Why do intelligent people sometimes believe dumb things? Science communicator Craig Cormick talks with Di Bowman about the social values that govern much public perception of risk, and how they affect the decisions people make.

Dr. Craig Cormick is an Australian science communicator who has been working on public engagement with new technologies including as nanotechnologies and biotechnologies for over ten years. He is visiting the USA to talk on public engagement of science and technology at the conferences of the Society for Social Studies of Science, and the Society for the Study of NanoScience and Emerging Technologies.

Dr. Di Bowman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Health Management & Policy, School of Public Health, at the University of Michigan and a visiting international scholar in the Faculty of Law, KU Leuven (Belgium). In addition to these roles Diana serves as a member on the Australian Government’s National Enabling Technologies Strategy Expert Forum. Diana’s research has focused primarily on legal, regulatory and public health policy issues relating to new technologies, in particular nanotechnologies. Diana is the co-editor of several books including New Global Frontiers in Regulation: The Age of Nanotechnology (2007, with Hodge and Ludlow) and Nanotechnology Risk Management: Perspectives and Progress (2010, with Hull) and the International Handbook on Regulating Nanotechnologies (2010, with Hodge and Maynard). Diana has qualifications in science and law (Monash University, 2003), a PhD in Law (2007), and is admitted to practice as an Australian Lawyer.