Communicating science to the public

There is a general problem of how to communicate science to non-scientists.

Why should scientists care?

 * 1) We have some sort of obligation to make science accessible to non-scientists?
 * 2) Government makes public policy partially on the basis of scientific research. So if non-scientists in government ignore/misunderstand science, then public policy is adversely affected.
 * 3) Public perceptions of science can influence government spending priorities in science. In some cases, negative public perceptions can even destroy scientific fields.

Recent articles

 * Slashdot post on Bad Science in the Press
 * Guardian article on science in the mainstream press (from Slashdot post)
 * PLoS Medicine article on Why Most Published Research Findings Are False (from Guardian article)

Links

 * The National Academies
 * Union of Concerned Scientists
 * UCS page on Scientific Integrity
 * MIT Student Pugwash