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Legends, Hoaxes, Frauds, and “Frauds” of Science

Featuring: 
Eugenie C. Scott, Ph.D.
Eugenie C. Scott

Date: 
June 15, 2013
Location: 
Doubletree Berkeley Marina
Berkeley, California


Perhaps because of its existential implications, the science of evolution has been particularly fraught with accusations of fraud and misbehavior. Far more people have heard about the famous Piltdown Man hoax than, say, the Midwife Toad hoax. SkeptiCal13 logoWe have no evidence that paleoanthropologists are any more likely to play games with the truth than herpetologists – although they certainly get more publicity! But there is a difference between actual fraud in a science and accusations of fraud, and certainly for evolutionary science, creationist accusations overwhelm reality. In this presentation I will talk about actual scientific fraud, such as Piltdown and “Archaeoraptor”, and also erroneous claims of fraud made by creationists, such as the peppered moth “fraud.”

For more information: 
visit the SkeptiCal Conference website.

Exploring climate change denial in the face of reality

Featuring: 
Peter M.J. Hess, Ph.D.
Peter Hess, Ph.D.
Time: 
2:00pm
Date: 
May 16, 2013
Location: 
Las Trampas Room
Hillside Clubhouse
Rossmoor
3400 Lower Golden Rain Rd.
Walnut Creek, California

Sponsored by the
SF Bay Area Atheists, Agnostics, Freethinkers & Skeptics

For more information: 
Visit the Meetup announcement

Can you be a better skeptic than a 6th grader? Testing Claims of the Paranormal

Featuring: 
Eugenie C. Scott, Ph.D.
Eugenie C. Scott
Time: 
7:30pm
Date: 
May 8, 2013
Location: 
La Peña Cultural Center
3105 Shattuck Avenue
Berkeley, California

Bring your inner sixth grader to a meeting of the Bay Area Skeptics! Good teachers have used claims of the Bay Area Skeptics logoparanormal to teach scientific reasoning to elementary and middle school students. Join Bay Area Skeptics as Dr. Scott guides you in formulating experiments to test paranormal claims. Audience participation required! (No actual sixth graders will be harmed in this demonstration.)


This presentation is a
SkepTalk
sponsored by the
Bay Area Skeptics

For more information: 
see the Bay Area Skeptics Event List

Science Education under Assault: Stopping Anti-Science Legislation in its Tracks

Featuring: 
Minda Berbeco, NCSE; Michael Gamel-McCormick, Senate HELP Committee; Barry Kosmin, Trinity College; MODERATOR: Kelly Damerow, Secular Coalition for America
Minda Berbeco, Ph.D.
Time: 
9:15am
Date: 
April 25, 2013
Location: 
Hyatt Regency Washington on Capitol Hill
400 New Jersey Avenue NW
Washington, DC

Anti-science legislation is sweeping the nation. Bills that aim to insert so-called “Intelligent Design” theology into public school curricula have been proposed in more than a dozen states. Particularly dangerous, these bills attempt to undermine scientific research by creating a false sense of Secular Coalition For Americacontroversy around accepted scientific theories such as evolution by natural selection. And the push against science doesn’t stop at evolution—it also affects areas such as sex education. Taxpayers are footing the bill for religious indoctrination not only through public schools, but via voucher programs and tuition tax credits. What can be done to protect science education in our schools at the federal level? What can concerned citizens do within the states? And what’s the best way to halt the continued public funding of religion and stop anti-science legislation?


Sponsored by the
Secular Coalition for America

For more information: 
visit the Secular Coalition for America website

Trickle down science denial, from the politics to the classroom

Featuring: 
Minda Berbeco, Ph.D.
Minda Berbeco, Ph.D.
Time: 
1:29pm
Date: 
April 21, 2013
Location: 
3rd Floor Meeting Room
Berkeley Main Library
2090 Kittredge Street
Berkeley, California

Dr. Berbeco will present on the topic of climate change denial, attempts to undermine the science East Bay Atheistsin public schools and the challenges ahead. She will address the recent legislative session which saw 8 bills introduced since January across the country to undermine science education, as well as current bills that are already in place. In addition, she will discuss popular science denial curriculum that is being disseminated to schools and how it undermines quality education. Last, she will talk about what citizens, parents, teachers and administrators can do to support quality science education.


