NCAS's monthly free talk will take place this Saturday, February 14,
1:30 PM at the National Science Foundation, room 110.  The NSF address
is 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA.  As always, full info can be
found at www.ncas.org .

This talk, presented by Dr. Dennis McBride, first reviews some of the
least known but important elements of Charles Darwin’s portfolio as he
published “Origins” in 1859, and “Descent of Man” in 1871. (For
example, Darwin was, fortunately for us, very prone to sea sickness.)
Focusing on the evolution of humanity and on natural selection’s
counterpart, sexual selection, Darwin’s 1871 book re-fueled a
firestorm, one that still burns today. Poll numbers show that a
significant proportion of today’s population does not accept Darwinism
as applied to humans. Darwin foresaw and actually embraced this
resistance. More importantly, a significant proportion of adults,
including academics, accept human evolution but eschew the idea of a
DNA-supported (i.e., not genetically determined) “human nature.” At
least three evolved characteristics of human evolution make the species
very different from its closest relatives: the opposable thumb,
bipedalism, and the encephalized brain (which increased in size by a
factor of 3 over the past few million years). Dr. McBride will touch on
interesting examples of evolved human nature, including pregnancy
sickness and male preference for mates with certain waist/hip ratios.
With these, we will examine the way in which the realities of
bipedalism and encephalization explain birth-related injury, and how
this consideration undermines one of the most troublesome socio-legal
myths of our time: the myth of shaken baby syndrome.

Dennis K.
McBride, Ph.D. is Academic President of the Potomac Institute for
Policy Studies, a Washington area think tank dedicated to the provision
of science and technology policy expertise to the administration,
congress, and the judiciary. Members of the Institute remain actively
engaged in the scientific disciplines for which they provide expertise.
McBride is an evolutionary psychologist with an extensive background in
the science of human evolution. His most recent book, Quantifying Human
Information Processing (Rowman & Littlefield) is followed by a soon
to be released, co-authored treatment of Best Available Science. As an
active adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University’s medical school
and Public Policy Institute, he has also held appointments as professor
in colleges of engineering and arts and sciences.

The NSF is one
block south of the Ballston-Marymount University metro stop on the
Orange Line. For most drivers the easiest route is to exit Route 66
onto Fairfax Dr. eastbound to N. Stuart Street. Enter the NSF building
at the corner of N. Stuart Street and 9th St. N. Parking is available
in the Ballston Common mall, in the NSF building, and at other area
parking lots and garages. Metered parking is also available on the
surrounding streets.

NCAS will be presenting a talk entitled "How Statistics Are Misunderstood in the Media and Society" on January 10, 2009 at the National Science Foundation in Arlington, VA (4301 Wilson Blvd., Room 110) at 1:30 pm.  There will be refreshments served after the talk. The talk is free and open to the public.

Dr. Rebecca Goldin is Director of Research for the Statistical Assessment Service (stats.org), a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization affiliated with George Mason University. STATS' mission is to improve the quality of scientific and statistical information in public discourse and to act as a resource for journalists and policy makers on scientific issues and controversies. STATS' work has been featured on NBC Nightly News, the News Hour with Jim Lehrer, and ABC's 20/20 - and in print by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, US News & World Report, New Scientist, New England Journal of Medicine, and many other publications.

Dr. Goldin is Associate Professor of Mathematical Sciences at George Mason University, and a member of the Science Policy Committee of the American Mathematical Society. She received her undergraduate degree from Harvard, and her PhD from MIT. She taught at University of Maryland as a National Science Foundation postdoctoral fellow before joining George Mason in 2001. In 2007 she was the first recipient of the Ruth I. Michler Memorial Prize, which honors outstanding young women in the field of mathematics.

* NSF is one block south of the Ballston-Marymount University metro stop on the Orange Line. For most drivers the easiest route is to exit Route 66 onto Fairfax Dr. eastbound to N. Stuart Street. Enter the NSF building at the corner of N. Stuart Street and 9th St. N. Parking is available in the Ballston Common mall, in the NSF building, and at other area parking lots and garages. Metered parking is also available on the surrounding streets.

