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Stefanie Reichelt had long felt there was a disconnect between the public's perception of scientists and reality. Armed with only a camera and a chair, she set out to find the human side of science.

"In popular culture, scientists are often portrayed as being really geeky and nerdy, perhaps a bit weird, " explains Dr Reichelt, Head of Light Microscopy at the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Cambridge Institute. "We see photographs of scientists in white lab coats pictured against backdrops of complex or futuristic equipment. Both these representations lead to the sense of a scientist being 'other'."

"I felt it was really important to challenge these misconceptions, firstly because we want young people to be able to see a true representation of scientists; we don't want anyone to be put off from working in science because scientists seem unrelatable. And secondly to address the element of mistrust of scientists that has been growing in the media and public discourse in recent years."

What followed was a series of portraits, entitled Humans who search, depicting the scientists, researchers, clinicians and students working at the CRUK Cambridge Institute. As Reichelt took photos of her colleagues sitting on a simple wooden chair she asked them to explain how they came to be working at the Institute.

"I wanted to show my colleagues as human beings and capture their gestures and personalities as they talked," says Reichelt. "I was very touched by the stories they shared, they were incredibly personal, powerful and precious."

The series of portraits and interviews is now available as an online exhibit, alongside a virtual tour of the lab. And, as part of the Cambridge Festival, the public can submit questions to find out more about the people featured in the series.

"Just as our scientists are asking questions about how the human body works, we wanted to give the public an opportunity to ask questions of our scientists," says Reichelt. "We hope that by opening up this dialogue we'll be able to break down misconceptions and inspire future generations."
Select a portrait below to read a snippet of the scientist's story.

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"In popular culture, scientists are often portrayed as being really geeky and nerdy, perhaps a bit weird, " explains Dr Reichelt, Head of Light Microscopy at the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) Cambridge Institute. "We see photographs of scientists in white lab coats pictured against backdrops of complex or futuristic equipment.

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From 2005 until 2021, I was head of the light microscopy laboratory at the CRUK Cambridge Institute. My research included the development of new imaging techniques to enable the visualisation of molecules in cells for cancer diagnostics. Before joining CRUK, I worked for five years at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology with Brad Amos, one of the key-inventors of confocal laser scanning microscopy on the development of new imaging techniques and with Bio-Rad Microsciences on the commercialisation of these microscopes.

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What is data visualization?

Data visualization is the graphical representation of information and data. By using v isual elements like charts, graphs, and maps, data visualization tools provide an accessible way to see and understand trends, outliers, and patterns in data. Additionally, it provides an excellent way for employees or business owners to present data to non-technical audiences without confusion.

In the world of Big Data, data visualization tools and technologies are essential to analyze massive amounts of information and make data-driven decisions.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of data visualization?

​​​​Something as simple as presenting data in graphic format may seem to have no downsides. But sometimes data can be misrepresented or misinterpreted when placed in the wrong style of data visualization. When choosing to create a data visualization, it's best to keep both the advantages and disadvantages in mind.

Advantages

Our eyes are drawn to colors and patterns. We can quickly identify red from blue, and squares from circles. Our culture is visual, including everything from art and advertisements to TV and movies. Data visualization is another form of visual art that grabs our interest and keeps our eyes on the message. When we see a chart, we quickly see trends and outliers. If we can see something, we internalize it quickly. It's storytelling with a purpose. If you've ever stared at a massive spreadsheet of data and couldn't see a trend, you know how much more effective a visualization can be.

Some other advantages of data visualization include:

Easily sharing information.

Interactively explore opportunities.

Visualize patterns and relationships.

Disadvantages

While there are many advantages, some of the disadvantages may seem less obvious. For example, when viewing a visualization with many different datapoints, it's easy to make an inaccurate assumption. Or sometimes the visualization is just designed wrong so that it's biased or confusing.

Some other disadvantages include:

Biased or inaccurate information.

Correlation doesn't always mean causation.

Core messages can get lost in translation.

Why data visualization is important

The importance of data visualization is simple: it helps people see, interact with, and better understand data. Whether simple or complex, the right visualization can bring everyone on the same page, regardless of their level of expertise.

It's hard to think of a professional industry that doesn't benefit from making data more understandable. Every STEM field benefits from understanding data-and so do fields in government, finance, marketing, history, consumer goods, service industries, education, sports, and so on.

