The Lorne Trottier Public Science Symposium Series

Click here for the Trottier Symposium webcasts.

"Is That a Fact?"
Making Sense of the Headlines

Eugenie Scott and Michael Specter

Monday, October 28, 2013
5:30-7:30 pm
Centre Mont Royal, 1000 Sherbrooke Street West (corner Mansfield)

Timothy Caulfield and John Ioannidis

Tuesday, October 29, 2013
5:30-7:30 pm
Centre Mont Royal, 1000 Sherbrooke Street West (corner Mansfield)

Moderator: Joe Schwarcz, PhD. Director, Office for Science & Society

Information is the key to life. We want to know what to eat, how to protect our environment, what risks to avoid and what to do if illness strikes. But when it comes to acquiring information, it is the best of times and the worst of times. It is the age of wisdom, it is the age of foolishness. Newspapers, television, radio and of course the Internet bombard us with information at an unprecedented rate, but when it comes to scientific issues the quality of the information is variable. Television doctors entice us with claims of breathtaking breakthroughs, global warming is hotly debated, evolution is questioned and the peer-reviewed literature, our supposed gold standard, brims with flawed studies. The challenge is to separate fact from folly, foolishness from wisdom. The 2013 Lorne Trottier Public Science Symposium aims to do just that. Our four invited speakers have all forged stellar careers based on separating the wheat from the chaff and will explore diverse areas of science as they answer the common question, “Is that a fact?”

McGill University is proud to host the ninth annual Lorne Trottier Public Science Symposium, made possible through the generous support of Dr. Lorne Trottier and honouring his wish “to hold a public forum to inform, inspire debate and raise public awareness on contemporary issues confronting society today”.

The symposium will be recorded for distribution as webcasts (both live, and viewing on demand) plus future television broadcasts by Canal Savoir.

Free admission, no reservations required

For additional information: 514-398-2852 or trottiersymposium.science [at] mcgill.ca (email)

Cette conférence sera prononcée en anglais.

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