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For the magazine, see Popular Science (magazine). For the 1935-1949 film series see Popular Science (film. Popular Science is an American monthly Magazine founded in 1872 For the 1935-1949 short film series, see Popular Science (film). Popular Science (1935-1949 was a series of Short films, produced by Jerry Fairbanks and released by Paramount Pictures.

Popular science, sometimes called literature of science, is interpretation of science intended for a general audience. Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning " Knowledge " or "knowing" is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding Public is of or pertaining to the people relating to or affecting a nation state or community opposed to private; as the public treasury a road or lake While science journalism focuses on recent scientific developments, popular science is broad-ranging, often written by journalists and is presented in many formats, which can include books, television documentaries, magazine articles and web pages. Science journalism is a relatively new branch of Journalism, which uses the art of Reporting to convey information about Science topics to a public forum

Contents

Role

Popular science is a bridge between scientific literature as a professional medium of scientific research, and the realms of popular political and cultural discourse. Scientific literature comprises scientific Publications that report original empirical and theoretical work in the natural and Social sciences It generally attempts to wield the authority of science, sometimes even on social and political issues, but in a manner different from professional science. Many science-related controversies are discussed in popular science books and publications, such as the long-running debates over biological determinism and the biological components of intelligence, stirred by popular books such as The Mismeasure of Man and The Bell Curve. Biological determinism, also called genetic determinism is the Hypothesis that biological factors such as an organism's individual genes (as opposed to social or environmental The Mismeasure of Man is a controversial 1981 book written by the Harvard paleontologist Stephen Jay Gould (1941-2002 See Normal distribution for the "bell curve" in Statistics and see Bell curve grading for the "bell curve" in grading [1]

The purpose of scientific literature is to inform and persuade peers as to the validity of observations and conclusions and the forensic efficacy of methods. Popular science attempts to inform and convince scientific outsiders (sometimes along with scientists in other fields) of the significance of data and conclusions and to celebrate the results through epideictic rhetoric. Epideictic or praise and blame Rhetoric is one of the three branches or "species" (eidē of rhetoric as outlined in Aristotle 's Rhetoric Statements in scientific literature are often qualified and tentative, emphasizing that new observations and results are consistent with and similar to established knowledge wherein qualified scientists are assumed to recognize the relevance. By contrast, popular science emphasizes uniqueness and generality, taking a tone of factual authority absent from the scientific literature. Comparisons between original scientific reports and derivative science journalism and popular science typically reveal at least some level of distortion and oversimplification which can often be quite dramatic, even with politically neutral scientific topics. [2]

Popular science literature is often written by non-scientists who may have a limited understanding of the subject they are interpreting and it can be difficult for non-experts to identify misleading popular science, which may also blur the boundaries between formal science and pseudoscience. Pseudoscience is defined as a body of knowledge methodology belief or practice that is claimed to be Scientific or made to appear scientific but does not adhere to the

Common threads

Some common traits of popular science productions include:

Notable popularizers of science

Some sources of popular science

Notes and references

  1. ^ Murdo William McRae, "Introduction: Science in Culture" in The Literature of Science, pp 1-3, 10-11
  2. ^ Jeanne Fahnestock, "Accommodating Science: The Rhetorical Life of Scientific Facts" in The Literature of Science, pp 17-36

See also

The term science by press conference is a phrase referring to scientists who put an unusual focus on publicizing results of research in the media. Science outreach, also called Education and Public Outreach (EPO or E/PO or simply Public outreach, is an umbrella term for a variety of activities by research institutes

Dictionary

popular science

-noun

  1. An interpretation of science intended for a general audience, rather than for other scientists or students
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