The predominate barrier to understanding scientific methodology is not complex ideas, but complex language.

People are smart. They understand elaborate things everyday. They are not, however, trans-linguist-gymnasts capable of computing and contextualising unfamiliar words.

I am not a fan of ‘dumbing down’ methodology (i.e. removing detail). It’s dishonest and patronising. Non-experts are people without an expert knowledge — they are not stupid.

Translating methodology into language non-experts can understand is a more productive form of communication. It respects an audience’s intellect and ensures they are exposed to the complete story.

But how does one ensure a narrative contains non-expert language?

An extreme example would be to try ‘The Up-Goer Five Text Editor’. Just as a word processor underlines misspelt words with a wavy red line, this text editor highlights words that differ from the most common 1,000 words.

By this metric my 'About' blurb is 46% impenetrable.