We stand with Black Lives Matter and all those protesting for justice. Our upcoming outreach programs are postponed so as not to distract from more urgent work of antiracism and disassembling white supremacy in this country. The mission of Science Riot has always been to humanize scientists and amplify their voice, especially those who are…
Can scientists be trained to do comedy? We really didn’t know if it would work. In January of 2016, a small group of academics paced anxiously while a Colorado blizzard raged outside our rented community theater. This first cohort consisted of local professors and co-workers who we roped into a science communication workshop that drew…
When cultural beliefs clash with science, a little humor and a little humility never hurts by David Westmoreland, Science Riot Board Member Reposted from Scientific American. “We believe that we came into existence when an ogress mated with a monkey. Is that possible?” The question comes from one of a hundred saffron-clad Tibetan monks sitting…
By Stephen E. Nash We’ve all been caught unawares by our digestive tract at one time or another. It happened to the Nash family several months ago. We were nearing the end of an extended road trip, driving down a secondary highway through a sparsely populated area of Colorado at night, when one of my…
“But why comedy?” I frequently get asked this by puzzled people and they have a point. With Science Riot, I’m advocating something pretty unusual: teaching scientists to be comedians and to use comedy as a tool for public outreach. Only a small portion of scientists do outreach at all and if you still struggle with…
Can you name a scientist who is alive today? Because 81% of the American public can’t name one. This is discouraging news for anyone who cares about science literacy, but it isn’t particularly helpful unless we allow ourselves to consider that maybe the public isn’t the problem. “We must have very different definitions for the word scientist.”…
Carl Sagan wrote these prescient words more than twenty years ago: “We’ve arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a…
In 2015, I met with a group of naïve scientists in a Colorado pub. The three of us – a pilot, a microbiologist, and a paleontologist – agreed that “Science Riot” was a catchy non-sequitur. The idea of introverted scientists taking the street in their lab-coats was undeniably hilarious. We never thought it would actually…
Science Riot is proud to be providing speakers and programming support for March for Science satellite events in Colorado Springs and Little Rock. This article was expanded from notes taken during initial meetings with march organizers. Printable PDF is available for download. Only 1 in 5 scientists do outreach for the adult public. How many will…
