What is the science of science communication for? And why should animal scientists care?

Abstract Text: The source of nearly every science-communication misadventure can be traced to a single mistake: the confusion of the processes that make science valid  for the ones that vouch for the validity of it. The scientific knowledge that individuals rely on in the course of their everyday lives is far too voluminous, far too specialized for any—including a scientist—to comprehend or verify for herself.  So how do people manage to pull it off?  What are social cues they rely to distinguish the currency of scientific knowledge from the myriad counterfeit alternatives to it? What processes generate those cues? What are the cognitive faculties that determine how proficiently individuals are able to recognize and interpret them? These questions not only admit of scientific inquiry; they demand it.  Unless we understand how ordinary members of the public ordinarily do manage to converge on the best available evidence, we will never fully understand why they occasionally do not, and what can be done to combat these noxious sources of ignorance.  I will discuss these basic themes and relate them to the stake that the animal science community has in the advancement of the new science of science communication.

Keywords: science communication