BAS SkepTalk - Writing About Vaccines When Evidence Doesn't Matter by Liza Gross

How should science journalists write abohttp://photos1.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/9/d/d/c/event_164500412.jpegut "controversial" science topics like climate change and vaccines? Journalist Liza Gross will discuss her experience writing about vaccines, encounters with anti-vaccination fanatics, and thoughts about how to bridge the gap between evidence and doubt.

Sponsored by the Bay Area Skeptics (http://www.baskeptics.org).

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Liza Gross is a freelance writer based in the San Francisco Bay Area, a senior editor at the open-access biomedical journal PLoS Biology, and a contributor to Environmental Health News.

She writes about wildlife, ecology and evolution, conservation, environmental health, science policy, the science of wine, and more. Her stories reflect her deep curiosity about the natural world and our place in it and are often colored by her background in political science. Ms. Gross is especially concerned about how people's lack of scientific understanding compromises democratic processes and affects our capacity to deal with some of the planet's biggest challenges, from loss of biodiversity to climate change. She's written for diverse outlets, including San Francisco Chronicle, National Geographic’s News Watch, High Country News, East Bay Express, Scientific American, Sierra, Tikkun, PLoS Biology, Wines & Vines, and Wine Spectator.