Transparency for Chemical Communication

The potential benefits and the potential harms that can be provided by chemistry are too immense and powerful to be cloaked in the darkness of jargon. Yet, as the evolution of chemistry proceeds, the greater the opacity of the science to the general public.  The responsibility of molecular scientists – and scientists generally – is not merely to discover, invent, and understand, but rather to effectively convey that understanding as clearly and transparently as possible. To be clear, this is not the same as ‘as clearly and transparently as convenient’.  The task of communication is not a secondary task but rather one of equal status in the scientific pursuit.