[sachkris]

This sounds like a good idea. But, it may not be possible in most of the hard sciences. Imagine writing an 800-word layman's summary for some results in string theory.

[vacri]

By 'most of the hard sciences', you seem to have chosen a sliver of one of the hard sciences, which plenty of people in that science think is just smoke and mirrors. If a 'general audience abstract' is a good idea, it shouldn't be balked at because of a single theoretical field which is quite controversial. Let other journals handle those papers :)

[digi_owl]

Unless string theory all of a sudden gained everyday applications i think i would aim for fields like biology, chemistry and similar first.

[collyw]

Yes, biology makes the most sense, as thats usually what gets "translated" to clickbait style headlines like "Quinoa cures cancer".

[digi_owl]

This week i read a headline that could be interpreted as saying green tea would prevent zika infections.

In reality it was a chemical of some sort found in green tea (and elsewhere) that seemed to counteract zika. But it required concentrations that you would never find in nature.