Museum of Science, Boston

The Search for the USS Grunion (Lecture): On April 11, 1942 the USS Grunion, a Gato-class submarine, was commissioned into service for the US Navy. By July 30 of that year, the Grunion would make its final communiqué and disappear without a trace. Among the missing was the ship's commander, Lt. Cmdr. Mannert L Abele, who left behind three sons: Bruce, John, and Brad ... (details).
With: John and Bruce Abele.

Physics of the Impossible (Lecture): One hundred years ago, lasers, televisions, and computers seemed physically impossible. Today, teleportation and invisibility seem equally far-fetched. Renowned physicist Michio Kaku explores how mind reading, the routine use of force fields, and other feats that are currently science fiction may become commonplace tomorrow ... (details).
With: Michio Kaku, co-founder of string field theory, professor of physics, and author of Physics of the Impossible.

Vertigo (Lecture): Science on Screen at the Coolidge Corner Theatre continues in April with a special presentation of the Alfred Hitchcock classic, Vertigo. During a rooftop chase, police detective John "Scottie" Ferguson (James Stewart) is grossly overcome by his acrophobia (a deep fear of falling), which ultimately brings about the death of a fellow officer ... (details).
With: Catherine Kimble, MD.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Science on Screen Series.

Darwin's Nightmare (Lecture): Darwin's Nightmare is Hubert Sauper's harrowing documentary about the devastating effects that a "globalized" economy has on the residents of a Tanzanian fishing village. Some time in the 1960s, the Nile perch was introduced into Africa's Lake Victoria as a scientific experiment. This voracious predator ... (details).
With: Les Kaufman, professor of biology, Boston University marine program.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Science on Screen Series.

BrainGate (Lecture): Matthew Nagle can change the channels on his television, adjust the volume, open and close a hand, and read his email. These feats may not sound impressive, but they are miraculous for Nagle, a quadriplegic paralyzed in 2001 by a knife wound that severed his spinal cord. Thanks to a system called BrainGate, ... (details).
With: John P. Donoghue, PhD, Henry Merritt Wriston Professor and director, Brain Science Program, Brown University; co-founder, chief scientific officer and director, Cybernetics, Inc..

Once Upon A Tide (Lecture): The Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment presents a screening of their recent film Once Upon A Tide, a modern-day fable that helps people understand the vital connection between the ocean environment and human health. Narrated by Academy Award winner Linda Hunt, the ten-minute film uses ... (details).
With: Paul R. Epstein, MD, associate director, and Kathleen Frith, assistant director, Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School .

Body Heat (Lecture): As part of its ongoing Science on Screen series, the Coolidge Corner Theatre presents a special Valentine's Day-themed program with a screening of Lawrence Kasden's steamy, contemporary film noir, Body Heat. In one of his most memorable roles, William Hurt plays a Florida lawyer unwittingly drawn ... (details).
With: Michael Baum, PhD, professor of biology at Boston University.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Science on Screen Series.

SEAMLESS: Computational Couture (Lecture): Fashionistas and techies unite at SEAMLESS, a fashion show and celebration showcasing emerging designers from around the globe and functional creations that push the boundaries of wearable technology. The Museum transforms into a catwalk for "computational couture" as models strut groundbreaking clothing ... (details).
With: sosolimited; DJs Eddie O. and Mike Uzzi of Zero G Sounds.

Sleeper (Lecture): The Coolidge Corner Theatre kicks off a new season of Science on Screen with Woody Allen's comedy classic Sleeper. When cryogenically preserved Miles Monroe (Woody Allen) is awakened 200 years after a hospital mishap, he discovers the world is ruled by an evil dictator: a disembodied nose. Miles ... (details).
With: Brock Reeve, executive director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Science on Screen Series.

