Knowing how COVID-19 emerged is critical for informing global strategies to prevent future outbreaks. But the story of how it originated can differ wildly depending on who you ask.

In this special episode of This Study Shows, our hosts Mary-Ann Ochota and Danielle George, explore what the biggest science story of recent years can teach us about how science communication operates in society. Joining the discussion are Dr Benhur Lee, Professor of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York; journalist Ian Birrell; psychologist Professor Karen Douglas; and Yanzhong Huang, Senior Fellow for Global Health at the Council on Foreign Relations.

When we hear about the environment in the news, it's so often doom and gloom. But Dr. Nancy Knowlton knows that when people are presented with a huge problem without a solution, it leads to apathy instead of action. We partnered with Earth Optimism Alliance in this special episode to answer the question "why hope?," and to hear some beautiful success stories from around the world.

 

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Discover the truth about the viral fish-punching octopus. In this episode, we're talking to Eduardo Sampaio, the researcher whose latest paper shares surprising observations about feisty cephalopods. What happened next as the media took notice and started to ascribe human emotions and intentions to these sea creatures?

AI has come a long way (it even named this episode) but what does it have to do with science communication? We find the line between the present and the future as we explore how AI will affect science communication, and how has it already taken hold, with Mara Pometti, lead data strategist at IBM, and Professor Charlie Beckett, lead of JournalismAI at the London School of Economics.

 

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As Sarafina Nance (author, PhD student, science communicator extraordinaire) says, "people respond to seeing the human behind the science." So we spend an entire episode talking about science communication for a mass audience: the passion, the stereotypes, the need for community, and more.

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In this episode we're talking to Professor Suxia Liu about what happened when she agreed to talk about her research with the media. Her team published a paper on polar drift, which went viral as proof that our climate crisis has tilted the axis of the Earth. But was her work misrepresented?

Have you ever been too embarrassed to ask a question? Or maybe you were ashamed? Grossed out? This episode digs into how science communication can help us understand those taboo subjects. Hear from Florence Schechter, founder of the Vagina Museum, Dr. Matt Ziegelmann, a urologist who specializes in erectile function, and Dr. Rachel Santymire, a wildlife physiologist who studies poop.

 

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Sometimes a tiny change can have a giant impact. In this call-in episode, we hear new ideas to change the science communication game. From the pitfalls of rainbow maps to getting rid of PDFs, we speak to Matt Hall, Paige Jarreau, Alberto Pepe, Crystal Emery, Ngozi Erondu, and Chelsie Boodoo about all the things they would change.

 

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How do we get from a research article to an eye-catching headline in your local newspaper? Join Dr. Sammy (Dr. Samuel Ramsey) as he hosts our new This Study Shows: Spotlights and follows science communication in action. 

 

In this episode, we're talking to Dr. Martin Fisher, the author of a face mask study that went viral during the COVID-19 pandemic and fed into conversation about whether masks were truly effective or not, and Sarah Avery, the director of the Duke Health News Office who helped bring this research to the media.

Mary-Ann and Dan meet Dr Samuel Ramsey, the host of our new mini series This Study Shows: Spotlight.