Question: How will your science art event help change the world for the better?

Stephanie Moon answered on 23 Apr 2016:

Hi Ava,
Thank you for asking! I want to host a symposium in the town I live in that will help the public (and students of all ages) to learn about science by bringing scientists and artists together to communicate science. I hope that this event will change the world for the better in three ways. First, scientists and artists will have a place to directly talk to non-scientists and each other. This gives scientists and artists a chance to learn how to communicate the importance of their work in an informal way, making them better able to teach others. Second, non-scientists and students will be able to learn about things like the CRISPR/Cas9 system or why vaccines are good by directly interacting with scientists, and artistic ways of expressing these concepts (like through performing a play or painting a picture that diagrams a virus replication cycle) will help with this process. This would be an educational event. Third, it’s important for students especially to see that scientists use art in their work all the time- we have to write well, be creative, have good presentation skills (like you might learn in drama class), and use graphics to convey information. We also make beautiful pictures by taking photographs of living things (in my case by using the microscope), and it’s important to share these things with a wider audience.