“We are story-telling animals. Well-told stories, whether real or fictional, engage and move us. We remember them along with the lessons they contain, and we pass them on to others. Consequently, personal narratives or topic-centered narratives can very be effective tools for communicating ‘dry’ scientific facts and ideas to a lay public. But, perhaps surprisingly, narrative is also a dominant form of communication within science. New scientific data and discoveries are commonly presented in the context of ‘a good story’. Dr Rørth's talk will focus mainly on this use of narrative - in primary scientific papers - stories of true discoveries, but not necessarily true stories of discovery.