The paper ‘Metaphors as tools for understanding: a comparative analysis of expert and public understanding of science’, published in Metaphor and the Social World, compares science communication among experts with communication from experts to laypeople, focusing on the role of metaphors in constructing understanding of abstract scientific concepts.
As a case study, specialist and non-specialist scientific articles on epigenetics are analyzed. The results show that there is no substantial difference between the two types of articles in frequency of metaphors and in their content. However, the function of the metaphors is different: the figurative aspect of metaphors is employed for public understanding but plays no role in specialist scientific articles.
The implications of these results are: (1) metaphors are tools for rendering theoretical concepts intelligible, for both expert and lay audiences; (2) expert and public understanding differ in degree rather than in kind; (3) conveying understanding crucially involves skills: metaphors in this context do not so much add knowledge as enhance relevant conceptual reasoning abilities.