This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
Alton Brown’s got our science communication conundrum solved.
Brown, celebrity host of Food Network’sGood Eats,Iron Chef America, and Cutthroat Kitchen, recently dropped by the American Chemical Society’s Fall Meeting in Indianapolis. His mission? To celebrate the 90th anniversary of Chemical & Engineering News, long a preferred portal for what’s cool in chemistry each week.
Ace C&EN reporter Lauren Wolf cornered Brown in the ACS Bytesize Science studio. She asked him a simple question: How can scientists become better communicators?
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Lauren offsets Brown’s intense, serious demeanor with cute cartoons, which help to guide the viewer through his argument with a chuckle. My favorite tongue-in-cheek sci-comm moment? Brown pegs thick, inside-science language as vernacular (huh?), then sagely advises we “communicate in words that people can understand” (heh).
Watch the video at least twice, so you can get the full effect. Kudos to the crew at ACS for making a fun food science crossover.