The Explainers

Christian Bertsch and Mia Meus interview by C/O Vienna Magazine. Christian Bertsch at one of his many science shows. You can also meet him in the lecture hall, at the Science-Heurigen (in a traditional Austrian wine pub) or in the Science Tuk Tuk in public spaces: Bertsch is a of science didactics, which means he deals with how to make science understandable to as many people as possible, including through having fun. Lisa Resatz - Do we still understand the highly complex and specialized research of scientists? Why do so many people trust conspiracy theories more than facts? We discuss with Christian Bertsch and Mia Meus from the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) how it is possible to explain complicated things to laypeople in a simple way - and why art is quite suitable for this. In collaboration with C/O Vienna Magazine by Bernardo Vortisch. "Art and science are both attempts to explain the world" Bernardo Vortisch: Hand on heart! Do you always understand what your colleagues are researching all day long? Mia Meus: No, we don't always understand everything either (laughs). But we're not so bad at making complicated things easier to understand. People from over 80 countries work at ISTA. What unites them and all of us is our curiosity and enthusiasm for questions to which there are still no answers. The crux of the matter is that some of our researchers are so "cutting edge" that we have to be very creative in order to communicate their research. BV: What is your idea?