As is customary at the annual AAAS meeting, a wide variety of current science-and-society topics were addressed in the sessions. Among these were: the dangers posed by the rapid spread of drug resistance in disease-causing bacteria, the role of science fiction in presenting science to the public, and the ethical questions raised by recent research showing that some men may be genetically predisposed to homosexuality.
Following is an account of several of the meeting's more interesting--sometimes curious--moments, taken from this reporter's notes:
When speaking in public, scientists--like politicians and others--often use metaphors, parables, and quotations to add that down-to-earth feeling or touch of erudition, as needed. Keynote speaker John Gibbons was exemplary in this regard, incorporating the thoughts of philosopher Machiavelli, poet Edna St. Vincent Millay, political thinker Antonio Gramsci, and others into his talk Friday evening, along with several vivid images and informal tales.
In one combined flurry, Gibbons ...
