When people on the street are asked to name five world-famous living pop singers, actors, or influencers, a flood of answers is practically guaranteed. However, the same request about the most influential living scientists of our time is met with silence.
Google Trends statistics and global search charts clearly reflect this disparity: lists of the most visible people are dominated by celebrities, athletes, and politicians, while the researchers shaping the future of humanity barely make an appearance.
The Invisible Geniuses: Why Scientists Shaping the Future Are Not Celebrities
This contrast is not merely unfair but potentially dangerous. While social media feeds are full of short-lived trends, science communication needs to undergo a radical shift. The question is no longer whether major discoveries are being made, but why they fail to become part of everyday public discourse.
This distortion is well illustrated by the global rankings of the Pantheon, a project from the MIT Media Lab that maps historical cultural visibility. Across earlier historical periods, it is evident that philosophers, mathematicians, and explorers left a lasting imprint on culture.
In more recent periods, however, the composition of these lists shifts. In today’s fast-paced world, easily consumable topics naturally take centre stage, making it harder for deeper, more complex scientific issues to gain attention.
In this environment, science faces a serious challenge in making its voice heard. As a result, the most prestigious and highly respected experts often remain invisible to the general public.
Subjective Perceptions in Climate Research: Heroes, Villains, and Victims
This sidelining of science is particularly evident in the public perception of global crises, such as climate change. In their study, Ruxandra Malina Petrescu-Mag and her colleagues examined how scientific results are received by the general public. They concluded that since the general public gets much of its information from the media, it has become a sort of ‘authenticating authority’ for facts, narratives, and scientific claims.
The problem is that news reports do not simply reproduce complex scientific data; instead, they adapt it. Rather than merely presenting raw facts, they construct stories and narratives, searching for heroes, victims, and, of course, villains. Today, the role of storytelling has become a key component of public communication, and this is increasingly reflected in the way science is represented.
‘Today, the role of storytelling has become a key component of public communication’
When science is turned into a story, the biggest debates revolve precisely around climate change’s ‘king of villains’, Although research clearly establishes human responsibility, different groups assign responsibility in different ways.
For instance, a study of Belgian and Romanian participants highlighted that Belgians are more inclined to hold themselves and their everyday consumption responsible, whereas Romanian respondents, who were more likely to blame politicians and large corporations, often viewed climate change itself as an exaggerated, politicized topic.
This gap between science and lay thinking shows that as long as researchers remain invisible, public opinion will not adopt a solution-oriented approach to green issues but will instead see them as finger-pointing political battles.
Human-Centred Climate Research
For science communication to avoid the tabloidizing logic of the media, the approach to research must be fundamentally rethought. In their study, Regina R Rodrigues and Theodore G Shepherd returned to E F Schumacher’s classic principle, the philosophy of Small Is Beautiful. They propose that climate research should be restructured ‘as if people mattered.’
In line with this idea, they point out a major gap between the production of scientific data and its practical utility. The traditional, top-down approach focuses on global models while missing the core issue. In crisis situations, local communities and decision-makers do not need more abstract data; they need interpretable, actionable, and human-cantered solutions.
Rodrigues and Shepherd’s concept aligns well with the lay-expertise and participatory models described by modern communication theories. The essence of these models is a radical break from the passive role traditionally assigned to the general audience: they treat the everyday, pragmatic experiences and collective knowledge of local residents as an input on par with scientific theories. Research shows that this approach dismantles the one-way flow of knowledge between experts and laypeople, building on mutual trust instead of mere fact-sharing.
‘[Rodrigues and Shepherd] treat the everyday, pragmatic experiences and collective knowledge of local residents as an input on par with scientific theories’
In practice, this shift in perspective manifests in citizen science, where everyday people participate directly in the research process—for example, through local data collection or environmental measurements. If science does not operate in isolated laboratories but becomes a form of co-creation with society, the issue of climate change and green causes will lose their abstract, politicized nature.
This direct, participatory approach is one of the most effective tools to make complex relationships understandable again, allowing researchers who usually remain in the background to finally build a genuine and credible relationship with the general public.
Science in the Public Sphere
However, this transformation cannot happen without treating science communication as an integral part of research and an independent discipline in its own right.
Traditional academic training rarely prepares researchers to abandon technical jargon, and mainstream media are prone to distortion and sensationalism. In this scenario, effective and credible science communication in the age of climate change is no longer just an optional skill but a vital element in the fight against fake news and misinformation.
The fundamental tension between science and media logic is also illustrated by research conducted among Danish climate journalists, highlighting the paradox of ‘boring but important’. While the commercial logic of the media demands immediate, daily sensations and easily identifiable human protagonists, the scientific work behind climate research and green solutions is a quiet endeavour spanning years or even decades. This complex, long-term process is inherently unable to serve the fast-moving news cycle and its demand for constant attention.
Therefore, the goal is not to turn climate scientists or conservationists into stars following the current rules of celebrity culture. Examples such as the work of Sir David Attenborough and the conservation programming of National Geographic and the Discovery Channel show that a dedication to green causes and credible knowledge-sharing can engage large audiences without relying on the tools of the tabloids.
The responsibility is threefold: researchers must open up to the public, the media must stop oversimplifying, and members of society must recognize their own role in protecting the environment. Ultimately, the true recognition of scientific work in the green transition is measured not in momentary fame or popularity metrics but in whether the lay audience participates in shaping the future—not as passive spectators but as active partners.
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