In the modern age, data is used to make decisions in almost every aspect of life, from online dating to product placement and advertising. But what is big data? How did it come to be? How will applications of big data help shape technology we use every day? Hear the answers to these questions and more as we explore the origins of data, examples of … Continue reading Small World, Big Data: From online dating to the emergency room
Suicide is a troubling, yet surprisingly common phenomenon, claiming the lives of over 42,000 Americans annually. This lecture will explore the intersecting topics of language, pain, and emotion regulation, and address how research in these fields can provide insight into suicide risk and prevention. Continue reading Understanding Suicide Risk: How language, emotion, and pain influence self-harm
The wealth of information contained in light and sound is staggering, as can be seen in 8th century Asian Ink drawings and the vibrating pollination technique used by the bumblebee. And the ways we process light and sound are equally complex, it turns out–join us on an exploration of human auditory and visual systems, as we talk about Night Shift, fire alarms, and medical applications … Continue reading The Music of Medicine: Tuning the body to light and sound
Recent advances in biology and physics have enabled the creation of exquisitely detailed maps of the brain that describe the structure and function of specific brain regions or even individual cells. We will discuss the technologies behind these maps as well as the insights they have revealed about how complex phenomena like behaviors and emotions can emerge from a squishy glob of cells. Continue reading Charting the Hidden World of the Brain: A tale of lasers, magnets, and fish
“Who am I?” Look inside your genome and you may find some surprising answers! Come join us as we explore the selfish genes that make you “you” and how they’re helping fuel the genomics revolution. Continue reading Rogue Genomes: Evolving and engineering with selfish genes
Over 1 million people in the United States get food poisoning from Salmonella bacteria each year – that’s almost one out of every 300 Americans! You might have heard that this bacteria enters our bodies when we eat contaminated foods, but what happens after? In this talk, we’ll answer this question by exploring the ins and outs of a typical Salmonella infection – from a … Continue reading When Food Fights Back: Exploring Salmonella’s journey through the body
Presented by Ashley Villar and Tansu Daylan The detection of gravitational waves has crowned a decades-long experimental endeavor in physics, confirming the major prediction of Einstein’s general theory of gravity. For the first time physicists are able to detect the wrinkles of spacetime produced by colliding stars and black holes. We will discuss the history of gravitational wave detectors and the physics behind these fascinating … Continue reading Dawn of a New Era: Detecting wrinkles in spacetime
Presented by Nick Jikomes All animals, including humans, display a variety of innate motivational drives built in to the architecture of their brains. These include the drive to eat, sleep, find mates and defend against threats. Cutting-edge neuroscientific tools are now available that make it possible for scientists to map and interrogate the specific brain circuits that control these behaviors. Modern neuroscience now stands poised … Continue reading The Study of Instinct: unraveling how the brain generates behavior
presented by Mary Gearing Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the world’s leading cause of death. This disease is often called “the silent killer” because it develops slowly over time without obvious symptoms. In this talk, I’ll explain how CVD develops and why it’s so dangerous. I’ll also discuss standard treatments as well as new and exciting research in the field. Lecture Continue reading Preventing Broken Hearts: The science behind cardiovascular disease
presented by Joy Jiao Cancer immunotherapy, the use of the immune system to fight cancer, has revolutionized treatment options for diseases such as advanced lung cancer and melanoma. Recently, cancer immunotherapy has obtained additional fame as former president Jimmy Carter is currently being treated with this cutting-edge therapy. In this talk, I will explain how cancer immunotherapy works, our current understanding of how cancer cells … Continue reading Awaken the force within: immunotherapy brings a new hope to cancer treatment