Read in the following a guest commentary by Francesco Degli Innocenti and Tony Breton from the European Bioplastics Working Group Standardisation. The authors’ opinion on Spaghetti and Currywurst does not represent EUBP’s official position on Mediterranean and German dishes.
Tony Breton, EUBP Working Group Standardisation
Francesco Degli Innocenti, EUBP Working Group Standardisation
Headlines have never been so important. Scroll, stop, to click or not to click the title is what convinces us to open the content. Even in scientific journal articles, the title and the few lines of an abstract have developed a clickbait habit. Universities competing for students and funding are looking for visibility, researchers for well-deserved professional satisfaction and journals are judged by their “impact factor”.
Understandably, if there is competition, a little publicity is needed. The electronic age has brought science to the mainstream. Mainstream doesn’t do dull. Mainstream demands shock. Passing from one blog to another, the title gets modified; the message is simplified and crystallized, becoming a fact, scientifically established by consensus based on the number of clicks and shares. Moreover, the adverb “scientifically” cuts out any discussion. Few