Tinkering with Analogies
By Bridget DeSimone, January 9, 2012
A clever analogy can be the best tool for communicating your important research findings to the public. Take a look at how abstract scientific concepts were translated into a more understandable language for a general audience in this article posted recently on Futurity.org about research that uncovered a potentially new and easier way to deliver drugs into the human body. The study is complexly-titled: “Metal-adeninate vertices for the construction of an exceptionally porous metal-organic framework,” but the lead researcher breaks it down into clear, simple terms virtually everyone can relate to – Tinker Toys.
“Think of this the way you imagine Tinkertoys,” says Nathaniel Rosi, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Pittsburgh and principal investigator of the study, published in Nature Communications. “The metal clusters are your joints, and the organic molecules are your linkers. In order to build a highly open structure with lots of empty space, you can increase the linker length or you can increase the size of the joint…Essentially, we’re like architects. We first make a blueprint for a target material, and we then select our building blocks for construction…”