01.27.12
When scientists cracked the human genome ten years ago, expectations were high that the genetic revolution would cure cancer, Alzheimer’s, and other diseases. Now scientists are re-evaluating the potential of genetic knowledge for human health based on scientific progress in the past decade. In this podcast from the fall, join the discussion with some of the country’s top geneticists as they present their views on the triumphs, disappointments, and controversies that have arisen in genetic therapy in the healthcare field.
Speakers include Dr. Robert C. Green from Harvard University Medical School, Professor Dorothy Roberts of Northwestern University Law School, Dr. Paul Billings, Chief Medical Officer for Life Technologies, and Professor Sheldon Krimsky of Tufts University.
The talk was moderated by CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Emily Senay and recorded at the Museum on November 30, 2011.
Podcast: Download | RSS | iTunes (1 hour 23 mins, 99 MB)
01.27.12
The Story Pirates will perform Museum-themed stories written by kids. Photo courtesy of Story Pirates. Click to enlarge.
On Saturday, February 4, the Story Pirates, a media and arts group that celebrates the words and ideas of young authors through comedy, will bring kids’ stories about the Museum to life by acting them out on the stage. Story Pirate Sam Reiff-Pasarew recently answered a few questions about the upcoming production, Story Pirates: My Museum Story.
What will the Story Pirates perform at the Museum?
Sam Reiff-Pasarew: We’ll be performing a sketch comedy show based on stories written by kids. We asked kids at the Museum’s SpaceFest! and after-school programs to submit stories that take place at the Museum, and our actors are adapting those stories into live theater with costumes, props, music, and puppets. We’ll also perform some of our most popular stories written by kids across the country. Read more »
01.26.12
A photograph of the front of the jade gouge is shown here with a centimeter scale. © University of Otago/Les O’Neil
The discovery of a small jade tool that was dropped into the waters off an island in the Southwest Pacific about 3,300 years ago is stirring up questions about its origin. The reason for puzzlement: the small green artifact has a chemical composition that is unlike any other described jade, and it was found thousands of miles away from the nearest known geological source.
An international team of archaeologists and geologists from the American Museum of Natural History, the University of Otago (New Zealand), and the University of Papua New Guinea investigate this unusual specimen in a special issue of the European Journal of Mineralogy on jadeitite, the rock that defines one type of jade.
Jade is a general term for two extremely tough rocks—jadeite jade (jadeitite) and nephrite jade, each composed almost entirely from a single mineral. Throughout history, these rocks have been made into tools and ornamental gems that were worn, traded, and treasured. Many nephrite jade sources exist, but the prominent locations are China, New Zealand, Russia, and Canada. Far rarer is jadeite jade, which was used by people living in what is now Central America and Mexico over a span of two millennia prior to the arrival of European colonists. Read more »
01.25.12
Dan Janies uses supercomputers to track pathogens in real time. Photo courtesy of Dan Janies. Click to enlarge.
Highly publicized outbreaks of diseases such as Ebola and swine flu raise the specter of pandemic, but these are just the most famous examples of viruses that spread from animals to humans. At February’s SciCafe on Wednesday, February 1, computational biologist Dan Janies and virologist Nathan Wolfe will discuss their efforts to track infectious agents in animals before they reach people. Janies, who helped develop a technology called Supramap, recently answered a few questions about how supercomputers could stop the next global pandemic.
What is Supramap?
Dan Janies: Supramap is an easy-to-use web-based application that allows users all over the world free access to evolutionary software developed at the American Museum of Natural History and Ohio State University that runs on supercomputers from the Ohio Supercomputer Center. It gives us a fresh look at epidemiology by allowing us to track pathogens across space in real time and to make reports, akin to weather maps, of where and when drug-resistant or especially dangerous strains are emerging and spreading. Read more »
01.24.12
Fly through the Hayden Planetarium dome at this month’s Astronomy Live! program. © AMNH/C. Chesek
On Tuesday, January 31, visit the Hayden Planetarium to see stunning images from past NASA missions combined with visualizations from the Digital Universe Atlas, a scientifically accurate 3D map of the cosmos. Starting at 6:30 pm, Emily Rice, a research scientist in the Museum’s Department of Astrophysics, and Brian Levine, an astrophysics educator in the Department of Education, will fly you through the solar system to see where NASA spacecraft have gone, where they might go in the future, and what we might learn about our solar system from these missions as part of NASA Missions, this month’s Astronomy Live event. Rice and Levine recently answered a few questions about their experiences in the dome and their favorite NASA milestones.
How does the Digital Universe Atlas help you understand the cosmos and relay that information to others?
Emily Rice: When I first started using the Digital Universe, it was mind-blowing. I had been studying astronomy for over 10 years, but as a research scientist, I hadn’t realized how I had developed a functional but not necessarily accurate view of the cosmos. I could quote the numbers, but I couldn’t immediately describe how that would look. The Digital Universe Atlas takes all that data and translates it into very accurate visualizations that are simply astounding—one glimpse is really worth a thousand words.
Brian Levine: The planetarium is an important tool in our classes and programs as well. It enables us to extend well beyond what our audience can learn by reading and looking at pictures. The scale of the immensity of the universe has always been an important point in my lessons, and by flying around inside this data set, we can see just how big the Earth is in comparison to everything else. Turns out we’re really small, but that’s just the beginning—the universe is full of interesting things, and the best way to learn about it is to visualize it. Read more »
