Dissemination of science: interview with the authors of 'Mitochondrial folies'

Book released by IUC addresses the topic of energy produced by cells in an accessible way and contributes to open science communication

LC
Lorena Caliman
10 august, 2020≈ 4 min read

Launched in July in open access by Coimbra University Press, the book 'Mitochondrial folies: a short journey on life and energy' presents, for different audiences, the explanation on how we produce energy to live.

The work was written by researchers Anabela Marisa Azul, João Ramalho-Santos and Paulo J. Oliveira, with illustrations by Rui Tavares. Aimed at communicating science and promoting scientific culture in an open and accessible way, the book may be of interest to teachers, students of various levels of education, people with metabolic diseases, as well as to readers interested in learning more about the production of energy in the cell, a theme that crosses the lives of all of us.

Check below an interview with the authors addressing the production of the book, the importance and challenges of disseminating science and other details about the work, such as the process of creating the illustrations.

UC Open Science: The work ''Mitochondrial folies: a short journey on life and energy" brings information about cell biology, health and science in cartoons, with a language accessible to the wider public, despite dealing with a specific and detailed subject. What are the biggest challenges in creating this type of content? Can you talk a little bit about the writing process and how is the exercise of 'popularizing' scientific terms?

Anabela Marisa Azul: The exercise began with the selection of relevant aspects about the structure and function of mitochondria, some events that marked advances in their knowledge, including the evolution and, from it, the evolution of multicellular living beings. After selecting scientific information, history was undoubtedly one of the greatest challenges. In this case, the work revolves around the functional attributes of mitochondria to convert food into energy, then used by cells to carry out all the activities of our body. The story based on a concrete situation allowed us to explore scientific content and introduce elements associated with daily routines to address circumstances that influence the functioning of mitochondria and their relationship with health status.

The main character, Lara, has a metabolic problem and decides to change habits to improve her health condition; she is interested in knowing what mitochondria and metabolism are. The secondary character, Jorge, does not recognize the conversation topics of his friend, he does not care, but something makes him review his opinion ... The dynamic character of Lara's character is reflected in several (new) routines throughout story. The detail of including reactions that occur in the mitochondria and inside the cells reinforces the complex nature of the processes at the cellular level and their interdependence to maintain the body's balance; other elements of the narrative seek to create empathy and bring the universe of cellular life closer to everyday actions.

UC Open Science: Where do authors' taste for communicating science to the broader audience come from, given your experience and the previous publication of several works in this regard?

João Ramalho-Santos: The mission of communicating science to the most varied types of public is not just about taste. It is an obligation that all scientists must assume, especially in an era of accelerated information flow and, consequently, false news, many of them related to science.

The challenge is to transform complex concepts in a simple, but not simplistic way, preferably in co-creation with the public, in order to incorporate other ways of seeing the world, and to understand the way information is transmitted. But we cannot stay just for the materials produced, but try to understand what people actually learn, and try to improve more and more what we can communicate.

UC Open Science: In the case of the book "Mitochondrial folies", the story is told from the experience of a character who suffers from a metabolic syndrome and decides to study the topic. How can the wider audience - as potential patients - benefit from this book? What are the main target audiences for this comic?

Paulo J. Oliveira: The story of this cartoon is told from the experience of a character who suffers from a metabolic syndrome, deciding to embark on a journey through the energy of the cells to be able to study and understand the theme. For an audience that may suffer from these same pathologies, this work is important because it not only clearly reports the origin of their clinical problem, but also warns of the need for assertive knowledge about their condition, treatments and appropriate lifestyles and at the same time contributing to deconstruct what is happening more and more, which is scientific misinformation.

But the target audience does not end here. The work contains scientific information that can be of great value to teachers and students of various educational levels and to mere curious people who just want to know more about this wonderful world of mitochondria and about the need for healthy lifestyles.

UC Open Science: How does the comic image support facilitate interaction and proximity to readers? Is there a differentiated process for the illustration of more specific contents to a comic book from Biology, for example, in relation to illustrations aimed at exclusively the scientific environment?

Rui Tavares: My background is Illustration and Communication Design. Hence, the structure and functioning of the cell and its organelles, such as the mitochondria, or events that occur in mitochondria, such as the Krebs cycle, were not present in my daily life. As soon as I started working on this cartoon, actively collaborating with the researchers (authors), I started to learn more about Cell Biology. Little by little, something that was abstract to me became something that I sketched daily in my notebook and eventually turned into cartoon vignettes. As someone who was learning about these concepts, if I designed them in a way that I easily understood myself, perhaps many other people would be able to understand them in the same way.

During the process of this cartoon, there was mainly a “negotiation” between the scientific message (text and image), and my graphic style. More specifically, in the design process, I tried to adapt my graphic style to scientific concepts, in order to simplify them or give them expression, without losing their scientific rigor. In this way, the scientific message would not be compromised.

| More about it |

The book 'Mitochondrial folies: a short journey in life and energy' is available on the UC Monographs platform, on Amazon and on Google Play. Access to the work: https://doi.org/10.14195/978-989-26-2004-6. On the platform, also check out more information about the authors.