- Scientists are heroes! Contrary to widespread belief, the public and Hollywood see scientists and engineers as heroes, not geeks or villains. The truth is revealed in public opinion surveys and an analysis of how scientists were portrayed in more than 140 movies—from Avatar to Young Frankenstein.
- Science and engineering lack a "culture of explanation." Compared to other professions, including law, medicine, sports, politics, and show business, science and engineering lack an inherent "culture of explanation," which weakens their influence in society and their ability to help solve society's problems.
- "Gateway" media neglect science and engineering coverage. Newspapers and TV networks devote only two percent of their coverage to science and technology. This neglect by "gateway" media marginalizes science and technology in the public mind. Lack of coverage reduces the likelihood that students will be interested in becoming scientists and engineers, and gives strength to "junk" ideas from intelligent design to anti-vaccination movements.
- To survive professionally, scientists must learn a "visual vernacular." New interactive scientific publications—such as Cell's "Article of the Future"—and the expectations of 21st-century students and other audiences mean that scientists must learn a "visual vernacular." They must not only master the tools for creating videos, animations, and images, but also develop a visual sensibility about communicating their work.
- Public or Private? How scientists should decide. Choosing whether to be a Carl Sagan or an Alvin Anonymous—or something in between—is a decision scientists must make carefully. There are costs and benefits for both choices. The laboratory can become either a refuge or a cage.
- Communication tools are career-builders. Surveys of employers consistently show that they value communication skills over other capabilities, not only for science and engineering, but for all professions. Fortunately, acquiring these skills is not difficult.
- Communication traps snare many scientists. "Vampire speculation," policy foot-in-mouth, hyperstories, and misquoting are only a few of the communication traps researchers can avoid with just a little preparation and strategy.
- Scientists underestimate value, versatility of news releases. Most scientists think of the simple news release as merely an announcement to media. But the release also serves a large array of other functions, including: political ammunition to funding agencies, a statement of historical record, and a basis for boasting at family dinners.
- Science, engineering education neglect communication training. University curricula for science and engineering woefully neglect lay-level communication training. The faculty argue that "our students are writing-averse," or that there is "no room in the curriculum."
- Scientists need to enlist PIOs in their communications. Most researchers are far too passive in their relationships with public information officers—both inside their institutions and outside. PIOs can play invaluable roles as media relations experts, institutional ambassadors, educators, and hard questioners.
- Distinguishing "sales reps" from "PIO/journalists" important for scientists. Public information officers who sell their researchers like soap are far less credible or useful than those who function as PIO/journalists.
- Appreciating that lay audiences are "need-to-knowers" enhances communication. Most scientists wrongly concentrate on the ignorance of lay audiences—for example that more than half of laypeople do not know that the earth circles the sun once each year. Far more productive is recognizing and using the power of audiences' "need-to-know" nature.
- "Research-speak" separates scientists from audiences. Bombarding laypeople with technical jargon is not the only linguistic blunder scientists make in communicating. They also neglect to understand that the public defines words such as "theory," "believe," "enhance" and "radiation" differently than do researchers.
- Scientists must adjust to new "active audiences." There is no longer an "audience" in the traditional passive sense of the word. Today, scientists must take into account that with blogging, podcasting, online video, and Web sites, audiences actively transmit and share information in ways scientists might not like.
- New interactive media offer golden opportunities for communicating research. The Apple iPad and other such devices offer scientists and engineers a powerful new way to communicate their work both to lay and professional audiences.
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