The D.U.Quark

A Letter From the Editor:

Dear D.U. Quark members and readers, 

What does science literacy truly mean? It is present in every facet of human existence, yet there is still little known about it, or how to actually accomplish it. 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, I was a senior in high school excited to begin my college education in the Biological Sciences. This was my first exposure with science communication, the good and the bad. I saw what things were effective, and what planted distrust in my rural Pennsylvania community. I tried to read peer reviewed articles, but as someone who hadn’t even started college yet, I found it very difficult to understand words like ‘immunopathogenesis’ or ‘cytokine storm’.  News stations took this information and boiled it down to simpler terms, so naturally people believed what they were saying. Except, what happens when various stations are saying different things? 

This is what sparked my own passion to pursue science communication, and many of my colleagues at the journal have similar stories. We aim to provide digestible information about just a snapshot of the science happening around us. Scientific topics boiled down for the general populous promotes science literacy and teaches everyone to be a scientist. As a result of this, people can have the authority to be inquisitive about the world around them. With that, I propel you to view things differently. Investigate the world around you and question everything. If something out there makes sense to you, use that knowledge to make sure it makes sense to someone else. 

Felicia Bedford 

Editor-in-Chief 2023-2024