It's Darwin Day, and while I'm not closely involved in any of the stuff taking place around the country this year, I do have a very strong recommendation about how to celebrate: Go and check out one of the many Flock of Dodos screenings that are occurring. And watch the trailer on YouTube to get yourself psyched up.
In Flock of Dodos, Randy Olson has produced a brilliant and funny film which highlights a critical issue that's become an increasing interest of mine: Why do scientists and their defenders, despite being so fricken smart, nevertheless fail to communicate their knowledge (on evolution or on other subjects) to the broader American public?
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Randy Olson is a Harvard ('84) trained marine biologist with field experience on the Great Barrier Reef, in the Antarctic, the US Virgin Islands, and elsewhere. He even spent a little time with Jacques Cousteau.
But an extensive career in marine biology was not to be.
Randy started…
Carl Zimmer tells us that there are going to be showings of Randy Olson's Flock of Dodos all across the country next week—do you know where your nearest exhibition will be going on? Here it is for us Minnesota people, along with a little rebuttal of a Discovery Institute hissy fit:
SCIENCE ON…
So, as you've probably heard and read around here on Scienceblogs and elsewhere, filmmaker Randy Olson has made a new film about climate change. It's billed as a "mockumentary," and it's certainly a mock...something. There are several nuggets of good stuff in the movie, but they unfortunately get…
After waiting in line for an hour and a half while being entertained by a flock of three smallish people clad in overstuffed neon orange dodo costumes, I was "number seven" in the last group of ten people granted admission to Flock of Dodos. But my wait was worth it because I really enjoyed this…
I try. The previous Citizens for Science group I was in was happy to have me give a presentation on my research. The meetings were open to the public, in a public library, but no one seemed to come to the meetings if they werent a member.
Ive tried to give presentations to local churches here in Oklahoma. The ministers humor me for a bit, then stop returning my calls/emails. Ive got one presentation lined up right now, but the date keeps getting pushed back, so Im fairly certain theyre going to bail too. Im just about as nonthreatening in appearance as you can get, just behind a bunny, but the second I say "Hey, Id like to offer to give a little presentation on what evolution is, and why you all should support it!" ministers run away screaming.
Communicating science to the public is harder than it sounds, certainly at an individual level.