Here’s a challenge for all you scientists out there: Could you describe your research using only the 1,000 most common words in the English language?
Science Buffs, a STEM blog produced by a group of CU Boulder graduate students, has been doing just that with fellow graduate students, asking them to explain topics like nitrogen emissions and endocrine dysfunction using only the simplest language.
Their “Ten Hundred Word Challenge” was inspired by an xkcd comic, which described NASA’s Saturn V rocket, or “U.S. Space Team’s Up-Goer Five,” using only common words. It resulted in phrases like “thing to help people escape really fast if there’s a problem and everything is on fire so they decide not to go to space” (my personal favorite).
In a recent video on Wired, a neuroscience researcher undertook a similar experiment to explain a concept to five different people, from a five-year-old to a neuroscience graduate student.
“One of the things we’re not doing well as a field is sort of educating and telling people beyond our field the benefits of what we can achieve,” he said in explaining why he tried it.
While it may seem silly, I believe every scientist should have to do something like this at least once. If you can’t explain your research to everyone, it’s going to be tough to keep the public engaged in -- and willing to financially support -- what you’re doing.