A good programme on Bad Science - Radio New Zealand National

“Ideas” cover bad science and how to educate people about good science. Great to hear this sort of discussion on public radio.  

Radio New Zealand National : Programmes A-Z : Sunday Morning with Chris Laidlaw : Sun, 12 August
Ideas for 12 August (will be on-line for listening or download 1 month from broadcast)
This week we investigate Bad Science. (duration: 52'03)

Radio New Zealand National : Programmes A-Z : Sunday Morning with Chris Laidlaw : Sun, 12 August
Ideas for 12 August (will be on-line for listening or download 1 month from broadcast)
This week we investigate Bad Science. (duration: 52'03)

Science has an enormous impact on our daily lives, even if we don't always recognise this. Through every form of media, we are continuously bombarded with information, both scientific and from the realms of pseudoscience. The last two decades have seen the rise and rise of pseudoscience, magical thinking, supernaturalism, and fundamentalist religious movements - all of them often disguised in a mantle of faux scientific respectability.

Science has an enormous impact on our daily lives, even if we don't always recognise this. Through every form of media, we are continuously bombarded with information, both scientific and from the realms of pseudoscience. The last two decades have seen the rise and rise of pseudoscience, magical thinking, supernaturalism, and fundamentalist religious movements - all of them often disguised in a mantle of faux scientific respectability.

What is pseudo-science? How do we recognise it? How is it making itself felt in our society? What changes would need to be made to our education system for a scientifically-literate society to emerge? Would a thorough training in critical thinking be enough? Who would try to stand in the way of the emergence of this kind of society?

What is pseudo-science? How do we recognise it? How is it making itself felt in our society?

What changes would need to be made to our education system for a scientifically-literate society to emerge? Would a thorough training in critical thinking be enough? Who would try to stand in the way of the emergence of this kind of society?

Chris Laidlaw talks to: Guardian columnist Ben Goldacre; Dr Graham Sharpe, anaesthetist and skeptic; biologist Dr Alison Campbell; Professor Paul Callaghan and Dr Howard Lukefahr from the MacDiarmid Institute; and science students at Victoria University of Wellington.

Chris Laidlaw talks to: Guardian columnist Ben Goldacre; Dr Graham Sharpe, anaesthetist and skeptic; biologist Dr Alison Campbell; Professor Paul Callaghan and Dr Howard Lukefahr from the MacDiarmid Institute; and science students at Victoria University of Wellington.