Science, straight from the horse’s mouth…and by horse, we mean scientist.

Right…forgive us everyone, but we have to make this quick. Regular readers of Science Lite (…you poor, poor souls) will be used to their acerbic take on all things scientific.

But what do they know? Useless bunch of misanthropes that they are. So – spurred on by the air of change only a general election can inspire (...and the fact that they have just popped out to get some more doughnuts) we are staging a coup.

We are taking our moment to hijack this page to tell you about something quite fabulous. It is time to introduce you to Shout It Out.

Over the last few months we have been beavering away to construct a (…hopefully) beautiful new labnews website for your (…fingers crossed) enjoyment, and as part of it we have developed a place where you can showcase…well, yourself.

Science is worth shouting about – obviously – and it should be the scientists doing the shouting. So often it isn’t. Media types, marketing types, politician types, so many ‘types’ – all waxing lyrical about science – but not enough science types…which, when you think about it, is just mad.

Shout It Out will be a place where the public can come and be immersed in science with the people who know it best…scientists.

Which is where you come in. We want to hear from you, we want you to, in a word, (three, actually) shout it out. It could be based on your own work, something topical that you think needs saying or just science you are completely in love with. Basically we want to support and showcase science communication talent in the scientific community. Even if you don’t know you have communication talent yet, we want you to try anyway. Why? Well, here are some things we know:

1. Scientific outreach, public engagement or whatever else you choose to call it (…‘dropping a SCIbomb’ being our current favourite) is an increasingly important part of a scientist’s life. You are encouraged more and more to talk about your work in an accessible way – indeed some of your grants will even have a component of outreach work written into them.

2. IT SHOULD BE an important part of a scientist’s life! The work you do is vital, interesting and impactful…and you should be telling the world about this. Not just the lovely people at that conference you went to last year…but the World, THE WORLD WE SAY!

3. The public appetite for all things science has never been bigger. They are RAVENOUS…so who should they turn to? …it’s YOU! (Obviously…you got that, right?) The best people to talk about science are the people actually doing it.

4. Many in the scientific community want to engage with the public and discuss their work. And many do so, brilliantly. BUT let’s not pretend this is easy. Hell no, it is a specific and distinct skill set and we think there is a need for a community based site which allows everyone – experienced and unpolished alike – to upload work firstly just to ‘get it out there’, secondly to allow constructive feedback by like-minded people and thirdly to allow the public into your rather fantastic world of research.

5. There is no ‘5’, but people LOVE lists and we couldn't stop at 4.

And with that we must dash. The ‘liters are back, and they have jest fed…this is when they are at their most dangerous…

So…thinking caps on, we want videos, articles, blog pieces, presentations…basically anything we can accommodate on the site. Get uploading (it’s free) and we will then do our darndest to get as many people as we can to your content. If you are an experienced outreacher, or a total newbie, this really is worth doing. It will take a little while, but with your help we want to build a vital resource for the public, the media, kids…in fact anyone with a healthy dose of curiosity.

Visit the Shout It Out tab at http://www.labnews.co.uk/shout-it-out/ (if it isn’t live as you read this, it will be very soon, so check back) and follow the instructions – it really is easy.