Julian Taub studied interdisciplinary Science and Writing and is now active as Science Writer, Journalist, and a Nanotechnology Blogger.

How did you get to Science?

Since he was young, he has always been interested in science. ` I love to learn the underlying mechanics behind everything I come across, and use that knowledge to create, whether the end result is a painting, article, or electrical circuit´, he states. Originally he went to college to study physics; he wanted to build robots for a living. `In the middle I left my major and started writing—mostly poetry and nonfiction, with a short story here and there. Eventually, I decided that I wanted to combine both my loves´, Julian explains. He graduated with a focus in both science and creative writing and started his journey as a science writer.

Where are you now and why?

`I’m still working towards the place that I want to be´, Julian starts. He has been doing freelance science writing for about two years, mostly for startup websites, but it has only been this year that he has really become a science journalist. `I tend to focus on nanotechnology´, he says and adds: ` I’m excited by the prospect of scientists coming from wildly different backgrounds and collaborating to create new, amazing materials on such a small scale´. He thinks it makes for great science stories. `Writing about it has been a tough uphill climb, but I wouldn’t exchange the experience for anything. I enjoy the challenge of exploring a new scientific field every single day´, he describes his work.

Which is your biggest scientific achievement?

Earlier this year, during the flared-up tension between the US and Iran, he obtained an interview with one of the top nanoscientists in Teheran, Dr. Abdolreza Simchi. `He is not only known in Iran´, Taub explains, `but has awards from the US, England, and Germany (his career began at Fraunhofer)´. He asked him questions about his work, sanctions, and what nanotechnology is giving back to Iranian society. By this interview Julian was able to show America and Europe a side of Iran that one doesn’t see in the news.

What is THE biggest scientific achievement?

`Since I started writing about an interdisciplinary field like nanotech, I’ve stopped looking at achievements or researchers as favorites´, Julian notes.` I see science more as a constant experiment. To me, it’s the ultimate story of human curiosity. Each perspective and breakthrough adds something more to our knowledge and how we adapt to the world around us. All of it is amazing to me—the complexity, the liveliness of scientific endeavors´.

Which scientific question would you like to be answered?

`That’s a good question. There are too many unknowns in the universe to just pick one´, Taub reflects. `However, the questions that really peak my interest are how upcoming science and tech advances will shape human interaction. Also, I would be interested to know, if we ever find life on other planets, what these alien creatures look like and how they live their lives´.

Naming discoveries

`I think if I would name anything, it would be the way science is now collaborating across cultures and disciplines to create amazing solutions to daily world problems while progressing future technology´, Julian explains. If he would name it, it would be called “Convergence,” because of the way different niche attitudes start far apart and then intersect at a certain point, for a certain event or purpose.

What should be different in Science?

`I don’t know if I can really talk about science as a whole, since it can be so vast and amorphous. Not to mention constantly evolving and self-correcting´, Julian states. To him, the scientists themselves are just as diverse. He outlines that `contrary to the stereotype of the antisocial Tesla-like scientist, the ones whom I’ve met are extremely down to earth and have a range of interesting personalities´.
Furthermore he adds: ` I guess the thing that I wish were different is if scientists had more celebrity status. Instead of People magazine running an article called `Celebrities: They’re Just Like Us´, it should be `Scientists, They’re Just Like Us!´ Then maybe there would be less budget cuts´.

How does (to you) the Science of the future look like?

`I think it looks very bright´, Julian starts, `Social media has revolutionized how scientists share data and collaborate. I see more and more projects spanning continents and cultures´. To him this is also giving the science community more of a nuanced voice. `When I browse scientists’ comments on Twitter, I always see remarks that are right on the cultural pulse´, he adds.

What was/is the biggest mistake/deficit in Science?

