Is it suitable for scientists to do science popularization? How can cutting-edge achievements be popularized to the public? They talked about popular science research, academicians, and achievements at the scientific conference

"Excellent! Today we are talking about science popularization at the Science Conference!" At 2:00 p.m. on July 5, Wang Pinxian, an academician of the CAS Member and a professor of the School of Ocean and Earth Sciences of Tongji University, announced as the host that the round table meeting of "Scientific Research and Science Popularization: Implications for Earth System Science" officially began.

This science popularization roundtable is one of the important science popularization activities of the 7th Earth System Science Conference, which opened on the same day. It is reported that the Earth System Science Conference, as one of the largest and most standardized comprehensive academic seminars in China's earth science community, brings together the top earth science workers in the country to discuss the latest research progress. In addition to the classic science popularization theme of "The Origin of Chinese Mountains and Waters", this conference has created a series of science popularization activities for the first time. In the "New Path of Science Popularization" joint exhibition between museums and enterprises, multiple units have showcased theme exhibitions such as "Deep Sea Gardens", "Evolving Life and Evolving Earth", and "Struggler" deep-sea submersible in the auditorium, as well as emerging technological achievements such as virtual reality interaction, digital image processing, and deep-sea sound visualization.

Science popularization is a responsibility of scientists

"Does science popularization really help scientific research?" "Who is suitable for science popularization?" "What are the differences between science popularization conducted by scientific researchers at different career stages?" "How do front-line scientific researchers balance the time between scientific research and science popularization?"... Before the round table, Zhou Zhonghe, an academician of the CAS Member, put forward a discussion topic. He said that science popularization is related to the improvement of national scientific literacy, and scientific researchers are the first players in science popularization. It is imperative to do science popularization. At present, researchers face the dilemma of unwillingness, disdain, dare not, and lack of proficiency in conducting science popularization. Organizing seminars on scientific research and popularization is not simply encouraging everyone to focus on science popularization, nor is it about reasoning big principles. Instead, it is necessary to rationally discuss the relationship between conducting science popularization and conducting scientific research from the perspective of researchers.

"Popular science undertakes the task of spreading scientific and cultural knowledge, scientific spirit and scientists' stories, and it is a responsibility of scientists to do it." Zhou Zhekun, a researcher at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, told the story of his own scientific research and popular science in combination with his experience in creating the popular science blog "The Last Palm Tree in Northern Tibet". He believes that popular science has played a good role in promoting scientific research and the dissemination of scientific achievements, but its foundation is still scientific research. Only with good scientific research can popular science be done well.

"Science popularization is not simply about popularizing science. It includes three elements: science, education, and communication, which are at the intersection of the three. Therefore, conducting science popularization should be layered and graded." Professor Liu Qingsong from Southern University of Science and Technology believes that science popularization is an organized activity, a systematic understanding, and should be listed as a culture rather than a profession. Only in this way can we achieve sincerity and transform science into a way of thinking. "People should have scientific literacy and distinguish truth from falsehood, which is the biggest role of science popularization." Li Xianhua, an academician of the CAS Member, said that science popularization should pay attention to the theme and scene. Only by starting from the content that the public is interested in can we get twice the result with half the effort, and be good at using emerging media can achieve better communication results.

"There are different choices for science popularization at different career stages, and there is no fixed standard answer." Bian Yulin, the lifelong honorary chairman of the Shanghai Science Popularization Writers Association and a famous astronomer and science popularization writer, suggests that while new scientific researchers accumulate academic knowledge, they can also take a step forward in science popularization. There is no need to be limited to the theme, and they can start from social needs. Mature researchers need to have more rational thinking, humanities, and strategies when doing science popularization. Top researchers need to do "meta science popularization", provide a clear explanation of the forefront of their discipline, systematically sort out the knowledge structure, and make a rational outlook for future development.

What kind of scientific researchers are suitable for science popularization

What kind of researchers are suitable for science popularization? Wang Shiping, Chief Editor of Shanghai Science and Technology Education Press, believes that any scientific researcher with a willingness to popularize science can do it. Scientific researchers with outstanding expression abilities are more suitable for doing science popularization. Academicians, authoritative scientists, and scientists participating in major projects have more conditions and responsibilities, and should do science popularization more.

How to carry out high-quality and high-level science popularization work? Wang Xiaoming, Vice Chairman of the China Association of Natural Science Museums, believes that high-level science popularization must have the participation of first-class scientists. To do science popularization, cultural elements should be added to science, making it warm and accessible. The fundamental goal of popular science is to popularize it and be adept at utilizing new methods and concepts that are easily accepted by the public to carry out new science popularization.

"There are significant differences in science popularization levels and resources among different regions, and I hope to lean more towards children in the western region." "Science popularization programs like" Faraway Home "have led me on the path of science, hoping to have more excellent science popularization programs in the future." "I hope to popularize cutting-edge and frontline scientific research content to the public."... The on-site audience was also deeply inspired and joined the discussion, discussing their prospects for future science popularization.

"Science popularization has become a new trend in world science," said Academician Wang Pinxian in his concluding remarks. "Earth systems science is significantly interdisciplinary, and scientists themselves need interdisciplinary communication, which has a natural demand for science popularization."; At the same time, Earth system science is highly interesting and easier to adapt to the needs of society for science. He called for building a highland for Chinese language popularization, promoting various forms of teacher seminars and training courses, and putting Earth System Science on the agenda of education and teaching research.