There is a longstanding and intimate relationship between myths and the Earth. Myths represent human beings in childhood when a primitive language made of symbols transmitted the wisdom necessary to live in harmony with nature. Today science uses mainly the language of data. Nevertheless, myths and legends are still popular and part of our culture, and the Earth sciences remain confined mostly to the world of scientists. This paper is an attempt, from the perspective of science communication, to provide a theory that uses myths and legends to stimulate the curiosity of the man in the street about the planet we live on. Recent studies have demonstrated that fictional stories can be used to convey science to the general public in an accurate, memorable and enjoyable way. Following these ideas, we believe that myths can be a useful tool for Earth science studies, learning and popularization.

Studies have shown that narrative is a valid tool to transmit science in a school context. We explored science theatre to promote earthquake knowledge and risk preparedness by readapting an old legend describing the 1908 Messina earthquake into a script, which was then performed in a primary school. We evaluated the experience designing a questionnaire inspired by the Düss Fairy Tales method and a semistructured questionnaire. Preliminary results strongly encourage science theatre as a means to transfer knowledge and open new opportunities to use this method as an agent of change in behavior before and during an earthquake.

The present paper describes an experience of science theatre addressed to children of primary and secondary school, with the main purpose of making them acquainted with a topic, the interior of the Earth, largely underestimated in compulsory school curricula worldwide. A not less important task was to encourage a positive attitude towards natural hazards that are here presented as an expression of our planet vitality. We conducted the experience with the help of a theatrical company specialized in shows for children, trying to merge scientific accuracy, entertainment and ethical issues. Several performances have been reiterated in different context, giving us the opportunity of conducting a preliminary survey with a public of different ages, skills and expectations. Results suggest that science theatre, while relying on creativity and emotional learning has the potential to raise children interest on the process of making science, on natural phenomena and may trigger a positive attitude on natural disasters reduction best practices.

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<p>This study takes a soft scientific cut to talks about rumors, hoaxes and urban legends. Social psychology, more elegantly, uses the latin word rumor (rumour in British English), which means sound, voice, or gossip. In social, economical, political, cultural and scientific communication, rumors indicate news that is presumed true, that circulates without being confirmed or made evident. The scientific history of rumors is briefly described starting from the period of ancient Rome, throughout the Second World War and the Internet era, up to today. We will try to answer some questions that can be useful to scientists today. What are rumors? How are they born? How do they spread? By which laws are they regulated? How do we need to fight them? A final question regards the collocation of rumors into modern science. Science today is divided into ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ science (the latter of which generally lacks a basic mathematical structure); these terms, respectively, indicate the natural sciences, which investigate Nature, and the social/human sciences, which investigate man in all his facets. Maybe rumors can be thought of as a bridge suspended between two banks: those of ‘scientific truth’ and ‘human truth’.</p>