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Where : |
Coffee Catz, 6761 Sebastopol Ave, Sepbastopol |
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When : |
Thursdays,
6:30 to 8 PM |
| Web
Site: |
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| Contact:
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Daniel Osmer |
Science Buzz
CafÈ
Upcoming
events
Download a flyer with the
full schedule of Buzz Cafe's Spring 2008 events
here (pdf)
Previous events
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Date: |
Thursday February 21 |
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Title: |
This mortal
coil: the human genome |
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Speaker: |
Douglas Wilcox and
Meredith Porter
Douglas Wilcox and Meredith Porter will tantalize us about the ins and outs
of the Old Mortal Coil itself, the Human Genome. The Doug and Meredith show
will focus not so much on the mind-boggling detail that has been uncovered
about this mysterious thing we frivolously call life, but on the mountain of
questions that continually bury the researchers when they do answer one. If
only the philosophers knew what they were toying with when they asked, "Who
am I?". What do we mean by "who"? What do we mean by "am"? And
what do we mean by "I"?
It is off-putting to realize that 99% of the DNA in your body (yes,
yours!) is not your own but random bacteria having their way with you.
Then you (yup, you) die and your body really comes alive as a movable and
squirmy feast. Everything and everyone gets recycled on planet earth.
Bring your Genome! Don't leave home without it! |
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Date: |
Thursday 21st June |
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Title: |
Sonoma County ROCKS! - Our
Geology |
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Speaker: |
The conversation will be
initiated by
Thomas B. Anderson, Ph. D.,
Professor of Geology at Sonoma State University
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Date: |
Thursday 28th June |
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Title: |
What Science is and What
Science Ain't! |
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Speaker: |
The conversation will be
initiated by
Robert E. Porter, Ph. D.,
Scientist in Residence at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts
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Date: |
Thursday 5th July |
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Title: |
Science and Eugenics |
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Speaker: |
The conversation will be
initiated by Earl Herr, MD
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Date: |
Thursday 12th July |
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Title: |
Science and Scientism,
Certainty and Certitude |
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Speaker: |
The conversation will be
initiated by Gus di Zeraga, PhD
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Date: |
Thursday 19th July |
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Title: |
Black Holes: Digging Deeper |
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Speaker: |
The conversation will be
initiated by Lynn Cominsky, PhD
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Date: |
Thursday 26th July |
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Title: |
Lasers: Optics and Light |
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Speaker: |
The conversation will be
initiated by Steven Anderson
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Date: |
Thursday 2nd August |
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Title: |
Robotics, Sculpture and the
Art of Motion Control |
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Speaker: |
The conversation will be
initiated by Bruce Shapiro, MD
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Date: |
Thursday 9th August |
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Title: |
The Evolution of Plate
Tectonics |
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Speaker: |
The conversation will be
initiated by Terry Wright, PhD
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Date: |
Thursday 16th August |
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Title: |
Prime Numbers: The Marvel,
The Mystery |
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Speaker: |
The conversation will be
initiated by Fred Sommer
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Date: |
Thursday 23rd August |
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Title: |
Nice Stars and 'Super'
Novae! |
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Speaker: |
The conversation will be
initiated by Craig Van Horn
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Date: |
Thursday 30th August |
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Title: |
Art, Turbulence and
Sculpture |
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Speaker: |
The conversation will be
initiated by
Ned Khan
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Date: |
Thursday 6th September |
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Title: |
The Frog Who Discovered
Electricity |
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Speaker: |
The conversation will be
initiated by Robert Porter, PhD
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Date: |
Thursday October 11 |
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Title: |
“Terroir”ism in the Vineyard: Geology, Soils & Wine Quality |
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Speaker: |
Terry Wright, Ph.
D.
Terry will guide
us through the multitude of factors involved in terroir, the link
between the geological environment of Sonoma County and its world-class
wines. Aspects of mineral types, chemistry, soil physics, and climate of our
environment are all related to wine quality.
A Terroir tasting
of selected local wines illustrates this connection. Bring your favorite
burgundy tasting glass (there will be some glasses provided).
6:30 to 7:00 PM
-Presentation
7-8:00 tasting and
discussion |
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Date: |
Thursday January 10 |
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Title: |
The Music
of the Spheres: The Physics of Music |
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Speaker: |
Robert Porter, Ph.
D.
Many people’s associations with physics makes them wince.
Almost as many people grimace at the mention of physics as will lighten up
at a discussion of music.
Porter will attempt to soothe the savage breast of bad
memories of physics classes gone haywire by appealing to the universally
interesting topic of music. A great deal of music can in fact be understood
through this science; music as a Trojan horse, as it were.
Wine will not be served. But on the up side, Dr. Porter will
not play his favorite CD’s of Spike Jones and the City Slickers! |
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Date: |
Thursday January 17 |
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Title: |
Mortality
and Nature: the Human Challenge |
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Speaker: |
Charlie Fisher, Ph.
D.
In science, as in most human endeavors, we
consider cycles as a way of understanding our place in the cosmos. The
comings and goings of the planets and stars and seasons and all the life
forms. So mystical was the apparent cycles of life as manifested in minerals
that crystals were seen as showing all the designs of a given family,
seemingly the same designs that we recognize in deer as distinct from
rabbits. Many thought that the same management of species that gave us
domesticated animals and plants could work on minerals, too. Animals were
fast and mobile; plants much slower to change and in place. Surely, minerals
were alive, duplicating themselves in the womb of the earth. One of the
appeals of alchemy was the promise of speeding up what was a natural
evolution of the time: the transmigration of lead into gold. Animal
husbandry, then vegetal husbandry and ultimately mineral husbandry. Now Dr.
Fisher will address our very personal concerns with these natural changes: a
look at disease, old age and death in nature and how humans transformed
these as we built civilizations. The talk will draw on evolution, animal
studies, and epidemiology and address the question of whether “old age” is
natural or a human invention. Maybe it will turn out to relate to Darwin and
Buddha! |
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Date: |
Thursday January 28 |
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Title: |
Zero Waste:
Theory of Resource Usage |
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Speaker: |
Paul Palmer, Ph.D.
Paul Palmer will speak to us about his concept of Zero Waste. His
message could bring an element of controversy to the Buzz audience. As you
know, we love a good scientific controversy.
His idea is that
recycling and other modern attempts to manage a deteriorating environment
are demonstrated to be failures and we need something radically different if
the Planet Earth of the future will be human-friendly. The program he is
promoting he calls Zero Waste. This
might be controversial because some will say it is unattainable. Others will
say it is obvious. Those in the middle will hopefully say it is just right.
In countries such as Germany, these ideas would not be seen as outrageous
because their approach to consumerism is much advanced over ours. Even China
has passed environmental laws far more advanced than ours.
Paul is no love
child who would solve the world's problems with good vibrations. He wants us
to see
that all products and processes of the very near future (i.e., before we
have killed ourselves off) are designed to be endlessly recycled and
reprocessed. Some would find this unattainable. Yet, that is what nature
always decrees. But nature does it in a manner that destroys the planet, as
WE want it to be if our role in the process is not altered. On planet Earth
everything and every body is recycled.
Eventually.
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Download the press release for Science
Buzz CafÈ
here (pdf)
Find out more about our Scientist in
residence program
here (pdf)
Download the poster for the Summer
Science Series
here (jpg)
THE SCIENCE BUZZ CAFÈ
MAY 2007 oak@pon.net
by
Robert Porter PhD
I
think it’s not widely appreciated that the greatest technological
invention was the printing press. It was a great invention because
the wide communication it enabled empowered scientists, aka natural
philosophers, and brought about science as we now know it. Everyone
knew someone who had an uncle who heard it on good authority that
there were entrepreneurs who could turn lead into gold. This story
had all the charms of modern “Big Foot” stories, with the additional
appeal of GOLD. But when people could try it for themselves, science
began to rise up out of the dross of gossip and philosophy. Printing
made communication cheap enough for the recipes of science to
be attempted. This was real innovation; and science rushed into the
human condition like a rash.
It’s also not appreciated that coffee made an important contribution
to science. Until coffee was widely available in Europe, reasoning
wasn’t a popular pastime, because people were reluctant to drink the
water. Drinking plain water was an invitation to death – it was
full of wee beasties, animalcules, and germs that found water so
charming at this time of year. Or any time. Consequently Europeans
drank beer, wine, mead, ale, brandy, whiskey and more. The array of
beverages was as much fun as fashionable bottled water today; it
made Europeans drunk as skunks, and gave great joie de vivre
to the élan vital, and the babble of the vox populi.
And relieved them of the burden of - and ability for - serious
thought. The Europe of yore, and Europeans, had a disdain for
sanitation, and bathing was an unhealthy habit, a sign of too much
concern for the flesh. Ah! Blessed alcohol that deadened all senses.
Then along came coffee, made with water so hot it killed the unknown
but troublesome bugs that brought everything from cholera to
ordinary tourista to the people. Alcohol consumption
decreased, brain power increased, and soon coffee houses were found
anywhere worth visiting. Each coffeehouse specialized in a
particular kind of thought; finance, science, politics, or what have
you. For very little money, the price of a cup of java, anyone could
listen to experts holding forth on the hot topic of the day. The
cafes became known as “penny universities.” These talks were so
popular it became common for someone to feverishly take notes, print
them up, sell them, and lo, newspapers were born. This tradition was
developed until journals became the mainstay of scientific
publication and a means of promulgating the word, right up until
now, when the internet has begun to replace much printing.
Communication is still the soul of science. Someone has
distinguished between “daytime science” and “nighttime science”. The
first is “legitimate” science, the one of conferences and
publications, the one argued out in the rational light of day with
one’s colleagues ready, nay anxious, to find fault in your work at.
But night science is the science of bull-sessions and fevered dreams
and the disruption of sleep when an idea needs to be attended to,
Right Now! It is the science of coffee houses. It is the fun one.
The
Science Buzz Cafe is dedicated to the night science tradition. It is
for professional scientists (who do it for money) and for the
amateurs (who do it for passion). Professionals have science for
their spouses. Amateurs have it for their lovers. The Science Buzz
Cafe honors both species.
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