To Julian, even though there are many problems that arise in science, he does not think it was ever meant to be a perfect system. However, to him, the biggest deficit is how people with no science background tend to view science.` A lot of people think that science and math are unattainable knowledge and that the people who succeed in it are a special breed of human. This stereotype affects everyone negatively: the nation, the public, and the institutions. Scientists are running more and more programs to engage the public and get people excited about science, but this problem won’t go away overnight´, he sums up.

You can also participate in A Scientist a day, find more information in english here.

Du kannst auch bei A Scientist a day teilnehmen, mehr Information dazu gibt es hier.

Eingehende Suchbegriffe:

• er-hoxb8 (flieger)
• popular writing on nanotechnology
• writing about nanotechnology

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Brian Trench is a researcher, educator and practitioner in science communication. He is also a visiting lecturer, National Correspondent on the EU-funded project MASIS, member of several projects, committees and very active in science communication and teaching.

Brian Trench took a degree in languages, worked for 20 years as a journalist and became a university lecturer in journalism 20 years ago. `As a journalist and as a lecturer I came to specialize in science and technology matters´, says Trench and adds, `my main focus now is on the development of the science of science communication´.

According to Brian, he was fortunate to have had opportunities to try different things.
`I would be worried if a lifetime’s trajectory was set out in advance. I am
happy to be where I am´, he states.

`I have tried to contribute to a better definition of the concepts we
work with in science communication´, he explains. He therefore developed an analytical framework of models of science communication which you can read about here
<http://doras.dcu.ie/3629/>

Brian has always found it hard to say what his favorite music, book or food was- and he has strong interests in all of these areas. But he would consider the work of the last half-century on treatments for the world’s major diseases to be both the biggest achievements of science and the biggest
questions still to be answered.

In his own field Brian refers to various social theorists, philosophers and social researchers, `but no one person stands out for me´, he adds and goes on, `similarly, when I think of the natural sciences, I think of the achievements in particular domains rather than of outstanding individuals´. He considers science as linked communities of individuals but he does not think that a star system serves science
well.

`I would hope to see preventive and remedial treatments and associated healthcare systems in place to tackle effectively global diseases like malaria and HIV´, Brian says. According to him, this question, like all the most important and interesting ones, has to be answered through co-operation of scientists of many different types and backgrounds.

`I would like to see a formula devised for the immediate detection of bullshit, the kind of talk that we hear so much in political and other public discourses, where the speaker is filling space and claiming attention but not concerned about or maybe not even aware of the truth of what s/he is saying. `I would be happy to have it named simply as BD (bullshit detector)´, says Brian.

Brian Trench states that `Science is slowly learning to be more open and accessible but the institutions, practices and cultures of science need to change more rapidly in this direction´. According to him, scientists need to acknowledge in public the messiness, uncertainties and limits of science.

To Trench,  science may evolve in two contradictory directions, a dominant thrust towards increasingly corporatized science constrained by concerns about protection and exploitation of intellectual property, and a weaker thrust towards more open, socially responsive and social-needs-driven science.

`Science’s greatest deficit may be its blindness to its deficits´, Brian explains. `The
ideology of scientism, that is, a faith that science, as practiced in the natural sciences, can answer all questions, affects very many scientists. The bigger the science, the more it needs insights from humanities and social sciences, to make sense of it´, he adds.

You can also participate in A Scientist a day, find more information in english here.

Du kannst auch bei A Scientist a day teilnehmen, mehr Information dazu gibt es hier.

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1. Science writer, research assistant and blogger (EN)
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3. A Scientist a day- english questionnaire

Mit diesen Fragen sucht `A Scientist a day´ nach Menschen, die bei `A Scientist a day´vorgestellt werden sollen.

Das sind sie nun: die Menschen, welche hinter den Entdeckungen und deren Umsetzung und Vermittlung stehen.

Hier alle bislang publizierten Profile im Überblick: Are you a Scientist? Do you communicate Science?  

With those questions we searched people to be presented with their profile in `A Scientist a day´.

Here they are: those individuals, who were involved in discoveries, who apply and transmit the acchieved knowledge.

All profiles listed – marked (EN) if also available in english:

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