Cool event in Minnesota: “Science: Why Don’t Facts Seem to Matter?”
Hey, gang, just a quick post about an event I want you to know about. It is called “Science in Society: Why Don’t Facts Seem to Matter?” and it is happening this Thursday, June 15, from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Central time at the Science Museum of Minnesota in St. Paul.
The event is hosted by Valery Forbes, Dean of the College of Biological Sciences at the University of Minnesota and is co-sponsored by the ARCS Foundation and the Science Museum of Minnesota. I’m excited to share a panel with outstanding people who have keen insights on science and communication.
Joining me on the discussion panel are:
- Patrick Hamilton
Director of Global Change Initiatives
Science Museum of Minnesota - Maggie Koerth-Baker
Senior Science Writer at FiveThirtyEight - Kris Ehresmann
Director of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Prevention, and Control Division
Minnesota Department of Health
There is a networking portion over light snacks in which promising young scientists will be present to share their work and be recognized as ARCS Scholars. So we get a glimpse of the future of science through these incredible scholars. The way I see it, we need to promote science and those who pursue it as a career – now more than ever.
Register at the ARCS Foundation site here. You get free parking and admission to the Science Museum as part of your registration so make an afternoon and evening out of it!
If you’re a person who likes to think, learn, ponder, question, explore – and tie it all together with our collective life as a society, then join us at the Science Museum this Thursday.
And if you do attend, be sure to introduce yourself to me!
David
Falls: Humpty Dumpty was just like you and me
Sobering facts about falls in the elderly:
- The leading cause of injury that leads to death in people over age 65 is falling.
- That means 27,000 older adults in the US will not survive a fall in a year.
- Nearly 1 in 3 older adults will fall in a given year.
- That adds up to 29,000,000 (yes, that says 29 million) falls in a single year, resulting in 7 million injuries.
Ouch. So we, like our egg-shaped friend on the wall, need to be careful!
On the radio program last week, my colleague, HCMC Geriatrician Dr. Larry Kerzner joined me in the WCCO studios for a conversation about falls. If you missed that show, check out the podcast (without commercial breaks!) and listen on your computer or mobile device. Click the logo here to get to the podcast:
(Healthy Matters show #439, June 4, 2017)
For now, let’s move beyond the grim statistics and learn a bit . . .
Special topics: Lyme disease
Back in April I posted about medical science and what I had learned at my latest continuing education conference (the American College of Physicians conference in San Diego). Go ahead and re-read that post to get my thoughts on how to approach medical science. I had said that I’d be doing future posts about some of what I learned at doctor school in San Diego. The first of those was a look at Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infections. Now I’m tackling Lyme disease, much at my own peril since there is raging controversy about this one – at least with some folks.
Here’s what you’ll find if you read on:
- Lyme disease basics.
- Acute Lyme disease.
- Post Lyme Disease Syndrome, which some call “chronic Lyme disease.”
Fasten your seat belts, here we go . . .
