#scicomm

The second part of Mukherjee’s compelling biography of cancer details the early stages of a war against cancer. The section begins by introducing a new protagonist in our story, Mary Lasker, the “fairy godmother” of cancer research. With friends in high places and an insatiable motivation to pour more money into battling diseases, she was the perfect teammate for Sydney Farber, who was looking to expand his own cancer research efforts.

In January, we hosted our very first science art contest! We had three categories contestants could choose from based on their location: Davis/Sacramento, California, or out-of-state (honorable mention only). We received incredible submissions to all categories, and are excited to announce the winners!

Jayce Taylor won our local Davis/Sacramento category with her embroidery piece of a forgotten petri dish (we’ve all been there!).

Science communication careers are varied and can be challenging to define. The UC Davis Graduate Student Association (GSA) in association with Science Says hosted a science communication career panel to increase awareness and offer opportunities to connect with professionals in a variety of fields.

We featured Drs. Grayson Doucette, Brittany Anderton and Alison Van Eenennaam representing scicomm careers in policy, digital media and academia, respectively.

What makes cheese, cheese? Or milk, milk? How does naming food products create such controversy that it inspires lawsuits?

Social media can be a powerful tool for good, and for bad, especially in science. It offers the opportunity to connect with those in and outside your field across the world, and lets scientists share visually appealing aspects of their work like photography from fieldwork or microscopy images.

Please VOTE for your favorite #sciart and sign up for our scicomm career panel! Read on to find out more, and please share widely with your networks.

The average person interacts with science through news outlets, yet science is constantly evolving with every new paper’s results. Often, results are sensationalized to grab the attention of readers instead of honestly reporting the material. So how do we, as scientists, report science responsibly and effectively? In her “Science Reporting for the Public” workshop, Lindsey Mooney describes some of the obstacles and best practices for reporting science.

Taking a shot at better chances of survival, songbirds encounter stress. Long-distance migration is one of these stressful survival mechanisms. When birds are stressed, their bodies begin to produce hormones (glucocorticoids) which are meant to help the birds cope with stressors. But they become problematic when produced for too long.

It seems like there is a podcast for everything from horror and comedy to economics and science (check out our interview with the host of

As scientists, we constantly engage in science communication, but have you taken a moment to think about what that means and how you could improve your communication? Science Says hosted a SciComm 101 presentation in lieu of our annual kick-off barbecue (thanks, COVID-19) to explore some science communication background, basics, and careers.