Publications

1104 publications found

Apr 15, 2026 Article
Marketing brain images and shaping ways of seeing: a visual analysis of a neuroscientific website

by Jorge Alexander Daza Cardona and Denielle Elliott

Brain images entice particular ways of looking that frame how brain health, human behavior, personhood, and cognition are understood. This article examines the brain images used to convey neuroscientific knowledge through digital media by examining the website of one of the world's leading tests for screening cognitive impairments. Based on Visual Discourse Analysis, this research found that the studied website prioritizes brain images to depict cognition by displaying MRI scans, drawings, and diverse futuristic and colorful digital representations. These images reinforce the idea that this cognitive test is a predominant instrument for understanding the brain and the cognitive domains. However, they also portray the brain as a simple and transparent entity while obscuring its sociomaterial dimensions. Finally, the article reflects on the rhetorical, epistemological and ontological consequences of intersecting science, marketing, and web design.
Apr 13, 2026 Article
Gender in Australian science news

by Merryn McKinnon, Tegan Clark, Abby Hodges, Alexandra Horvat, Tianle Huang, Melissa Larkins, Annaclaire McDonald, Caitlin McLeod, Timothy Newport, Amelia Pearson and Sumita Thiagarajan

This paper explores gender representations in Australian print and online science news over a period of five years. Using a constructed year method, stories relating to any science, technology, engineering, mathematics or health and medicine related theme were collected and analysed to better understand who writes and speaks about these topics. In contrast to earlier studies, the findings show near gender parity of journalists and a higher proportion of women used as direct sources. However, men were still more frequently used as direct sources, even in disciplines dominated by women. Journalist gender does appear to relate to the source gender. This paper proposes actions that journalists, organisations and science communicators can take to increase the diversity of sources presented in science news, recognising that gender is only one small part of the picture and future explorations should adopt an intersectional lens.
Apr 09, 2026 Book Review
What is philosophy of science and public policy?

by Byron Hyde

This book on philosophy of science and public policy provides a clear introduction to the basics of philosophy of science — scientific methodology, evidence types, and values in science. However, it falls short as an introduction to philosophy of public policy. The review contends that philosophy of public policy comprises two subdisciplines: philosophy of science and political philosophy. The book notably lacks engagement with many key figures in both areas, including Nancy Cartwright and Jonathan Wolff, and lacks treatment of evidence-based policy literature. The book functions adequately as an introductory philosophy of science text but inadequately addresses the unique problematics of evidence-informed policymaking.
Apr 07, 2026 Article
You're the apple of my ambivalence: can the primary motivational aspects of GMO foods lessen GMO avoidance?

by Rachel Bailey, Jay Hmielowski, Myiah Hutchens, Pooja Ichplani, Jessica F Sparks and Sun Young Park

The United States population reports significant hesitance to consume GMOs. This article examines whether visual food cues can change attitudes, induce attitude ambivalence, and alter intentions to avoid purchasing GMOs. In a between-subjects experiment that varied the imagery cue (positive vs. coactive vs. no cue) accompanying GMO information, participants were randomly assigned to view a news-style article about GMO foods. Overall, positive visual food cues decreased potential ambivalence, resulting in lower felt ambivalence and lower likelihood to avoid GMOs. However, skeptics and uncertain individuals were not significantly affected by visual food cues. Implications and future directions are discussed.
Apr 01, 2026 Article
The impact of commentators' expertise and opinion in health communication

by Lorenzo Ciccione, Camille Lakhlifi, Benjamin Rohaut and Raphael Veil

Different commentators are often invited in the media in order to discuss medical and health-related advances, such as the deployment of new vaccines or prevention tests. How do the expertise and opinions of such intermediaries affect public trust towards them? Do these factors also influence the public beliefs and decisions regarding those medical advances? We presented to 1984 French participants new (fictitious) medical tools that have been recently made available and commented on by individuals of different degrees of expertise and having distinct opinions. The results indicate that both factors significantly influenced participants' trust in the commentator's message. The commentator's opinion also affected (although to a smaller extent) the public attitude towards the tool and their willingness to use it. Crucially, participants recognized that commentators' assertiveness in expressing their opinions might unduly bias their beliefs. The study highlights the importance of considering both para-verbal and contextual cues in health communication, advocating for strategies to mitigate (or better use) their influence on public trust, beliefs, and decision-making.
Mar 30, 2026 Book Review
Public engagement with science: a practical guide

by Kiran Tomas van den Brande, Emmy Vrieling-Teunter, Arnoud Theodoor Evers and Frank de Jong