While we'll always wax poetically about data visualization (you're on the Tableau website, after all) there are practical, real-life applications that are undeniable. And, since visualization is so prolific, it's also one of the most useful professional skills to develop. The better you can convey your points visually, whether in a dashboard or a slide deck, the better you can leverage that information. The concept of the citizen data scientist is on the rise. Skill sets are changing to accommodate a data-driven world. It is increasingly valuable for professionals to be able to use data to make decisions and use visuals to tell stories of when data informs the who, what, when, where, and how.

While traditional education typically draws a distinct line between creative storytelling and technical analysis, the modern professional world also values those who can cross between the two: data visualization sits right in the middle of analysis and visual storytelling.

Data visualization and big data

As the "age of Big Data" kicks into high gear, visualization is an increasingly key tool to make sense of the trillions of rows of data generated every day. Data visualization helps to tell stories by curating data into a form easier to understand, highlighting the trends and outliers. A good visualization tells a story, removing the noise from data and highlighting useful information.

However, it's not simply as easy as just dressing up a graph to make it look better or slapping on the "info" part of an infographic. Effective data visualization is a delicate balancing act between form and function. The plainest graph could be too boring to catch any notice or it make tell a powerful point; the most stunning visualization could utterly fail at conveying the right message or it could speak volumes. The data and the visuals need to work together, and there's an art to combining great analysis with great storytelling.

Learn more about big data.

Examples of data visualization

Of course, one of the best ways to understand data visualization is to see it. What a crazy concept! With public data visualization galleries and data everywhere online, it can be overwhelming to know where to start. Tableau's own public gallery shows off loads of visualizations made with the free Tableau Public tool, we feature some common starter business dashboards as usable templates, and Viz of the Day collects some of the best community creations. We've also collected 1 0 of the best examples of data visualization of all time, with examples that map historical conquests, analyze film scripts, reveal hidden causes of mortality, and more.

Different types of visualizations

When you think of data visualization, your first thought probably immediately goes to simple bar graphs or pie charts. While these may be an integral part of visualizing data and a common baseline for many data graphics, the right visualization must be paired with the right set of information. Simple graphs are only the tip of the iceberg. There's a whole selection of visualization methods to present data in effective and interesting ways.

General Types of Visualizations:

Chart: Information presented in a tabular, graphical form with data displayed along two axes. Can be in the form of a graph, diagram, or map. Learn more.

Table: A set of figures displayed in rows and columns. Learn more.

Graph: A diagram of points, lines, segments, curves, or areas that represents certain variables in comparison to each other, usually along two axes at a right angle.

Geospatial: A visualization that shows data in map form using different shapes and colors to show the relationship between pieces of data and specific locations. Learn more.

Infographic: A combination of visuals and words that represent data. Usually uses charts or diagrams.

Dashboards: A collection of visualizations and data displayed in one place to help with analyzing and presenting data. Learn more.

More specific examples

Area Map: A form of geospatial visualization, area maps are used to show specific values set over a map of a country, state, county, or any other geographic location. Two common types of area maps are choropleths and isopleths. Learn more.

Bar Chart: Bar charts represent numerical values compared to each other. The length of the bar represents the value of each variable. Learn more.

Box-and-whisker Plots: These show a selection of ranges (the box) across a set measure (the bar). Learn more.

Bullet Graph: A bar marked against a background to show progress or performance against a goal, denoted by a line on the graph. Learn more.

Gantt Chart: Typically used in project management, Gantt charts are a bar chart depiction of timelines and tasks. Learn more.

Heat Map: A type of geospatial visualization in map form which displays specific data values as different colors (this doesn't need to be temperatures, but that is a common use). Learn more.

Highlight Table: A form of table that uses color to categorize similar data, allowing the viewer to read it more easily and intuitively. Learn more.

Histogram: A type of bar chart that split a continuous measure into different bins to help analyze the distribution. Learn more.

Pie Chart: A circular chart with triangular segments that shows data as a percentage of a whole. Learn more.

Treemap: A type of chart that shows different, related values in the form of rectangles nested together. Learn more.

Visualization tools and software

There are dozens of tools for data visualization and data analysis. These range from simple to complex, from intuitive to obtuse. Not every tool is right for every person looking to learn visualization techniques, and not every tool can scale to industry or enterprise purposes. If you'd like to learn more about the options, feel free to read up here or dive into detailed third-party analysis like the Gartner Magic Quadrant.

