Communicating about science with the general public
7 May 2003
Ronald Plasterk, Netherlands Institute for Developmental Biology Utrecht, The Netherlands
The science of biology has become part of the public common wisdom, and discussions about biology are headline news today. Genetically modified crops, stem cell research, cloned animals, human cloning, these are hotly debated issues in society at large. Obviously, we as biologists have a special role to play: we are the source of technical information, but we also have positions and opinions to defend. But precisely what should our role be? The classic model, in which the role of the scientist is to enlighten the public and thereby make them understand the truth as we see it, may no longer apply.