Science Pub RVA is a chance for your average person to sit and have a beer with an expert, by expert when mean super expert, and share a beer. The expert will give insight on a topic that isn’t likely to come up in everyday conversation, like this week where there will a look into failure and uncertainty when making social policy decisions.

Why to Love Doubt and Uncertainty

Neuroscientist Dr. Stuart Firestein will extend the ideas popularized in his Ted talk on ignorance. He will more deeply explore failure and doubt in the pursuit of science, and discuss how we should be thinking about uncertainty when making social policy decisions.

Dr. Firestein is the chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University, where his laboratory is researching the vertebrate olfactory receptor neuron as a model for investigating general principles and mechanisms of “signal transduction” — the ways in which chemicals, such as neurotransmitters, hormones, and peptides with membrane receptors, exert their influence in the brain and nervous system. He has published articles in Wired (magazine), Huffington Post, and Scientific American. He has been an adviser to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation program for the Public Understanding of Science. In 2011 he released the book Ignorance: How it Drives Science.

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Capital Ale House Music Hall

623 East Main Street Richmond, VA 23230

Room for 100 curious minds — Seating on a first-come basis

Click here to indicate “Going” on Facebook

5:45 Doors Open

7:00 20-minute talk by Dr. Firestein*

7:20 to 8:00 Q&A Open Discussion

* Dr. Firestein’s talk will be live-streamed from 7:00pm to 7:20pm on Science Pub RVA’s Facebook page.