e., their skill and talent), begets success rather ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Climate crisis could force wild vanilla plants and pollinating insects apart, threatening global supply

Teens report spending 21% of each driving trip looking at their phone

Study explores the ‘social norms’ of distracted driving among teens

Diver-operated microscope brings hidden coral biology into focus

Enhancing the “feel-good” factor of urban vegetation using AI and street view images

A single genetic mutation may have made humans more vulnerable to cancer than chimpanzees

Innovative nanocomposite hydrogel shows promise for cartilage regeneration in osteoarthritis treatment

2025 Guangci Laboratory Medicine Innovation and Development Conference

LabMed Discovery is included in the ICI World Journals database

LabMed Discovery is included in the China Open Access Journal (COAJ) database

Vaccination support program reduces pneumonia-related mortality by 25 percent among the elderly

Over decades, a healthy lifestyle outperforms metformin in preventing onset of Type 2 diabetes

Mental health disorders, malaria, and heart disease most affected by covid pandemic

Green transition will boost UK productivity

Billions voted in 2024, but major new report exposes cracks in global democracy

Researchers find “forever chemicals” impact the developing male brain

Quantum leap in precision sensing across technologies

Upgrading biocrude oil into sustainable aviation fuel using zeolite-supported iron-molybdenum carbide nanocatalysts

For effective science communication, ‘just the facts’ isn’t good enough

RT-EZ: A golden gate assembly toolkit for streamlined genetic engineering of rhodotorula toruloides

Stem Cell Reports announces five new early career editors

Support networks may be the missing link for college students who seek help for excessive drinking

The New England Journal of Medicine shines spotlight on forensic pathology

Scientists discover protein that helps lung cancer spread to the brain

Perceived social status tied to cardiovascular risks in women but not in men

Brain tumor growth patterns may help inform patient care management

This might be America's first campus tree inventory

Emoji use may impact relationship outcomes

Individual merit, not solidarity, prioritized by early childhood education policies

Preclinical study unlocks a mystery of rapid mouth healing

[Press-News.org] For effective science communication, ‘just the facts’ isn’t good enough