Time: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 18th Join us on: Zoom or YouTube Live Speaker: Daniel Richard Evolution acts most strongly during times of change – favouring those species that are best equipped to handle new challenges. In the distant past, climate change has acted as a strong driver of evolutionary change – shaping species and whole ecosystems as they adapt to their new environments. Given … Continue reading May 18: Survival of the Quickest: How Climate Change Has Shaped Evolution

Time: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 6th Join us on: Zoom or YouTube Live Speaker: Alex Plesa Aging is the major risk factor for multiple human disorders such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegeneration, accounting for approximately 90% of deaths in developed nations. With the global population experiencing an unprecedented growth in the proportion of older individuals, aging is becoming an increasingly significant public health concern … Continue reading May 4: Turning Back the Clock: The Science of Staying Young

Time: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 27th Join us on: Zoom or YouTube Live Speaker: Michael Foley In the past five years, our perspective of our local Milky Way has shifted from 2D to true 3D. This remarkable achievement has been made possible by data from many observatories, especially the Gaia satellite. This data has enabled numerous discoveries about nearby star forming regions, star clusters, supernova … Continue reading April 27: In Dust We Trust: Mapping Out Our Galaxy in 3D

Time: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 20th Join us on: Zoom or YouTube Live Speaker: Xiaohan Wu The universe at present is filled with gas that is hot and transparent to ultraviolet light. But shortly after the Big Bang, the gas was cold and opaque. How did the gas go through such a big transition in its physical state, and how did this transition affect the … Continue reading April 20: The first light of the universe – piercing through the gas in between galaxies and lighting everything up

Time: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 30th Join us on: Zoom or YouTube Live Speaker: Ellen Considine In December 2020, Massachusetts published the 2050 Decarbonization Roadmap with the goal of combating climate change by reaching net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. How will we reach these goals? This talk will present three tools that may lead the way: batteries, wind power, and new strategies for reducing … Continue reading March 30 – The Promise of Blue Skies: Air Pollution, Health, and Data Science

Time: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, May 12th Join us on: Zoom (password: science) or YouTube Live Speakers: Shireen Hamza and Claire Sabel Graphics: Corina Loeb An introductory course in the history of science often follows a path “from Plato to NATO,” leaping from Greek antiquity to modern Europe and the US. Others begin with Isaac Newton in seventeenth century England, locating the origins of science firmly … Continue reading May 12 – Whose Science? Whose History? Why the History of Science Matters

Time: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 28th Join us on: Zoom (password: science) or YouTube Live Speakers: Maggie Anderson Graphics: Iryna Stryapunina Centuries ago, before the printing press, books and other documents were painstakingly hand-crafted. Over their lifetime, these ‘manuscripts’ were edited, reused, cherished, and neglected. Imaging science can shed light on these documents’ secret pasts. Though invisible to the naked eye, scientists are able to … Continue reading April 28 – More than meets the eye: shedding light on medieval manuscripts with imaging science

Time: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 14th Join us on: Zoom (password: science) or YouTube Live Speakers: Tianning Zhao Graphics: Jovana Andrejevic Have you ever been stunned by the wonder of nature? Amazon rainforest, one of the “New 7 Wonders of Nature of the World”, will definitely be a WOW moment for you. Amazon rainforest is the paradise for millions of plant and animal species. Beyond … Continue reading April 14 – Different Shades of Green: Climate Change in Tropical Regions

Time: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 31st Join us on: Zoom (password: science) or YouTube Live Speakers: Will Cairncross, Lewis Picard, Jessie Zhang Graphics: Wei Wu If you could cool something to near absolute zero, how would it behave? What would you use it for? For the past half century, physicists have been finding out! When things get cold, the atoms that make them up move … Continue reading Physics — but cooler!: Taming quantum mechanics with lasers and ultracold atoms