I think that the discussion on the uncertainty around the risk of COVID would be very helpful for non-quantitatively-inclined readers. When you are estimating something like risk, you have an average estimate of the risk and some degree of uncertainty around your estimate. This article’s discussion on COVID risk does a great job of illustrating how with few data points, we can still find an estimate of risk but we will have a larger uncertainty. This is because we did not know enough about the virus (early in the pandemic) to be certain if our best estimate of risk is close to the true value. As we see more cases of COVID, we can say with more certainty what the actual risk of the virus is since it is far less likely that we are just seeing a non-reflective sample of how dangerous COVID is. Knowing this concept is important in statistics since all estimates have some degree of uncertainty and understanding that uncertainty can help a lot in interpreting the statistical values we see in the world.

I think that the idea of using social media to impact views on climate change is important. In order to make necessary progress on climate change, we will need to change peoples' views on it and illustrate the importance of this problem. This could be done partially through effective campaigns in social media to inform more people about the real threats of climate change. We could inform people of the problems we're facing and the potential solutions to addressing them. This social media campaign can be targeted to those who currently do not support climate change policies, making them more efficient campaigns. Without public support for the changes needed to mitigate climate change, we may eventually suffer many consequences of global warming.

Hi Sophia! I also found it very interesting to think about trying to discern natural signals from ones that could have been produced by extraterrestrials. I wonder to what extent the types of signals we are looking for could possibly be produced by non living processes in space that we do not yet know about. This could lead to lots of uncertainty in judging whether we are receiving some signal from intelligent beings. With the vast distances of space, we will probably find signals of life from far away long before we make any contact with aliens. However, as humanity continues to improve our understanding of space through our telescopes, simulations, and continued progress of physics we will be able to reduce this uncertainty and find reliable ways to find proof of life outside of Earth