We’re all members of a very strange species. But where lots of human peculiarities – from art to warfare and beyond – have analogues across the animal kingdom, we stand alone as the only religious species. Yet, within our otherwise religious species, atheism is currently flourishing in large parts of the world. I’ll discuss research highlighted in my recent book (Disbelief: The Origins of Atheism in a Religious Species), showing how people’s intuitions about morality lead them to assume the worst of atheists – with problematic implications for our scientific understanding of atheism, religion, and human nature.

Will Gervais (Centre for Culture and Evolution, Brunel University London) is a cultural evolutionary psychologist and has been a global leader in the scientific study of atheism for over a decade. Dr. Gervais’s research has been featured in media such as the New York Times, the Washington Post, National Public Radio, Der Speigel, Psychology Today, Vox, and Scientific American. His interdisciplinary work, lying at the intersection of cultural evolution, evolutionary psychology, and cognitive science, has garnered international scientific recognition. He was named a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science and is the recipient of the Margaret Gorman Early Career Award from the American Psychological Association and the SAGE Young Scholar Award from the Foundation for Personality and Social Psychology. Will likes cooking, camping, and his dog.

This month’s work is the 2008 book „Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts About Alternative Medicine“ by Edzard Ernst and Simon Singh. This book is a pillar of skeptical thinking and a must-read for anybody concerned about alt-med.

Trick or Treatment evaluates the scientific evidence for acupuncture, homeopathy, herbal medicine, and chiropractic, and briefly covers 36 other treatments. It finds that the scientific evidence for these alternative treatments is generally lacking. Homeopathy is concluded to be completely ineffective: „It’s nothing but a placebo, despite what homeopaths say“.

Když v komiksu nakreslíš odhalená ženská prsa, tak tě ani Pulitzerova cena nezachrání. O tom se mohl v nedávné době přesvědčit americký kreslíř Art Spiegelman, autor slavného undergroundového komiksu Maus. Příběh vyprávějící strastiplnou cestu jeho rodičů krvavou druhou světovou válkou se znelíbil státu Tennessee. Kvůli nahotě a vulgaritám se rozhodl desetičlenná školní rada stáhnout knihu z povinné četby na základních a středních školách.

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For this talk, Kato will be drawing from two of his more recent books: The God Business and the Death of Reason in Africa (2021), and: Modern Humanism, and How to make it work for the People.

He will explore the history of religion in Africa, both traditional religions and those imported by colonists, and the effect that religion has had on the lives and the thinking of people in Uganda and further afield throughout Africa.

Kato will also talk about his view of practical Humanism, how it should not be restricted to conferences and lecture theatres, but be taken to the grassroots where it can be seen in action. Modern Humanism is more concerned with activism and there are several ways through which Humanism can be made more relevant

Kato Mukasa is a Ugandan lawyer; he is the Executive Director of Legal Relief Frontiers LTD, a non governmental organization which provides Legal Relief services to the poor in Uganda. Over the years in his practice as a lawyer he has handled human rights cases which involve supporting LGBTQ rights, abused children, rape victims and victims of land evictions among others. He has espoused these views on local media and has a number of published books, such as „Challenging the myths about homosexuality“.

Kato is also a humanist in a country where only 0.2% of the population identify as non-religious. Having had a keen interest in religion in his early teens, he was eventually expelled from his Catholic high school for refusing to attend mass.

He is the chair of Uganda Humanist Association the oldest Humanist organization in Africa, and a former member of the board of directors of the International Humanist and Ethical Union.

In 2007 he co-founded the Humanist Association for Leadership, Equity and Accountability to promote critical thinking and human rights. Its monthly campus discussions are attended by people of faith and non-believers. It also sponsors students and assists young mothers in acquiring entrepreneurship skills, among other programs. He is the founding director of Pearl Vocational Training College and Pearl Mukasa Memorial High School, schools which provide education to the marginalized urban and rural poor, young mothers and needy students.
Sadly it is perhaps not surprising that views such as these, in a very traditional and religious country, have made him the target of attacks.

We are surrounded by stickiness. From the bike tyre that grips the road and the Post-it note that’s become an office mainstay, to your non-stick frying pan, and the ice that transforms waterways each winter. All of these things are controlled by tiny forces that operate on and between surfaces, with friction playing the leading role. In this talk, Laurie will explore the role of friction in both the manufactured and natural worlds. She will describe how our understanding of surface science, and our ability to manipulate stickiness, have developed throughout history, transforming the world around us. If you’ve ever wondered how the ancient Egyptians could move colossal stone blocks, or why earthquakes happen, you might find the answers here.

This talk is inspired by Laurie’s latest book, ‘Sticky: The Secret Science of Surfaces’. Published by Bloomsbury in the UK and Europe on 11 November 2021, it will reach other markets in early 2022.

