Communicating scientific uncertainties does not harm Science trustworthiness. This is what was observed in a research developed by Michaela Maier, from the Institute for Communication Psychology at the University of Koblens-Landau, Germany.  The study was presented on the first day of the 13th edition the PCST.
Maier developed a longitudinal online field experiment, using news on nanotechnology from German media. “New technology scientific evidence is often sparse or contradictory”, pointed the author, justifying the topic choice.  The researcher divided the news in two groups: on the first one, there were only news that made uncertainties clear, whereas on the second group, half of the texts had a positive perspective on the subject and the other half, presented a negative view regarding the findings, creating an uncertain balance.
From questioning how lay people react when they are confronted with scientific uncertainty, Maier has found that, contrary to what would be natural do infer, the people who had presented conflicting information became more interested on science. “We have found that trust on science didn’t vary”, comments. Moreover, it was found that the contradictory media reports fostered scientific interest on the public. But the researcher highlights that these are initial results that still need to be replicated.
The researcher, however, indicated that a broader investigation would intensify this trend. By understanding that there are grey areas in several scientific findings, the lay public would have a clearer understanding on how science really works, increasing trustworthiness on Science. “Scientists and journalists must communicat  uncertainties. Scientific uncertainty should be included in media coverage as it doesn’t have any harmful effect on science trust”, concludes Maier.