Let neuroscience be cool — without over-selling it

Vaughan Bell is one of my favorite neuroscience writers and, at his blog, he makes an impassioned post that's aimed at scientists, but has some important implications for you, as well. The basic message: Stop over-selling neuroscience research. Stop telling people that a new discovery might "help cure schizophrenia", or any other promises that outstrip what the discovery is actually about. Let the science be interesting and nifty for what it is, rather than trying to hitch its wagon to a star. Why does that matter to you, if you don't do science, yourself? It tells you something valuable about how to interpret the news and how to share the news with your friends and social networks. In either case, science can be fascinating without being world-changing.