There are two great science events taking place in NYC this week, one tonight and one tomorrow.
Café Science
July 13th, 2009
6:00-7:00 PM
Picnic Café, 2665 Broadway (between 101st & 102nd)
First Come, First Served
$10 cover (cash only) includes one drink
Environmentalist Steward Nilda Mesa will discuss Greening an Urban University: Oxymorons, Windmills and Carbon Footprints.
Riddle: What university gives out 24 different environmental degrees while being located in a concrete metropolis? Would putting up windmills on Columbia’s campus reduce its carbon footprint, or would it be a quixotic effort? Columbia University, with its three campuses and 44,000 faculty, staff and students, has pledged to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions 30% by 2017. The University’s proposed Manhattanville campus is in the LEED-ND pilot program, and other ambitious sustainability initiatives have been launched in the last few years. Join us for a discussion of Columbia’s approach to reducing its environmental footprint, and how students, faculty and staff are deeply engaged in this vital work-in-progress in the largest urban center in the U.S.
For more information visit the Café Science website.
Secret Science Club
July 14th, 2009
8:00 PM
Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn
FREE
Paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson will discuss Evolution Revolution: The Discoverer of Lucy & Lectures on Human Origins.
As a species, Homo sapiens is a mere 250,000 years old (give or take). Where did humans come from? How did we evolve? And what were our ancestors like? One fossil find revolutionized the world’s thinking about early human origins: In 1974 paleoanthropologist Donald Johanson discovered the bones of Lucy, a 3.2 million year old early hominid, in the Afar region of Ethiopia. With about 40 percent of her skeleton intact, Lucy represented a new species, Australopithecus afarensis.
The founding director of the Institute for Human Origins, professor of paleoanthropology at Arizona State University’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change, and author of the just-published Lucy’s Legacy: The Quest for Human Origins, Dr. Johanson joins the Secret Science Club to discuss his historic find and the latest discoveries in human evolution:
– What kinds of hominid species existed prior to humans?
– When did hominids begin to walk? To develop big brains?
– Have fossil hunters located the common ancestor of humans and chimps?
– Why is Homo sapiens the only hominid species that survives?
Before & After:
Groove to bone-jangling tunes and video
Stick around for the scintillating Q&A
For more information visit the Secret Science Club website.