This week’s lecture, titled “The Science of Why We Deny Science,” will be held Thursday in the auditorium of the Biology Building at 7:30 p.m. The speaker is Christopher Mooney, senior correspondent for The American Prospect magazine and author of “The Republican War on Science,” a New York Times bestseller. He also contributes to many other publications, including Harper’s, The Los Angeles Times and The American Scholar.
Colin Kruger, a junior majoring in biology, said he is grateful for the opportunity to go to a school that provides students with engaging contemporary lectures.
“They are a great way to keep up with the continually evolving field of biology, and in order to be successful in the field, it is essential that we keep up-to-date with the new concepts and ideas being presented,” Kruger said.
Leslie Rissler, one of the chairs of the Evolution Working Group that helps to coordinate the lectures, heavily encourages students of all interests to attend.
“The ALLELE series was designed to improve the public’s understanding of science and evolution in particular,” Rissler said. “We have six speakers a year and they come from diverse disciplines including biology, anthropology, philosophy, history, art, journalism and more. On Thursday we are excited to hear from Chris Mooney of the Washington Post talk about why people deny science. The topic is timely and relevant to many current hot topics in politics and medicine. This is the longest running evolution series in the United States. The University of Alabama also has an evolutionary studies minor that was created about four years ago, and it is one of only a small handful of such minors in the country.”
The series is not designed specifically for biology majors but was created for an audience with a wide variety of interests, Rissler said.
“Students at The University of Alabama and members of the greater Tuscaloosa area should come to the free, open lectures to learn more about how evolution is relevant to their lives,” she said. “We are in our ninth year of hosting amazing speakers from a diverse array of disciplines, all united by their passion and expertise in evolution.”
Taylor Burbach, a senior majoring in anthropology and the president of the Evolution Studies Club, said she is proof that these lectures are great for all majors.
“ALLELE is special because it makes current science easily accessible to our community,” Burbach said. “Mooney’s talk is especially exciting because it will address reasons behind science denial and its political implications. I think this is a topic everyone can relate to, one way or another. It’s a little provocative and very interesting. Talks like this are what get people fired up and excited about science.”
ALLELE works to make the latest information concerning evolutionary science accessible to all and welcomes any student who is interested to attend.
