NASA Talk Hopes to Communicate the "Science" in Science Communication

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Feb 26, 2016, 03:44 ET

HAMPTON, Va., Feb. 26, 2016 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- On Tuesday, March 1, at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, Steven Novella will present "The Art and Science of Science Communication" at 2 p.m. in the Pearl Young Theater.

Novella will be available to answer questions from the media during a news briefing at 1:15 p.m. that day. Media who wish to do so should contact Chris Rink at 757-864-6786, or by e-mail at [email protected], by noon on the day of the talk for credentials and entry to the center.

That same evening at 7:30, Novella will present a similar program for the general public at the Virginia Air & Space Center in downtown Hampton. This Sigma Series event is free and no reservations are required.

Novella will explain how science communicators fill a critical role in the public's understanding of science, and how they face numerous challenges. These include translating technical information for non-experts, creating excitement without hype, and countering misinformation and pseudoscience popular with the public. He will also present examples of the best and worst of science communication.

An academic clinical neurologist at Yale University School of Medicine, Novella is the president and co-founder of the New England Skeptical Society, and host and producer of the weekly science podcast, "The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe." He is also a senior fellow and director of Science-Based Medicine at the James Randi Educational Foundation, a fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry, and a founding fellow of the Institute for Science in Medicine.

Novella is the founder, executive editor and regular contributor to "Science-Based Medicine," a blog dedicated to issues of science and medicine. He also authors "The NeuroLogicaBlog" that covers news and issues in neuroscience, general science, scientific skepticism, philosophy of science, critical thinking, and the intersection of science with the media and society.

For more information about NASA Langley's Colloquium and Sigma Series Lectures, visit:

http://colloqsigma.larc.nasa.gov

NASA Langley press releases are available automatically by sending an e-mail message to [email protected] with the word Subscribe in the subject line. You will receive an e-mail asking you to visit a link to confirm the action. To unsubscribe, send an e-mail message to [email protected] with the word "Unsubscribe" in the subject line.

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SOURCE NASA