Finding and Telling the Story of ScienceFor perhaps as long as humans have communicated, they have s

Finding and Telling the Story of Science

For perhaps as long as humans have communicated, they have shared knowledge and information in the form of stories, which resonate in our collective attention and memory. Research is a decidedly complicated form of knowledge and information and, seemingly, resistant to storytelling. Data doesn’t necessary make for a good narrative arc.

But in a new paper published in the Journal of Clinical and Translational Science, researchers at UC San Diego School of Medicine make the case that “finding the story” can be as effective in communicating complex research information and ideas as telling a popular and time-tested tale.

Evonne Kaplan-Liss and Val Lantz-Gefroh at the Center for Compassionate Communication, part of the T. Denny Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion, with Lauren Mitchell and Chase Grossno at TCU School of Medicine, argue that finding and keeping the human story central to clinical and translational science can effectively drive research design, dissemination and application to diverse audiences. The paper includes examples of successful efforts.

“By allowing story to be our North Star, we can imagine the new and innovative ways research can be shaped,” they write.  

Pictured above: The ancient Greek author and poet Homer communicating in a painting by Jean-Baptiste August Leloir.

— Scott LaFee