On this season of the Omnia podcast, we talk to scientists and other scholars about scientific ideas that cause big reactions. We’ll look at stories of science getting knocked around, and standing back up again, in a world full of polarization, politics, misrepresentation, and simple misunderstanding. Welcome to In These Times: Fear and Loathing and Science.  

One of the more unexpected side effects of COVID-19 has been the rise of a new strain of resistance to scientific information. But science denial didn’t start with COVID-19.  Rejection of scientific evidence is part of the history of science itself. How did the search for understanding and truth find itself in the cross-hairs of U.S. politics?

Guests:

Mark Trodden, Fay R. and Eugene L. Langberg Professor of Physics, Co-Director of the Center for Particle Cosmology, and Chair of the Department of Physics and Astronomy

Donovan Schaefer, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies

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Produced by Loraine Terrell

Narrated by Alex Schein

Edited by Alex Schein and Loraine Terrell

Interviews Loraine Terrell

Theme music by Nicholas Escobar, C'18

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions 

Illustration and logo by Dan Lee

In These Times is a production of Penn Arts & Sciences. Visit our series website to learn more and listen to the first two seasons of In These Times. 

Visit our editorial magazine, Omnia, for more content from Penn Arts & Sciences faculty, students, and alumni.