Lacking communication between researchers and the public in science

Based on my own observation, I see an obvious problem in the communication between scientists and the public. It appears to me that the groundbreaking research in the sciences aren't disseminated to the public very well.

Who are the stakeholders? Scientists are federally funded to conduct research that is geared at benefitting society. Tax dollars are put toward solving problems such as clean energy, longer lasting batteries, and vaccinations for the flu. That means that everyone has a stake in the research produced, and communicated, by scientists.

Why does communication fail? It seems to be the case that some scientists, specifically those who are not trained in communication, are not proficient in explaining their ideas to the public---at least not in terms that those without a science background can understand. Scientists have a tendency to use a lot of jargon. 

Jay L. Banner, Director of the Environmental Science Institute, communicated this idea in an interview I conducted with him last week.


“It’s so important for the public to be educated in the way science works, at the most fundamental level: the scientific method. So that when [people] vote, they can vote with a mind’s eye towards who is proposing sound solutions and who is not and they can go find for themselves what the best data are. As people become more and more science-literate, so-to-speak, that will start to solve a lot of society’s problems,” said Banner.

The question: How can we fix it?