The Man Who Fell to Earth (Lecture): The Man Who Fell to Earth is a daring exploration of science fiction as an art form. Walter Tevis's novel about an alien on an elaborate rescue mission provides the launching pad for director Nicolas Roeg's visual tour de force, an adventurous examination of alienation and cultural dislocation in contemporary life ... (details).
With: Cultural Anthropologist Robert Weller.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Science on Screen Series.

Exit to Freedom (Lecture): In 1983, Calvin C. Johnson Jr. stood in a courtroom and was sentenced to life in prison for a rape and burglary he said he did not commit. "With God as my witness, I have been falsely accused," Johnson told the judge, "I'm an innocent man." After 16 years in prison, Johnson was exonerated with the help ... (details).
With: Calvin C. Johnson, Jr., national board of directors, Innocence Project; chairman of the board of directors, Georgia Innocence Project; former Innocence Project client; and author.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Crimes, History and Mystery.

Pulse (Kairo) (Lecture): Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Pulse (Kairo) tells the story of a group of young friends rocked by the sudden suicide of one of their own, and his subsequent, ghostly reappearance in grainy computer and video images. The mysterious floppy disk they find in the dead man's apartment could provide a clue, but instead ... (details).
With: Alan Lightman, author and adjunct professor of humanities at MIT.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Science on Screen Series.

Superstition, Science, and Sherlock Holmes (Lecture): Sherlock Holmes may be a fictional character, but he had a very real influence on the development of criminalistics during the Victorian Era. E. J. Wagner is the author of the Edgar®-award-winning book The Science of Sherlock Holmes, which describes the real forensic science behind the legendary sleuth ... (details).
With: E.J. Wagner, crime historian and author.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Crimes, History and Mystery.

From the Crime Scene to the Court Room (Lecture): As founder and head of the FBI's Investigative Support Unit, legendary profiler John Douglas tackled the most baffling violent crimes, describing the perpetrators' habits and predicting their next moves. His new book, Inside the Mind of BTK, is an in-depth look at Dennis Rader, the church president, ... (details).
With: John Douglas, former FBI special agent; criminal profiling expert; and author.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Crimes, History and Mystery.

Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project (Lecture): Join us for the inaugural program of the Reno Family Foundation Symposia to find out about our collective deep ancestry and how you can trace your own individual genetic journey. This program is made possible by generosity of the Reno Family Foundation and Barbara and Malcolm L. Sherman. Where do ... (details).
With: Dr. Spencer Wells, population geneticist, National Geographic explorer-in-residence and director of National Geographic and IBM's Genographic Project.

Everything's Cool (Lecture): A hot documentary about global warming, Everything's Cool follows the struggle of a group of extremely dedicated, sometimes depressed, but always passionate global-warming messengers. Their journey provides a snapshot of the fight to end global-warming denial in the United States and create the political ... (details).
With: Adam Wolfensohn, co-producer of Everything's Cool; Ross Gelbspan, veteran journalist and bestselling author of The Heat Is On and Boiling Point; Beth Daley, environmental reporter for The Boston Globe; Kathleen Frith, assistant director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Science on Screen Series.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Lecture): Admiral Kirk meets his nemesis Khan in the action-packed modern sci-fi classic, Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan. The genetically superior Kahn seeks revenge upon Kirk for having been imprisoned on a desolated planet. Their battle ensues over control of the Genesis device, a top-secret Starfleet project ... (details).
With: Dr. Jeffrey A. Hoffman, MIT professor and former NASA astronaut.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Science on Screen Series.

The Wild Trees (Lecture): From Richard Preston, author of the #1 bestseller The Hot Zone, comes the spellbinding story of Steve Sillett, Marie Antoine, and a group of botanists and amateur naturalists who discovered a mysterious world hidden above California. The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring is the gripping tale ... (details).
With: Richard Preston, journalist for The New Yorker and bestselling author.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Revolutionary Science.

