Freethought Society ONLINE: Dr. Jeremy M. Berg on Defending Science

On Saturday, April 18 2026, at 6 pm EDT, the Freethought Society (based in Philadelphia) and the Humanist Society of Santa Barbara are pleased to co-sponsor an online talk, "The Best of Times, The Worst of Times" by Jeremy Berg, on Zoom. It may be of interest to our members so we are publicizing it here.

Since World War II, The United States has enjoyed an enviable international leadership position in science driven by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health and the potential for science to address key societal challenges is profound.

However, the first year of the current administration has been tremendously damaging to the American scientific enterprise with unprecedented grant delays, terminations, "realignment with agency priorities", staff terminations, and more.

The traditional scientific establishment has largely complied in advance, cowered in fear, or worked 'behind the scenes', but some groups and individuals have stepped up with more activist approaches.

Members of the public, who depend on advances made by science for health and economic prosperity, must be engaged to understand what is happening and to speak out.

Open to the public and to all who care about scientific research, this talk by Speaker Jeremy Berg sets out to inform and inspire on this topic.

Speaker: Dr. Jeremy M. Berg
• Professor of Computational and Systems Biology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine
• Director, National Institute of General Medical Sciences, NIH 2003-2011
• Editor-in-Chief, Science Magazine 2016-2019

(This is not a GBHumanists event so please follow the links which the organizers control: your RSVP to this MeetUp announcement only gives access to the published zoom address for the event)