Public engagement with science has gained institutional prominence while remaining conceptually fragmented and difficult to operationalise. This review evaluates Public Engagement with Science by Angela Potochnik and Melissa Jacquart as a field-level intervention addressing this condition. The book offers an interdisciplinary, pedagogically grounded framework for understanding, designing, and institutionalising public engagement. More steps regarding its theorization can be made, but the plentitude of strengths lies in conceptual integration and practical design.
Mar 23, 2026 Conference Review
Science journalism and social justice: reflections from WCSJ 2025

by Desmond William Thompson

The first World Conference of Science Journalists held in Africa was characterised by a conceptual focus on framing science journalism as a social justice practice. This reflection examines how the event interrogated the profession's role within a fractured global order. By foregrounding equity and accountability, WCSJ 2025 served as a renewal moment for the global community, challenging the field to move beyond scientific translation toward critical engagement in an era of systemic crisis.
Mar 19, 2026 Conference Review
Building science communication capacity and community in Asia: lessons from the first PCST Symposium in Japan

by Qinlin Wu

The PCST Symposium 2025, held in Tokyo from 11–13 November, marked the first PCST-related event hosted in Japan. The symposium explored the strategic development of science communication in Asia, focusing on education and training, as well as public engagement. Navigating challenges such as linguistic diversity, limited professional development, and underrepresentation in Western discourse, Asian science communicators are harnessing new platforms and networks to expand local engagement and international impact through culturally rooted narratives.

Volume 25 • Issue 1 • 2026

Mar 18, 2026 Article
Public perceptions and information sources on genetically modified organisms in Kenya

by Julia Njagi, Brian Abook and Dorington Ogoyi

Public attitudes toward genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in Kenya remain mixed due to limited knowledge, policy gaps, and cultural factors. Despite the 2020 commercialisation of Bt cotton, perceptions of GM technologies are largely unfavourable. This study surveyed 416 respondents across 14 counties to assess awareness and knowledge levels of GMOs. Results showed 49% support GMOs, 27% are uncertain, and 24% oppose them. Misconceptions persist, with 49.3% citing size and 22.4% recognising labelling as a means of identifying GMOs. Awareness of GMO commercialisation was low (24%), though nearly half correctly identified Bt cotton as an approved GMO, and 32.7% unaware of any institution carrying out GM research. Education significantly influenced acceptance ($\chi^2$ = 68.322, p 0.001). Radio was the most trusted information source (29.3%), and scientists were the most credible (46.4%). The findings underscore the need for targeted public communication strategies to address misinformation and enhance understanding of biosafety and biotechnology in Kenya.

Volume 25 • Issue 1 • 2026

Mar 16, 2026 Commentary
Commentary set: science communication in changing political winds

by Fabien Medvecky and Annette Leßmöllmann

In an age of populism, rising authoritarianism and far-right movements that often go hand-in-hand with questioning of scientific knowledge, science communication is challenged to respond. How to foster dialogue and inclusion oriented interaction with publics and stakeholders when powerful people and institutions deny science, or if interlocutors don't share the assumption that science yields valid knowledge? In this commentary set, researchers of science communication analyse the current challenges and suggest answers from different perspectives, trying to brush against the grain in order to explore inspiring ideas. Their suggestions, in a nutshell: (1) Good science communication without a fundamental change in the platform logics of social media platforms will not be possible, and science communicators should fight for a better digital ecosystem. (2) Science communication that is blind to political power play will not be strong enough for rising the voice of science in a power world. (3) Governments need to invest in a resilient and reliable way of communicating in risk and crisis situations, because otherwise science and science communication lose trust. (4) Science communication as a democratic practice could create opportunities for participation in decision processes in order to support and strengthen democracy. (5) Instead of persuading the denialists of science, science communication could adopt values connected with science and empower people to reach their goals with the help of scientific knowledge and practices. (6) Science communication might embrace the performative power of communication in order to persist in a post-truth world. The commentary set highlights crucial aspects of what we see as a communication challenge for dialogue and inclusion oriented science communication and it aims at opening up discussion and debate.
Communicating science in an age of bewilderment; or, a brief technological tectonics of our communication landscape
by Will John Grant
Does science communication have its goals wrong? From persuading science skeptics to promoting scientific empowerment
by Anne Toomey and Kevin C. Elliott
From facts to stage: rethinking science communication as theatrical performance
by Michiel van Oudheusden and Willemine Willems
Power, epistemic authority, and game theory
by Annette Leßmöllmann and Fabien Medvecky
Reshaping science communication in a critical period of disinformation and distrust
by Carolina Moreno-Castro
The politics of (mis)trust: reframing science communication in a polarized Brazil
by Luiz Felipe Fernandes Neves, Vanessa Oliveira Fagundes and Luisa Massarani

Volume 25 • Issue 1 • 2026

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