Igem Paris Bettencourt team - Science vulgarisation: presentations and meetings lyrics

Authors Note: I know nothing about vulgarisation and am very bad at explaining science to non-experts. As scientists, we have a responsibility to the public to share what we are working on and the results we have obtained. Scientific innovations have fueled modern society yet many people avoid science as it is perceived to be difficult or obscure. Therefore it is important to be clear and understood when presenting your project to the general public. When explaining your project, focus on key concepts rather than technical details. Be sure to explicitly state the goal of your project and the problems you hope to solve. Also, remember that the general public may not have background information regarding your project and so you should always explain why your goal or problem is an important one to solve both scientifically and socially. Try to help them to understand how your project can directly impact their lives. Avoid using technical terms such as restriction enzymes, plasmid, rate kinetics, etc. Always remember that the general public will not have the same vocabulary as you do, and so using a broader vocabulary will help the public understand your project. When presenting in english, try to use anglo-saxon words over latin words whenever possible. For example instead of ‘explaining' you can ‘tell'. When talking about how your project works, replace specific names with their basic functions. For example instead of saying that you ‘used xbaI and pstI restriction enzymes' you can say ‘we used proteins that cut DNA at specific sites'. Lastly, while you want to make the public as excited about your project as you are, you have a responsibility to be honest with them as well. The public will lack the necessary information to be critical of what you tell them and you should be careful not to overstate the impact of your project or your results when discussing them with the public. Remember that correlations do not prove causality and there are many hurdles to overcome when trying to progress from your project to something that can be used as a therapy or product by the public.