If Cogbites were a toddler, it would be able to carry on a 2-3 sentence conversation, know how to take turns in games, and complete simple puzzles (1). That is, Cogbites turned 3 years old this month!
Thanks to our authors!
We want to thank the passionate team of 35+ contributors who have kept the cogs turning. Our authors — undergrads, Master’s and PhD students, postdocs, professors, and researchers — have diverse research interests, from Cognitive, Developmental, Social, Clinical, and Health Psychology, Psychiatry, Neuroscience, Kinesiology, Pharmacology, Ecology, Zoology, and Medicine and come from institutions all over the world, from Chicago to Amsterdam to Waterloo to Delhi to London.
Thanks to you, readers!
Thank you to our many followers and visitors who have read our posts and engaged with us on Twitter! Although the majority of our audience is in the United States, we’re happy to have readers all around the globe.
Support us – buy a cogbites sticker!
In celebration of our 3rd anniversary, we’re excited to announce a new merch page where we’re selling Cogbites stickers! Profits support the site, which costs about $8/month for the domain and web hosting. You can also donate to support the site. We aim to make research on cognition accessible to all, so content on Cogbites will always be free.
About the Founder: Michelle Rivers started the Cogbites blog in 2019 as a 3rd year PhD student. She has since graduated with her PhD in Cognitive Psychology and currently works as a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow at Texas Christian University. She continues to manage the blog, train new authors, and edit posts. Here she shares a bit about her journey into science communication:
My interest in science communication started during my gap years between undergrad and grad school. During that time, I worked as a hands-on science instructor for elementary school students at Mad Science of San Diego. I really enjoyed getting young students interested in the scientific method and helping them discover how fun science can be! I try to maintain this same enthusiasm when teaching psychology to undergraduates.
As a graduate student, I became even more interested in science communication after noticing how science is communicated. One issue is that the general public tends to learn about the latest scientific discoveries through popular media, which often over-emphasizes and over-simplifies results. What is sometimes lost from these pieces is the process of scientific discovery – how we come to know what we know, the people behind the findings, and what other questions have been identified. Another issue is that scientists typically do not receive specific training on translating their research to broad audiences. To address these issues, I started Cogbites to make cognitive research more accessible to a general audience and allow early-career academics opportunities to hone their writing and editing skills. Our team of authors – all students and early-career professionals – are committed to describing not just what we know about cognition, but also how we came to know it.
By focusing on a single research paper, the aim of a “bite” post is to provide our readers with an intermediate level of comprehension between original scientific productions and classical science communication resources.
Science Bites Philosophy
For graduate students interested in developing science communication skills, I highly recommend applying to attend ComSciCon workshops. I attended a chapter workshop in Ann Arbor, Michigan and a flagship workshop in San Diego, California (my hometown!). Through these workshops, I have grown my professional network to include a diverse group of students and professionals who challenge me to think about why my research is important – which has enhanced both my technical writing and conversations with strangers on planes. Many attendees have created similar “bites” blogs — there are now 25 sites in the Science Bites Galaxy!
Thanks for reading!
Stay tuned for more cognition-related content on Mondays at 8am Eastern.
Reference
(1) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2021, July 27). Important milestones: Your baby by three years. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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