Plant biology popularisation, a challenging task: Arabidopsis versus the James Webb images

Abstract

1 página - Conferencia invitada presentada en Iberian Plant Biology 2023. XVIII Portuguese-Spanish Congress on Plant Biology and the XXV Meeting of the Spanish Society of Plant Biology. 9-12 Julio 2023, Braga, Portugal.Doing popular science in plant biology is not an easy task, it competes with other scientific disciplines with an enormous appeal. You show your little Arabidopsis plant and you have an astronomer next to you with pictures from the James Webb telescopes. It is a challenge that has to be tackled with imagination and knowing the very diverse formats in popularisation, the traditional and the most innovative ones: films, TV or radio programmes, talks, workshops, books, printed or digital articles, scientific monologues such as the TED talks (1) or those of the Famelab competition, small musicals, tastings of vegetable products, podcasts, blogs (2), social networks. There are also large dissemination events at local (3) or European level, such as the European Researchers' Night, the Fascination of Plants Day (4), or different International Days. Organizing events in unusual places such as bars or sport places, encourages attendance. It is also very effective to seek interdisciplinarity, even with areas that are far away from each other as science and music or visual arts. It is also necessary to reach groups traditionally forgotten by popularisation: people with functional diversity, the elderly, people at risk of social exclusion and traditionally marginalised groups, without forgetting the general public and schools at all levels to attract vocations. Collaboration with local authorities is also important. In Granada we have the “Mesa de la Ciencia” coordinated by the City Council and with the participation of academic, cultural and business entities. One of its tasks is to disseminate science and knowledge in the city. This helps to integrate science popularisation in the cultural life of Granada. From my own experience this talk will focus on different formats and venues to put the plants on centre stage and combat plant blindness. It is essential to stop seeing plants only as immobile, mute, blind living beings. If I disseminate my research in plants stress, I speak first about plant sensing of their environment and communication with other plants or between its different organs. It also attracts a lot of attention to show positive examples of stress in plants and crops, such as in wines or ornamental plants. It also works to recall historical examples of the impact of plant stress, such as the Irish famine or the Tulipomania in the Netherlands. Linking scientific facts with everyday experiences or with historical events, is an effective way to connect with the public