I came across this excellent post by Hilary Sutcliffe through Twitter about how science is like the veg in the pasta sauce – her underlying point being that screaming and jumping up and down about how great science (/vegetables) is will not likely engage the wider public (/kids), instead you have to incorporate it in a palatable way. I couldn’t agree more.

The best science communication in my opinion is the stuff that flies in under the radar. So rather than saying ‘hurray, scientist X did Y’ – which is likely to send readers to Zzzzz  unless they know scientist X or work on Y – you can neatly fold scientific information into a story that talks to readers, much like getting the air into the souffle, or blending the veg in the pasta sauce so younger diners won’t pick it out.

I reckon this is an important factor for Ireland, where science is not yet really in our public lexicon or our unconscious understanding as a society. After all, we only really got serious about science funding here 10-15 years ago, which is a blink of an eye.

So while focused outlets for science stories are still vital, we need to blend more science into the everyday, to stop yelling about it and making it a Big Thing and instead whizz it like the hidden veg in the pasta sauce for kids, the lady speaketh sense.