Science popularization picture books serve a critical function in science popularization，educational outreach，and cultural exchange，yet their developmental pathways and expressive forms exhibit marked variations across diverse cultural contexts. Employing a comparative research methodology，this study comprehensively examines the developmental characteristics of science popularization picture books in China and the West across six dimensions: historical development，artistic style，thematic evolution，classification systems，creative communities，and societal impact. The study reveals that western science popularization picture books，emerging from the Enlightenment era，have progressively developed a diversified expressive approach and a robust market ecosystem through profound integration of scientific and artistic elements，with a pronounced emphasis on interdisciplinary collaboration and global knowledge exchange. Throughout China’s modernization process，science popularization picture books have cultivated distinctive cultural attributes，constructing a developmental trajectory uniquely rooted in the synthesis of indigenous cultural elements and contemporary scientific insights. Drawing from these findings，the study recommends that future Chinese science popularization picture books should be based on maintaining cultural self-confidence to reinforce interdisciplinary collaboration，accelerate the development of comprehensive classification standards，leverage digital technological innovations，and strategically interweave local cultural narratives with global thematic concerns to amplify international resonance.

Scientific literacy is a vital component of national competency，and enhancing it holds great importance for both individual growth and national development. Visiting science and technology museums serves as a key avenue for enhancing citizens’scientific literacy. Analysis of data from the 13th National Civic Scientific Literacy Sampling Survey in 2023 reveals that such visits significantly enhance scientific literacy，particularly in the dimensions of scientific methods，scientific spirit，and scientific abilities. Moreover，visiting science and technology museums has a greater impact on disadvantaged groups，contributing to reducing disparities in scientific literacy across gender，urban-rural divides，and regional differences.Based on these findings，this study suggests expanding the reach of science and technology museums and enhancing their capacity to provide high-quality services. It also emphasizes the need to deepen the content of exhibitions and educational programs，with a particular focus on fostering citizens’understanding of scientific methods，scientific spirit，and scientific abilities. Additionally，it advocates for greater precision in science popularization efforts，recommending targeted exhibition and education activities that prioritize disadvantaged groups，including women，the elderly，rural populations，and residents in central and western regions.

Public attitudes toward science constitute a key research focus in the field of science popularization. This study develops a scale for measuring public attitudes toward science based on psychological assumptions and validates it through the Rasch Model，examining its unidimensionality，local independence，structural validity，item fit，person fit，and rating scale functioning. The validated scale effectively measures the construct of“public attitudes toward science”and can be applied in subsequent research. Additionally，the Rasch Model proves to be a valuable supplementary tool for assessing the micro-level impacts of science popularization.

In the process of advancing the development of a Healthy China，it is of great significance to explore the key factors and configuration paths influencing the dissemination effectiveness of health science popularization short videos on TikTok. This study，based on the socio-technical systems theoretical framework and the fsQCA method，analyzes the complex relationships between key factors in the“social”and“technical”sub-system dimensions and the achievement of high dissemination effectiveness of health science popularization short videos from a configurational perspective. The findings show that：(1) Individual key factors are not necessary conditions for achieving high dissemination effectiveness. However，conditional variables such as topic guidance and content related to healthy lifestyles play a more universally significant role in attaining high dissemination effectiveness for short videos. (2) Three types of configuration paths can achieve high dissemination effectiveness：socially-driven，technologically-driven，and“subject-title-length”compensatory paths. In addition，this study identifies four configurations leading to low dissemination effectiveness. First，shorter titles and video durations result in insufficient depth in the video's content. Secondly，the lack of appeal in the video content categories and themes results in low dissemination effectiveness. Thirdly，the absence of topic guidance and content categorization leads to low dissemination effectiveness. Lastly，the uncertainty of key elements such as title length and video duration within the technical system can also lead to low dissemination effectiveness. This paper adopts a configurational analysis perspective to examine the coupling effects between key factors on the dissemination effectiveness of health science popularization short videos. The findings hold significant theoretical and practical value in uncovering the configurational paths for achieving high dissemination effectiveness in such videos.

By facilitating greater participation，richer content presentation，more efficient knowledge translation，and more focused science outreach，generative AI has the potential to enhance science communication and popularization significantly. This technology also introduces two different kinds of ethical risks. On the one hand，generative AI raises technical，ethical questions about information authenticity，fairness，security，bias，and copyright. On the other hand，problems historically linked to science popularization may get worse，such as oversimplification，a lack of scientific communication，the erosion of scientific authority，and populism. Consequently，it is crucial to investigate the application potential of generative artificial intelligence in science popularization practices going forward，as well as to raise the technical awareness，application capabilities，and supervision level of the general public，science popularization professionals，and regulators. Additionally，it is necessary to guarantee the accuracy，privacy security，and fairness of the content produced for science popularization.

