KNOXVILLE — John Rennie, editor in chief of Scientific American, will speak on “Naysaying the Nincompoops: On Being a Maven in a Misinformed Era” on Tuesday, March 4 at 8 p.m. in the
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John Rennie
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University Center Shiloh Room at the University of Tennessee. The event is free and open to the public.
Rennie-s talk will focus on pseudoscience and how it percolates through American life. Citing recent examples, such as the Raelian cult’s claim to have cloned a human, he will discuss how this kind of misinformation can be countered.
Before he joined Scientific American, Rennie spent eight years as a professional comedian. During his nine-year tenure as editor in chief of Scientific American, he has reinvigorated and modernized America’s oldest continuously published magazine.
Rennie’s speech is this year’s Alfred and Julia Hill Lecture on science, society, and the mass media, an offering of the School of Journalism and Public Relations.