What is Drinking Skeptically, you may ask? (You are a skeptic after all, questions are expected.) Drinking Skeptically is an informal social event designed to promote fellowship and networking among skeptics, critical thinkers, and like-minded individuals. It provides an opportunity for skeptics to talk, share ideas (and yes, drink) in a casual, relaxed atmosphere. We discuss the issues of the day and whatever else is on our minds. But most of all, we have fun while promoting skepticism, science, and rationality. Don't drink? Don't let that stop you from joining us! Some of the world's most famous skeptics are teetotalers, and we are happy to have you! Remember that drinking skeptically means drinking responsibly. If there's one thing science has taught us, it's the effects of alcohol on the human body.

When: December 10, 7:00 PM
Where: Jackie's Restaurant, 8081 Georgia Avenue, Silver Spring, MD

http://www.jackiesrestaurant.com
http://www.drinkingskeptically.org

NCAS will be hosting a talk that is free and open to the public this Saturday, October 11 from 1:30 - 4:00 at the Bethesda Public Library (7400 Arlington Road, Bethesda, MD).

Most people think that there are only two sexes, that these two sexes are easy to distinguish, and that gender is just another word for sex. None of these beliefs are true. This talk will explain the confusion, demonstrate the distinctions, and clarify the differences between Sexual Identity, Sexual Orientation, Gender Expression, and Gender Identity.

(*) Parking at the library is free, but you must enter your parking space number into a kiosk in the lobby. Parking is automatically validated for two hours -- no need to return to your car. Your parking validation is extended for two hours each time your parking space number is entered at the kiosk.

NCAS will be hosting a free talk by Stuart Jordan on May 10, 2:00 PM at the Bethesda Library.  Stuart Jordan is an Emeritus senior staff scientist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. During this talk, he will present scientific evidence that supports the existence of global warming and the anthropogenic drivers of the phenomenon.

The talk is free and open to the public.

More info at www.ncas.org .

(*) Prior Registration Required For This Event -- But It Is Easy !
Non-NSF employees must register in advance for a guest badge for this event. By April 16, send an email to ncas-april18@ncas.org (or call 301 587-3827) giving the first and last name of each attendee and optionally their organizational affiliation for their guest badge.

Registered guests enter the NSF building at the corner of 9th St. N and N Stuart Streets by 12:45 pm and show a photo ID to pickup your guest badge; then proceed past security to Room 375 for seating by 1 pm.

Over the coming decades, as society faces major collective choices on issues such as climate change, biomedical research, and nanotechnology, scientists and their organizations will need to work together with the public to formulate effective policies and to resolve disputes. A major challenge for scientists will be to craft communication efforts that are sensitive to how diverse audiences process messages, but also to the way science is portrayed across types of media. In these efforts, scientists should adopt a language that emphasizes shared values and has broad appeal, avoiding the pitfall of seeming to condescend to fellow citizens or alienating them by attacking their beliefs. Part of this process includes "framing" an issue in ways that remain true to the science but that make the issue more personally meaningful, thereby potentially sparking greater interest or acceptance.

Matthew C. Nisbet, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor in the School of Communication at American University. As a social scientist he studies the nature and impacts of strategic communication in policy debates. His current work focuses on scientific and environmental controversies, examining the interactions between experts, journalists, and various publics. In this research, Nisbet examines how news coverage reflects and shapes policy, how strategists try to mold public opinion, and how citizens make sense of controversies.

NSF is one block south of the Ballston-Marymount University metro stop on the Orange Line. For most drivers, Route 66 to Fairfax Dr. to Stuart Dr is the easiest route. Parking is available in the Ballston Common mall, in the NSF building, and at other area parking lots and garages. Metered parking is also available on the surrounding streets.

