but not policy-prescriptive 6 . We would therefore expect SPMs to reflect these principles by adopting a clear and neutral language that can be understood by a non-specialist audience.At the same time, it is of crucial importance how the print media interpret the results presented by the IPCC, as pivotal agents in science communication 7 to the general public.Previous research has focused on the way in which IPCC probabilistic statements are interpreted 8,9 , and on the discursive construction of the IPCC in national newspapers 10 and social media coverage 11,12 , including the influence of grammatical and word choices 13 .The purpose of this study is to analyse the language that has been used in IPCC SPMs as well as a sample of popular science journals and UK and US national (quality and tabloid) newspapers on the launch of the IPCC assessment reports (N = 1,010; see Supplementary WG2 and WG3 show clear downward trends, whereas readability of WG1 SPMs remains relatively stable over time. In line with previous studies 22 , these differences between working groups show that natural sciences are not necessarily the most difficult ones to communicate to general audiences.In addition to the link between scientific fields and writing styles, another more pragmatic reason could be that WG2 and WG3 are much more diverse in terms of the scientific fields they draw from than the relatively homogeneous WG1 23 . Likewise, findings from WG2 and WG3 might be exposed more directly to pressures arising from the remit to be policyrelevant but policy-neutral 6 . This diversity of scientific fields and policy implications might result in a greater need to compromise, in turn resulting in longer and more complex 5 sentences. The AR5 WG3 SPM is the least readable document across the entire sample with a Flesch Reading Ease score of 6.7.A different pattern can be identified in the readability of synthesis reports (SYR) over time.Again, the AR1 synthesis report shows the highest readability score. However, readability drops sharply in AR2 and subsequently recovers in AR3 and in particular AR4, albeit remaining at a level that is lower than in AR1. There is another sharp drop in readabilityThe average readability score across the three Working Groups for each assessment report is very close to the readability score of the Synthesis SPM for each assessment report. This observation is consistent with the fact that the Synthesis report draws most of its text from the other WGs SPMs.The readability of Technical Summaries (TSs), pre-plenary and post-plenary SPMs for each WG in AR4 and AR5 were compared (Figure 3). TSs are intended to capture the most important scientific aspects of the full Working Group Assessment Report; they are longer than SPMs and include pointers to the chapters and sections where the full assessment can be found 24 . The pre-plenary SPM is a confidential draft that is sent to governments for a final review a few months before the WG and IPCC session that approves and accepts the SPM (thus making it post-plenary...

We apply a mixed-method design centred on the deployment of metaphors to explore the role that language plays in the structuring of the public discourses of unconventional hydrocarbon development (UHD) across three major developed economies. We analyse UHD-related metaphorical devices deployed in broadsheet newspapers in Australia, the UK and the USA between January 2006 and May 2018. We develop an innovative Type Hierarchy Approach to metaphors by mapping through directed graph hierarchies. These allow concept-mapping analysis in terms of supertypes and subtypes, i.e. concepts ordered in terms of generality and inclusion as in Òrapid expansionÓ-> ÒexplosionÓ. We find two broad discourses, each containing metaphorical constructions: economic gain across temporal horizons (incorporating boom, bonanza, revolution and death metaphors); and risk tolerance and decision-making (incorporating gamble and insanity metaphors). At the level of individual metaphors, deployment trends and patterns can be mapped along country borders rather than for example political alignment. Boom and bonanza appear most widespread in the USA, whereas UHD as a revolution is more closely associated with UK newspapers. Over time, UHD-related metaphor use decreases in all three countries, potentially reflecting an increasing public acceptance of UHD and moving shale gas from unconventional to conventional hydrocarbon development.

Kuhn made two attempts at providing an evolutionary analogy for scientific change. The first attempt, in The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, is very brief and unstructured; in this article I discuss some of its weaknesses. Alexander Bird takes this attempt more seriously and provides a criticism based on oversimplified evolutionary assumptions. These assumptions prove to be inadequate for the second, more articulate, evolutionary analogy suggested by Kuhn in “The Road since Structure.” I argue, however, that this second Kuhnian attempt is undermined by his inadequate view of biological progress and by his misunderstanding of the concept of ecological niche.

Nuclear power plays an important but controversial role in policies to ensure domestic energy security, fuel poverty reduction and the mitigation of climate change. Our article construes the problem of nuclear power in terms of social discourse, language and public choice; specifically examining the role that metaphors play in the policy domain. We empirically analyze metaphors as framing devices in nuclear energy policy debates in the UK between April 2009 and March 2013, thereby capturing the impact of the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011. We employ documentary analysis of major UK national broadsheet and tabloid newspapers, using electronic bibliographic tools to extract the metaphors. We then map these metaphors using a Type Hierarchy Analysis, which examines how elements of the target domain (energy technologies and policies) originate from a different source domain. Type hierarchies identify and categorize metaphors, defining the affectual and emotional responses associated with them, providing us with grounded insight into their role in shaping discourse and as a consequence influence public engagement with energy policy. Our analysis highlights three emergent domains of discourse metaphors and discusses the implications of their deployment. Metaphors were found to be classified into three different categories: Rebirth (Renaissance), Devastation (Apocalypse, Inferno, Genie and Bomb) and Sickness (Addiction and Smoking). ARTICLE HISTORY

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