How would you feel?

The beginning of this new decade has brought with it the Corona virus, now known as COVID-19
pandemic. We are reminded of how important it is to be informed with accurate up to date
information. We hope our scientists and members of our Medical services in particular, will remain
abreast of developments in their own specialisation of science. Perfectly naturally, we would be
displeased to discover that our GP was not keeping herself informed about best current practice and
giving us the benefit of that knowledge. Even worse if she was appearing to be ignorant about the
extent of the existing epidemic, and offering completely obsolete advice!

Well, this analogy offers some insight into the state of science communication in 2020.

Why are we so tolerant of Science educators who simply refuse to keep abreast of developments in
their field at all and keep pedalling theories that have been completely overwhelmed by the ongoing
accumulation of data.
Some very popular science communicators, who routinely accept and are well paid to tour the world
offering at their very well attended presentations, science that is now so clearly and completely
unsupported, not by one piece of data, which is all that is required to have a theory proven wrong,
but by hundreds of pieces of data, collected by universities, institutions, including NASA and
privately funded groups! At the very least, the new theories which are so rapidly gaining support
aught to be spoken about, even if briefly, by the pop stars of science like Brian Greene, Lawrence
Krauss, Brian Cox and Neil deGrasse Tyson. One must begin to think that Science presenters are
now like pop stars and going to a science presentation is like going to a pop concert where people
just want to hear the same old songs and don’t particularly want any new songs from their idol.
This is so unlike what I think a science talk by a science communicator aught to be like.
New science is truly exciting! A whole new world of physics awaits. Metaphysics needs to be given
back to the philosophers, as it never really had a home since the branch of science we call physics
was defined. Unlike an old performer whose best song writing days are behind her, some of the
new data being uncovered is completely supportive of a new physics and is absolutely riveting.
Data results that not only continue to challenge the current state but are certainly sufficient to
completely abandon old theories that the data now shows is/are completely erroneous.