Cinema, Science, and Invention (Lecture): A vital new framework for invention is arising. Worlds created for movies spring from real-world science research, and in turn, science and what is built in the real world are influenced by the movies. John Underkoffler has been at the heart of this feedback loop with the human-machine interfaces he's ... (details).
With: John Underkoffler, founder and chief scientist of Oblong Industries, Inc., and science and technology advisor to Minority Report, The Hulk, Aeon Flux, and other film productions.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series When Science Meets Art.

The Art of Living a Second Life (Lecture): Called "the biggest digital art installation in the world" by Warren Ellis, Second Life is a highly imaginative, online, 3-D rendered environment populated with avatars (graphic representations of people). In Second Life, you can teleport, fly, live in a house, go to clubs, take classes, make and view art, or just "hang out ... (details).
With: Wagner James Au, embedded journalist in Second Life; Pathfinder Linden, community manager for Linden Lab; John (Craig) Freeman, artist in Second Life; moderated by Eric Gordon, assistant professor of new media, Emerson College.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series When Science Meets Art.

Live from the North Pole Observatory: Searching for Signs of Climate Change (Lecture): Last month marked the beginning of the 4th International Polar Year, a period of intensive Arctic and Antarctic exploration. Scientists from around the world have been preparing to spend the last two weeks of April at the North Pole Environmental Observatory, deploying instruments to study climate change ... (details).

Pulse Pool Installation (Lecture): During the Cambridge Science Festival and the Boston Cyberarts Festival, the Museum of Science, Boston and New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. present "Pulse Pool." Bridging art and human biology via technology — as well as two capital cities: Boston and Oklahoma City — Pulse Pool is an interactive ... (details).
This presentation is part of the ongoing series When Science Meets Art.

Alzheimer's Disease (Lecture): L. Adrienne Cupples and Robert C. Green of the Boston University School of Public Health join us to shed light on the interactions between our genes and our environments, and their role in the development of Alzheimer's Disease. (details).
With: L. Adrienne Cupples, Boston University School of Public Health; Robert C. Green, Boston University School of Public Health.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Frontiers of Health Science.

New Horizons Mission to Pluto (Lecture): Unmanned spacecraft have visited all of the planets except for Pluto, but that is about to change. The New Horizons robotic spacecraft was launched in January 2006 and is en route to Pluto and the outer solar system. What do astronomers expect to learn from this mission, and will it further change our ... (details).
With: Richard Binzel PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Lowell Lectures on Astronomy.

Pluto and the Outer Solar System (Lecture): Even after Pluto was discovered in 1930, astronomers continued their search for an elusive tenth planet. Decades of exploration along with advances in technology led to the discovery of icy objects more distant and sometimes even larger than Pluto. What are these objects that dwell in the outer solar ... (details).
With: Michael Brown, PhD, California Institute of Technology.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Lowell Lectures on Astronomy.

Evolution's Discoverers: Charles Darwin & Alfred Russel Wallace (Lecture): Harvard University professors Janet Browne and Andrew Berry share a remarkable story: how two naturalists independently developed their own ideas on the theory of evolution, and why, today, one is a big name and the other has been relegated to relative obscurity. One of the most remarkable aspects ... (details).

Planetary Perils in Prague (Lecture): By the end of the twentieth century, it was common knowledge that there were nine planets in our solar system. However, a group of international astronomers gathered in Prague last year and reorganized our understanding of our solar system. Pluto was put into a category different from the other planets ... (details).
With: Owen Gingerich PhD, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Lowell Lectures on Astronomy.

The Evolution of Sex: Rethinking the Y Chromosome (Lecture): Over the last few decades, the male-specific Y chromosome, the runt of the genomic litter, has been diagnosed as terminally ill. Some scientists declared that in another 10 million years or so the Y will be gone altogether, taking males along with it. However, Dr. Page and his colleagues have found that ... (details).
With: David Page, PhD, director, Whitehead Institute; department of biology, MIT; Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator .
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Whitehead Institute Lecture Series.

