SantanderJuly 12, 2023-. Prince of Asturias Award for Scientific and Technical Research (1997), Juan Luis Ursuaga, and writer Juan José Melas were responsible for the opening of the meeting “The Adventure of Successfully Spreading Science in Spanish: Keys and Tools” which take place in the Summer Courses of the International Universidad Menendez Pelayo (UIMP) which are organized in collaboration with the Ramón Areces Foundation and Conversation. Ursuaga and Melas, who have recently written two best-selling books on science publishing, lead a conversation that later transitions into a meeting with the media where they analyze science publishing and the progress of the matter in Spain.
Thus, the paleoanthropologist showed that “science and publication go hand in hand”, although he described that “it is true that science is more interesting when the protagonist is known, he is from your community”. In this sense, he explained, it is something that is also appreciated in bookstores where articles and non-fiction titles gain prestige, as well as the space devoted to science in the media. “We’re changing as a society, but we’re back from a distance, and we’re getting closer than other societies,” he said. However, Arsuaga explained that “we must not forget that half of Spaniards choose the scientific baccalaureate, in Spain there is a scientific culture, and another thing is communication. This fact has been forgotten.”
communication and science
Regarding this issue, the issue of communication, focusing on future challenges, Juan José Melas emphasized that “there is a lot of interest, almost all newspapers have a fixed section, there are many radio spaces, and I see that there is a lot of interest in scientific discoveries. Anyone with an education Medium knows that without this part it is distorted.” An idea that was further developed by making sure that “many people of my generation realized that you couldn’t be a good humanist if you didn’t know anything about science, or vice versa.” The writer emphasized: “I confirm that many scientific texts are subject to literary consideration.
Juan Luis Ursuaga also approached the communication part noting that “we are surrounded by science” and even pointed out the mathematical pages in which “there is a lot of anatomy”. “There is scientific information everywhere, medicine, computing, meteorology, climate change, the environment, everything is science and science permeates everything.”
the chapter
The course led by Elena Sanz, Editor-in-Chief of The Conversation, and Lorena Sanchez, Science Editor of The Conversation, will continue these days with different proposals such as a roundtable on “crazy stuff for the brain” or a presentation on “Counting black holes with traditional narrative techniques”.
