Or, rather, suggested reading. More to follow soon . . .

from Denise:

On the theme of uncertainty (and craziness in the medical “literature”), a link to a transcript and the audio of a segment from “This American Life” about MSG, monosodium glutamate, and the history of “Chinese restaurant syndrome.” The transcript is fine, but the audio is really the way to go.
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/668/transcript

Another segment follows. I’m not suggesting that one, though it is excellent and hair-raising.

From Sandy:

An example of a book proposal
https://sciwrite.org/sleightsofmindproposal.pdf

and miscellaneous advice on science writing
https://sanacacio.net/sciwrite_files/blakeslee_files

We’re sorry to report that Brooke Borel learned on Friday of an unavoidable situation that will make it impossible for her to travel to Santa Fe for the workshop. We scrambled over the weekend to find someone of the highest calibre to take Brooke’s place. Through a great stroke of fortune we were able to recruit Christie Aschwanden, freelancer extraordinaire and one of our favorite science writers and people.

We will all miss Brooke and we apologize for the last minute change, but we’re confident that you will be happy with the result.

Christie was a student at our first workshop way back in 1996. Right afterward she completed the prestigious science journalism program at UC-Santa Cruz and has gone on to an extraordinarily successful career as a freelance science writer. She also served until last month as lead science writer for FiveThirtyEight. Christie was already scheduled to give a talk later in the workshop and to join in our book reading on Wednesday evening. She has graciously reworked her schedule to take Brooke’s place. You can read more about her at https://christieaschwanden.com.

We’ll be rejiggering the schedule a bit, so please stay tuned.

We’re also announcing an addition to the program. On Friday, May 10 we will be joined by Sara Solovitch and April Reese from New Mexico Searchlight to talk about nonprofit, independent journalism.

We’re posting more details from the speakers we will hear at the Santa Fe Insitute.

“In search of ecological equilibrium on evolving islands: making theories just to break them.
Andy Rominger

The concept of nature as stable (“equilibrial”) underlies much of human thought on our ecological support network. How can we define this equilibrium? Is it reasonable to presume such an ecological state exists? While solving equations for their equilibrium is the bedrock of much quantitative science, from physics to biology, deviations from equilibrium might be the norm. Biological systems also have the fascinating property of evolving, which means they remember their past, encoded in their DNA, in a way much more complex than idealized, non-living systems. This memory could further nullify equilibrium assumptions. Using data from endemic insect and spider communities in Hawaii I will explore definitions of equilibrium, whether we find evidence for them in nature, and why.

“Fighting Nazis in a digital age: Can hate be countered?”
Joshua Garland

Remember when you were young and there was a prevailing belief that Nazis were the bad guys? For the youth of today this is not necessarily the case. Every day a digital war is being waged on the hearts and minds of people throughout the world, and most people are oblivious. In this talk, we will examine this digital war through a so-called “complexity lens,” calling on tools from machine learning, AI, network theory and social science. Through this lens we aim to gain insight into the origin of this war, how it is being waged, who the actors are, how they interact and if the resistance has any hope.

There are 14 people now on the waiting list.

For people staying offsite or who wish to have a guest join them for some of the outside activities: please pay the commuter or guest fee at https://sciwrite.org/payment.html or mail a check to the address on that page.