The Next Gold Rush: Bioprospecting, Medicine & The Environment (Lecture): We are at a crossroads. The latest scientific discoveries give us the ability to manipulate life, but does this mean that we should? And, when genetic materials are gathered from rain forests and oceans, who should reap the financial benefits? In a program that is part panel discussion, part forum conversation, ... (details).
With: Mark J. Plotkin, president, Amazon Conservation Team; Jay Short, CEO, E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation; Janet Browne, author of Charles Darwin: Voyaging and Charles Darwin: The Power of Place; Dan Dillon, PhD, researcher for the GoodWork Project directed by Howard Gardner.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Revolutionary Science.

An Unexpected Interface: Protein Folding Driving Evolutionary Change (Lecture): Learn about Dr. Lindquist's recent work, which suggests that the forces that govern protein folding (when strings of amino acids fold into a functioning protein structure) exert a profound effect on how genetic information is translated into phenotypic traits. This folding process allows organisms to ... (details).
With: Susan Lindquist, PhD, department of biology, MIT; Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator; member and former director, Whitehead Institute.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Whitehead Institute Lecture Series.

Evolution in a Test Tube (Lecture): Join us for a look at how studying molecules like RNA can help us peer into evolution's past. (details).
With: David M. Shechner, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Frontiers of Health Science.

An Inconvenient Truth Film Screening (Lecture): In what Larry King labeled "one of the most important films ever," Al Gore makes an engaging and passionate argument that global warming be viewed as a moral dilemma rather than as a political issue. In the film, Gore outlines the effects of global warming on natural environments, plant and animal life, ... (details).
With: Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists; Leith Sharp, director of the Harvard Green Campus Initiative.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Global Warning.

Evolution as a Tool Kit for Understanding Human Disease (Lecture): Comprehensive studies of genes and proteins from many organisms are giving us an extraordinary documentation of the history of life. We share thousands of individual genes and proteins with other eukaryotes (organisms with nucleated cells), all as a result of our common evolutionary history. Dr. Lodish ... (details).
With: Harvey Lodish, PhD, department of bioengineering, MIT; founding member, Whitehead Institute.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Whitehead Institute Lecture Series.

Field Notes from a Catastrophe (Lecture): Elizabeth Kolbert traveled from Alaska to Greenland and visited top scientists to get to the heart of the debate over global warming. Growing out of her groundbreaking three-part series on climate change in The New Yorker, her new book brings the environment into the consciousness of the American people ... (details).
With: Elizabeth Kolbert, journalist for The New Yorker and author of Field Notes from a Catastrophe: Man, Nature and Climate Change.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Global Warning.

Commotion in the Ocean (Lecture): The oceans, which cover three-quarters of the Earth's surface, appear quiet and benign when viewed from space. In fact, they contain behemoth currents and swirling eddies that strongly impact Earth's climate. Physical oceanographer Dr. Amy Bower and her team of technicians and engineers are helping ... (details).
With: Amy Bower, PhD, department of physical oceanography, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Woods Hole, MA.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Global Warning.

STREB vs. GRAVITY performances (Lecture): February 22-24 at 7 p.m. and February 25 at 2 p.m. Elizabeth Streb has thrilled audiences with her choreography for the past two decades. With her latest work, STREB vs. GRAVITY, she challenges gravity as her dancers leap, spin, and fly. Gasp as they leap from impossible heights, thrill as they ... (details).
With: STREB Dance Company.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series When Science Meets Art.

STREB: Lecture, Rehearsal & Performance Package (Lecture): Experience the full package: see the Tuesday lecture (guaranteed seating), the company's Thursday daytime rehearsal at ICA, and the Friday evening or Sunday matinee performance at ICA. (details).
With: Elizabeth Streb; STREB Dance Company.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series When Science Meets Art.