Also, remember that good data visualization theory and skills will transcend specific tools and products. When you're learning this skill, focus on best practices and explore your own personal style when it comes to visualizations and dashboards. Data visualization isn't going away any time soon, so it's important to build a foundation of analysis and storytelling and exploration that you can carry with you regardless of the tools or software you end up using.

Learn more about data visualizations

If you're feeling inspired or want to learn more, there are tons of resources to tap into. Data visualization and data journalism are full of enthusiastic practitioners eager to share their tips, tricks, theory, and more.

Blogs about data visualization

See our list of great data visualization blogs full of examples, inspiration, and educational resources. The experts who write books and teach classes about the theory behind data visualization also tend to keep blogs where they analyze the latest trends in the field and discuss new vizzes. Many will offer critiques on modern graphics or write tutorials to create effective visualizations. Others will collect many different data visualizations from around the web in order to highlight the most intriguing ones. Blogs are a great way to learn more about specific subsets of data visualization or to look for relatable inspiration from well-done projects.
See our list of the best data visualization blogs.
Books about data visualization

Read our list of great books about data visualization theory and practice. While blogs can keep up with the changing field of data visualization, books focus on where the theory stays constant. Humans have been trying to present data in a visual form throughout our entire existence. One of the earlier books about data visualization, originally published in 1983, set the stage for data visualization to come and still remains relevant to this day. More current books still deal with theory and techniques, offering up timeless examples and practical tips. Some even take completed projects and present the visual graphics in book form as an archival display.
See our list of the best data visualization books.
Courses and Training

There are plenty of great paid and free courses and resources on data visualization out there, including right here on the Tableau website. There are videos, articles, and whitepapers for everyone from beginners to data rockstars. When it comes to third-party courses, however, we won't provide specific suggestions in this article at this time.
Explore Tableau's trainings.

Learn more about Academic Programs

When it comes to elevating people with the power of data, Tableau makes it easy to incorporate visual analytics into any curriculum. Our Academic Programs provides students and instructors around the world with free access to Tableau Desktop, Prep, and eLearning.

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What Is Data Visualization? Definition, Examples, And Learning Resources

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Data visualization is the graphical representation of information. It uses visual elements like charts to provide an accessible way to see and understand data.

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WRE Presentation Training Brief Programme

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Josh Ettinger says that screenwriting classes and a stint as a TV production intern have boosted his science-communication skills.

Josh Ettinger

Josh Ettinger is a PhD (DPhil) student in geography and the environment at the University of Oxford, UK.

In 2012, I started working as a production intern for the satirical US television programme The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, and then spent several years studying screenwriting in classes and workshops. I learnt at first hand the power of storytelling, not only for entertainment, but also for communicating science. Now, I tap into this experience all the time as a PhD student at the University of Oxford, UK.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-01731-9
This is an article from the Nature Careers Community, a place for Nature readers to share their professional experiences and advice. Guest posts are encouraged.

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Just like any other muscle, your vocal muscles need to be warmed up to work at their best. Vocal warm up is important for people whose career depends on their voice (singers, actors, TV and radio presenters), for occupational voice users (teachers, salespeople) and for anyone who is preparing to give a presentation or speech.

When you speak, you make sound in your larynx (voice box) with your vocal folds. Warming up stretches the vocal folds and increases blood flow to the larynx and other body parts including your lungs, lips and tongue. This reduces vocal fatigue and hoarseness when using your voice over long periods. It also lets you reach a wider range of pitch, which is important for elevating your speech.

In this article, we discuss why vocal warm up is important and explain several vocal exercises you can use before your speech or presentation. You should allow 15 minutes to perform a complete warm up and remember to keep well hydrated during the exercises.

Why is vocal warm up important for a speech?

Effective verbal communication depends not only on what you say, but how you say it. The content of what you say will be lost on the audience with a dull, monotonic presentation.

When we undergo physical activity, a warm up can prevent injury and long term damage to our bodies. The same is true for your voice - a short vocal warm up improves performance of the individual muscles of the thorax (chest), larynx and upper vocal tract (throat, mouth).

This improves the quality of the sound you make and helps the tone flow more naturally. It also helps prevent vocal injury when using your voice extensively.

Diagram showing the location of the vocal cords and larynx. These need to be warmed up before extensive use.
A vocal warm up balances the air pressure you are sending to your vocal chords, which makes it easy to talk through your different vocal registers (chest voice, mixed voice, and head voice). It builds a bridge between these vocal registers, enabling you to reach a much wider range of pitches and tones when speaking.

