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Dragon Con Science Track

@dconscitrack.bsky.social
307 followers 25 following 217 posts

The Official Account of the Dragon Con Science Track.

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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Sheryl says that if you read an article about a study, you can go and look at the original study. It’s usually not that hard to find. If you hear about studies on a podcast, check to make sure that the hosts are including all their citations in the show notes.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
How can you tell if a paper isn’t scholarly? Greg says that non-scholarly papers will have a lot of citations that citate themselves. That’s a big red flag. Real research will have a dense number of various sources.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
@inurlibrary.bsky.social points out that google scholar is just a search engine for what their algorithm thinks is scholarly. There are things in there that are completely AI generated or just not from peer reviewed journals. So, you need to be careful using it.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
What about Google scholar? @dnlee5.bsky.social says it’s fine to use it for its search capabilities, but still encourages everyone to then switch over to your local library for finding the specific papers you want to read.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Your local library tracks clicks and views on journals and and then uses this as leverage to negotiate with journals for cheaper access. So, please use libraries when trying to find scientific articles! - @inurlibrary.bsky.social
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
@inurlibrary.bsky.social and @dnlee5.bsky.social point out that you can also get access to papers from your local library. You can get your hands on most articles in under three days.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Greg says that if you find a scientific study you want to read but it’s behind a paywall, try reaching out to one of the authors. They want people to read their research and are usually happy to send it to anyone who wants to read it.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
But, Sheryl says that just because the consensus says “A” now doesn’t mean it won’t say “B” later. And @inurlibrary.bsky.social points out that this process takes a long time and isn’t linear.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Scientific consensus isn’t a conference of scientists all coming together in an organized way to decide the “truth.” It’s many individuals over time all providing small bits of data that cumulate to produce overwhelming proof. - @dnlee5.bsky.social
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Scientific consensus tells us that you have a whole lot of very, very good data on a topic. To prove something that entrenched wrong, you would need some extremely good proof. -Greg
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Science cannot give you absolute certainty. But, there is a concept called scientific consensus. What is it and what does it mean? -mod Vaughan
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
The cumulative knowledge that we do know about the world were accumulated from various individual’s passions over thousands of years. It’s a conversation across time and space. - @dnlee5.bsky.social
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
As humans we want certainty, but as humans there is no such thing. That is what drives our cognitive dissonance. -Greg
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
The whole point of science is to collect data and have an open enough mind to change based on the data.-Sheryl
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Media portrays science as having a question then finding the answer. But real science is iterative and filled with uncertainty. -Vaughan
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Greg says that the social sciences are some of the hardest science. Even reading the scientific literature may not be enough because you also need to pay attention to the quality of the study itself.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
What does it mean to be scientifically literate? Sheryl says it is about knowing the facts, but not just knowing the facts. It’s also about understanding where you information is coming from.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Time for Trust, But Verify: The Scientific Process, Science Literacy & Sources with @inurlibrary.bsky.social, @dnlee5.bsky.social, Sheryl Barbosa, Greg Hodgin, and moderator Vaughan James
Photo of all the panelists on the Trust but Verify panel
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Siobhan @inurlibrary.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
Hi DragonCon! It’s time for information literacy on the Science Track, come on down to 209-211 at 5:30!
Screenshot from the DragonCon app of a panel description.

