Page 35 - 03-May-2024

M&M
The Misinformation Monger
MR. SCIENCE
Trevor Prentice Director, Science Experience
Weak-reasoning, wannabe galactic millionaires and flat Earthers are one, mildly funny thing — when they aren’t aggressive. But with COVID came anti-vax anti-maskers, and, while Prentice hasn’t seen a significant uptick in visits from people who are just asking questions, he says the pandemic has “put a lot of heat into the particular topic” of science misinformation.
Most people go to the science centre to expand their own minds, not berate people with PhDs about their lives’ work. But the centre sees all kinds, so senior staff train employees to expect and respond to even the most ignorant questions from people who’ve never read — let alone published — peer-reviewed papers, and to do so diplomatically.
“A lot of the staff are students, still at the U of A, studying science in different fields,” Prentice says. “And for people who study science in depth, who really dig into the nitty gritty, best parts of science, it can be hard to connect with someone who’s that far from their understanding.”
Scientists aren’t typically salespeople. So in addition to question prep, Prentice says much of the training looks like standard customer service: “How do you build rapport with a customer? How do you just
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