Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

Stay tuned for amazing science and scholarly research, presented in language a 5 year old would understand. #ScholarlyComm #scicomm [ To Host, DM @rptrainor ] Berkeley, CA Joined October 2017

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

This is @Steve_Gibney signing off, hopefully it was an interesting day. Thanks for sticking around!

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

That is my ramblings on why storytelling and science are entwined, hopefully you found it interesting. I’ll be here for the rest of the afternoon if you have any discussions or comments!

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

I urge you to tell stories and add to the story that is science. Practice telling stories every chance you get, because that’s what humans are good at, and have been doing for millennia.

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

You can expand this even further to science as a whole. Science is forever changing and growing, and encounters difficulties- but each scientist adds a little bit and changes it as it goes. Science is not just an ever growing mass of knowledge it is a living story.

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

This story telling theme can be seen in all of science. The act of doing science, being a scientist, is like participating in a story- you are struggling against difficulties and unforeseen circumstances, to find some vital piece of treasure, usually the answer to a question.

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

Finally you have the conclusion- you sum up what you did and why it was important- the information you collected is brought back and adds to or changes the normal world. Laid out like this you can see that a paper is just the arc of a story- an adventure.

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

Then you have the results and discussion- finding out some new information by answering a question -you have ventured deep into the depths of something new and gathered some treasure, or important piece of information.

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

Introduction- outline of what is already known- this is the starting point for the heroic journey. The normal world, before anything has changed.

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

But if you’re a scientist and you are still sceptical (as is your right) of the importance of storytelling - just look at the structure of a research paper.

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

Not just that but it can feel like science and the facts should speak for themselves, they shouldn’t have to be sold. But a great story can help get people interested in the facts. You should want your science to be a story and make it as engaging as the tales of old.

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

The problem is telling a story can be hard. As a scientist it can be incredibly difficult convincing others that science is interesting. Sometimes it feels like telling people about your work is like yelling into a bunch of white noise, and the message gets lost.

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

This is the classic story of a hero- fighting against all odds, to survive and return home, after battling evil. This kind of story is one that people connect with, just look at ancient mythology- all incredible stories of heroism.

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

It’s was a dark and stormy night, our hero had journeyed for miles, battled monsters and demons, survived unimaginable trials. With the rain lashing at their face, exhausted, they return home with the knowledge that they overcame every obstacle that had been thrown in their path.

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

Story telling is an essential part of literature- without it you just have characters drifting without a purpose. Not only that, but the idea of telling stories, and using them to pass on information is ingrained in human history.

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

Greetings, the plan for this afternoon is to cover why I think story telling is a natural part of science. So, once again- lets go!

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

Thanks if you’ve stuck with me this far. In about an hour I'll be back to talk about why storytelling is important to science!

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

Hopefully you can see that biosensors are like a tool in a detective’s kit, and they can be used to investigate all kinds of targets. There are already multiple types of sensor out there but as technology grows so does this field.

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

Currently, that is what is being developed by scientists like @Jackg00de at @UniversityLeeds. If successful this could slow down our use of antibiotics. This is just one of the many new uses that biosensors could have.

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

The rise in antibiotic resistance means we need to limit our use of antibiotics, particularly when they are not needed. So if we had a sensor which could tell you if you had a virus (when you don’t need antibiotics) and bacteria (when you might need antibiotics) this could help.

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Explain It Like I’m 5 @explainlikefive

8 years ago

These examples are ones that have already been developed and are used in medicine and industry now. But as technology advances so does our ability to detect even smaller and more specific targets. Because of this we keep finding even more uses for biosensors.