Title: Trust, But Verify: The Scientific Process, Science Literacy & Sources

Abstract: Why do scientific facts sometimes change? Because Science isn't about being right – it's about getting closer to the truth. Learn how discoveries evolve, how to spot good research, and how to separate evidence from hype.
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Heidi Lyn @heidilynphd.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
My favorite panel so far was monsterotica through @dconscitrack.bsky.social - the ballroom got to vote on some monster smash opportunities. Good thing this was Dragoncon After Dark
Crowd shot of a full ballroom with a person in foreground with a sign that says “would”Crowd shot of a full ballroom with a person in foreground frowning with a sign that says “nope”Crowd shot of a full ballroom with a screen in foreground that says the D&D Monsterotica manual
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Seven Machina Rasmussen @toomanyspectra.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
questions were asked! statements were stated! fists were bumped! amazement was had all around!
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
That’s it! Thanks for joining us on this journey across the stars!
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Rocky lives off heavy metal foods. Lali says that there is life that lives by thermonuclear vents that lives off similar types of chemical reactions.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
But wait! Lali says that it isn’t just about temperature; It’s also about seasons and ocean currents. If there are temperature fluctuations, the global currents can collapse.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Q&A time! Could you actually bomb the arctic to release methane gas to warm the earth? @toomanyspectra.bsky.social says in theory that would actually work.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
If you’re wondering about the psychology required to go on a long-term space mission, @drerinmac.bsky.social recommends reading Packing For Mars by Mary Roach.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
But @toomichtrouble.bsky.social points out that sometimes you do have to make hard ethical decisions, as is explored in a lot of scifi like Project Hail Mary or Star Trek. But in real life, it’s hard to predict how people will react or what outcomes you’ll get in serious, scary situations.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Moderator @steffidiem.bsky.social asks about the ethics of kidnapping someone to throw them on a spaceship to save humanity. @science-dude.bsky.social says usually if a person is panicking to the extent that Grace was, that’s a big red flag.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
@science-dude.bsky.social points out that historically even when different human cultures have tried to communicate, it’s often been disastrous. If we have that much trouble communicating with other humans, imagine how much harder it would be to communicate with an aliens species.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Here on earth, humans have tried to communicate with other intelligent life like dolphins and sperm whales. But even for other life here on earth, it’s very challenging to reach true communication. It would likely be even harder if we met intelligent aliens.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Rocky’s species didn’t understand the dangers of interstellar radiation. @drerinmac.bsky.social points out that we likely have the same types of blind spots that other intelligent alien species would probably consider basic science.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Human eyes are squishy because they evolved in water. But it makes sense that creatures who don’t evolve in water, like Rocky, would not have such squishy eyes. - @science-dude.bsky.social
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
When Rocky gets injured, Grace sees Carbon scoring on him and tries to clean it off until he realizes it’s the equivalent of scar tissue. Bodies have lots of ways to produce barriers that help protect wounds, so it makes sense Rocky would have something like that too.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Let’s talk trilobites! Trilobites had eyes were made from a crystalline structure. So crystal is already part of some organic life. Lali says the crystalline cells like those in trilobites could also potentially grow into neural networks and become a brain, just like Rocky has.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Could there be other intelligence life in the universe? The Drake equation, which tries to calculate it, shows that the universe is so big that there likely is somewhere, but it will also be rare compared to the immense size of the universe.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
@toomanyspectra.bsky.social says there are many methods to get to life. Ammonia is poorly studied as a medium for life, but if you had a stable environment and other necessary elements, you could eventually end up with a creature like Rocky.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
@science-dude.bsky.social points out that they are using infrared thrust used in theoretical solar sails. But, it’s not really explained how you could get that momentum out of such tiny cells.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Atrophage… what is it? Lali says that in all living things on earth ATP is the energy current our cells use. The astrophage cells are built out of the same molecules we have on earth but have waaaay more energy.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
@drerinmac.bsky.social has done all the time dilation math. When Grace wakes up, he would have had to be traveling at 95% the speed of light. But it would have taken him about 7 months to accelerate to that speed at the amount of acceleration mentioned in the book.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Lali says that as humans we have a lot of automated behaviors, so when Grace wakes from cryo and his brain hasn’t quite caught up yet, it makes sense that he would still be going about normal activities until his brain recovers enough.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
What would happen if we suddenly had a lot less sunlight? @toomanyspectra.bsky.social says we learned from the Krakatoa eruption that a dimming of the sun can cause massive crop failures.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Hope ya’ll are ready for AMAZE AMAZE AMAZE: The Science of Project Hail Mary with @steffidiem.bsky.social, @science-dude.bsky.social, Lali DeRosier, @drerinmac.bsky.social, and @toomanyspectra.bsky.social
Photo of the panelists on the Science of Project Hail Mary panel at DragonCon
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Liz Decolvenaere @tallakahath.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I am a very serious real adult scientist, I swear
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Stephen Granade @granades.com · 05/09/2026
Just so y’all know they got science communicators to gaze into the monster’s face and say “would”.
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Butt teeth! Butt teeth! Butt teeth! @panic.gay · 05/09/2026
I am a very serious science communicator.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Thank you for joining us for D&D Monstererotica Manual! We hope you’ll use all your newfound knowledge about monster genitalia during your next D&D session!
Badge ribbon reading: 1 attended the
MONSTEROTICA PANEL
at Dragon Con and all I got was this ribbon (and some campaign ideas my DM is really going to hate
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Last monster from moderator @tallakahath.bsky.social: Demilich! It was mostly “would” from the panelists and the audience agreed!
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
@panic.gay points out that they have goop that turns people into mindless servants, which could be fun if you’re into that.
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Dragon Con Science Track @dconscitrack.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Aboleth! @beebrookshire.bsky.social says that there are slugs whose penises come out of their heads. She wonders if maybe that is the purpose of the weird holes on their head.
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