Sponsored by the
East Bay Atheists

For more information: 
please see the Meetings page of the East Bay Atheists

Climate Change and Science Denial

Featuring: 
Minda Berbeco, Ph.D.
Minda Berbeco, Ph.D.
Time: 
6:30pm
Date: 
April 15, 2013
Location: 
Redwood City Library
1044 Middlefield Road
Redwood City, California

Though the scientific Loma Prieta Sierra Club logoconsensus around climate change is clear, the public remains skeptical making it challenging for educators to teach well-established, peer-reviewed science to their students. Worse yet, “Academic Freedom” Bills are being introduced on the state-level to undermine quality science education under the guise of “critical thinking”. Find out more about the state of science denial in our country, how legislation is attempting to undermine science education and what you can do to help support stronger science education in the U.S.


Sponsored by the
Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club


For more information: 
visit the Loma Prieta Chapter of the Sierra Club website

Creationism Evolves: Anti-evolution 'Academic Freedom' Legislation

Featuring: 
Steven Newton
Steven Newton
Time: 
3:00pm
Date: 
April 14, 2013
Location: 
Audre Lorde Room (upstairs)
Women's Building
3543 18th (at Valencia)
San Francisco, California

Following their victory in the Scopes Trial, creationists have suffered a string of unequivocal court defeats -- the Epperson v. Arkansas case, which overturned bans on teaching evolution, the Edwards v. Aguillard case, which ruled out 'equal time for creationism' requirements, and the Atheist Advocates of San Francisco logoKitzmiller v. Dover case, which ruled "intelligent design" to be just another form of creationism. Creationists have responded to these setbacks by intelligently crafting a new strategy: encouraging sympathetic state legislators to introduce anti-evolution legislation under the pretense of 'academic freedom.' Such bills twist the meaning of academic freedom to give legal cover for creationist teachers to use their public school classrooms as a personal pulpit from which to proselytize to a captive audience of students. Newton will show the origins of such bills, how they are distributed to legislators by creationist organizations, and explain why the carefully-crafted language in 'academic freedom' bills says one thing, but means quite another. Newton will outline ways for local pro-science organizations to resist this trend and keep public school classrooms free from creationist attacks on science.


Talk sponsored by the
Atheist Advocates of San Francisco

$6 Admission


For more information: 
visit: http://atheistadvocatesofsanfrancisco.com/meetings.html

What the New Tennessee “Academic Freedom Act” Means to YOU

Featuring: 
Eugenie C. Scott, Ph.D.
Eugenie C. Scott
Time: 
5:30pm
Date: 
April 10, 2013
Location: 
122 Greve Hall
821 Volunteer Boulevard
University of Tennessee
Knoxville, Tennessee

In 2012 the Tennessee legislature passed an “Academic Freedom Act” which called for teaching the “strengths and weaknesses” of allegedly controversial subjects such as University of Tennessee logoevolution, global warming, origin of life, and human cloning. Rather than being just a Tennessee oddity, more than 40 of these laws have cropped up in state legislatures in every region of the country. Because they are patently injurious to science education, citizens need to oppose the passage of these bills — as well as contend for a basic level of science literacy that would make such bills impossible to contemplate. K-12 teachers who attend will have the chance to sign up to receive a free copy of Carl Zimmer's The Tangled Bank: An Introduction to Evolution (Roberts and Company, 2010), courtesy of NCSE and Roberts and Company Publishers.


A talk for science teachers
Sponsored by the
University of Tennessee VolsTeach Program

Evolution in American Education: What, Exactly, Is So Controversial?

Featuring: 
Eric Meikle, Ph.D.
Eric Meikle, Ph.D.
Time: 
6:00pm
Date: 
April 10, 2013
Location: 
Student Center - Grand Ballroom
Stephen F. Austin State University
Nacogdoches, Texas


What is the status of evolution in American Stephen F Austin University logoeducation today? Is there, as so many people think, really a controversy surrounding this subject? And if there is, what exactly is the actual topic of that controversy? What is the history of public opposition to evolution education in America? What form does current anti-evolution activity take, and what can we expect in the future?



This lecture is part of the
School of Honors Wisely Speaker series

Climate of Doubt

Mark McCaffrey
Time: 
7:00pm
Date: 
April 4, 2013
Location: 
Room 110
Forum Building
Modesto Junior College
435 College Avenue
Modesto, California

In the 2012 documentary Climate PBS Climate of Doubtof Doubt, a PBS Frontline correspondent investigates recent shifts in the climate change debate and looks especially at the funding, the organized efforts, and the ideology behind the denialist movement.

Mark McCaffrey will lead a discussion session following the video.

This presentation is part of the
Modesto Junior College
Spring Film & Lecture Series

Free and open to the public

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