STREB: Extreme Action In a Hard Core World (Lecture): Recipient of a MacArthur Foundation 'Genius' award and once called the Evil Knievel of dance, Elizabeth Streb intertwines extreme sports, circus arts, Hollywood stuntwork, and dance in her unique choreography, called POPACTION. In this lecture, she takes on the physics of kinetic energy to show how humans ... (details).
With: Elizabeth Streb, Director & Choreographer, STREB Dance Company.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series When Science Meets Art.

Nature Is an Incredible Nanoengineer: The Story of Seashells (Lecture): Find out about the state-of-the-art in nanotechnology research on the CS&T stage at one of several special guest researcher presentations! Super-tough synthetic materials created by mimicking nature's design are becoming a reality thanks to the work of MIT Professor Christine Ortiz and graduate student Benjamin Bruet ... (details).
With: Professor Christine Ortiz, MIT; Benjamin Bruet, MIT.

Breast Cancer 2007: Real Advances, Real Solutions (Lecture): Breast cancer affects 1 in 8 women and is the second-leading cause of female cancer deaths in the United States. Join John K. Erban, director of the Tufts-New England Medical Center's Breast Cancer Program, for the latest updates on advances in diagnosing and treating the disease. (details).
With: John K. Erban, Tufts-New England Medical Center.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Frontiers of Health Science.

YPTRATRPY (You Play The Robot And The Robot Plays You) (Lecture): Ensemble Robot is a Boston-based organization of musicians, engineers, and programmers working together to create an orchestra of robotic musical instruments and music for them. On the afternoon of Saturday, January 27, Ensemble Robot will present an interactive exhibit featuring Giles Hall's YPTRATRPY ... (details).
With: Ensemble Robot.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series When Science Meets Art.

So Much, So Fast (Lecture): The critically acclaimed new documentary So Much, So Fast is a gripping, refreshingly candid chronicle of one family's remarkable battle with the paralyzing neural disorder ALS (Lou Gehirg's disease). Diagnosed with the disease at just 29 years old, Stephen Heywood resolves to carry on with his life's plans in spite of an uncertain future ... (details).
With: Jamie Heywood, founder, ALS TDF.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Science on Screen Series.

Murder Is No Accident: Understanding Violence as a Public Health Problem (Lecture): Violence is one of the leading causes of death and disability for youth in the United States. On Friday, January 19, join us for a look at youth violence as a public health issue. Our speakers, prominent researchers, and authors from Boston's scientific community will share what parents, teachers, community ... (details).
With: Howard Spivak, Tufts-New England Medical Center; Deborah Prothrow-Stith, Harvard School of Public Health.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Frontiers of Health Science.

The North Pole Was Here - A Talk for the Whole Family (Lecture): In his new book, award-winning journalist Andrew Revkin details his fascinating adventure to the icy outer limits of Earth with a team of scientists whose task was to determine the natural and man-made causes of dramatic climate changes in the Arctic. Revkin's chronicle will entertain, enlighten, and compel both children and parents alike ... (details).
With: Andrew Revkin, New York Times journalist and author, The North Pole Was Here: Puzzles and Perils at the Top of the World; Hosted by Christopher Lydon of Open Source, produced in association with University of Massachusetts Lowell.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series No Spin Zone.

The Body Revealed (Lecture): Gunther von Hagens BODY WORLDS 2: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies reveals the magnificence of our own bodies in form and function, and in the process, may change how we see ourselves. But where is the mind in all this? Jon Kabat-Zinn will lead us on an investigation of the mind, with ... (details).
With: Jon Kabat-Zinn, PhD, founder and former director, Stress Reduction Clinic and Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, & Society, University of Massachusetts Medical School ; and author of Wherever You Go, There You Are and Coming to Our Senses: Healing Ourselves and the World Through Mindfulness.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Sound Body, Sound Mind.

