National Academy of Sciences

Scientific questions are increasingly prevalent in social issues, from childhood vaccination to food safety, nanotechnology, and climate change. With the proliferation of online information, controversies about the science underlying many public decisions have multiplied. To explore the "science of science communications," The National Academy of Sciences is convening a multidisciplinary committee of experts to examine the conditions that give rise to controversy about science, to synthesize the available evidence on what is known about effective science communications across disciplines, and to help set the agenda for future research on effective science communications.