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…
As if taking on evolution vs. intelligent design wasn't controversial enough, how about finding humor in global warming? Marine ecologist turned filmmaker Randy Olson has. In a big and poignant way...
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Randy Olson's movie A Flock of Dodos comes up again and again in the course of arguments about public communication of science, but I had never gotten around to seeing it. I finally put it on the Netflix queue, and ended up watching it last night.
For those who have been living in caves and haven't…
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.