Donnie Darko (Lecture): A modern cult phenomenon, Donnie Darko debuted at the Sundance film festival in 2001 to rave reviews, tanked at the box office on its initial theatrical release, but went on to become a midnight movie sensation at theatres across the country, including the Coolidge. It's been almost two years since we last screened this mind-bending thriller ... (details).
With: Bruce M. Cohen, M.D., Ph.D., director, Shervert Frazier Research Institute and the Stanley Research Center at McLean Hospital.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Science on Screen Series.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month Lecture Series (Lecture): Breast cancer affects 1 in 8 women and is the second leading cause of female cancer death in the United States. What is this disease and how does it happen? Can it be treated and what is the latest technology being used? Join us for a series of presentations at the Museum of Science on "Breast Cancer: Biology and Technology" ... (details).
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Breast Cancer Awareness series.

Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness (Lecture): The study of happiness—of enhancing the quality of our lives—has been dominated by pop psychology (much charisma, but relatively little substance) and academia (much substance, but isolated from most people's everyday lives). Positive Psychology, the scientific study of optimal human functioning, ... (details).
With: Tal Ben-Shahar, PhD, Department of Psychology, Harvard University; author, The Question of Happiness: On Finding Meaning, Pleasure and the Ultimate Currency.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Sound Body, Sound Mind.

Over My Dead Body: Who Decides What Happens to Our Bodies When We Die? (Lecture): Where is the line between respect for the human body after death and the use of human remains for display and education? Where do museums fit in? For decades, Connecticut's Mattatuck Museum has grappled with difficult issues in relation to one of their most iconic artifacts: a skeleton known as "Larry ... (details).
With: Marie Galbraith, director of the Mattatuck Museum Arts & History Center; Maxine Watts, chair of the African American Hitory Project at the Mattatuck Museum Arts & History Center; George J. Annas, JD, MPH, professor and chair, Department of Health Law, Bioethics & Human Rights, Boston University School of Public Health; Ellen Schattschneider, associate professor and director of graduate studies, Department of Anthropology, Brandeis University.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Sound Body, Sound Mind.

The Future of Literacy in Technology (Lecture): From 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., there will be a panel discussion on the need for technological literacy in todays humanmade world and explaining the role of the National Center for Technological Literacy® (NCTL®). Panelists include Ioannis (Yannis) Miaoulis, the Museum president and director; Rhode Island ... (details).
With: Ioannis (Yannis) Miaoulis, president and director, Museum of Science, Boston; Donald Carcieri, governor of Rhode Island; Donna Cupelo, regional president, Massachusetts and Rhode Island, Verizon Communications; Nancy Yocom de Romero, 4th grade teacher, Barbieri School, Framingham, Massachusetts.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Ideas Extended.

The Andromeda Strain (Lecture): Decades before Spielberg's splashy dinosaur flick made Michael Crichton's name synonymous with summer blockbusters, there was The Andromeda Strain (1971), a taut, cerebral thriller adapted from Crichton's novel of the same name. When an army satellite falls to earth near a small New Mexico town, ... (details).
With: Dr. Alfred DeMaria, chief medical officer and the state epidemiologist, Massachusetts Department of Public Health; director, Center for Laboratories and Disease Control; director, Bureau of Communicable Disease Control; acting director, Massachusetts State Laboratory Institute and the Bureau of Laboratory Sciences.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Science on Screen Series.

Exploring Space with Humans and Robots (Lecture): Dr. Hoffman, a former space shuttle astronaut, shares his thoughts on the synergy between human and robotic exploration of space. (details).
With: Dr. Jeffrey Hoffman.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Lowell Lectures on Astronomy.

Return to the Moon and on to Mars: A Discussion of NASA´s Vision for Human Space Exploration (Lecture): Dr. Tyson and Dr. McDowell will discuss the pros and cons of human versus robotic missions and whether we should be spending money on space-related projects versus our needs on Earth. (details).
With: Neil deGrasse Tyson, director, Hayden Planetarium, AMNH; Jonathan McDowell, astrophysicist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Lowell Lectures on Astronomy.

