Strategies for Explaining Complex Science Simply

Last week, someone who’s been working in climate communications for over a year quietly admitted they still didn’t totally understand what “lowering emissions” meant. Not the general vibe of it, but the actual why and how. I loved their honesty. It reminded me how often specialists in the space continue to throw around terms that even insiders don’t fully grasp. If we want the public, policymakers, and private sector to act, we have to stop communicating like we’re at a scientific conference. Here are 5 tools I use all the time to make complex climate and science ideas land: ✔️ The “Grandma Test” Can you explain the concept to your grandma without losing meaning? This test forces clarity without condescension—and it’s one of the fastest ways to reveal jargon you didn’t even know you were using. ✔️ Metaphor as a Bridge Metaphors are powerful shortcuts for understanding. For example, instead of saying “emissions reductions,” try: “Imagine your home has a slow gas leak. Cutting emissions is like finding and sealing that leak—before it gets worse.” It may take longer to say (a communications faux pas) but we process metaphors faster than data. ✔️ Chunk the Concept Break big ideas into bite-sized parts: What is it? Why does it matter? What can be done? Who’s doing it well? This format creates digestible flow and gives your audience mental “hooks” to follow you. ✔️ Visual Storytelling Not every concept needs a paragraph. Sometimes it just needs a sketch, a diagram, or a comparison chart. ✔️ Mirror the Audience Before I write or say anything, I ask: “What does this audience care about most?” Meeting people in their worldview is half the battle. I’ll be sharing more of the frameworks and strategies I use in future posts—but if your team is trying to translate climate science or sustainability language into something people actually understand and act on, C3 can help. Let’s make it make sense. 👉 Feel free to reach out or follow along for more tools from the Climate Communications Collective playbook.

We learn by processing new information against what we already know. But when something is entirely unfamiliar, with zero overlap? Our brains flag it as “abstract.” This is where stories come in. Stories anchor the unfamiliar in something we already understand. Humans have always been drawn to stories—they tap into our emotions, paint vivid pictures in our minds, and spark the imagination. And yet, in scientific communication, storytelling is considered too "unscientific"—not serious enough, not “technical” enough. We’ve been conditioned to believe that for science to be science, it must sound complicated. Formal. Dry. But that’s a myth. 📣 Effective storytelling with data starts with purpose and with understanding of certain key principles: 🔑 Core Principles 1️⃣ Who is your audience? The way you frame a story for a journal is very different from how you’d tell it on social media. 2️⃣ Start with your SOCO Always define your Single Overriding Communication Objective (SOCO). You’ll always have too many data points. Don’t try to say everything. Pick one key message—and stick with it. 3️⃣ Begin with the familiar Use the funnel approach: start wide, then narrow down. The audience doesn’t need the technicalities upfront. 4️⃣ Distill. Always distill. Distillation means pulling out only what the audience needs to know right now. Even Jesus said to His disciples: “I have much to say to you, but you cannot bear it now.” The moral? Less is more. Teach in layers. 5️⃣ Teach generalities first. Save the exceptions for later. This is where so much scientific and medical education goes wrong. We try to teach everything all at once—general rules and exceptions. But we must learn to crawl before we walk, and walk before we fly. 🧠 Take nutrition education, for example: In elementary school, you were taught that beans are a protein source and potatoes are carbs. ❓ Could they have told you beans contain 22% protein and 62% carbs? Of course. But that level of detail was unnecessary for a beginner (plus two things can be both true: beans could be a protein source and still be predominantly carbs). 6️⃣ Keep it short, simple, and coherent People are busy. Attention spans are short. Stay focused. Be concise. Make sure there’s a clear thread from beginning to end. 7️⃣ Don’t take yourself too seriously 😄 If your storytelling is too stiff, it loses its spark. Good stories meander a little—and that’s okay. 8️⃣ Make the analogy and its meaning memorable It’s not enough for people to remember the story—they must remember the lesson behind it. If they recall the metaphor but miss the message, you’ve missed the mark. A good scientific story should be: Simple ✅ Relatable ✅ Educational ✅ And ideally... a little fun 😄 In short: people can laugh, but they should also learn. Because when done right, storytelling with data isn’t fluff. Any damn fool can make something complicated 🤣 —it takes real skill to simplify without dumbing it down.

