Cross-posted from Dan Hicks' personal blog. Starting in September, I will be an AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellow, working in the EPA’s Chemical Safety for Sustainability [CSS] program. I’ve actually known about this for almost two months, but only received the paperwork making things official this week. (I’m taking this as my first introduction [...]
Wayne C. Myrvold has started a petition in favour of Canadian scientists' right to freely communicate their results to the public.
Reposted from Je fais, donc je suis. Marks of the form [^2] should be read as footnotes. I spent last week in Washington, DC, interviewing with about 10 different federal government offices as a finalist for a AAAS Science and Technology Policy Fellowship. As you’ll see from those slides, AAAS policy fellows are primarily natural scientists and engineers; [...]
On Wednesday, April 8, at 7:30pm, Rotman postdoc Dan Hicks will be giving a lecture for the Humanist Association of London and Area at the Cross Cultural Learning Centre, 505 Dundas Street in London. The lecture is open to the general public and a $2 donation is suggested. The title and abstract are below.The GMO [...]
The Orgasm Wars Friday, March 6 3:30pm-5pm New Chu International Centre Abstract: There has been a fierce battle occurring among people who explain the evolution of human female orgasm, about its evolutionary origins and nature. The core issue is that the female orgasm presents an evolutionary puzzle. Unlike the male orgasm, female orgasm is not [...]
Two years ago, this blog featured a series of posts about how the history and philosophy of science (HPS) can contribute to science education:Broadening the goals of science education, by Reuven Brandt,Improving scientific literacy through improved critical thinking skills, by Melissa Jacquart, How to include HPS in science education standards?, by myself, andWhat must be done [...]
Peter Achinstein of Johns Hopkins University is visiting the Rotman Institute next week, and will give two talks. His talk on Thursday, November 13 will engage with the history and philosophy of science, and his public talk on November 14 will be aimed at a more public audience (but also of interest to philosophers). What is [...]
Gillian Barker gave this talk as part of the series co-sponsored by the Department of Philosophy, and the London Public Library.
Cross-posted from Je fais, donc je suisI’ve spent this weekend at the Rotman Institute’s big annual conference, this year on climate science. In this post, I want to follow up on an exchange Saturday morning, between Gavin Schmidt and Eric Winsberg.Some quick context: In a 2012 paper, Winsberg applied Heather Douglas’ inductive risk argument to [...]
The Rotman Institute and Brain and Mind Institute have recently welcomed many new additions into our families. One amazing feature of bringing new babies into the world is to witness, first hand, how our social brains develop, and to reflect on the various philosophical puzzles this information generates. Thankfully, several psychologists, developmental neuroscientists and philosophers have reflected [...]
