Curious by Nature

Joining the panel are Ella McCarthy, Co-founder of Sci_Burst and former Communication Specialist at the Australian National University; Dr. Will Grant, Associate Professor at the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science; Dr. Isabel Freiling, Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Utah and Responsible AI Fellow; and Shelley Wunder-Smith, Director of Research Communications at Georgia Tech.

Together, they answer audience questions, share practical tips for communicating science more effectively, and discuss how researchers can better connect with the people they want to reach.

At Newswise, we host a monthly webinar series, and this month’s webinar is titled “Are You Talking to Me?” Today, we’re bringing together science communication researchers and professionals to share the latest research on communicating science more effectively and, most importantly, how those ideas can be put into practice.

We’re featuring presentations from Ella McCarthy, Co-founder of Sci_Burst and former Communication Specialist at the Australian National University. Dr. Will Grant, Associate Professor at the Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science. And Dr. Isabelle Freiling, Assistant Professor of Communication at the University of Utah and Responsible AI Fellow.

They’ll discuss why understanding your audience is one of the most important parts of science communication, how researchers define and think about audiences, and how today’s online world, from social media algorithms to AI generated content, is changing the way people discover, understand, and trust science.

Tune in next week for part two with Shelley Wunder-Smith, Director of Research Communications at Georgia Tech, joining the panel for a discussion of practical strategies based on the research presentations. You’ll hear a lively discussion about best practices for communicating science in today’s ever changing media landscape.

Every pet owner wants to know the absolute best food to put in their dog or cat's bowl, but the endless rows of grocery store options have turned feeding time into a total guessing game. From raw diets and sous vide to traditional kibble, picking the right option isn't just about what looks delicious, it's about protecting an invisible internal ecosystem.

Dr. Kelly Swanson is a professor of animal sciences and the director of the Division of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Illinois, where he has spent over twenty years studying pet health. His lab is uncovering the deep connection between what our pets eat and how their gut microbiome regulates everything from their immune systems to their weight.

Dr. Siniša Hrvatin is an assistant professor of biology at MIT and a member of the Whitehead Institute. His lab is uncovering the biological secrets of hibernation and frozen stasis, not just to understand these animals, but to discover how we can copy their tricks to save human lives.

For decades, the standard medical advice for treating a concussion was to go sit in a dark room, turn off your phone, and do absolutely nothing until you felt better. But modern science has completely flipped the script, revealing that hiding out in the dark might actually make your brain recover slower.

Dr. Kouros Emami is a clinical and sports neuropsychologist at the Hospital for Special Surgery, where he works on the cutting edge of head injury recovery. He treats everyone from elite athletes to everyday people, using active movement and specialized exercises to help the brain heal itself.

Dr. Brian Southwell is a Distinguished Fellow at RTI International, where he researches science communication, public trust, and the spread of misinformation. His work focuses on helping researchers and institutions better connect with the communities they serve.

Michael Schutz is a Professor of Music, Cognition, and Percussion at McMaster University, where he researches how auditory alerting systems in healthcare can be vastly improved. By applying centuries of musical composition insight and psychophysical research, he is exploring how healthcare sounds can be re-engineered to cut through critical room noise without being unnecessarily jarring.

Dr. Raihan Khan is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Sciences at James Madison University, and Madalynn Nofplot is a JMU Honors College alumna and nursing student. 

They launched a fascinating study to look into how different music genres affect the academic performance and GPAs of college students with and without attention deficit disorder.

Hypersonic vehicles travel a whole mile of sky in just one second. They can be missiles or aircraft, where the friction gets so ridiculously hot that the air around the vehicle literally turns into a blinding shield of electricity. 

Dr. Ian Boyd is the Director of the Center for National Security Initiatives at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he researches multiple aspects of these hypersonic vehicles.

Dr. John Cooke, Chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Sciences at Houston Methodist Hospital, and Research Fellow Dr. Shuang Li are using mRNA technology to heal this process from the inside out.

By delivering a temporary molecular recipe, they prompt cells to produce telomerase, which rapidly accelerates DNA repair and restores telomeres.