I could go on and on about any of the TWiX titles, but I wanted to focus on this one, it isn’t the first one I encountered, but the one that had information I struggled the most to find elsewhere easily accessible. I love evolutionary biology, I find it endlessly fascinating, but it’s hard to find decent content on. I’m an atheist, but when I want content on evolutionary biology, I want it to focus on the biology and not just how Creationists are wrong.
This podcast not only has helped me find the information I’ve been curious about, but it has helped further bolster my curiosity on the topic. It makes me happy to be able to easily access this information. Sure some things may go over my head in the TWiX series, not every communicator is entirely effective at translating for a general audience, but the beauty of the podcast is I can do a quick search on the internet if I’m not working and if I am working I can give myself a reminder to check episode notes later and go from there. I think the podcasts benefits from responding to emails and questions from the audience.
Frankly I am astounded by the amount of work and effort that goes into creating these productions. I admire the commitment by Vincent and his co-hosts and guests to interact beyond just putting the information out into the world. I also admire deeply their willingness to be corrected and admit when they are wrong which is unfortunately super refreshing with today’s internet climate. I also admire Vincent’s commitment to talking about issues he is concerned with despite pushback from audience that thinks science should be devoid of politics which really isn’t possible. I mean politics is everywhere, you can never escape it, but then again, why talk about something if you have nothing to say.
In an increasingly polarized world I think it’s really important that people are willing to provide insight and expertise, but also lead by example and admit when they are wrong. Vincent is a shining example of a grounded and intelligent communicator who wants to make science more accessible to more people. For the record I know you can’t please everyone and many have said they dislike it, but I really appreciate the banter and conversation between the scientists. I think it’s important for humanizing scientists to people that mistrust science as well. I believe you’d be doing a disservice to this podcast and its appeal to general audiences to be entirely clinical and only talking about the facts on the paper being discussed.
I highly value science communication as someone that loves science. I can’t really pursue higher education in science right now for several reasons, but I still like being informed and learning. I hope someday I can be a communicator as well even if I don’t obtain a masters or PhD. Maybe Vincent isn’t an example of that, but he is still someone that inspires me as a prolific science communicator with a mission of making science more accessible for more people.
This series of podcasts has helped me through so much. Maybe that wasn’t the intention, but it gave me a place I could go when feeling distressed where I could calm down and learn. Being able to listen to these podcasts has made it easier to exist and work in a society that doesn’t respect my needs. I want to earnestly thank all of the people working on producing and distributing this podcast for that.
