Sometimes it is great to judge a book by its cover! You may have noticed that the number of cover stories in popular news magazines such as Time and Newsweek and US News and World Report featuring behavior seems to have increased, addressing such topics as research & education, sex differences in cognition, memory, aging, positive psychology, mental health research and more. And it's mot just magazines -- PBS's new SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN FRONTIERS hosted by Alan Alda recently featured social and cognitive psychology research on prejudice and moral reasoning and decision making as part the series explorations "from the depths of the conscious mind to the outer reaches of the universe."

Such visibility in the public eye is important to acknowledge and to support. Public understanding of the content and value of psychology research and application benefits society in fostering behavior-related questions and interventions; public understanding benefits the discipline in assuring support for research funds and programs; and public excitement about doing

psychology research and application helps feed the student pipeline. In these times of gloomy and uncertain funding predictions and a "graying" of the profession, it is more crucial than ever before to identify psychology as the science with "news you can use."

Reaching the public is of course a central part of APA's activities, and is accomplished on a regular basis through press releases, web information and public outreach. This year it is featured as one of APA President Ron Levant's initiatives -- "making psychology a household word". An initiative by former APA President Phil Zimbardo began the Psychology Matters website (www.psychologymatters.org) where you and the public can find examples of research that has made a difference, presented in engaging vignettes; the Decade of Behavior's Behavior Matters booklets celebrate the contributions of research to the decade's themes of health, safety, democracy, prosperity and education, and past President Dianne Halpern's translation project (http://www.understandingprejudice.org/apa/) presents psychology materials in many languages. It is also one of the central themes in APA's Policy and Planning Board's recent report to the APA Council of Representatives.

Reaching the public is also one goal of Psy21, BSA's (APA Board of Scientific Affairs) and the Science Directorate's new initiative to prepare psychology for the 21st Century. Part of that effort will be focused on direct outreach to the public -- especially including policy makers and school children, and part will be focused inside the discipline to foster the idea that translating our research into everyday language and everyday parlance is an important responsibility of every researcher, and an important part of research training. Not every scientist can be a popular writer, just as not every writer will write about science, but we can all help create a happy synergy by making sure that examples of research "facts" and applications are readily available, and that we share effective ways to reach the public. We need your help in this effort -- please let us know your favorite "news you can use" examples; please end us your examples of effective public outreach; please let us know how you convince your undergraduates (or your grandmother!) that psychology has direct relevance to their lives; please let us know how you engage your students in public outreach. Send us your examples at science@apa.org !