FEATURES +SharingWays to Communicate Science to bring news about advances in science, technology and health from around the world to 1 place on the Web, so that jour- nalists can do their jobs even more efficient- ly and accurately, and the public can further satisfy its appetite for science news. Remembering the importance of the general public reminds us that science AAAS: Keeping the Public in Mind doesn't occur in a vacuum-it requires the energy and ideas of young thinkers. Encour- aging young people into careers in science is Floyd E Bloom America out from the long shadow of its perhaps not a primary purpose of Science, Editor-in-Chief European forebears. And so it has. but it is an important corollary to our publi- Science Today, public funding of science cation strategy. One way we have Washington, DC accounts for a significant portion of the approached this is through certain features enterprise. It therefore behooves us as jour- added to our newly launched online version Cynthia Lollar nal editors to keep the public not only of the journal: Sciences Next Wave, a kind of AAAS News & Information informed but intrigued with how science virtual water cooler where young scientists Washington, DC affects their everyday lives and the future of can gather and exchange information with human society. As the primary conduit more established scientists on how to build At Science, it has always been the editor's through which information about science their careers, and the Science Professional purpose to improve the public's understand- reaches the general public, science journalists Network, which provides information about ing of science. The magazine was launched remain our strongest ally. Rather than sim- jobs, careers, and scientific meetings. Anoth- in 1880 by a science journalist, John ply carping about those who do the job er feature, ScienceNow, offers brief, readable Michels, and the American inventor, poorly we should be actively encouraging summaries of the day's most significant sci- Thomas A Edison-2 men who not only excellence in the field. More than 700 ence news. Moving Science online was itself loved science for its own sake, but who reporters from around the world receive indicative of our interest in reaching a wider understood that their personal livelihoods weekly summaries of upcoming research in audience. The Internet has proven to be one depended on the public's enthusiasm for Science, complete with access to advance of the most democratic mediums yet devised what they did. In fact, in the early years of copies of the manuscripts and other forms of by science. It only makes sense to pull up a the journal, American science was practiced help. The American Association for the chair at this increasingly bountiful-and as much by regular citizens as by profes- Advancement of Science (AAAS), which accessible-table. sionals. These educated amateurs collected publishes Science, administers an annual sci- In the end, though, perhaps journal edi- rocks, watched the stars, and contributed to ence journalism award for broadcast and tors need only 1 reason for making an extra findings presented at local scientific soci- print media that is considered by many sci- effort to communicate science to the public. eties. The professionals themselves were ence journalists to be the pinnacle of their We love science, with all its mysteries, pit- strongly motivated by a sense of public profession. AAAS has also launched a new falls, and promises. And like any passion, it service-science was going to help bring Website called EurekAlert! that is designed demands to be shared. 0 CDC: Getting the Word Out About Health Vicki S Freimuth hundreds of thousands of people each year, the public. Associate Director for Communication despite existing information on ways to pre- Scientific information may reach the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vent and detect these diseases. Effective com- public indirectly in a number of ways. The Atlanta, Georgia munication about health requires a transla- first is through gatekeepers who control tion of complex and technical science into access to mass-media channels, often science Chronic and infectious diseases kill or affect content that can be used and understood by reporters and their editors at major broad- 92 * CBE VIEWS * VOL. 20, NR 3, 1997 FEATURES cast and print organizations. Typically, a sci- of their advertisers, making them vulnerable time. Some examples are HIV and cancer- entific organization has an office that trans- to that influence. Many researchers claim, for prevention campaigns; high blood pressure lates research findings into a form appropri- example, that mass media's coverage of the and cholesterol detection and control pro- ate for these gatekeepers and the public they dangers of smoking has been limited because grams; and anti-smoking, anti-violence, and ultimately serve. At the Centers for Disease of the fear of alienating large cigarette adver- anti-substance-abuse campaigns. These Control and Prevention (CDC), for example, tisers. approaches afford more control over the con- the Office of Communication serves this Despite these tensions, new scientific tent of the messages, but they still rely on role. The Office translates for a general audi- findings do get considerable, but sometimes gatekeepers to air or print the messages. Usu- ence each article published in the Morbidity ineffective, coverage in the news media. ally these communication programs also and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) into a Because air time and print space are at a pre- depend on community involvement. single paragraph that highlights the major mium, information must be tightly pack- Fortunately, a discipline called health messages. These summaries, along with aged, which can result in oversimplification communication has developed around the names of scientists who may be interviewed, of health messages. Coverage is rarely sus- challenges of communicating complex tech- are delivered to the major media outlets tained for more than a few days, and it sel- nical and scientific information to the public. before the MMWR is released. The gatekeep- dom focuses on what individuals should do Health communication draws from a num- ers decide whether these articles receive any to improve their health. ber of principles in the fields of mass com- coverage and what the slant will be. Another route to informing the public munication, health education and promo- Tensions often exist among scientists, sci- and influencing individual and community tion, social psychology and other social ence reporters, and editors as to what health decisions that enhance health is through care- sciences, and marketing. By combining the information is appropriate to cover. Scien- fully planned communication programs. successful strategies of a variety of disciplines, tific research is a slow process in which Strategies include targeting messages to spe- it plays a critical role in reaching the public knowledge is built incrementally, and yet cific segments of the public, using multiple and improving health status. * media like to cover sensational, fast-breaking channels to reach these audiences, and sus- events. Mass media depend upon the revenue taining these efforts over a long period of NASA: Reaching for the Stars Rosalind A Grymes educators and is unusual, receives remark- matches precisely the needs of K-12 teach- Manager able enthusiasm among both teacher and ers, particularly those serving remote rural Space Life Sciences Outreach Program mentor participants. STELLAR also engages communities. To help underserved commu- Life Sciences Division the teachers in creating, evaluating, and nities, this project highlights partnerships NASA Ames Research Center refining classroom activities based on their with schools serving Native American stu- Moffett Field, California NASA experiences, which are disseminated dents. (hardcopy and electronically) nationwide, Other projects bring NASA to the pub- The NASA Life Sciences Division Outreach increasing the number of teachers who lic. The Scott Carpenter Research Station is Program has innovated a diverse and com- receive the STELLAR experience. a space/ocean analog demonstration habitat prehensive suite of projects designed to com- The teachers' workshop in the Johnson being constructed at Kennedy Space Center. municate science to its shareholders, the Space Center's Life Sciences Electronic It will bring live research to public and class- American public. Several ongoing projects Classroom combines space life-sciences room audiences. Completely contained and provide training to teachers (grades K-12 information and activities for the classroom transportable, the Habitat will be installed at plus community colleges) and demonstrate with training and support in the current Florida's Sea World; the aquanaut inhabitant singular approaches we hope others will ways to share information. NASA works at will simultaneously be in communication adopt. Our STELLAR workshop brings the information-systems frontier; daily we with classroom participants (and to astro- teachers into laboratories at Ames Research use personal computers, distributed systems, nauts aboard the Shuttle, as downlink time Center as colleagues of life-science remotely acquired data, and video and tele- allows). These real-time exchanges can foster researchers and engineers. This experience, conferencing. Our familiarity with these comparisons between the undersea Habitat which enhances the capabilities