I recently sat down with Lindsay Patterson at EarthSky to discuss the state of science literacy in the United States.

Here’s an excerpt from the transcript:

Sheril Kirshenbaum: I think right now we are touching on an area where there is enormous opportunity. We have a very well-educated group of young people earning degrees looking to use what they know to contribute to society.

Kirshenbaum said part of contributing to the public’s understanding of science is making scientific research more accessible, through new media like Twitter or YouTube, or speaking publicly about their work and discoveries. Kirshenbaum said that today, fewer scientists are ending up in tenure-track, or permanent positions in a university. That’s why scientists who are experts in their field, and can also write or speak to the public, are at an advantage.

Sheril Kirshenbaum: Why not work with people who are thinking about science careers, but teach them science and something else? Enable young scientists to work with journalists and writers and gain skills to communicate that way. Get them more comfortable talking to media. Create the jobs for renaissance scientists, this new generation that’s going to have to step up and be prepared to tackle things we haven’t found solutions for already.

More at EarthSky…

It’s always fun to give a talk in my own town, so I’m especially excited for this afternoon’s event in Austin at UT’s Cactus Cafe. I’ll be speaking at 5pm with Lindsay Patterson of EarthSky at Science In The Pub and would love to meet some readers from the neighborhood! Here a copy of the flier for details:

At the AAAS meeting in San Diego last month, I spoke with EarthSky’s Lindsay Patterson, and the resultant podcast just went up. You can listen here, or by playing the embedded audio below, and I’ve also pasted some transcribed sections below:

And now, the write-up: (more…)