Book here: https://humanism.org.uk/civi/?page=CiviCRM&q=civicrm/event/info&page=CiviCRM&id=118&snippet=2
Science
in the Media: Dodgy Science Reporting, Ghostbusting, and Doctor Who
Hear about the science of Doctor Who from a scientist
who is also a consultant to Doctor Who's scriptwriters, find out about the
credibility (scientifically and otherwise) of ghosthunting TV programme from a
former ghosthunter now turned ghostbuster, and discover just how much bullshit
science reporting there really is in our national press.
12th December 2015
Conway
Hall
25 Red
Lion Square
London
WC1R 4RL
Nearest
tube: Holborn
10.30 Registration
11.00-12.00
Meet The Real Ghostbusters
Hayley
Stevens
Welcome to the weird world of modern ghost hunting. A
world inspired by reality paranormal TV shows where only the brave dare
tread... but what is it that goes bump in the night? And why are the ghost
hunters actually scarier that the ghosts they claim to hunt down? Join us on
this whirlwind tour of the ghost hunting subculture, the nonsense that comes
with it, and how it all came to be in the first place.
Hayley Stevens is a skeptic paranormal researcher
based in Wiltshire, England. Believer-turned-skeptic, with over a decade of
ghost research under her belt, she is often sought for an expert opinion on
weird stuff - from ghosts to monsters and fairies. Hayley has written for
Skeptical inqurer, The Skeptic, Paranormal Magazine and more, and has spoken
internationally about the paranormal. She blogs at hayleyisaghost.co.uk
12.15-1.15
Follow the
formula: the fake science behind real headlines
Michael
Marshall
All too often
we see stories which seem to be based on science turn out to be nothing more
than marketing and PR. By highlighting and dissecting examples from the recent
press Michael Marshall will show who is behind these stories, who benefits from
them, and who can be said to be at fault when even legitimate science gets
distorted in newspaper print.
Michael
Marshall is the Vice President of the Merseyside Skeptics Society and Project
Director of the Good Thinking Society. His Bad PR project exposes the
often-unseen influence of public relations in the mainstream media.
2.15-3.15 The Science of
Doctor Who
Edward
Gomez
Travelling to alien worlds is one of the regular
features of Doctor Who. But how could the TARDIS travel there and what would
those alien worlds really be like? During this talk I'll discuss what we
currently know about the several thousand alien worlds we've discovered in the
last 20 years and if any of the worlds the Doctor has travelled to look
familiar.
Edward Gomez is an astronomer and education director
for Las Cumbres Observatory, based at Cardiff University. He is interested in
searching for asteroids which travel close to Earth, and in open access for
science and education. He has been a life long fan of Doctor Who and gave
science advice to the script writers for several episodes.
2 comments:
Would love to attend if I lived there. Big fan of Dr Who, btw, but on the subject of life in other parts of the Universe, I just read John Gribbin's The Reason Why, where he provides very compelling arguments for why we are probably alone (at least in the Milky Way).
Regards, Paul.
Sounds interesting. Might get round to it this decade!
Post a Comment