The modern science and technology museum system is an essential force for popularizing scientific knowledge，promoting the spirit of science，improving the scientific literacy of the whole nation，and achieving the equalization of basic public cultural services. Based on the development data and practice cases of the construction of the modern science and technology museum system from 2012 to 2024，this paper draws on the theory of synergism，summarises the practice of synergistic development of the modern science and technology museum system，analyses the problems，modes，and mechanisms，and explores the future development strategies. The study shows that in terms of synergistic practice，there are mainly problems such as insufficient total amount of science popularization resources，unbalanced regional distribution，and imperfect top-level internal and external synergy design. In terms of synergistic mode and mechanism construction，we carried out problem-oriented research，summarised the synergistic development modes of intra-provincial synergistic mode，regional synergistic mode and cross-field synergistic mode，increased the overall supply of science popularization resources and reduced the regional supply gap，and connected resources and activities and promoted the information construction of the the system. Finally，it proposes strategies for the future synergistic development of the system，i.e.，strengthening intra-provincial synergy，improving regional synergy，and promoting cross-field synergy，to better serve the equalization of science popularization services at the grassroots level and the improvement of the scientific literacy for all people.

Girls’science learning has always been a critical issue in the international science education field，and science learning based on informal contexts，as a learning activity that occurs outside the framework of formal school education，plays a significant role in enhancing the scientific literacy of girls. Based on a systematic review and analysis of the literature，this paper finds that informal contexts have unique functions in promoting girls’science learning：they extend learning time and space，encouraging the cultivation of a growth mindset in girls’science learning；they create rich contexts，helping girls’interest in science；they take care of gender-specific qualities’helping girls to build a solid scientific identity；and they coordinate with the family and the school，laying the foundation of lifelong science learning for girls. There are four main strategies to promote girls’science learning through informal contexts：taking into account gender differences and relevance to stimulate girls’participation in science; innovating the content and form to enhance girls’interest in science and their identity；integrating resources from various sources to empower girls’science learning continuously；and implementing diverse assessments to highlight the diversity of girls’learning outcomes. This paper explores the functions and strategies of promoting girls’science learning from the perspective of informal contexts，aiming to provide new perspectives and ideas for dissolving gender differences in science learning and promoting girls’science learning.

“Promoting the spirit of scientists”is a practical necessity for research or science communication institutions. The core of this content，the“stories of scientists”，not only carries a wealth of information about social，disciplinary，national，and institutional development but is also rich in humanistic value and spiritual connotation. However，the creators of these stories lack a narrative model for the spirit of scientists that they can refer to. This paper analyzes the two types of narrative tendencies,V-shaped and A-shaped，and proposes a scientist spirit narrative model“VVAV”and a corresponding knowledge organization method for scientist documentation，based on traditional storytelling techniques and the construction characteristics of archives of famous figures in science，supplemented by the literature of academician Fang Jun as a case study. It also demonstrates the application of the narrative model in exhibition hall design through program simulation. This model and method can provide a standardized solution for content creation centered on the spirit of scientists.

From the perspective of gender，combined with relevant literature，this paper analyzes the related concept of women in science popularization contained in the current policies，regulations and academic research in the field of science popularization in China，and examines the main types and basic status of women in science popularization practices in China from the perspectives of women as the main body and the object of science popularization. It is contended that many significant achievements have been made in the cognition and practice of popular science for women in China. However，problems still exist，such as the ambiguous concept of women in science popularization，the insufficient initiative of female groups to participate in popular science activities，and the less attention paid to in-depth issues such as science and gender. Accordingly，more active explorations and reforms should be made at the levels of subsequent policy-making，academic research and practice of science popularization.

The deep integration of generative artificial intelligence（Gen AI）technology in museum-school collaboration will bring about profound changes in science education models，concepts，scenarios，applications，and the relationship between subjects. Using the Actor Network Theory as an analytical tool，this paper analyzes the role of the actor，the process of information translation，and the construction of the network when Gen AI is involved to clarify the transformation of the science education model in museum-school collaboration promoted by Gen AI. It discusses the problems that may be brought about by the application of Gen AI in science education，such as the risks of digital divide，technology dependence and ethical bias. Corresponding countermeasures are proposed，including improving digital literacy，optimizing curriculum design，and improving AI ethics，in order to promote the systematic construction and sustainable development of museum-school collaboration.