The Art of Simplifying Complex Science Imagine you are conducting a clinical trial or talking with patients about their disease and possible options for treatment. But you must explain things clearly, turning complex scientific terms into easy-to-understand language. It looks difficult to do it, doesn’t it? By using plain language, patients, caregivers, and non-specialists can understand complex medical information. By understanding clearly their diagnosis and therapy, patients are more likely to adhere to the treatment and increase their engagement in the new clinical study. Here are some practical tips for creating clear and effective plain-language summaries: 1️⃣      Avoid Jargon: Replace technical terms with everyday language. For example, instead of "adverse events," say "side effects." 2️⃣     Use Visuals: Charts, infographics, icons, step-by-step diagrams, before-and-after visuals, or anything else that illustrates the new study can simplify data and make into easier to understand at a glance. 3️⃣      Prefer active voice, and verbs in the simple present tense: Tell the reader the key messages and keep it concise. Highlight the “what,” “why,” and “how” without overloading the reader with details. 4️⃣      Keep sentences and paragraphs short. Limit sentences to one idea and paragraphs to one topic. 5️⃣      Test for Readability: Use tools like readability checkers to ensure your summary is easy to understand (usually 8th grade). 6️⃣      Get Feedback: Share your writing samples with a non-expert and see if they can explain the key points back to you. By simplifying science, we connect researchers, physicians, and all essential professionals to a clinical study with the public, building trust and clarity. How do you approach simplifying complex information? Share it below! #medicalwriting #medcomms #plainlanguage

When you're communicating, shoot for simple. Not simplistic. Albert Einstein famously said "if you can't explain something simply, you don't it well enough." Simple is clear, not clever. It's elegant. There are tons of ways to practice this. But this one is I'm going to share is my favorite. You've heard of it before, I'm sure: the Feynman technique. Here's how you do it. 1. Grab a piece of paper and write down a topic at the top. 2. Write whatever you know about the topic. 3. If you have a gap in your knowledge, that's okay. 4. Leave a space or put a question mark as a placeholder. 5. Underline anything you're shaky on. Come back to polish it later. But here's where your communication gets clear: Eliminate jargon. Replace jargon with an explanation of that concept in layman's terms. Spell out acronyms and abbreviations. For example, SDLC is the software development lifecycle. Simplify your sentences. Use active voice. Eliminate adverbs, adjectives, and gerunds. Remove compound sentences (using and, or, or but). For example, I coordinated a team of 10 people to complete a project. Keep lists to three items or less. For example, the tree main ingredients in bread are flour, yeast, and water. One subject and one verb per sentence. For example, Sam bought groceries. Now what you're going to say is easier to follow and easier to understand. Apply this to your LinkedIn profile, resume, and interview responses. You'll get better responses. -- 👋 Hi, I'm Jonathan. I help people in tech turn interviews into job offers. #techjobs #jobseekers #newgrads #students #interviewpreparation

Every year around now, I start to see grad students on social media bemoan that they’re going home for the holidays to a family that doesn’t understand their research, or what they do in general, and it breaks my heart. We do what we do (and not another job with better hours that pays more) because we think it’s important or because we love it, and to have loved ones not understand why we made that choice can be painful. Sometimes there are complex and personal family dynamics in play here that are none of my business and I won’t pretend to understand them. But sometimes this is because grad students aren’t taught how to explain their work (and why it matters) to people who aren’t scientists. I was taught in grad school that scientists should have 3 versions of talks about their work ready: a 30 second “elevator pitch,” a 12 minute conference length talk, and a 40 minute seminar length talk. I think we should also have a short version aimed at non-scientists. I’ve trained over 1,000 early career scientists on 5 continents how to explain their work to the public, and I’d like to share with you some brief tips (noting that I offer full workshops on this and am available for hire for Spring 2025 trainings). 1) Jargon is bad. Most complex scientific concepts can be explained (close enough anyway) via clever analogy or using vocabulary that everyone knows. And this is not “dumbing it down,” your audience isn’t dumb, they’re just not spending years learning a narrow topic. “Never underestimate your audience’s intelligence, always underestimate their vocabulary” is a rule I teach in my workshops. And part of this is tone. Don’t act like your audience (family or not) is stupid for not knowing 15-syllable science words. I’ve had fishers in my research tell me that they’ve been fishing for 30 years and I’m the first scientist they’ve ever met who doesn’t make them feel stupid, or doesn’t act like I think they’re stupid. This is a mix of vocabulary choice, analogy, and tone. 2So what? Scientists often hate to be asked “who cares, so what, why are you working on that obscure question and not focusing on curing cancer” or whatever. But it’s a fair question and there’s value in crafting an answer. One possible answer: all sorts of world-changing scientific discoveries were made while studying something else that may have seemed not super relevant at the time. See the Golden Goose Award website for examples. One possible answer: “grad school is about being trained how to do science so I can later study other things.” One possible answer: science is a team sport with lots of people working on big problems from lots of different angles, and we only later put everything together. I hope this is useful to someone. And I hope everyone has a good break. As always, I am happy to answer any serious questions asked in good faith. And please let me know if you want #SciComm public science engagement training at your institution!