April NCAS SkepTour at the Museum of Illusions!

Let's get fooled on April 1 at the Museum of Illusions.

The Museum of Illusions DC is newly opened in the heart of Washington, and NCAS has arranged a group visit with discounts for Saturday morning, April 1.

From the museum website (https://moiwashington.com/):
Discover a brilliant collection of perspective-changing rooms, enthralling installations, and spellbinding images. Our exhibits will teach you that nothing is ever quite as it seems, especially in the Museum of Illusions. Get ready to be mesmerized!

The Museum of Illusions Washington is a 21st-century museum conceptualized to offer an interactive and unique experience that tricks the mind, challenges the vision and makes you question all your senses. The museum is a collection of more than 50 exhibits on over 6000 square feet. All exhibits are based on science, mathematics, psychology and art allowing you to learn a lot about vision, perception and the human brain, but in a fun and interactive way!

Location: CityCenterDC, 927 H Street NW, Washington DC
1 block from the Gallery Place Metro (Red/Green Lines)

We will meet at the museum at 11 am. The museum suggests that we can experience the exhibits in about 45 minutes, but guests are welcome to stay longer.

NCAS has 15 discounted tickets at $24 each, including processing fee and sales tax.  (Full price is $27, $25 for students, military and age 65+.)
1. Use the "SkepTour Tickets" button below to purchase each $24 ticket through PayPal.

2. Send an email with your name and phone number to SkepTour@ncas.org.  We'll have the ticket(s) for you when you arrive at the museum around 10:45AM.

Afterwards, please join us for lunch at Clyde's of Gallery Place. 

Buy Museum of Illusion Tickets Here

 

March 11 - How to Talk to a Science Denier

Presented by Lee McIntyre, PhD

Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University

Saturday, March 11, 2023
https://youtube.com/live/NEiV9o6vwKk

For our March event, NCAS invites you to read the book "How to Talk to a Science Denier" BEFORE March 11, 2023. Then join us on Saturday, March 11 at 1:30 PM ET for an online Q & A with author Lee McIntyre, PhD of the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University.

Think of it as the ultimate book club meeting...your friends and acquaintances show up to discuss a book, and the author shows up too!

From the book's website:

Can we change the minds of science deniers? Encounters with flat earthers, anti-vaxxers, coronavirus truthers, and others. 'Climate change is a hoax—and so is coronavirus.' 'Vaccines are bad for you.' These days, many of our fellow citizens reject scientific expertise and prefer ideology to facts. They are not merely uninformed—they are misinformed. They cite cherry-picked evidence, rely on fake experts, and believe conspiracy theories. How can we convince such people otherwise? How can we get them to change their minds and accept the facts when they don't believe in facts? In this book, Lee McIntyre shows that anyone can fight back against science deniers, and argues that it's important to do so. Science denial can kill.

Drawing on his own experience—including a visit to a Flat Earth convention—as well as academic research, McIntyre outlines the common themes of science denialism, present in misinformation campaigns ranging from tobacco companies' denial in the 1950s that smoking causes lung cancer to today's anti-vaxxers. He describes attempts to use his persuasive powers as a philosopher to convert Flat Earthers; surprising discussions with coal miners; and conversations with a scientist friend about genetically modified organisms in food. McIntyre offers tools and techniques for communicating the truth and values of science, emphasizing that the most important way to reach science deniers is to talk to them calmly and respectfully—to put ourselves out there, and meet them face to face.

https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262545051/how-to-talk-to-a-science-denier/

Shadow of a Doubt - February 2023

 

• Inside the science of weather prediction. Presented by Tom Di Liberto
  
• March NCAS lecture- How to talk to a science denier
  
• March Phact  (Philadelphia) lecture - Susan Gerbic will present "Science Activism does not stop during a world-wide pandemic: or How I spent my lockdown."
• AAAS meeting
  
• NCAS board elections soon
• End of Amazon Smile
  
• Shadow Light
• Time to Renew? 

 Read Shadow here

February 27 - 30% of the Time it Rains Every Time. Inside the Science of Weather and Climate Forecasting

Presented by Tom Di Liberto
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Program Office

Monday, February 27, 7:00pm US/Eastern (UTC-05:00)

https://youtube.com/live/emulmOS4tOI

Ever been stuck in a thunderstorm annoyed because your weather app says it was supposed to be sunny? Or saddled with three new unused shovels after reading a prediction for a snowier than normal winter? We've all been there, cursing the meteorologist. But what if I told you that 5-day weather forecasts can accurately predict the weather about 90% of the time. And that you're probably thinking about seasonal forecasts entirely the wrong way. What's going on? Come learn how meteorologists actually make their weather and climate forecasts, and what it really means when we say there's a 30% chance of rain.

 

Tom Di Liberto is a climate scientist and award-winning science communicator working as a federal contractor with Groundswell at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Program Office as the senior climate scientist for NOAA’s Climate.gov and social media editor for the NOAAClimate accounts on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. He has also served as emcee of the Department of State’s U.S. Center at the United Nations climate change conferences COP21, COP22, COP26 and COP27 where he helped lead the U.S. government’s public outreach space during the negotiations.

 

 

 

Note that this is presented over YouTube only. Note also that this talk is on a Monday evening; not our usual time.