Thursday's Online SkepTalk

With the release of the Spielberg blockbuster “Disclosure Day,” there has been great public interest in UFO claims and cases. In this illustrated, non-technical talk, astronomer Andrew Fraknoi will discuss the scientific, skeptical understanding of UFO (or UAP) claims. Learn what really happened in several famous cases, including the events in Roswell, New Mexico, which now drive the town’s tourist industry. What is our modern scientific understanding of the possibilities of intelligent life among the stars, and what are the serious and extensive experiments now under way to detect “techno-signatures” — remote evidence of advanced technological lifeforms?

WHO: Andrew Fraknoi retired as the Chair of the Astronomy Program at Foothill College, and now teaches short, fun classes in astronomy and physics at the Fromm Institute at USF and the Osher Institute at SF State. He is a Fellow of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry and was one of the founding Board members of Bay Area Skeptics. He has served on the Board of Directors of the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute for more than 40 years. Fraknoi is the lead author of “Astronomy,” a free, online text, published by the nonprofit OpenStax Project, that is now the most frequently used introductory astronomy textbook in the country. He appears regularly on radio and TV explaining astronomical developments in everyday language, and has recently been writing science-fiction stories with good science (13 published so far.) The International Astronomical Union has named asteroid 4859 Asteroid Fraknoi to honor his contributions to the public understanding of astronomy.
Join us! This is a free event brought to you by Bay Area Skeptics. All are welcome.