Maria Maltseva

Maria and the Bust of Reagan

Discovery Institute Literature

On a recent episode of Skepticality, guests Kate Holden and Tiana Dietz proposed their joint project, "Visit Discovery," which encourages people to visit Seattle's Intelligent Design think tank The Discovery Institute. Is there hope of fostering better dialog between advocates of science and proponents of Intelligent Design?
 
This week's guest, Maria Maltseva, a Seattle skeptic and practicing attorney, talks with Derek & Swoopy about her own recent visits to The Discovery Institute, where her talks with Institute insiders yielded a wealth of interesting information.

Show Notes

Date -January 6th, 2009 read by Derek (getting grief from Swoopy).
Geology Professor Dr. Donald R. Prothero has some upcoming lectures:
The Kroger Center for the Arts, Columbia South Carolina, Monday, January 12th.
The Blumenthal Performing Arts Center, Charlotte North Carolina, Tuesday January 13th.
The Charleston Music Hall, Charleston South Carolina, Wednesday, January 14th.
The Gunter Theatre, Greenville South Carolina, Thursday, January 15th.
The Atlanta Skeptics will be hosting Atlanta Skepticamp on Feb 6-7th in Doraville, GA.
You can find a Skepticamp near you at the Skepticamp website.
Drinking Skeptically Bellingham, WA meets on the second Tuesday of each month at 7pm.
There are over 30 groups in cities in the US and Canada already Drinking Skeptically.
On Skepticality 91 we talked with skeptics Kate Holden and Tiana Dietz.
Kate and Tiana visited The Discovery Institute in Seattle, and shenanigans ensued.
Kate and Tiana also challenged other skeptics to Visit Discovery.
Seattle skeptic Maria Maltseva decided to find out more about the DI with her own visit.
The DI has several departments, the most controversial dedicated to Science and Culture.
Surprisingly the DI has garnered grants from The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
The Cascadia division deals with transportation and development in the Cascade corridor.
Maria talked at length with the DI's Public Policy & Legal affairs director, Casey Luskin.
Despite repeated requests, the DI does not disclose information about it's labs.
Lab director Douglas Axe was featured in the film Expelled, but the labs were not shown.
One of the important things for skeptics to keep an eye on is current ID legislation.
Important cases of precedent include:
Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District (2005)
Edwards v. Aguillard (1987)
McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education (1982)
Daniel v. Waters (1975)
Epperson v. Arkansas (1968)
State v. Scopes (1926)
An important organization that works to preserve science in schools is the NCSE.
Skepticality 76 featured NCSE executive director, Eugenie Scott.
You can read Kate Holden's blog Cuddly Atheism here.
Tiana Dietz blogs for the Enemy Combatant Trailmix Appreciation Club here.
You can reach Maria Maltseva on Facebook, or through her personal website.
Skepticality outro.