"Scientists are from Mars and the public is from Venus" 

On 16 October, GreenFacts Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in Brussels, held a conference to launch its publicationGreenFacts.org which aims to provide non-specialists with factual scientific information on environment and health matters.

The conference entitled "Conveying Science into Policy", and it brought together environment and health stakeholders, journalists, policy makers and science communicators to discuss the relationship between the way scientific information is communicated and the political decision-making process.

Three parallel stakeholder workshops discussed issues of science communication, environment & health policies and the image of science in society. This was followed by presentations of the practical experiences of representatives from UNEP, the Commission, Princeton University, Solvay and the IUCN.

"Scientists are from Mars and the public is from Venus", concluded one participant after a discussion of the ways in which science should be communicated to the wider public and political decision-makers. Communicators often find it hard to strike a sensible balance between presenting non-scientists with the relevant facts needed to take decisions and form opinions while at the same time avoiding overreaction or panic.