Use Status Update to let us know what you’re up to (like Twitter or Facebook), use Blog Post to post longer content including links and photos and click on the right hand side to “Add Your Activity” to post details about events.
We look forward to hearing what you’re up to!
You are invited to complete a survey about science communication activities in desert regions of Australia. This survey will contribute to the findings of the Expert Working Group for Desert regions for the Inspiring Australia: A national strategy for engagement with the sciences.
The survey is here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/VGVRVXZ
The survey should only take about 5 minutes of your time. Thank you for your participation!
In preparing last month’s #onsci topic on whether we care about science, I came across this reference to a book called “Why Religion is Natural and Science is Not“. The book description states:
In Why Religion is Natural and Science Is Not, Robert N. McCauley, one of the founding fathers of the cognitive science of religion, argues that our minds are better suited to religious belief than to scientific inquiry. Drawing on the latest research and illustrating his argument with commonsense examples, McCauley argues that religion has existed for many thousands of years in every society because the kinds of explanations it provides are precisely the kinds that come naturally to human minds. Science, on the other hand, is a much more recent and rare development because it reaches radical conclusions and requires a kind of abstract thinking that only arises consistently under very specific social conditions. Religion makes intuitive sense to us, while science requires a lot of work.
This description, read in conjunction with Craig Cormick’s talk (that we also explored last month – how values might make us reject science) is worrying – does religion make more sense? Alternatively, there’s Sam Harris’s TED talk on how science can answer moral problems. Is there a role for science in guiding us to what is just and right?
As Christmas draws close we explored the links between science and religion. How does faith intersect with science? Do atheism and science go hand-in-hand? What role might religion play in science and vice-versa?
Heather Bray is now summarising these ideas into a Storify page so if you missed the discussion, you can still access the tweets.
Recently I attended a fantastic writing workshop. Convened by Interpretation Australia (http://www.interpretationaustralia.asn.au/), the presenter was Susan Cross who runs TellTale (http://www.telltale.co.uk/International_work.php), an interpretive writing business in the UK.
I’ve blogged about it here: http://bridge8.wordpress.com/2011/12/01/black-gems-on-the-beach/
Nice one Sarah. Can you repost the link? It doesn’t seem to be showing up…
The Conversation recently ran a series of articles on the State of Science a series in which Australia’s leading scientists give a “snapshot of their discipline”. The first article to kick off the series was by Australia’s Chief Scientist, Prof Ian Chubb on “Does Australia Care About Science?”. The series itself is recommended for its coverage of why do people reject science, how it’s imperfect, why communicate, and how to teach it. In reading these articles, I kept coming back to Prof Chubb’s question – do we care?
Protest (Photo: the_difference; Flickr)
A recent ANU study found that Australians were more interested in science than sport, so perhaps we do care?
But why should we care? One reason might be found in Ben Goldacre’s TEDGlobal talk on Battling Bad Science. We be showed that talk at TEDxYouth@Adelaide alongside Janine Mackintosh‘s inspring talk on art and biodiversity, and Emily Steel‘s on how to tell science stories from TEDxAdelaide 2011. All three talks explain why we should care, but for vastly different reasons.
The recent responses from scientists I follow twitter to NHMRC and ARC funding success rates are other reasons why perhaps people should care. Plus Craig Cormick’s recent presentation broadcast on Radio National program Ockham’s Razor discussed the fact that a large number of people believe in psychic powers, UFOs, magic and similar things. Does this mean they don’t (or can’t!) care about science?
These ideas were proposed as food for though for the November #onsci Twitter chat. Questions to provoke thinking included:
The November #onsci twitter chat asked the question “Do we care about science?” Heather Bray has used Storify to summarise the chat and it’s now available here:
http://storify.com/heatherbray6/onsci-17-nov-2011-do-we-care-about-science
We’ll be discussing enhanced longevity, stem cells, regenerative medicine, bionics, cognitive therapies and more with a panel including:
Prof. Peter Blamey, Deputy Director, Bionics Institute
Gavin Artz, CEO of the Australian Network for Art & Technology
Dr Rob Sparrow, Visiting Fellow, Centre for Values, Ethics and the Law in Medicine, University of Sydney
http://bridge8.wordpress.com/2011/10/14/on-human-enhancement/
Address:The Gallery on Waymouth 30 Waymouth St Adelaide South Australia 5000 Australia
Start Day:17/10/2011 Start Time:06:00 pm End Time:08:00 pm End Day:
Additional org:
Additional topic: biotechnology, cognitive science
Additional audience:
Conference Themes for ASC will include:
- Professional practice
- Media & journalism
- Science & public policy
- Science & the creative process: science & art, narratives & story-telling
- New/Social media
- Research in science communication
How do I register, submit a paper, become a session producer? ASC IT-boffins are working feverishly to get the conference website ready (stay tuned). Until then, please send expressions of interest to ASC2012@wsm.com.au if you want to:
Early-bird registration prices are available until November 13.
The conference chair is Dr Rod Lamberts, Deputy Director, Australian National Centre for Public Awareness of Science (CPAS).
Address:Sydney Masonic Centre 66 Goulburn St Sydney, NSW Australia
kristinalford 5:35 pm on 16 December 2011 Permalink |
Interesting! I like the Australia – Austria link
Thanks for posting.