It is essential for scientists to communicate effectively to the public, said a senior staff scientist of the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center's Laboratory for Astronomy and Solar Physics last night.

Stephen Maran recounted how scientists throughout history have presented to the public evidence about planetary discoveries. The program called "The Best Evidence Yet: How Astronomers Report the Discovery of New Worlds," was given by the A. Dixon Johnson Memorial Lecture Series to an audience of about 65.

In detailing the discoveries of Jupiter's moons, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto, Maran showed the often haphazard manner in which the news of these events reaches the public.

In the 1980s, the locating of "Brown Dwarfs" -- celestial entities that are too big to be planets and too small to be stars -- became a primary issue in science, he said. Newspaper accounts of studies and efforts to prove their existence are frequently wrong.

Maran reaped laughter from the audience as he displayed a story about "Brown Dwarfs" that ran in papers like the Toledo Blade, Los Angeles Times and Manchester Union Leader. The headlines steered readers to the wrong conclusions, he said, because they did not always depict what the story was about.

Maran highlighted some of the problems science writers experience in covering the news. In order to print science related stories on the front pages, he said, a newsworthy scientific event must occur.

Medical news stories are also a problem, he said. For example, many scientists claim to have a cure for cancer, although none has been proven.

"Science communication is one of the best fields for students to get into," Maran said after the lecture. "More than 100 newspapers around the country now offer science pages."

Careers in science communication are "taking off," he said. Many of the more prestigious journalists have moved to science coverage after reporting in politics.

Students generally gave a favorable reaction to the program.

Joe Fedorko (junior-English) added, "I thought it was really interesting, it was more colorful than I expected."