Rotman Institute welcomes five new postdocs
The Rotman Institute welcomes five new postdoctoral fellows in Fall 2013. You can review their profiles below. Rachael Brown Robert Foley Dan Hicks Keizo Matsubara Kerry McKenzie
New Postdoctoral Fellowship in Neuroethics
The Rotman Institute is offering a postdoctoral fellowship in neuroethics. More information can be found here:http://www.rotman.uwo.ca/get-involved/students/postdoctoral-fellowships/postdoctoral-fellowship-in-neuroethics/
Naomi Oreskes’ Talk Now Online
Dr. Oreskes' talk can now be viewed on our youtube page: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgKAetJwZjc
New Public Engagement Page
Check out our new public engagement site and be sure to try the ethics test at the bottom of the page! http://www.rotman.uwo.ca/engaging-community/ Thanks to the people at Bridgeable for the great design work. More to come...
IPCC and the Media: Don’t be misled (again)
By Wayne Myrvold I wish that I had suggested “Don’t be fooled” for the title of Gordon McBean’s blog post earlier this week, instead of “Don’t be misled,” so that I could call this one “Don’t be fooled again.” Several of the blog posts in the past week have pointed to difficulties in communicating climate [...]
The Climate Debate: Ignorance, and/or Complexity?
by Dan Hicks Why is the climate change debate so interminable? From the perspective of many scientists, we’ve had compelling data since the 1970s and more than enough reason to reduce greenhouse gas emissions since the 1980s. Today the IPCC will release the first part of their fifth Assessment Report. But no one really expects [...]
Repost: On the Social Responsibility of Philosophers of Science
By Wayne Myrvold In the lead-up to the release of the contribution of Working Group I (the Physical Science Basis) to the IPCC’s Fifth Assessment report (AR5), stories alleging that the state of climate science is in disarray are proliferating. If you read between the lines, there’s an air of desperation in these stories. If [...]
What do you bring to a street fight?
By Wayne Myrvold Two weeks ago, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a press release stating that “the IPCC is not holding any crisis meeting.” In other news, the IPCC has not enlisted a herd of flying unicorns to carry thermometers into the stratosphere. The IPCC statement came as a result of claims in [...]
What are the foundational issues in cosmology? A report from the Rutgers-UCSC Summer Institute for the Philosophy of Cosmology
by Yann Benétreau-Dupin and Chris Smeenk Contemporary cosmology raises a number of philosophical questions, such as the limits of scientific explanations of the origin of the universe and the status of “dark energy” or the “multiverse.” Philosophers have recently turned to these topics, due to their intrinsic interest and the influx of new ideas [...]
The IPCC and the Media: Don’t be misled
By Gordon McBean 24 September 2013 On Friday, 27 September 2013, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change will release the Summary for Policy Makers (SPM) for its Working Group I – The Physical Climate Basis. The full Working Group I report will be placed on the IPCC website (www.ipcc.ch) on 30 September. Due to the [...]