Do You F***ing Love Science?
Chad Haney says, So if you really F@^king Love Science, try doing some science. Try engaging with some scientists here. Better yet, tell your legislative representative to support science with more research funding. Do you agree? Tell us!
Originally shared by Chad Haney
You don’t really F@^king Love Science
You don’t love science, you’re looking at its butt when it walks by. That sums up my feelings on a lot of the IFLS type shares. I have a passion for science and science outreach. Nic Hammond jokingly asked on his share of the Cyanide and Happiness cartoon, Do you even science, Bro?
Don’t get me wrong, I’m pleased that people are interested in science. What I’m annoyed with is the flashy, hyped, hipster style science related posts. In this Twitter/SMS-speak world, where people’s attention span is about 1 minute, not many people take the time to fully read any science posts. They plus the flashy image or hyped up title and that’s it. A while ago I found an image that looked photoshopped so I started thinking about the physics of it and wrote a post about it. How many of the IFLS people shared the original image/post versus my version that discussed why it was probably photoshopped? If you really F@^king love science, did you try the experiment yourself? You only need a glass and water. I’m sorry if this comes across as jealousy or sour grapes. That’s not my intention.
Photoshopped or Real: my vote is photoshopped
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+ChadHaney/posts/hzX8dQSC49o
Buddhini Samarasinghe has a great discussion going on, on her share of the Cyanide & Happiness cartoon with her own thoughts on the topic.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/+BuddhiniSamarasinghe/posts/Ua9gmTsQA8g
It takes a lot of work to do science and take the time to share it in layman’s terms. It’s also very rewarding when we get positive discussions. A lot of us, like Buddhini, Rajini Rao Allison Sekuler , Carissa Braun , Brian Koberlein etc work hard doing science and work equally hard sharing it on social media (that’s not meant to be an exhaustive list by any stretch).
We are working on breaking out of the stereotype that scientist are boring, white lab coat wearing, nerds. There is nothing wrong with nerds. I’m just not a fan of the trying to be nerdy to be ironic and hip. Nerd Nite (http://nerdnite.com/) is actually a really cool idea. I’d love to expand Nerd Nite to Google Hangouts. If you are passionate about something, share it with all the gory details but let’s skip some of the jargon.
Here’s an old post about the scientist stereotype.
Hey scientist, smile!
There is still work to do to get people really excited and involved with science. As a scientist, I have to look at my own evidence, and my science posts are dwarfed by my posts of drivel.
Science vs. drivel v2
So if you really F@^king Love Science, try doing some science. Try engaging with some scientists here. Better yet, tell your legislative representative to support science with more research funding.
Image sources:
TwistedDoodles
via Amine Benaichouche
Cyanide & Happiness Explosm
http://explosm.net/comics/3557/
#ScienceSunday
edit h/t to Brent Neal for the second cartoon.
Science on Google+ 
You remember those science lessons as a kid when you planted a seed in a Dixie cup, watered it, fed it, nurtured it, and eventually you got to plant it outside, to let it live not in a classroom, but in the real world? It works that way with minds, too. Nurture the interests and the fruit will follow.
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I wish more people would click through an article and at least read the abstract of a scientific study before commenting. I’ve seen whole discussion threads where it’s clear that nobody even looked at the abstract of the paper they were commenting on. They pulled one graph from a long paper and were totally misinterpreting what was going on in that graph.
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Science outreach by scientists is vitally important, but recognition of its importance is slow in coming within academia. It is not just social media that needs to be harnessed. A lot of the outreach I and colleagues do focuses on giving presentations to the lay public, public science events, going to schools or bringing in schools to our labs for a few hours. It is a lot of work, however, and I find it seems to be the same individuals who work at this for relatively little recognition within their academic institutions.
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I’m a non-scientist, but HUGELY interested in science. If any individuals, media or PR groups ever desire to ‘reality-check’ on what the public might find useful, fascinating, or even sympathetic, I’d love to offer my view on any releases before they’re made public. Please feel free to PM me; or; print on G+. I think many Scientists still have far to go in ‘grokking’ the nature of the ‘masses’.
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