On Wednesday, October 10th, the Bay Area Skeptics hosted an entertaining and Liza Grossinformative one-hour talk by Liza Gross, a freelance writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She writes for numerous organizations, including the open-access biomedical journal PLoS Biology where she is a senior editor, KQED's QUEST (for which she recently interviewed our own Eugenie Scott), and several other publications. She writes about wildlife, ecology and evolution, conservation, environmental health, science policy, and many other topics.
Her talk, entitled “Writing about Vaccines When Evidence Doesn't Matter,” examined not only the claims made by people who speak out against the use of vaccines, but also the media’s role in providing them a platform for their sometimes dangerous fringe views.
Ms. Gross’ talk began with a somewhat humorous clip from “When Worlds Collide,” a 1951 science fiction film
He was the biggest force in late-1900s skepticism. Paul Kurtz was considered a legendary figure among
Paul KurtzAmerican humanists, atheists, and skeptics alike. For 50 years, he worked to advance a secular view of life and of society. His influence and presence in the skeptical community shall be sorely missed.
CLICK HERE to read a wonderful memorial biography of Paul Kurtz by Hemant Mehta (from The Friendly Atheist).
And
CLICK HERE to read the Center for Inquiry's obituary.