Planarians Can Regenerate a New Head in under a Week. How? (Lecture): The human anatomy is no stranger to regeneration. If you think about all the times you have cut and scraped your hands, it's amazing how intact they are. Even more dramatic is the human liver: Remove a chunk and it grows back. Researchers hope to one day harness the power of stem cells to regenerate, ... (details).
With: Peter Reddien, Whitehead associate member.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Exploring the World of Stem Cells.

Stem Cells 101 and Beyond (Lecture): Join Divya Mathur and Chris Lengner from Harvey Lodish's lab at the Whitehead Institute as they discuss the basics of stem cell research as well as their latest findings. This presentation will complement the Whitehead Stem Cell Series, providing an opportunity to talk directly with the researchers ... (details).
With: Divya Mathur; Chris Lengner .
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Frontiers on Friday.

Nuclear Cloning, Stem Cells and Therapy: Promise, Problem, Reality (Lecture): As they struggle to grow human embryonic stem cells, biologists continue to face basic questions about how these cells work. Scientists are just beginning to work out the internal programs and external cues that give stem cells their unique ability to become any other type of cell, remain indefinitely in the stem cell state, and self-renew ... (details).
With: Rudolf Jaenisch, Whitehead member.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Exploring the World of Stem Cells.

Music and The Invasion of Technology (Lecture): Composers Evan Ziporyn (Bang On A Can and Gamelan Galak Tika) and Christine Southworth (the robot opera Zap!) will premiere new works for robots and humans, on western and traditional Balinese instruments. Joined by Blake Newman on bass, Todd Reynolds on violin, Eddie Whalen on guitar, and Gamelan Galak Tika ... (details).
With: Christine Southworth, Composer, Brown University & MIT; Evan Ziporyn, Kenan Sahin Distinguished Professor of Music; Head, Music & Theater Arts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series When Science Meets Art.

The Unicorn in Captivity (Lecture): To create an exact visual reproduction of one of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Unicorn Tapestries, digital cameras photographed every inch. When the hundreds of digital photographic files didnt fit smoothly together, the Chudnovsky brothers with their supercomputer were brought in to figure it out ... (details).
With: David & Gregory Chudnovsky, directors, Institute for Mathematics and Advanced Supercomputing; in conversation with Amir D. Aczel.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series When Science Meets Art.

Extreme Makeover: Mural Edition (Lecture): In one of the most significant restoration projects anywhere in America, science and art merged to conserve the John La Farge murals at Trinity Church Boston. But what happens when the conservation choices are not clear cut—and the world is watching? Limited additional seating in a separate theater ... (details).
With: Gianfranco Pocobene, head of conservation, Gardner Museum; Richard Wolbers, associate professor of art conservation, The University of Delaware; Moderated by Kathryn Acerbo-Bachmann, director of Art & Architecture Program, Trinity Church.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series When Science Meets Art.

The Great Scientific Breakthroughs of the 20th Century (Lecture): The last century brought us washing machines and the Internet, relativity and the Big Bang. What are the 25 most important scientific discoveries of the 20th century? Explore the nature of discovery and creativity in science as well as the human dramas and intellectual journeys behind the most fascinating breakthroughs in modern science ... (details).
With: Alan Lightman, author and adjunct professor of humanities, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; hosted by Christopher Lydon of Open Source, produced in association with University of Massachusetts Lowell.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Lecturology.

Doctors Without Borders in Niger: New Approaches in Treating Malnourished Children (Lecture): Doctors Without Borders has traditionally treated malnourished children through both supplementary feeding centers for the moderately malnourished and inpatient therapeutic feeding centers for the most severely malnourished. The organization is now moving toward a new approach, enabling medical teams to reach tens of thousands more children ... (details).
With: Richard Knox, health and science correspondent for National Public Radio; Dr. Milton Tectonidis of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF); Dr. Jonathan Spector of Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Special Presentations.

