CMA Presents "The Borderlands of Science: Where Sense Meets Nonsense"

Dr. Michael Shermer turns his skeptical eye to the fuzzy borderlands of science – the fuzzy fringes and blurry edges between science and pseudoscience, normal science and revolutionary science, and science and nonsense. In this lecture, Dr. Shermer turns his critical thinking from the pseudoscience he has investigated in his previous works to that gray area between science and pseudoscience, where it is not clear whether a claim will turn out to be the next great revolution in science or the next big hoax in pseudoscience.

This lecture is based upon Shermer's new book, "The Borderlands of Science" (Oxford University Press), which also delves into the behind-the-scenes head-butting and gentlemanly agreements that have molded much of what we believe about science and non-science today.

Dr. Michael Shermer is the Founding Publisher of Skeptic magazine, the Director of the Skeptics Society, and a monthly columnist for Scientific American magazine. He is also the author of several books, including "Why People Believe Weird Things" and "Teach Your Child Science." Dr. Shermer received his B.A. in psychology from Pepperdine University, his M.A. in experimental psychology from California State University, Fullerton, and his Ph.D. in the history of science from Claremont Graduate School. He has appeared on such shows as 20/20, Dateline, Charlie Rose, Tom Snyder, Donahue, Oprah, Sally, Lezza, Unsolved Mysteries, and several documentaries as a skeptic of weird and extraordinary claims.

This event is free. All JPL/Caltech personnel are welcome.

For additional information about this event, please send e-mail to [email protected] or call Michael Eastwood, (818) 354-9273.