Debunking Pseudoscientific Claims: Science in the Era of Alternative Facts and the Internet
We live in an era of open, widely accessible information, yet one where “alternative facts” and pseudoscience are pervasive.
Join Maxim Sukharev, Arizona State University associate professor of physics, as he discusses the components of the scientific method of inquiry and then applies them to pseudoscientific claims ranging from the seemingly harmless (like harvesting energy from nothing or UFO abductions) to the quite dangerous (like claims of medical remedies for incurable diseases) — demonstrating that all of them are unsubstantiated.
No prior knowledge of physics is required!
Maxim Sukharev has authored more than 60 publications in the world’s leading peer-reviewed journals in physics, chemistry, and materials sciences. Sukharev’s research interests include nano-optics, computational electrodynamics, and light-matter interaction. Before joining ASU as an assistant professor in 2008, he was a postdoctoral fellow at Northwestern University. Sukharev earned a doctorate in laser physics from the Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, and has held visiting professorships in France, Israel and Brazil. At ASU he holds joint appointments in the Faculty of Science and Mathematics, College of Integrative Sciences and Arts, at the Polytechnic campus; and in the Department of Physics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, at Tempe campus.