Vocal warm up exercises

Pay attention to your posture while you do these exercises. A relaxed posture is important for full and easy range of motion of the muscles and to fully support your breathing.

Warm Up #1: Jaw release

Reduces tension in the mouth and jaw area during speaking.

Place your palms on the sides of your face and slowly massage the jaw and cheek muscles with slow small circular motions

Continue to massage while lowering and raising your jaw

Add the sound - "mamamama" with a very light lip contact for the "m"

Change to "wawawawa" with very light lip round for a slightly distorted "w"

Warm Up #2: Lip trills

Release lip tension and connects your breathing and speaking.

Place your lips loosely together and release air in a steady stream to create a trill or raspberry sound

First try it on an "h" sound. Then repeat on a "b" sound

Hold the sound steady and keep the air moving past the lips

Next try to repeat the b-trill going slowly up and down the scales

Don't go beyond what is comfortable at the top or bottom of the scale

Warm Up #3: Tongue trill

Relaxes the tongue and engages your breathing and voice.

Lightly place your tongue tip behind your upper teeth and exhale while vibrating your tongue tip in a trill

Hold the sound steady and keep the breathing connected

Now try to vary the pitch up and down the scale while trilling

Again, don't push beyond what is comfortable at the top or bottom of your scale

Warm Up #4: Two octave scales

Stretches your vocal folds.

Start in a low pitch and slowly go up the scale on an "aa" sound

Don't push the top or bottom of your range but do try to increase the range gently each time you do the scales

Repeat a few times and then reverse direction, going from chest to head. Repeat using other vowels.

Vocal Warm-Up Exercises

A 5-minute strength training workout for your voice to get your ready for a presentation, singing, or any type of performance. Learn More

Warm Up #5: Lip buzzing

Improves the resonant focus of the sound and continues work with maximal stretch on the vocal folds.

Put you lips loosely together and exhale by vibrating your lips

Make sure to keep your tongue relaxed as you exhale

Repeat the inhaled yawn, and vocalize as you trill your lips

Repeat again, and sweep up in pitch then back down

If this begins to tickle your lips and nose, then you're doing it correctly

Warm Up #6: Humming

Highlights different vibrations in your lips, teeth and facial bones.

Begin with your lips gently closed with jaw released

Take an easy breath in and exhale while humming "hmmmm"

Repeat and change the "hmmmm" to "ahhhhh" halfway through the exhaled breath

Try to change nothing but the opening of the mouth

Warm Up #7: Breath support system

After a slow deep inhalation, expel sharply by contracting the abdominal muscles hard with a loud "huh"

The larynx and throat should stay relaxed and open

This is a difficult exercise and excellent focus must be maintained on separating the contractions of the abdominals with the maintenance of relaxed upper airway

As you improve your ability to perform this correctly, increase the speed and repetitions

Warm Up #8: Low-flow

Maintain a correct posture with low, relaxed shoulders

Inhale slowly and deeply (but be careful NOT to lock your shoulders at the top of the inhalation)

On the exhaled breath, repeat "hello" slowly - there should be little expelled air each time

Place your palm in front of your lips so you can feel the expelled air

Do not try to control the pitch, do not force the breath to come out

Experiment with varying the pitch as you repeat the exercise

Warm Up #9: Cool down

Don't forget your vocal cool down after a long speech or presentation. Humming is a great way to cool down the voice

Gently hum the sound "m", focussing on the vibration and sound on the lips

Perform this for a couple of minutes to cool down

For additional exercises, visit this article on vocal warm ups.

Example of a vocal warm up

In this video, titled: 'Here's how to warm up your voice before you speak', Virginia Tech Associate Professor Greg Justice gives some tips to warm up your voice and ace your presentation.

Using tongue twisters to improve articulation

Tongue twisters are a good way to extend your vocal range and warm up your tongue, mouth and lips. The aim is to say these sentences without extra tension in the tongue, lips, jaw or throat. Keep a good posture and full breath support when going through them.

Initially, do not try to control your pitch, but also make sure you do not get "locked in" to a narrow pitch range. As you warm up, vary the pitch and focus on different elements of your voice - for the three tongue twisters below, focus on either the tongue, lips or jaw for each one.

3 tongue twisters to use before a speech

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,

Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

Denise sees the fleece,

Denise sees the fleas.

At least Denise could sneeze

and feed and freeze the fleas.

One-one was a race horse.

Two-two was one too.

One-one won one race.

Two-two won one too.

