Quite a mouthful, a title like “Non-additive effects of air and water warming on an intertidal predator–prey interaction”. It conveys important information but is probably opaque to many readers. How do I communicate this research to the public? How do I appeal to the next generation of scientists and teachers and voters and leaders? The youth… the Millennials?
You have to speak their language.
Ok, what do I know about Millennials, generalizing wildly based on false stereotypes?
- Millennials only think about themselves.
- Millennials speak like they’ve never read a decent book in their lives.
- Millennials can only comprehend text if it’s paired with an image.
You have to play by their rules.
Fine. For the sake of science communication, for the sake of advancing society’s understanding of global change (but really for the sake of some fun), I’ll put the Millennials in the shoes of an intertidal snail. Maybe that’ll work.
For real though. I woke up ready to slay, except I was hungry AF. I just wanted to eat some barnacles but I was seriously too hot to move. Like actually. The struggle is real.
The air was so hot. I can’t even. Like it was literally fire. But not ‘fire’ like ‘lit’, but ‘fire’ like ‘really hot’, you know? “Let’s go out ‘cause it’s uncomfortably hot out” – said no one ever.
But then I thought, hold up though… what if I hot tub first? And I got in the warm water and that sh*t was on fleek. It made me feel so much better about the hot air and I was like, “YAAAAS give me those barnacles”. It made me want to eat again.
And the barnacles were saying to each other, “dudes we gotta bounce” but I was like, “hunty, you sessile” and I ate them where they were. Like, sorry not sorry. I was totally #Adulting #LivingMyBestLife, you know?
I hope you found that blurb helpful. As a Millennial myself, I found that it clarified everything tremendously; if you disagree, then you’re just salty and you can’t sit with us. Bye Felicia.- Will King
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1 King, W., and Sebens, K.P. (2018). Non-additive effects of air and water warming on an intertidal predator–prey interaction. Marine Biology 165, 64.
