Science and the Skeptic: Discerning Fact from Fiction: And why is there so much bad science?

Event time: 
January 30, 2023 - 1:00pm
Event description: 
ACS New Haven Talk
Dinner Provided
 
Date: February 6th
Time:  Check-in and Food 6:30-7:00 pm
Talk: 7:00-8:00 pm
Closing and Door Prizes: 8:00-8:15 pm
Location: Yale Sterling Chemistry Lab, 225 Prospect St, New Haven, CT, 06511
 
Cost: (No cost to attend virtually)
Students and Professors/Teachers: Free
Regular Members: $15
Retired Member/Spouse of Member: $10
Public: $20
 
If attending virtually, a zoom link will be sent out the day of the event.
 
About the Talk:
Science and the Skeptic: Discerning Fact from Fiction: And why is there so much bad science?
 
Science itself is never inherently bad or evil. However, it is easy to do sloppy science, misrepresent science, ignore racial and gender inequities in science or misuse science, and that is what I would call bad science. As science grows bigger and more powerful, these abuses escalate proportionally. This leads to mistrust of science at just the time when it is most important for scientists and nonscientists to find a consensus on sensitive issues. Some of the most crucial issues of our time―climate change, vaccines, and genetically modified organisms―have become prime targets for concerted disinformation campaigns. Fake news, pseudoscience, and quackery have spread through society from social media all the way to Congress. Where does it all come from?
 
Marc Zimmer is the Jean C. Tempel ’65 Professor of Chemistry at Connecticut College and the author of Science and the Skeptic: Discerning Fact from Fiction, The State of Science: What the Future Holds and the Scientists Making It Happen, Illuminating Diseases  and 3 other books for young adults. His writing has appeared in USA Today, Washington Post and the Boston Globe, and he has been interviewed and quoted in The Economist, Science and Nature.