The Lingering Death of Superstition

Saturday, March 8, 2 - 4 pm (Flyer)
Public & Free

Presented by
Robert L. Park, Ph.D.
Former University of Maryland Physics Department Chair

National Science Foundation, Room 110
4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA

At this event, Professor Park will receive the 2008 NCAS Philip J. Klass Award for his outstanding contributions in promoting critical thinking and scientific understanding.

There was a total eclipse of the Sun on May 28,585 B.C. What distinguished this particular occultation of the Sun by the Moon was that it had been predicted. The discovery of "The Law of Cause and Effect" by Thales of Melitus is often taken as the birth of science. It should also have marked the death of superstition. Why it did not is the subject of this talk.

Robert L. Park is a professor of physics and former chair of the Department of Physics at the University of Maryland. He divides his time between the University and the Washington, DC office of the American Physical Society, which he opened in 1982.

Author of more than a hundred technical papers on the structure and properties of single-crystal surfaces, Professor Park now devotes himself to helping the public distinguish genuine scientific advances from foolish and fraudulent claims. A frequent guest on news programs, he posts "What's New, "a provocative and widely-read weekly column on the internet (www.bobpark.org), and is the author of Voodoo Science: the Road from Foolishness to Fraud.

NSF is one block south of the Ballston-Marymount University metro stop on the Orange Line. For most drivers, Route 66 to Fairfax Dr. to Stuart Dr is the easiest route. Enter NSF from the corner of 9th St. N and N Stuart Streets. Room 110 is on the left before the entry guard -- you do not need to go through NSF security. Parking is available in the Ballston Common mall, in the NSF building, and at other area parking lots and garages. Metered parking is also available on the surrounding streets. (NSF Visitor Info)

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We're hearing that the proposed date of the debate is April 18, 2008, but no date has been announced yet on the sciencedebate2008.org web site.

Postmodernism vs. Science vs. Fundamentalism

Saturday, February 9, 2 - 4 pm
Public & FREE

Stephen Brush, D. Phil.

National Science Foundation, Room 110
4201 Wilson Boulevard, Arlington, VA

Was Thomas Kuhn a social constructionist? Who won the Science Wars, and was the victory the result of a "Trojan Horse" trick? (Think: Stephen Colbert with a Ph.D. in physics.)

In the last quarter of the 20th century, two movements attacked science. Postmodernism, fashionable in academic humanities departments, inspired the doctrine of "social construction of scientific knowledge" (hereafter "social con"), advocated by some sociologists and historians of science. The recrudescence of religious fundamentalism supported the revival of creationism, which opposed and tried to expel from public schools the widely-accepted scientific theories of biological evolution, plate tectonics, and Big Bang cosmology. Science, still a bastion of objectivity in understanding the world, had to fend off attacks from both the left (postmodernism) and the right (fundamentalism).

The question of whether scientists can discover true facts about the world that are independent of their own social environment, or whether all their knowledge is socially constructed, was the cause of the "Science Wars" of the 1990s.

Scientists, who strongly rejected social con, did not notice that at least two widely-accepted scientific facts were indeed socially constructed, as can easily be shown by looking at their history. Moreover, there is some similarity between social con and the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, at least if you know something about baseball.

Stephen Brush is a professor (emeritus) of the History of Science at the University of Maryland, College Park. He was originally educated as a theoretical physicist and did research on topics such as the solidification of an electron gas ("plasma") at low temperatures and high densities. He contributed to the Harvard Project Physics Course for high schools, using the historical approach. He came to the University of Maryland in 1968 to initiate a program in history of science. His current research is a study of reasons why scientists in different fields accept (or reject) new theories.

NSF is one block south of Ballston-Marymount University metro stop Orange Line. For most drivers, Route 66 to Fairfax Dr. to Stuart Dr is the easiest route. Enter NSF from the corner of 9th N and N Stuart Streets. Room 110 is on the left before the entry guard -- you will not need to go through NSF security. Parking is available in the Ballston Common mall, in the NSF building, and at other area parking lots and garages. Metered parking is also available on the surrounding streets.