Laurie Winkless is an Irish physicist and author. After a physics degree and a masters in space science, she joined the UK’s National Physical Laboratory as a research scientist, specialising in functional materials. Now based in New Zealand, Laurie has been communicating science to the public for 15 years. Since leaving the lab, she has worked with scientific institutes, engineering companies, universities, and astronauts, amongst others. Her writing has featured in outlets including Forbes, Wired, and Esquire, and she appeared in The Times magazine as a leading light in STEM. Laurie’s first book was Science and the City. Her second, Sticky: The Secret Science of Surfaces, is available now (in hardcopy, e-book and audio formats) from all good bookshops.

První přednáška Pátečníků v novém roce!

Biografie má zejména v historii vědy mizernou pověst. Je skutečně zasloužená? Patří biografie do vědy nebo spíš mezi literární žánry? A jaké podoby může mít?

Evoluční teorie zabývající se náboženstvím tvrdí, že náboženství pomáhá stabilizaci spolupráce ve skupinách přesahujících rodinné vazby, ochotu dělit se o zdroje s neznámými osobami sdílejícími stejné náboženské představy nebo jinak se projevujícími jako členové stejné náboženské skupiny. Na konkrétních výzkumech náboženských rituálů a praktik budu ilustrovat to, jak náboženství navazuje na mechanismy vyvinuté pro sociální život, skupinovou soudržnost, vnitroskupinovou spolupráci a důvěru.

Eva Kundtová Klocová vystudovala religionistiku na Masarykově univerzitě. V roce 2018 získala titul Ph.D. za dizertační práci věnující se komunikační roli těla v náboženských rituálech. Ve své práci se zaměřuje jak na teoretické přístupy k tématu tělesnosti v náboženském rituálu, tak na empirické výzkumné přístupy zaměřené na specifické rituální tělesné praktiky.

Od roku 2015 má na starosti vedení infrastrukturního pracoviště HUME Lab na Filozofické fakultě Masarykovy univerzity, kde se podílí na podpoře a koordinaci výzkumných projektů v humanitních a sociálních vědách.

Geologie je často velmi zábavná detektivní hra. Nad dávnými událostmi se přehnala moře času a očitých svědků je pomálu. Pro zjištění stavů minulých vstupuje na scénu hrdina – geolog – vybaven nejenom kladívkem a kompasem, ale i elektronovým mikroskopem nebo hmotovým spektroskopem. Přednáška by měla ukázat současnou multidisciplinaritu geologie a v hrubých rysech seznámit posluchače s aktuálním poznáním vývoje variského orogenu na konci prvohor na území České Republiky.

Vladimír Kolář Kusbach (*1981) působí od roku 2011 jako vědecký pracovník na Oddělení geodynamiky, kde se věnuje především deformaci a reologickému chování horninových komplexů spodní kontinentální kůry a deformaci hornin obecně. Magisterské (2002-2007) studium absolvoval na Přírodovědecké fakultě Univerzity Karlovy, doktorské (2007-2011) pak kombinovaně opět na Přírodovědecké fakultě Univerzity Karlovy a na Université de Strasbourg – Ecole et Observatoire des Sciences de la Terre. Zaměřuje se na mikrostrukturní studie, které jsou důležitým nástrojem pro dešifrování reologie hornih a procesů segregace taveniny.

Hlavními tématy výzkumu jsou zejména: a) strukturní studie orogenních pásů, b) interakce kůry a pláště a tektonické procesy ve velkém měřítku, c) mikrostruktury, textury, deformační mechanismy a reologie deformovaných hornin.

Skeptics In The Pub online

The 1700s was a period when the people of England seemed to be especially gullible. They believed a woman could give birth to rabbits; a man could climb inside a two pint bottle and sing inside it; and where a blond-haired European could write a book claiming that he was born in Taiwan. These hoaxes weren’t just written about extensively in newspapers and journals but also brilliantly and amusingly depicted by satirical artists such as William Hogarth and James Gillray. Based on his recently published book, Ian demonstrates how 18th century hoaxes are memorable not only for their imaginative nature but also because of the differing motives of the tricksters.

Ian Keable obtained a first-class degree from the University of Oxford in Philosophy, Politics and Economics, qualified as a chartered accountant and then became a professional magician. A member of The Magic Circle with gold star, he has won several awards for his unique brand of comedy magic. Keable has also performed on television and has written and presented programmes for BBC Radio. An accredited lecturer for The Arts Society, he gives talks on magic history, cartoons and eighteenth-century hoaxes. Keable’s other publications include Stand-Up: A Professional Guide to Comedy Magic and Charles Dickens Magician: Conjuring in Life, Letters and Literature. He lives in London.