Stop using stylised italics (Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols) in scientific social media posts.

Today I published the Inaccessible Science ♿️ feed for Bluesky.

It highlights scientific posts that use stylised characters, specifically those from the Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols Unicode block—in ways that make content less accessible to users with access needs who are using assistive technology.

It’s not about aesthetics or personal preference — it’s about access. And it’s not about shaming, but raising awareness and asking for more accountability from publishers.

Many genuinely don't know these characters are inaccessible.

But for organisations with accessibility policies and public responsibilities, ignorance isn't an excuse.

Why is this a problem?

Publishers and science communicators often use Unicode characters for scientific names, formulae, and terminology on social media.

These characters are part of a Unicode range intended for mathematical notation in technical contexts — not for general writing or visual flair.

To a sighted user, these characters look like italicised or stylised text. But for some assistive technologies (screen readers, text-to-speech converters), each symbol is read aloud as its full Unicode name.

So, instead of hearing a species name like 'Rhynchocypris percnurusis' a screen reader user may hear

Mathematical Italic Capital R, Mathematical Italic Small H, Mathematical Italic Small Y…

A species name that takes 2 seconds to read visually becomes a torturous 30-second character-by-character spelling bee.

In many cases, assistive tech fails to recognise these symbols at all, skipping them entirely. Important information becomes fragmented or unintelligible or get lost entirely.

Why It Matters

This is a basic issue of access and inclusion.

This practice makes reading scientific content needlessly difficult or impossible to access for visually impaired researchers and science enthusiasts who rely on tools to consume content.

Many of the organisations using these stylised characters:

Receive public funding that carry accessibility obligations

Operate under legal frameworks such as the ADA , EAA , or WCAG

Publish accessibility policies or VPATs

Actively promote diversity and inclusion in STEM

The styled Unicode characters add nothing except aesthetic flair, at the cost of excluding anyone using assistive technology, presumably without realising it.

The Solution

To editors, social media managers and science communicators: your peers with access needs deserve to engage with your content.

On platforms like Bluesky, where formatting options are limited, the answer is simple: stop using Mathematical Alphanumeric Symbols and just use plain text!

It’s more-readable, searchable, and inclusive.