Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
To conclude the inaugural (2024-2025) Science Communication lecture series, the University of Chicago hosted Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR science correspondent and author of Transient and Strange: Notes on the Science of Life. Since 2005, Greenfieldboyce has covered a broad range of topics including space exploration, biotechnology, gene therapy, and empathy in non-human animals for NPR. Before that, she reported on sports and local news in print and radio for ten years.
Greenfieldboyce started and ended her talk with the ever-so-intriguing ice worms to convey how she has found the "story" in a wide variety of science topics. She described five types of stories and emphasized how information takes a back seat to story and emotional resonance. Along the way, Greenfieldboyce touches on a giant snowflake, translating a press release on gravitational waves into Blackfoot, and a Twinkie consumed by fungus.
The series on Science Communication is sponsored by The University of Chicago College minor on Science Communication and Public Discourse and by The Parrhesia Public Thought and Discourse program.
➡ Subscribe: bit.ly/UCHICAGOytSubscribe
About #UChicago:
Since its founding in 1890, the University of Chicago has been a destination for rigorous inquiry and field-defining research. This transformative academic experience empowers students and scholars to challenge conventional thinking in pursuit of original ideas.
#UChicago on the Web:
Home: bit.ly/UCHICAGO-homepage
News: bit.ly/UCHICAGO-news
Facebook: bit.ly/UCHICAGO-FB
Twitter: bit.ly/UCHICAGO-TW
Instagram: bit.ly/UCHICAGO-IG
University of Chicago on YouTube:
youtube.com/uchicago
***
ACCESSIBILITY: If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please email digicomm@uchicago.edu.
To conclude the inaugural (2024-2025) Science Communication lecture series, the University of Chicago hosted Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR science correspondent and author of Transient and Strange: Notes on the Science of Life. Since 2005, Greenfieldboyce has covered a broad range of topics including space exploration, biotechnology, gene therapy, and empathy in non-human animals for NPR. Before that, she reported on sports and local news in print and radio for ten years.
Greenfieldboyce started and ended her talk with the ever-so-intriguing ice worms to convey how she has found the "story" in a wide variety of science topics. She described five types of stories and emphasized how information takes a back seat to story and emotional resonance. Along the way, Greenfieldboyce touches on a giant snowflake, translating a press release on gravitational waves into Blackfoot, and a Twinkie consumed by fungus.
The series on Science Communication is sponsored by The University of Chicago College minor on Science Communication and Public Discourse and by The Parrhesia Public Thought and Discourse program.
➡ Subscribe: bit.ly/UCHICAGOytSubscribe
About #UChicago:
Since its founding in 1890, the University of Chicago has been a destination for rigorous inquiry and field-defining research. This transformative academic experience empowers students and scholars to challenge conventional thinking in pursuit of original ideas.
#UChicago on the Web:
Home: bit.ly/UCHICAGO-homepage
News: bit.ly/UCHICAGO-news
Facebook: bit.ly/UCHICAGO-FB
Twitter: bit.ly/UCHICAGO-TW
Instagram: bit.ly/UCHICAGO-IG
University of Chicago on YouTube:
youtube.com/uchicago
***
ACCESSIBILITY: If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please email digicomm@uchicago.edu.
