But why tell stories with research data? And what is a story anyway? In the age of social media, attention spans are increasingly short, Luna said. Most people will only read the title and abstracts of our scientific publications. Heck, even peer-reviewers are likely to get lost or distracted along the way unless scientists lure them along with stories. What was the problem? Who/what are the main characters? How was the problem resolved? What was at stake? Scientists must increasingly answer these questions in presenting their research, and they need to be able to distill answers to these questions down into, well, 140 characters.

So what does a story look like? According to Luna, a story tells of a series of events involving a main protagonist and a main or multiple antagonists. Within the arc of the story, the protagonist interacts with the antagonists and is forever changed by the series of events included in the narrative. But if you had to distill a story down into a single element, that element would be conflict resolution, Luna explained.

What is a good story without a good conflict and a satisfying resolution? Simba must have his Scar, Batman his Joker. Any good story builds up a conflict that is in the end resolved to a greater or lesser extent. And the higher the stakes of the conflict, the more interesting the story and satisfying the resolution. Breaking Bad captivated viewers with Walter White’s story by pitting him against the highest of stakes – a chance at a more exciting life, prison sentences, bloodthirsty drug lords, cancer and even death.

But where do the elements of story – protagonist, antagonist, plot, scene, conflict, resolution, stakes – fit within the processes of scientific research and publication? It can start with something as basic as a research article title.