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

Time: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 17th Join us on: Zoom (password: science) or YouTube Live Speakers: Eileen Ablondi Graphics: Olivia Foster Rhoades Your DNA contains the instructions to make every part of your body. But who’s reading these instructions? How do our cells know whether to be brain cells, skin cells, or something entirely different? And what happens when things go wrong? In this lecture, … Continue reading Your Inner Gene-ius: How Cells Decipher DNA

Time: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 10th Join us on: Zoom (password: science) or YouTube Live Speakers: Jim Clark, Allegra Farrar, Heng Zuo Graphics: Allie Elchert X-ray vision, laser vision, supersonic retropropulsion, force fields and heat shields — these might sound like the powers of comic-book superheroes, but they’re actually technologies that spacecraft use to study and explore the universe! Continue reading March 10 – Spacecraft with Superpowers

Time: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 3rd Join us on: Zoom (password: science) or YouTube Live Speakers: David Mazumder Graphics: Jasmin Joseph-Chazan Doomsayers (and world experts) tell us that our future could look like the ultimate disaster movie come to life unless we take action to prevent “catastrophic global warming.” In this unfolding drama, economic costs and disruptive technologies play leading roles, but our warming world … Continue reading March 3 – Taking the Temperature: Your Health, Our Climate, and What We Can Do About It

Time: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, February 24th Join us on: Zoom or YouTube Live Speakers: Minghao Qiu, Brooks Clingman, Siyu Chen Graphics: Jovana Andrejevic 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, … Continue reading February 24 – Tools to Reach Climate Goals: Renewables, Batteries, and Markets

Time: 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, February 17th Join us on: Zoom (password: science) or YouTube Live Speaker: Floor Broekgaarden Graphics: Rebecca Senft Kanye West & Kim Kardashian, and Brad Pitt & Angelie Jolie – just a few of the famous star couples who broke up their relationship. Star breakups are not only common on Earth, but also in space, where many stars exist as couples. The … Continue reading February 17 – A match made in heaven: The origin of gravitational waves

Time: 6:30-8:30 p.m., Wednesday, December 2nd Join us on: Zoom (password: Seminar) or YouTube Live Speaker: Aly Warr Graphics: Aly Warr With an estimated 35 million infected and over 1 million deaths, SARS-CoV-2 has ravaged the world. We are waiting for scientists to produce a life-saving vaccine that can prevent the serious illness COVID-19 and help bring this pandemic to an end. Currently, there are nearly 200 different … Continue reading December 2 – Hit Me with Your Best Shot: Vaccines and COVID-19