With growing public interest in the sciences, a challenge is how to make complex information easily understood by laypeople. Enter the University Writing Program, which next week launches a science writing series that is free and open to the public.

Science Writing for the General Public is set to begin March 5 with a presentation by the writing program's Amy Clarke on science writing for a lay audience. Clark's presentation is scheduled from 12:10 to 1:30 p.m. in 126 Voorhies Hall.

The series continues with the writing program's second annual Conversations With Writers, in two parts:

• James Trefil — "Writing About Science: A True Story in Three Heresies," 4:10-6 p.m. March 6, 126 Voorhies Hall. Trefil, a theoretical physicist, is the author of Human Nature: Managing the Planet by and for Humans. He is the Clarence J. Robinson Professor of Physics at George Mason University, and serves as the chief science consultant in the development of a new middle school science curriculum.
• Gary Marcus — "Kluge: The Haphazard Human Mind," 4:10-6 p.m. April 22, 126 Voorhies Hall. Marcus, a psychology professor and the director of the Infant Language Learning Center at New York University, researches developmental cognitive neuroscience, and writes about it for both academic and popular publications. His books include Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind and The Birth of the Mind: How a Tiny Number of Genes Creates the Complexities of Human Thought.

More information is available by contacting Clarke, (530) 752-9531 or amclarke@ucdavis.edu.