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Journalist has own brand of brainy humor
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A group of University of Wisconsin graduate students welcomed scientific author Steve Mirsky to campus Monday to discuss the importance of science, effective communication and accumulating diverse academic backgrounds. Mirsky, writer for Scientific American magazine and creator of the popular "60-Second Science" podcast, is considered one of the "funniest new generation science journalists," said Graduate Women in Science president Brandi Gancarz. Mirsky shared the daily aspects of his job and how he manages to make scientific research understandable to the average person. "I take research that’s fairly unintelligible to most people and put it through the filter of my brain, which, fortunately, is not a top-notch brain," Mirsky said. "That’s a big advantage because if I was really smart, I would read the paper and say, ‘Oh yeah, that makes sense,’ but because I’m not really smart I have to figure out what the paper is trying to say." Mirsky said he takes information from scientific papers and breaks it down to the average person. "You should be able to explain your research to a 14-year-old kid," he added. UW Director for Research Communications Terry Devitt, another guest speaker, said science and media communication are meaningful to not only viewers, but can also serve as avenues for more research. "We serve as a laboratory — our goal is to wonder if people understand and if we’re getting through to people," Devitt said. "To a large degree, it’s tax dollars that keep this institution running, so it is important that we output information to the public." Gancarz, a UW graduate student herself, said the goal for the Mirsky lecture was to expose graduate students to effective communication and encourage them to explore other career options. "Our goal was to … expose people to the importance of communication and effectively communicating your scientific work to both the media as well as the public through various outlets — via e-mail communication, interviews, or podcasting, blogging, things like that," Gancarz said. Gancarz also said having more than one science background is important to be an effective communicator. "We ultimately have to translate what we do on a daily basis to the general public, or perhaps to lay people, and that comes into context when you’re meeting people in a social setting, networking, or writing a grant, for example," Grancarz said. "You need to be able to alter your communication level and use your skills to communicate effectively why your work is important."
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That’s not a picture of Mirsky - who is it?
It is a picture of Devitt… The Herald photographer must have thought that was Mirsky.
Mirsky’s talk was miserably bad, particularly the talk he gave for an engineering audience. It was an embarrassment that he was even asked to come here as a science writer-in-residence. I expected him to be more prepared and to tell us something new. Unfortunately, he traffics in light anecdotes and generalizations. He also showed a pretty bad habit of making fun of those who criticize him, as he told story after story about the nasty letters he gets from those who don’t think he is funny. Well, guess what: I don’t think his burping-on-the-air joke is all that humorous and worthwhile, and I really wanted to hear something worth thinking about. I wish I had an hour of my life back.