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SUMMARY:A brief history of "PUS". Or\, how I learned to stop worrying and 
 love the Public Understanding of Science - Dr Alice Bell - Imperial Colleg
 e
DTSTART:20110830T180000Z
DTEND:20110830T210000Z
UID:TALK31780@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Andrew N Holding
DESCRIPTION:The last two and a half decades has seen much hang-wringing ov
 er something called the 'Public Understanding of Science' (PUS). Simply pu
 t\, the PUS movement of the 1980s worried that the public had stopped list
 ening to science (if they ever did) and that this was dangerous\, not only
  to the status of the scientific community\, but to public health\, even d
 emocracy. If only the public knew more and listened more attentively\, the
  world would be a better place. This approach was speedily criticised\, ho
 wever\, as somewhat of an unhelpful red herring. A newer approach emerged\
 , known usually as 'Public Engagement with Science and Technology' (PEST) 
 which stressed discussion and more respectful mutual learning between scie
 nce and society (although many people still worry about PUS).\n\nThis talk
  will attempt to weave through the various bits of rhetoric\, buzzwords an
 d acronyms of PUS (aside from when they are funny\, like the Public Awaren
 ess of New TechnologieS) to reflect on history of ideas\, projects and ins
 titutions involved in UK science communication. The talk won't offer a def
 initive answer to whether we should worry about the Public Understanding o
 f Science\, or how to solve any problems you think exist. That is up to yo
 u. However\, it does hope to arm you with a bit more more information and 
 nuanced thought than simple frustration at the apparent ignorance of the w
 orld.\n\nDr Alice Bell is Senior Teaching Fellow in Science Communication 
 at Imperial College and a freelance science writer. She blogs at http://al
 icerosebell.wordpress.com 
LOCATION:The Maypole
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