Dr. David Robert Grimes discusses the frequent problems in reporting science from misunderstandings to bad statistics to false balance, and discusses the factors that influence this and how such problems can be remedied.

Sceptics (or skeptics!) are people who don’t take things at face value; they demand facts, and are ready to change opinions based on the weight of evidence, even if that goes against personal preferences or beliefs.

Deniers, on the other hand, refuse to accept evidence that conflicts with their personal beliefs, desires or ideology. People in denial gather reasons and excuses, however flimsy, that allow them to not believe in whatever unwelcome truth they’re trying to avoid.

[caption id="attachment_452" align="aligncenter" width="720"] Cartoon by Polyp.[/caption]

No serious sceptic could doubt that human-caused climate change is real, and serious – the evidence is just too overwhelming. However, many people are still in a state of denial over climate change, for a wide range of reasons. Fortunately, opinion polls show that the majority of the public accept the reality of the climate problem however, the number of people who take climate change seriously seems to be slipping back in some countries.

In his talk Dan Chivers will equip us with some handy weapons (otherwise known as science and facts) for tackling climate change denial head-on. See more at New Internationalist.

Dan holds a degree and two Masters in environmental science and politics, and is also the author of the upcoming "No-Nonsense Guide to Renewable Energy".

An illustrated exploration of the history of controversial cartooning, and the story of it's relationship to free speech, by long time local pen dipper 'Polyp'.

[caption id="attachment_428" align="aligncenter" width="681"] You can see more of Polyp's cartoons at www.polyp.org.uk[/caption]

From Roman times through to last week's shocking revenge attack, cartoonists have always been the focus of outrage, censorship and conflict. What is it about this often trivialized art form that evokes such powerful reactions?

We'll be including a look at the surprisingly familiar history of the medium's conflict with Christianity and socially accepted moral consensus, and in the discussion afterwards we'll pull at the complex knot of what it means to be offensive. Is there a simple way to untie it?

Once described as a “nerdy kid who couldn’t fight her way out of a wet paper bag”, Rosi Sexton has had an unlikely career. On 11th December, she’ll talk about her journey from PhD in theoretical computer science to becoming the UK’s first female UFC fighter. Along the way, she'll take a skeptical look at martial arts and the self-defence industry, talk about why being punched in the face doesn’t feel like you might expect, and discuss some of the lessons she’s taken away from 15 years in the Mixed Martial Arts world.

We’re overusing the earth’s finite resources, and yet excessive consumption is failing to improve our lives. In this talk, Dan O’Neill will lay out a visionary but realistic alternative to the perpetual pursuit of economic growth—an economy where the goal is enough, not more. He will explore specific strategies to conserve natural resources, stabilise population, reduce inequality, fix the financial system, create jobs, and more—all with the aim of maximizing long-term well-being instead of short-term profits.

Dan O’Neill is a lecturer in ecological economics at the University of Leeds, and the chief economist at the Centre for the Advancement of the Steady State Economy (CASSE). His work focuses on the changes that would be needed to achieve a prosperous non-growing economy, and alternative ways of measuring progress besides GDP. He is co-author (with Rob Dietz) of Enough Is Enough: Building a Sustainable Economy in a World of Finite Resources, an international best-seller which has recently been made into a short film.

It’s easy to think of pseudoscience existing in a glass case at a museum – something to be examined and critiqued from a safe distance, but not something to touch and to play with. Using examples taken from his own personal experiences in skepticism, Michael Marshall will show what happens when you begin to crack the surface of the pseudosciences that surround us – revealing the surprising, sometimes-shocking and often-comic adventures that lie beneath.

Michael Marshall is the Vice President of the Merseyside Skeptics Society and Project Director of the Good Thinking Society. He regularly speaks with proponents of pseudoscience for the Be Reasonable podcast. His work with the MSS has seen him organising international homeopathy protests and co-founding the popular QED conference. He has written for the Guardian, The Times and New Statesman.

Simon Singh, author of Fermat's Last Theorem and Big Bang, talks about his latest book, which explores mathematical themes hidden in The Simpsons. Everyone knows that The Simpsons is the most successful show in television history, but very few people realise that its team of mathematically gifted writers have used the show to explore everything from calculus to geometry, from pi to game theory, and from infinitesimals to infinity. Singh will also discuss how writers of Futurama have similarly made it their missions to smuggle deep mathematical ideas into the series.

IMPORTANT NOTE: observant skeptics (that is skeptics who attend religiously) will have noticed this event is on a Wednesday evening rather than our usual Thursdays. We'll also be starting as close to 7pm as we can to enable Simon to get the last train!

The answer is, they all take centre stage in the Roman Medicine Roadshow, a public education workshop organised by Merseyside-based non-profit organisation, Big Heritage:

Developed by a team of archaeologists and funded by the Wellcome Trust; this project explores medicine in the Roman world, and examines how human remains and archaeological discoveries can tell us more about the practicalities and ethics of medicine in the past. Exploring the past also helps shed light upon the logic of modern-day faith healing and sacred temples by viewing them through 2nd century eyes.

This talk will be given by archaeologists from Big Heritage, and will consist of a light-hearted lecture followed by an opportunity to handle a range of Roman medical tools and casts of human remains from Roman Britain displaying a range of diseases and impact traumas.

http://www.bigheritage.co.uk/

Wacky belief systems abound. Members of the Heavens Gate suicide cult believed they were taking a ride to heaven on board a UFO. Muslim suicide bombers expect to be greeted after death by 72 virgins. And many fundamentalist Christians insist the entire universe is just 6,000 years old. Of course its not only cults and religions that promote bizarre beliefs significant numbers of people believe that aliens built the pyramids. How do such preposterous views succeed in entrenching themselves in the minds of sane, intelligent, educated people and turn them into the willing slaves of claptrap? Believing Bullshit is a witty and insightful critique that will help immunize readers against the wiles of cultists, religious and political zealots, conspiracy theorists, and various other nutcases by clearly setting out the tricks of the trade by which such insidious belief systems are created and sustained.

Stephen Law is senior lecturer in philosophy at Heythrop College, University of London and editor of the Royal Institute of Philosophy Journal Think. He has published several books on philosophy including Believing Bullshit, The Complete Philosophy Files and Really Really Big Questions.

A great warm up for any QED attendees who can get to Manchester a day early!

Dr Stephen Makin:

I'm a medical doctor, clinical researcher into stroke, Skeptical Speaker on critical appraisal and evidence based medicine. .........and a lifelong vegetarian who feels that ethically I really should be a vegan. As a vegetarian in a very non-hippy world I've been argued with at every dinner party or social event I've been to. I'll be looking at the secular arguments around meat eating, animal testing, bestiality, and abortion. Not to mention some of the common myths for and against vegetarianism: was Hitler really vegetarian? does it matter?