No. 113/2021

NATIONAL HEROES OR FIGURES OF HATE The truth, Carrier believes, is that, in the future, the issues to which science can make a contribution will continue moving ever closer to people’s “comfort zone” – such as cli- mate change, social issues or, indeed, pandemics. How do researchers deal with this growing interest; what strategies do they choose for their communications? In the Humboldt Foundation’s network, many relevant ideas and approaches can be found – always depending on people’s research field and respective region of origin. Rafael Radi, for example, has very recent experience of handling communications. A biochemist and Humboldt Research Award Winner, he was the leading brain behind the Honorary Scientific Advisory Group, a multi-disci- plinary body that was established during the pandemic to advise the government in Uruguay. “Of course, there were negative responses, but they were marginal,” Radi reports. But he chose where he spoke very carefully: “We steered well clear of discussions that bred enmity.” Apart from this, his team produced “carefully devised public state- ments” that were precisely substantiated and thus difficult to refute. “When we spoke in public, we referred to these statements. We tried to keep personal opinions out of it,” says Rafael Radi. The public supported the Advisory Group, even in the most critical phases of the pandemic, actually criticising the government for implementing fewer meas- ures than suggested. Medical practitioners in other coun- tries can only dream of that sort of backing from the pub- lic: in some places, virologists have become national heroes during the pandemic, in others, figures of hate. TWEETING PAYS DIVIDENDS Just how different communications behaviour can be, is something Katharina Pistor observes time and again. The German legal scholar is a professor at the distinguished Origin of Species’ in 1859, people were in uproar.”The the- ory of evolution completely overturned religious notions of the development of life. Darwin became a target, and not just of fanatics. “Since then, when dealing with sci- entific outcomes, ideological issues have become ever less important,” says Carrier. Instead, research findings now- adays often inform concrete recommendations for action, from health through to climate research – and this is where they make people feel uncomfortable. So, what has mainly changed are the motives for hostility. And when some sec- tions of the public became aware of the discussions sci- entists were having with each other, the questioning and checking, many went on a rant about the researchers them- selves not knowing what they were doing. “Whereby there is nothing worse than consensus under conditions of uncer- tainty,” says Carrier who is associated with the Humboldt Foundation in his roles as an academic host, reviewer and former participant in the TransCoop Programme. Mutineer Warning ! Covid vaccine supposed to manipulate DNA. Aim: new receptors for fourth- generation psychoactive drugs. Merkel intends vaccine commission to prescribe jabs for kids over five. Maverick Obvs and then brainwashing with pills. Teaching my kid at home from now on. Unvaxxed but savvy . Look after yourself and your kids! Freedom Spirit Measles vax only works for receptors with Ritalin. That’s why it’s now Covid and mRNA tech. Money comes from industry. Hope Drosten and Merkel are getting a good cut at least! Like Comment Share 128 Kommentare 9 THE TONE IS MORE RELAXED IN THE US.” „ FOCUS 14 HUMBOLDT KOSMOS 113/2021