Guest Thinkers — August 16, 2010

Wisconsin/Minneapolis Area Talk: Consensus and Conflict in Communicating about Science

For readers in the Madison-to-Minneapolis region, on Thurs. March 27 I will be giving a talk at the University of Wisconson-Eau Claire. I will be covering much of the same ground that was featured on the two AAAS panels I appeared on earlier this month.

In the talk, not only will I be focusing on the need for new directions in communicating about evolution but also in the area of climate change (see this column for a preview on that latter topic.) In fact, there are many parallels between the two issues in how polarizing communication strategies keep us from making progress.

The talk starts at 7pm and will be in Phillips Hall 007. The event is sponsored by the Departments of English, Physics and Astronomy, the Earth Science Seminar Series, and the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs. A campus map is here.

On March 10 and March 31, I will also be giving talks at UC Berkeley and Princeton University respectively. Details on those events will be forthcoming next week.

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

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7 min

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with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

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