Viral Science Communication

The business of simplifying and distilling science in an accessible form is a crucial element of the dialogue with consumers, aka the public. It has to be done in a consistent fashion to maintain the rapport with the different stakeholders for any company or organization. Simplifying and relaying the science behind each product or project to the public builds trust and instills the value. The role of science communicators thus is not limited to a once in a century event but is a rather seamless one for science, and for the society.

As another virus comes out from the woodwork, science communicators have been spurred into action to engage with the public and alert about the danger, or lack thereof, in this case. This isn’t very unlike the beginning of the year 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic set in. Indeed the emergence of a virus at the beginning of a year brings quite the déjà vu, and a resultant walk down the memory lane.

Year 2020: Common man turns to Science, by choice

When the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a pandemic in March 2020, the public realized the importance of understanding what lies behind. As precautionary measures were being shared on popular media, debates started to arise whether everyone was being too cautious. As the year wore on, the messaging was towards limiting transmission through air. And finally when the vaccines rolled out, there was a need to understand how vaccines work. All in all, the pandemic was the time public sought out reliable information on the virus, its variants, and the vaccines to tackle them.

A study published in Brookings looked at 20 Indian media outlets and their usage of the keywords COVID-19 and coronavirus. The study showed how patterns of the news could be correlated with the peaks of the pandemic itself, hence pointing towards how messaging by the media was crucial for how the public took action. As per Statista, U.S. was among the world's most engaged news consumers searching for updates on COVID-19. Almost 40 percent of the US were following news about the coronavirus at least once a day, compared to 35 percent of Italy and Germany. By 2021, young people worldwide chose national level media, followed by active search engine research and international media, to get information about the coronavirus.

How the public received the news: Through actively seeking out news and research, the public gained more knowledge on topics like viral transmission, immunity and vaccine development. An article in the MIT Press reflected on how the public consumed COVID-19 covering pre-prints bringing society closer to science than ever.

The flow of information: The public engaged with science communicators who simplified science into accessible formats. Through these interactions the public became more informed on the medical guidelines and the different technical aspects concerning public health. A Nature portfolio article highlighted how China followed extensive measures to communicate science to its people to contain the virus.

Scientists became more visible: Several scientists took to both mainstream news and social media to explain the basics of viral transmission and the nitty-gritty of vaccine development. This changed how the public perceived science, and it made such conversations part of everyday life. A study published in the journal Public Understanding of Science examined how Scientists became much visible on social media during COVID-19 and used these platforms for direct communication to the public.

Experts garnered more trust: The unprecedented level of interaction with scientists and other public health experts helped the public trust more in the science behind various medical guidelines. A survey of more than 2000 British adults found that over a third of the respondents said that their trust in science increased during the pandemic.

Global efforts: The public witnessed the collaborative efforts across borders for the development of diagnostic tools and vaccines. With WHO at its helm, several nations came together to share resources and join hands to fight the pandemic. This created the impression that science is truly a global effort.

Science literacy rose: The participation in understanding concepts related to infection and immunity raised the scientific literacy of the public and made them aware about different aspects of their own health. According to a WIRED article, the pandemic pushed the public to learn new terminology and the process of scientific discovery.

In summary, the pandemic brought in a general shift in how the world viewed science. Many science communicators rode on this wave of the need for simplified and accessible information. All of this underscores the need for better ways to communicate science and engage with the public and in as many languages and modes as possible. As with Human Meta Pneumo Virus (HMPV), it is important to share to the public when not to panic as well.

In this section we highlight the voluntary efforts by a group of Indian scientists who came together under the name of Indian Scientists’ Response to COVID-19 (ISRC). It was a timely effort which had experts talking on the preventive measures of COVID-19, infographics and modelling of COVID-19 waves and more importantly the effects of the pandemic on mental health. One of the scientists who lead the efforts of ISRC was Dr. Gautam Menon, Dean, Research and Professor of Physics and Biology, Ashoka University.

This is how he described his experience of engaging with the public during the pandemic: "The lessons I personally learnt in science communication during the pandemic were:

(a) the importance of communicating health information in regional languages

(b) the usefulness of good graphics in describing and communicating appropriate behaviors minimizing the risk of disease transmission and

(c) the need for trust, and thus the need to be seen as unbiased, by those these messages are addressed to.

Writing down something in English and then having it translated literally may not strike the same chord as communicating directly in the original language where the nuances of every-day speech can be incorporated. Good graphics are always easier to understand than text. Last, the most important aspect of communication is trust. We were lucky that scientists were overall trusted, at least partly due to the work of some of its members in science communication prior to the pandemic, and people were willing to assume that advice coming from them was well-considered and unbiased.”

In latest news in Science, we bring to you the proposed research around ‘mirror life’ and the scientific community’s warning against such research. All of biological life has a particular ‘handed-ness’ when it comes to the building blocks that are specific biomolecules; for example, the nucleic acids DNA and RNA are folded in a right-handed fashion. How a pathogen infects a system to how a drug molecule interacts with a protein entity is dependent on this handedness of biomolecules. Detailed arguments on the feasibility and risks of mirror life have been discussed by scientists in a technical report. Could this be the kind of sci-fi that could turn catastrophic? The world will have to wait and see.

We highlight our work with Mosaic Wellness this week. Mosaic wellness has stood by the need for communicating the science behind their products and keep their consumers well-versed in the scientific facts surrounding their products. Their carefully curated content keeps their customers wanting more not only on their products, but also the accessible science behind them. Check out their tiktok which packages science in a digestible way.

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