Kind of short notice, but if you’re in the appropriate bits of Ohio, you might be interested to know that I’m giving two talks at Wright State this Thursday. At 11am, I’m doing the Physics Department Colloquium in 202 Oelman Hall, “Talking to My Dog About Science: Why Public Communication of Science Matters, and How Social Media Can Help”:
Budget cuts and funding instability are a constant source of anxiety for professional scientists, and public uncertainty about science threatens to derail critical policy actions in areas like climate change and public health. I will argue that these issues indicate a need for scientists to speak more effectively to a broad audience, and talk about one way social media technologies can help this process.
That evening, at 7pm in 165 Brehm Lab, I’m doing my public talk on “What Every Dog Should Know About Quantum Physics”:
Quantum physics, the science of extremely small things like atoms and subatomic particles, is one of the best tested theories in the history of science, and also one of the most bizarre. Many of its predictions– particles that behave like waves, cats that are alive and dead at the same time, objects that pass through barriers as if they weren’t even there– seem more like science fiction than science fact. This talk will explain the reality behind some of the stranger aspects of quantum physics, and why it is so important that even dogs should know about it.
If you’re in that part of the country, and looking for something science-y to do with your day, stop on by.