Stimulating the curiosity of adolescents is an important goal of the design of exhibits in science and technology museums, but evaluation of curiosity level of exhibits lacks quantitative monitoring methods. Research about curiosity in psychology is introduced into the field of visitor research in science and technology museums. Student groups from grade 5 to the first year of junior high school (aged 10 to 13) are taken as participants. Smartwatches are used to monitor their emotional indices while visiting. Combined with subjective scales, it has been verified that emotional indices can be used to predict the level of curiosity of participants. On this basis, 15 exhibits showing basic science are selected from China Science and Technology Museum. The display mode of the exhibits is analyzed according to six dimensions, such as subject areas and display forms. Non-parametric tests are employed to analyze the differences in curiosity stimulation among participants of different genders and the relationship between display mode and curiosity of participants aroused by exhibits, identifying the display mode that more effectively arouses curiosity. Finally, suggestions for the design of exhibits are put forward: Enhance exhibits’ appeal to girls. Improve the interactive methods of exhibits to provide more conditions for participants to explore, observe and think independently. Further improve the multimedia presentation methods and explore more immersive and interactive multimedia display means.

Contemporary science communication practice is deeply trapped in the dilemma of “knowledge transmission”: the public’s understanding of scientific conclusions is increasing day by day, but their spiritual identification with science has not improved correspondingly. The deep-seated crux lies in the long-term domination of an “epistemological” view of science, which narrowly understands science as a collection of objective knowledge, thereby severing the intrinsic connections between science and culture, values, and human life. Escaping from this dilemma requires a paradigm shift at the philosophical level. The philosophy of scientific culture provides the theoretical foundation for this shift. It views science, in its essence, as a human-created activity imbued with spiritual pursuits and cultural ideals; thus, the spirit of science and the spirit of the humanities are interconnected at the highest realm. Accordingly, the essence of science communication should shift from “knowledge transmission” to “meaning sharing.” This new paradigm contains three layers of implication: first, the sharing of knowledge shifts from transmitting conclusions to presenting the process of exploration; second, the sharing of spirit shifts from informing achievements to empathizing with the spiritual core of scientists pursuing freedom and cultural realm; third, the sharing of value shifts from demonstrating instrumental utility to achieving deep resonance between science and the public’s world of meaning. Only in this way can science communication truly bring science, as a “living culture, ” into the public’s spiritual world.

As an approach grounded in objective facts and systematic research evidence, evidence-based science communication holds potential advantages in mitigating Artificial Intelligence (AI) hallucinations. From the perspective of evidence-based science communication, this study analyzes the dual relationship between AI and evidence-based communication. (1) The empowering role of AI in evidence-based science communication: AI demonstrates enabling potential in stages such as data aggregation, evidence screening, and impact feedback, thereby enhancing the efficiency and reach of evidence-based communication. (2) The challenges posed by AI hallucinations to science communication: These challenges are reflected not only in content authenticity but also in the procedural legitimacy of knowledge production. They affect dimensions including content foundation, knowledge production, knowledge stability, and the efficiency of consensus-building, causing misinformation to escalate from isolated inaccuracies to structural errors. Based on these findings, this study proposes a human-AI collaboration pathway for evidence-based science communication, guided by the principles of evidentiality, traceability, adaptability, and publicness. By clarifying the AI-side intervention mechanisms and the key nodes of human-AI collaboration under each principle, this study constructs a comprehensive evidence-based science communication system spanning “content production—process control—pace regulation—impact feedback.”

Short-form video has emerged as a pivotal medium for the dissemination of emerging technologies, positioning technology enterprises as one of the main agents of science communication. Focusing on Unitree Robotics’ official Douyin account, this study draws on a sample of 81 videos and 4 114 comments to examine the interaction between corporate technological performance and public sociotechnical imaginaries. The study integrates multimodal discourse analysis with text mining to capture both the semiotic construction of technology and its discursive reinterpretation by the public. The findings reveal that embodied AI is rendered as a visualized, contextualized, and immersive technological performance through the orchestration of textual, visual, and auditory modes. Correspondingly, public discourse generates multiple, intersecting sociotechnical imaginaries structured around functional utility, techno-nationalism, and human-machine relations. These dynamics suggest that technological meaning is not unilaterally transmitted but continuously negotiated and stabilized through platform-mediated interactions between technology enterprises and the public. This study reveals that technological performance goes far beyond mere technology demonstration. It opens up a crucial space for the public to engage in the social construction of technology and to shape sociotechnical imaginaries. Consequently, these practices reconfigure science communication from one-way dissemination toward the participatory co-production of meaning.

Can a technically synthesized persona function as a credible and effective communicator? Deep synthesis personas are showing distinctive potential in science communication, yet their inherently synthetic nature can trigger psychological resistance and raise doubts about message credibility. This study examines how shortening the psychological distance between audiences and deep synthesis personas can improve communication effects. We adopt the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) as the primary framework and incorporate psychological distance theory to integrate the analysis. Using a sample of deep synthesis persona science videos from Bilibili (N=193), we combined web scraping with manual coding and estimated regression models to test how features related to content and technology shaping effects, including reach, engagement, and endorsement. The results show that, on the content route, multi-character interactive discussion formats, as compared with solo monologue formats, and narration delivered through reanimated authentic historical figures, as compared with fictional characters, effectively reduce psychological distance and foster a more active discussion climate. On the technology route, higher visual realism and smoother, more natural facial animation increase viewers’ sense of presence and perceived authenticity, shorten psychological distance from the persona, and in turn raise interactive behaviors and positive feedback. In parallel, peripheral cues such as creator prominence exert significant positive effects on diffusion metrics, underscoring the importance of source credibility. These findings offer practical guidance for video production and dissemination strategy and provide a theoretical reference for understanding the opportunities and social implications of deploying deep synthesis technologies in science communication.