Onset of Civilization and Prospects for the Future (Lecture): In a series that spans physics, astronomy, chemistry, geology, biology, and anthropology, we look at the continuously unfolding story of cosmic evolution. This lecture will be followed by a lively audience discussion intended to encourage thoughtful debate. Lectures are free to the public, thanks to the generosity of the Lowell Institute ... (details).
With: Fred Spier, anthropologist, University of Amsterdam; Jill Tarter, radio astronomer, SETI Institute; hosted by Eric Chaisson.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Wright Lecture Series on Cosmic Evolution.

Origin and Evolution of Life on Earth (Lecture): Cosmic evolution is the modern scientific story of who we are and whence we came: the story of us. This lecture will be followed by a lively audience discussion intended to encourage thoughtful debate. Lectures are free to the public, thanks to the generosity of the Lowell Institute. (details).
With: Lynn Rothschild, astrobiologist, NASA Ames Research Center; James Hanken, evolutionary biologist, Harvard University; hosted by Eric Chaisson.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Wright Lecture Series on Cosmic Evolution.

Birth and Death of Stars and Planets (Lecture): Explore the varied changes that have produced our star and our planet as we examine the arrow of time of cosmic evolution. This lecture will be followed by a lively audience discussion intended to encourage thoughtful debate. Lectures are free to the public, thanks to the generosity of the Lowell Institute ... (details).
With: Michael Shara, astronomer, American Museum of Natural History; Dimitar Sasselov, planetologist, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; hosted by Eric Chaisson.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Wright Lecture Series on Cosmic Evolution.

Early Universe and the Origin of Galaxies (Lecture): Join us for the first in a four-part lecture series that examines the arrow of time of cosmic evolution. This lecture will be followed by a lively audience discussion intended to encourage thoughtful debate. Lectures are free to the public, thanks to the generosity of the Lowell Institute. (details).
With: Frank Wilczek, Nobel particle physicist, MIT; Colin Norman, astrophysicist, John Hopkins University; hosted by Eric Chaisson.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Wright Lecture Series on Cosmic Evolution.

The Media and Women's Health: Sorting Fact from Fiction (Lecture): Marking the 2005 National Women's Health Week, an expert in women's health issues examines the media's increasing impact on women's medical decisions and public perception of illnesses such as breast cancer, depression, and addiction. Lectures are free to the public and ASL interpreted, thanks to the generosity of the Lowell Institute ... (details).
With: Judy Norsigian, executive director of Our Bodies, Ourselves.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Lowell First Friday Lecture Series.

Growing New Body Parts (Lecture): Tufts University professor David Kaplan, who is organizing a Boston-based conference on the field of tissue engineering, hosts an evening program at the Museum featuring experts to share their vision of the field's future, including progress toward growing living organs. Leading scientists Kaplan, ... (details).
With: David Kaplan, Tufts University; Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic, MIT; David Scadden, Harvard University; Mehmet Toner, Harvard University.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Special Presentations.

Monsters, Dwarfs, and Everything in Between (Lecture): Inside the nucleus of an atom, the laws of quantum mechanics successfully describe the domain of the incredibly small. Yet the same laws influence the very large, including such objects as stars. Physics enables us to study rare and distant stars, from monsters 100 times heavier than the Sun, to white ... (details).
With: Sallie Baliunas, PhD, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Lowell Lectures on Astronomy.

Planets R Us (Lecture): The diversity of planets detected around our neighboring stars has taken astronomers completely by surprise. Recent unprecedented glimpses into distant worlds and their atmospheres have astronomers pondering exactly how these oddball planets came to be and whether, after all, our own solar system might be the cosmic rarity ... (details).
With: David Charbonneau, PhD, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Lowell Lectures on Astronomy.

Who Needs Physics? (Lecture): Archimedes said, "Give me a lever long enough and a firm spot upon which to stand, and I shall move the world." Einstein said, "The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible!" What were they talking about? Physics: the field that underlies every other ... (details).
With: Roy Gould, PhD, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series

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