Bay Area Skeptics

The San Francisco Bay Area's skeptical organization since 1982

A Slice of π Schmooze

Hello Science Fans, 

Wow there’s been a lot going on.  This year the  debate over DST is getting almost as much mention as how we lost an hour of sleep last night.  Mars continues to  inspire and surprise.  Of course I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that today is π day.   Did you know that Larry Shaw and the explOratorium founded π day?  Here’s a few more  articles worth knowing about.  It has been  a long year since this. 

It seems that it is a never ending struggle to ensure that  facts, not misinformation, are shared and are used to  inform our decisions.  In these times  citizen scientists are filling science research gaps of all kinds that still need to be filled.  These are great ways to involve family and friends in good science!  I think it is important to keep in mind that  science is done and  accomplished by people from all  walks of life.  Next month is  Citizen Science Month

In the seemingly never ending debate, it has been well established that vaccines works and we’d all be better off if they were available to all of us.   Let’s be honest and think ahead a little bit…  Sure there are problems getting the vaccine out to a population of over 300 million folks, including developing, testing, and manufacturing it, but   Skipping the vaccine line is not only unethical, it ignores the greater needs of many and only makes it harder for people trying to help and do the right thing.  In case you missed  Dr. Paul Offit last week this is worth a watch.  Here’s a particularly interesting and encouraging article on  teen fact-checkers trying to battle bad information.  They are taking on  more than covid and worth paying attention to! 

Of course there are many opportunities for us to all learn new and cool stuff as well science that we may have missed!  Here are a few that I think are worth checking out this coming week…  
Two Talks: Popping the Science Bubble Tue @ 5:30   
Ask the Scientist – Kate Stafford Wed @ 2:00    
After Dark Online: Shifting Spring Thu @ 7:00 

Speaking of debates…  
This looks like a particularly interesting series…   The UCSF Spring 2021 climate change and health speaker series 

A few  words about Neandertals, and the  Neuroscience Of Placebo Effects 

Well, this is my first shot at the new format for the Science Schmooze. The rollout and making it work has been due to the tireless efforts of Bob Siederer and Kishore Hari. It is thanks to them that the SciSchmooze is what it is. Last month I did mention everyone who works on the Schmooze. I failed to mention that we are an all volunteer group. We keep the costs of production low so that we have been able to fund any costs through a few donations. Consequently in over 15 years of the Schmooze it has never charged for a subscription or for listing a presentation. We’re not going to change that anytime soon! 

Have a great week learning cool new and old stuff. 
herb masters 

“If all printers were determined not to print anything till they were sure it would offend nobody, there would be very little printed.” — Benjamin Franklin


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