Breathing exercises to enhance your voice

Taking the time to breath correctly when giving a presentation will help support your voice. Speaking without taking deep breaths can cause you to talk too quickly and sound rushed. We often do this when we are nervous.

Follow these steps to help improve your breathing:

Breathe deeply from your lower lungs - imagine a rubber ring around your waist (your diaphragm)

Breathe in and try to push the ring outwards

Breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth

When breathing out, slowly hold an "s" sound link in a hiss

Repeat again, counting from 1 to 5 as you exhale and varying the pitch

Avoid raising your shoulders as you breathe in - keep them relaxed and level

Relax - tension will prevent you from making a good sound

To practice breathing well, try lying on the floor on your back with your hands on your stomach. Breath in (inhale) and your hands will rise. Now breathe out (exhale) and they will lower. In this position it is very hard to breathe incorrectly. Practice breathing exercises regularly to improve your technique and build your lung capacity.

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Exercises to Warm up your Voice before a Speech - VirtualSpeech

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VirtualSpeech provides AI-powered soft skills training in virtual reality (VR) and online for presentation skills, public speaking, sales pitches, remote working, communication skills, and more.

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Have to confess I haven't read this (yet) but I've experienced Piero's workshop and it was great

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Buy Dancing in the Line of Fire by Vitelli, Piero (ISBN: 9781532946028) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

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Well, you get the point … :)

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Benjamin Goh (Goh as in "go", like Ben go to X location) 

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Benjamin Goh (Goh as in "go", like Ben go to X location) 

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Sara (couldn't come up with any hook, it's quite an easy name)

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Sara (couldn't come up with any hook, it's quite an easy name)

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Pronounced like "Muhammad Ali" the boxer.

I found the introduction very good. Thanks to your hint!

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Nearly 90 million people in the world have been forcibly displaced from their homes – that's 1 person in every 100 people. My research examines how we can best support displaced peoples' mental and emotional health in light of the trauma they have experienced when leaving their homes and homelands.

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Nearly 90 million people in the world have been forcibly displaced from their homes – that's 1 person in every 100 people. My research examines how we can best support displaced peoples' mental and emotional health in light of the trauma they have experienced when leaving their homes and homelands.

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My research examines the world history making of six historians at the University of Malaya. I study how their history making helps us to understand how postcolonial societies, like Malaya, construct new national identities through constructing cosmopolitan historical narratives. 

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My research examines the world history making of six historians at the University of Malaya. I study how their history making helps us to understand how postcolonial societies, like Malaya, construct new national identities through constructing cosmopolitan historical narratives. 

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In the 19th century, middle aged women who were admitted to asylums often had their mental illness attributed to the menopause. My research investigates this phenomenon of ' climacteric insanity'

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In the 19th century, middle aged women who were admitted to asylums often had their mental illness attributed to the menopause. My research investigates this phenomenon of ' climacteric insanity'

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I am assessing the built environment for physical activity

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I am assessing the built environment for physical activity

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Insufficient physical activity is one of the leading risk factors for death globally.

Not being active enough can cause serious health problems like heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Moving your body can help you stay healthy and avoid these problems.

Unfortunately, 1 out of every 4 adults in the world doesn't move enough to be healthy.

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Nation-states use culture as a tool to build national identities. Yet, despite decades of nation building, separatist "ethnic" identities still exist the world over. My research investigates the role of cultural memory and heritage in the bottom-up negotiation of ethnic identity in the Mediterranean island of Sardinia as opposed to Italian national identity. I am particularly interested in the strategies of remembering through which Sardinian-ness is maintained despite Italian nation-building policies. 

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Nation-states use culture as a tool to build national identities. Yet, despite decades of nation building, separatist "ethnic" identities still exist the world over. My research investigates the role of cultural memory and heritage in the bottom-up negotiation of ethnic identity in the Mediterranean island of Sardinia as opposed to Italian national identity. I am particularly interested in the strategies of remembering through which Sardinian-ness is maintained despite Italian nation-building policies. 

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Generating AI images ?! This one is a female climate activist!

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Generating AI images ?! This one is a female climate activist!

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The Doomsday Clock in 2023, announced by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

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The Doomsday Clock in 2023, announced by the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists

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90 seconds to midnight represents the closest point to the nuclear and ecological apocalypse since the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists began this exercise in public awareness in 1947.

How have we slept-walked into such precarity? What is the role of the visual media in sublimating this threat of the nuclear? What complexities are raised when nuclear energy is visualised as the "green" solution to the climate crisis?