October 8 - 1177 BC: The Year Civilization Collapsed

Eric Cline, Ph.D.
Professor of Classics and Anthropology
The George Washington University

From about 1500 BC to 1200 BC, the Mediterranean region played host to a complex cosmopolitan and globalized world-system. It may have been this very internationalism that contributed to the apocalyptic disaster that ended the Bronze Age. When the end came, the civilized and international world of the Mediterranean regions came to a dramatic halt in a vast area stretching from Greece and Italy in the west to Egypt, Canaan, and Mesopotamia in the east. Large empires and small kingdoms collapsed rapidly. With their end came the world’s first recorded Dark Ages. It was not until centuries later that a new cultural renaissance emerged in Greece and the other affected areas, setting the stage for the evolution of Western society as we know it today.  Professor Eric H. Cline of The George Washington University will explore why the Bronze Age came to an end and whether the collapse of those ancient civilizations might hold some warnings for our current society.

Shadow of a Doubt - September 2016

 The Monthly Calendar of the National Capital Area Skeptics

• September 10 - "They Called Me Mad: Genius, Madness, and the Scientists Who Pushed the Outer Limits of Knowledge" Presented by John Monahan, Science Writer/Teacher/Author
• October NCAS Lecture
• October 20: I’m Not Afraid of No Ghost Tour!
• NCAS Board Elections 
• Torn from today's headlines
• AmazonSmile: Thanks to our members who are supporting NCAS!
• Shadow Light
• Drinking Skeptically on hiatus

NCAS Public Lecture Series

They Called Me Mad:
Genius, Madness, and the Scientists Who Pushed the Outer Limits of Knowledge
John Monahan
Science Writer/Teacher/Author

Saturday, September 10, 1:30pm - 4:00pm
Bethesda Regional Library
7400 Arlington Road
Bethesda, MD
(Bethesda Metro station)
FREE admission – Everyone welcome, members and non-members
From Dr. Frankenstein to Dr. Horrible, the mad scientist has become an icon in books, movies, comics and games. We love them, loathe them. We tremble and laugh at them, but why? Is it the fiendish devices, the willful disregard for the scientific orthodoxy, or is it all the maniacal laughter? Believe it or not, many of them are based on real scientists who pushed the boundaries of science, only to earn the scorn of their peers. Join us for a conversation of mad scientists fictional and real from the past, present and future, if you dare. "Bwa ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

John Monahan is a science writer and long-time science teacher in Baltimore City. He has taught biology, chemistry and physics, at both the middle school and high school level, and has had the opportunity to integrate science fiction into his science curriculum. In addition he has taught classes on writing science fiction. He is also the author of the book They Called Me Mad: Genius, Madness and the Scientists Who Pushed the Outer Limits of Knowledge. John is a long-term resident of Baltimore and is a graduate of Towson University, where he received a Bachelor’s degree in science and a Master’s degree in professional writing. Currently, he blogs on his Mad4Science blog at mad4science.wordpress.com.

Refreshments and socializing after the talk.