Confessions of an Alien Hunter
Why do we think aliens are out there? Is Earth really being visited? Will aliens really be short, gray, and hairless? What happens if we pick up a signal from another world?
These are just a few of the questions this week’s guest tackles regularly, in his role as the senior astronomer for the SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) Institute.
Dr. Seth Shostak talks with Swoopy about the ongoing search for life in the universe, as chronicled in his new book Confessions of an Alien Hunter: A Scientist’s Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence.
Michael Shermer’s
April lecture tour
Dr. Michael Shermer is the founding publisher of Skeptic magazine, the Director of the Skeptics Society, a monthly columnist for Scientific American, and the host of the Skeptics Distinguished Lecture Series at Caltech. He is the author of The Mind of the Market, Why Darwin Matters: The Case Against Intelligent Design, Science Friction, The Science of Good and Evil, How We Believe, Why People Believe Weird Things, In Darwin’s Shadow, Denying History, and The Borderlands of Science. Below is a list of upcoming lectures and debates this month in various locations around the US.
- Charleston, West Virginia
- Tuesday, April 14, 6:30 pm
Year of Science 2009 Lecture on Why People Believe Weird Things
Science, Technology, and Research Symposium
Charleston Marriott Town Center
www.wvresearch.org - San Francisco, California
- Thursday, April 23, 7 pm
Why Darwin Matters
Annual Leakey Foundation Speaker Series
California Academy of Sciences
www.leakeyfoundation.org/?option=com_content&view=article&id=11093 - Long Beach, California
- Sunday, April 26, 1–5 pm
The Mind of the Market, Long Beach Medical Center, Van Dyke Hall, 2801 Atlantic Avenue, Long Beach, CA 90806, combined with a lecture by Jay Stuart Snelson, Can Science Save us from Self-Extinction?. Shermer will consider the recent economic meltdown in the context of research in behavioral economics, neuroeconomics, and evolutionary economics. To register call: 760/233-2071. - Austin, Texas
- Tuesday, April 28, 7pm
Was Darwin Wrong: Evolution v. Intelligent Design
Michael Shermer, Sahotra Sarkar and Kenneth R. Diller (biologists at the University of Texas, Austin) v. Hugh Ross and Fuz Rana, from Reasons to Believe.
http://wasdarwinwrong.eventbrite.com/
Checkerboard Mesa on the road leading east out of Zion National Park. The horizontal cross-beds of this 200 million year-old Navajo Sandstone formation are petrified sand dunes, fractured by a vertical system.
details of June’s 6-Day Geology Tour: Utah or Bust!
June 8–13, 2009
Dinosaurs, Trilobites & Geology Galore
- EXCLUSIVE: visit some of the richest dinosaur-bearing deposits in the world. These fossil quarries are usually open only to the scientists working there.
- Tour the geologic wonders of southern Utah, including Zion, Bryce, and Capitol Reef National Parks.
- Along the way we will stop frequently to learn about the rocks beneath our feet, or gaze over breathtaking scenic vistas that tell a remarkable story. On site lectures by renowned geologist and paleontologist Dr. Donald Prothero.
- Dig your own trilobite fossils at a quarry famous for quantity and quality specimens.
- Included in the fee: charter bus, and hotels, breakfast, lunch, snacks, lectures, museums, park fees, fossil collecting, and a guide booklet.
- Seats are limited, so make your reservations soon!
READ more information
& DOWNLOAD the registration form
or call 626/794-3119.
Why Darwin Matters to Creationists
On April 2, 2009 I was the keynote speaker for the University of California at San Diego Biological Science Symposium, giving my talk on “Why Darwin Matters” based on my book of that title. Earlier that day I awarded the winners of the Why Darwin Matters contest, in which students submitted entries on different ways to express their answer to the implied question in my book title.…
While you’re there be sure to read the blog posts of the other Skepticbloggers: Brian Dunning, Kirsten Sanford, Mark Edward, Phil Plait, Ryan Johnson, Steven Novella, and Yau-Man Chan.
