Five Things That Make Science Easier to Understand
Why Experts Are Often the Worst at Explaining Their Own Work
A researcher once told me that the hardest part of her PhD wasn’t the experiments. It was explaining what she did at dinner with her family.
That gap - between knowing something deeply and being able to say it clearly - is not a personality flaw. It has a name. Psychologists call it the curse of knowledge: once you understand something well, you genuinely forget what it was like not to understand it. You stop seeing the jargon as jargon. The complexity stops looking complex.
Science communication researchers have spent years studying how to close that gap. Here’s what the evidence actually suggests.
1. Lead with the finding, not the method.
Most scientists are trained to present results at the end - after the background, the hypothesis, the methodology. For a general audience, this buries the point. Research from Northeastern University’s science communication program recommends flipping the structure: state the key finding first, explain why it matters, then provide supporting context. Audiences who know why they should care will stay with you through the details.
2. Cut the jargon - then check again.
This sounds obvious, but it’s harder than it looks. Studies in evidence-based science communication find that experts consistently underestimate how much insider language they use. The fix is simple: read your explanation out loud and circle every word a curious, intelligent adult outside your field would need to Google. Rewrite the passage with those words gone. The rewrite is almost always shorter, and often more precise.
3. Tell a story.
A 2014 study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that narratives are easier to comprehend than traditional logical-scientific communication formats, and that audiences find them significantly more engaging.
More recently, a 2025 study in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly found that narrative engagement - feeling drawn into a story - predicted greater knowledge gain, more interest in science, and a stronger sense of identifying with science as something that matters to your life.
A finding, told through a human story, lands differently than a finding presented as a data point.
4. Know who you’re talking to - and what they already care about.
The Social Science Research Council, drawing on expert input from science communicators, emphasizes that effective communication connects new information to the values, interests, and existing knowledge of your specific audience.
A message that works for a room of policy makers will fall flat with a room of parents, and vice versa. The content might be the same. The framing needs to be different.
5. Say the same thing more than once.
Behavioral science research shows that repetition matters - not because people are forgetful, but because understanding deepens with re-encounter. Hearing an idea once rarely produces comprehension. Encountering it in different forms, through different examples, across different moments is how unfamiliar ideas become familiar ones.
None of this requires a communications degree. It requires slowing down, asking who you’re talking to, and being willing to cut the parts that serve your expertise rather than your audience’s understanding.
That’s harder work than most scientists are taught to expect. But it’s worth doing.
At the Creative Science Alliance, science communication is an integral part of we do — from neighborhood walks with foldscopes to zine-making workshops.
If you want to follow our work, subscribe below or visit creativesciencealliance.com.
Sources:
Southwell, B. G. et al. (2019). Evidence-Based Science Communication. Frontiers in Communication
10 Tips for Effective Science Communication. Northeastern University
Seven Tips from Experts on Communicating Your Research. Social Science Research Council
Downs, J. S. (2014). Using narratives and storytelling to communicate science with nonexpert audiences. PNAS
Howell, E. L. et al. (2025). Storytelling in Science Film: Narrative Engagement Relates to Greater Knowledge, Interest, and Identification With Science. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly