Extreme Weather: Causes, Effects, and Connections With Climate

Presented by Ethan Butler, Karen McKinnon, Andy Rhines Extreme weather events, from hurricanes to heat waves, seem to be in the news with increasing regularity.But are extreme events actually increasing in frequency? And do they have a connection to our changing climate? Ethan will begin the lecture with an overview of some recent extreme weather events, and their impact on humans, whether due to flooding, … Continue reading Extreme Weather: Causes, Effects, and Connections With Climate

Yeast: Beer, bread and neurodegeneration

Just a few weeks ago, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to three scientists: Dr. Randy Schekman, Dr. Thomas Südhof, and Dr. James Rothman. These three men were rewarded for their work on a curious organism we encounter in our everyday lives. This Nobel Prize-worthy creature is yeast. It might be surprising that studies on an organism we use to ferment beer … Continue reading Yeast: Beer, bread and neurodegeneration

Genetically Modified Organisms: The good, the bad, and the future

The Nobel Prize is named after a scientist, Alfred Nobel, who established the prizes in his will in 1885. Alfred Nobel is famous for inventing dynamite. However, he mistakenly believed that his invention would bring about a more peaceful world. He is quoted as saying, “My dynamite will sooner lead to peace than a thousand world conventions. As soon as men will find that in … Continue reading Genetically Modified Organisms: The good, the bad, and the future

Math in Nature: Finding order in chaos

Presented by Jessica Kunke, Lei Zhu, Stephen Portillo The natural world is so complex and unpredictable that it might seem math could never be a sufficient tool to understand it.  Our lecture aims to widen this view of math and explore how mathematical models and chaos theory give us insights into nature.  The first part of our lecture introduces the concepts of math models and … Continue reading Math in Nature: Finding order in chaos

Big data in the post-genome era: What can the human genome sequence do for you?

Presented by David Kelley, Joseph Vitti, Casey Gifford This year marks the 10th anniversary of the completion of The Human Genome Project. This human DNA sequence brought with it much hope for advances in disease identification and treatment, however progress has been slow. Part of the reason for this lag is the huge amount of data that this and other genomic projects have produced. Tonight, … Continue reading Big data in the post-genome era: What can the human genome sequence do for you?