Skeptics In The Pub is known for discussing evidence-based medicine in humans, but we rarely cover medicine regarding other species. In this talk, our speaker will be looking at medicine for horses and other equines.

In February 2015, Redwings Horse Sanctuary experienced its first outbreak in 23 years of a highly contagious equine disease. Strangles, also known as equine distemper, is a respitory tract infection with high morbidity and a 1% mortality rate.

At the height of the outbreak 24 horses showed varying degrees of clinical infection and tested positive for strangles, many more required testing and nine quarantine zones were in operation across the our Norfolk farms resulting in an expenditure of over £4,000 a week to contain, manage and treat the disease.

Nic de Brauwere, Head of Welfare & Behaviour at Redwings Horse Sanctuary, will talk about the disease itself, the evidence-based way that Redwings dealt with the disease and what they learned which has furthered humanity's knowledge of Strangles.

Like any other event in the real world, Brexit would have good and bad effects. Because the vote is in-or-out, however, the discourse is binary:  leaving the EU would be a disaster or a godsend. The discussion isn’t based on realistic scenarios. Not many people talk about the effects on the EU of a British departure. Fewer still talk about changes to the UK if there’s a vote to remain. Talking with no advocacy agenda about what the world might be like after the 23rd of June 2016 is rare. Answering questions about the future using structured methods is rarer.

Predicting the future is a mug’s game, but looking to the future without correcting for your cognitive biases is foolish. This is why structured horizon scanning is the first step in making strategy.

Lynette Nusbacher is a professional strategist. She was the first head of the Strategic Horizons Unit in the Cabinet Office, conducting futures work to underpin the UK National Security Strategy. Before that she served as Senior Intelligence Advisor and Devil’s Advocate to the Joint Intelligence Committee, responsible for analytical integrity of national intelligence assessments. Before that she was Senior Lecturer in War Studies at Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

The language of genes has become common in the media. We know they make your eyes blue, your hair curly or your nose straight. We're told that genes control the risk of cancer, heart disease, alcoholism or Alzheimer's. The cost of DNA sequencing has plummeted from billions of pounds to a few hundred, and gene-based advances in medicine hold huge promise.

There are 2.2 metres of DNA inside every one of your cells, encoding roughly 20,000 genes. These are the 'recipes' that tell our cells how to make the building blocks of life, along with all the control switches ensuring they're turned on and off at the right time and in the right place. But rather than a static string of genetic code, this is a dynamic, writhing biological library. With the help of cats with thumbs, fish with hips and wobbly worms, Kat will unpack some of the mysteries in our DNA and explain the latest thinking about how our genes work.

Dr Kat Arney is a science communicator and award-winning blogger for Cancer Research UK, as well as a freelance science writer and broadcaster whose work has featured on BBC Radio 4, the Naked Scientists and more. She has just published her first book, Herding Hemingway's Cats, about how our genes work. 

The Sunday Assembly, often referred to by the press as ‘the atheist church’, started in London in 2013 and has since spread worldwide. There are now over 60 ‘godless congregations’ in towns and cities across the UK, Europe, USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. One of the newest Sunday Assemblies is here in Norwich, which launched in November.

So, it seems to be growing, but is a ‘church’ service for atheists really necessary or desirable? Should Humanists and secularists not just get on with our lives, without mimicking the structures of religion? Could it even be counterproductive to act like a church? 

Or are there positives that can be taken from the things religion does? Do atheists need a sense of community and a structure to organise gatherings and a community in the name of what we do believe? And, if so, is Sunday Assembly the only way to go - or could there be an alternative?

Come along and join the discussion.

Speakers:
Pete Alder: Co-organiser of Sunday Assembly Norwich
Simon Clare: Ex co-organiser of Sunday Assembly Brighton and now a skeptic of Sunday Assembly.

Lesley Grahame and Clive Lewis, the respective Green and Labour candidates for Norwich South will discuss and debate their own views and their party's policies on issues of interest to skeptics. From nuclear power and GMOs to faith schools and alternative therapies on the NHS. There will be plenty of time for questions.The Norwich South seat is set to be a close battle between Labour and the Green Party in the 2015 General Election next May. Come along and find out which of the two is the most 'skeptic friendly' candidate.

Norwich Skeptics In The Pub, in association with Norfolk Humanists, are proud to present Shelley Segal, the atheist singer-songwriter from Australia.

 Over the past five years Shelley has played throughout Europe and America, building a formidable fanbase as a truly independent artist. As a singer/song-writer/storyteller, she moves comfortably between genres of folk, jazz, blues, reggae and pop.

 In 2011 she released an album of songs inspired by her atheism. She performed to 30,000 at the Reason Rally in the US. Shelley will be performing tracks from both this acclaimed 'An Atheist Album' including the single 'Saved', 'An apocalyptic love song (for Hitchens) and 'I don't believe in fairies'. Shelley will also play some tracks from her latest release, An Easy Escape.

There will also be a Q&A session where Shelley will discuss her secular-humanist beliefs and how they have informed her music.

To see more about Shelley visit her website: http://www.shelleysegal.com/

Tickets are £4 and are available from:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/shelley-segal-an-atheist-sings-tickets-13421858139

 Unfortunately our plans for a speaker this month have fallen through. So we've decided to just go down to the Beehive for a pint and a chat. We're hoping to talk a bit about future topics/speakers people might be interested in but I'm sure we'll wander off that too. Hope to see you there!

Homeopathy is a 200 year-old system of alternative medicine, based on the premise that “like cures like” and that more diluted remedies are more potent. 

The skeptical community often requires that those who support homeopathy provide evidence of its effectiveness, and we know that this evidence is usually not forthcoming, or has serious methodological flaws which limit its usefulness. Despite this, many argue that homeopathy still has a place in modern medicine, since it offers a treatment option that is acceptable to many patients, and does no harm. 

But is there evidence for this claim for no harm in homeopathy? Does the burden of proof fall to us as skeptics to prove that it can cause real damage to people? We examine the evidence for and against homeopathy, which may be more harmful than you think.

From humble beginnings in Thetford, Thomas Paine (1737-1809) became the foremost propagandist for radical politics in the late 18th century. To what extent was Paine a typical Enlightenment  thinker? How did his love of practical science influence his political and religious ideas? A philosopher, or just someone who couldn't resist speaking out against injustice?

Chad Goodwin, Chair of the Thomas Paine Society UK will tell us about this local historic and skeptical figure.

www.thomaspaineuk.com