Earlier this year, Physics World reporter Tushna Commissariat went on a three-day “boot camp” for science writers who regularly have to grapple with quantum mechanics that was held at the Nordic Institute for Theoretical Physics (NORDITA) in Stockholm, Sweden. The intensive crash course brought together a host of scientists with journalists from all over the world, and in this podcast they try and get to grips with how to interestingly and accurately “talk quantum” to a global audience
Along with learning about the most up-to-date and exciting advances in the field, the group discussed everything from the inherent complexity that arises because of the many interpretations of quantum mechanics to helping people discern the actual science from the “quantum woo” to all the good science communication that is already being done.
In this podcast, you will hear from Commissariat and a selection of her fellow boot-campers, including quantum physicist and science-communication enthusiast Raymond Laflamme, director of the Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo in Canada; conference organizer, blogger and NORDITA physicist Sabine Hossenfelder, and author, blogger and researcher Chad Orzel. She also chats to journalist and author Michael Brooks; New Scientist features editor Valerie Jamieson and blogger and freelance journalist Sedeer el-Showk about how journalists can crack the code to crafting the perfect quantum tale.
Listen to the podcast to discover their strategies for bringing quantum mechanics out from behind closed laboratory doors and into the mainstay of our everyday lives.