In digital intelligence era, short videos, as an emerging media form, have been deeply embedded in the practice of digital rural construction, empowering the development of rural industries. Based on Lefebvre’s theory of space production, this article integrates the physical, mental, and social dimensions with the production, dissemination, and practice of rural science popularization short videos. It analyzes the inherent logic, explores the dissemination dilemmas of suchvideos, s and finally constructs the optimization strategies for space reproduction. The research reveals that the current dissemination of rural science popularization short videos faces structural contradictions such as lagging physical space carrier construction, mental space knowledge alienation and cognitive gaps, as well as social space subject imbalance and relationship fractures. Because of that, this article constructs a three-dimensional strategic framework centered on infrastructure enhancement, content governance, and multi-stakeholder collaboration. Through approaches such as infrastructure modernization, content ecosystem optimization, and coordinated engagement of diverse actors, it aims to overcome communication barriers, amplify dissemination efficacy, strengthen the rural science popularization service system, and ultimately contribute to the revitalization of rural industries.

This research focuses on the science popularization videos in the field of earth science on the Bilibili website as its research object. Through data mining and content analysis, this research systematically analyzes the theme distribution, factors influencing communication effects, user interaction feedback, and communication challenges in 793 earth science popularization videos. The research finds that the content of these videos mainly focus on macro topics such as “cosmic exploration” and “natural geography”, while realistic issues such as “climate change” and “natural disaster” receive insufficient attention. In terms of communication effects, videos lasting 5-10 minutes show the strongest dissemination advantages, and videos released from evening to night tend to gain higher views than those posted in the morning or during working hours. Most of the comments are emotional expressions, with a high proportion of positive interaction. Currently, the main challenges for the popularization of earth science are balancing scientificity and interest, the difficulty of disseminating niche topics, the tension between knowledge depth and video duration, stratification of users’ interests and cognitive levels, platform mechanisms and uneven traffic allocation, and challenges in building credibility and public trust. To improve the quality of communication, this research proposes optimization strategies from three perspectives: enhancing creators’ diversified production capabilities, establishing a coordinated “quality-traffic-trust” mechanism, and emphasizing the social effects of science communication, providing theoretical support and practical paths for optimizing earth science popularization videos in the new media environment.

This study focuses on short videos on gender health science popularization, taking the account “Cheese Unknotting” as an example to reveal the influencing factors and mechanisms of young users’ information adoption behavior. Through in-depth interviews with young users and members of the creative team of this account, the thematic analysis method was employed to code the interview data, identifying five core themes: new media operation, gender health cognition, content quality, perceived value, and external environment. These correspond to the four stages of information awareness, belief confirmation, attitude change, and behavior adoption in the health communication process, leading to the construction of a gender health science popularization information adoption model. In this model, new media operation plays a driving role in the initial stage of information adoption, while gender health cognition and content quality together form the foundation for identifying with gender health concepts. Perceived value promotes attitude change before information adoption, and the external environment interacts with gender health cognition in a mutually regulating manner. It is recommended to build a tripartite collaborative ecosystem for gender health science popularization involving short video platforms, families, and schools, systematically addressing the cognitive gaps among young people. This study contributes to exploring the cognitive perceptions and adoption intentions of individuals of marriageable and childbearing age regarding gender health, promoting the dissemination of gender health knowledge, and enhancing gender relations and social harmony.

At present, the paradigm of science popularization is undergoing a profound transformation from one-way output to participatory and interactive models. In this transition, the high-quality development of science popularization has an increasingly prominent demand for scene-driven innovation. From both theoretical and practical perspectives, this paper systematically analyzes the coupling logic between science popularization and scene theory. On this basis, it proposes four science popularization models derived from‘science popularization+scene’ and ‘scene + science popularization’. First, scenified science popularization reconstructs the production scene of scientific knowledge through technical means, transforming abstract scientific content into perceptible embodied experiences for the audience. Second, popularized scenes embed scientific elements into social spaces such as shopping malls and communities, activating the science popularization potential of non science contexts. Third, scenic popularization achieves the integration of multiple attributes of scenes through functional superposition and spatiotemporal reorganization. Fourth, scene-based science popularization promotes the integration of scientific spirit and daily practice through a context-constructed communication paradigm, thereby providing new ideas and methods for science popularization practice.

With the increasing impact of science and technology museums on enhancing public scientific literacy and science education, how to scientifically and objectively evaluate their social impact has become a critical issue. Based on third-party comments collected from over 400 science and technology museums nationwide, this paper employs natural language processing techniques such as topic modeling and hierarchical clustering to establish a social evaluation index system for science and technology museums. The system includes 9 primary indicators and 24 secondary indicators. Machine learning algorithms are used to conduct empirical analysis on 133 371 valid comments from third-party platforms such as Dianping, Meituan, and Xiecheng. The results show that the three primary indicators—“children’s entertainment and ecience interaction”“science exhibitions and cultural experiences, ” and “interactive learning and technology”—score high across all types of science and technology museums. However, there remain significant improvement possibilities in transportation and environmental satisfaction. The study recommends that mega-sized science and technology museums should leverage their strengths in science education exhibitions while addressing service shortcomings; large-sized ones should balance core functions and optimize infrastructure; while medium and small-sized ones can pursue a differentiated development path of “specialization+features” and refine operations to compensate for resource limitations.