The Write Approach: Professor Darryl Jones, urban ecologist from Griffith University and author of the book The Birds at My Table, gives some advice for those who want to publish in the scientific field. Professor Jones strongly believes that anyone involved in publicly funded scientific research has an obligation to communicate it. This should be done in a style that is accessible to the general public and doesn’t diminish the complexities of the scientific work. It is an antidote to the standard approach from academics that journalists don’t understand their work and don’t report it well. Once senior colleagues told him he was wasting too much time writing popular articles and should concentrate on scientific journals but now you get brownie points for appearing in the general public. Some scientists (and some fields of science) still hide in their labs and don’t communicate with people