Showing posts with label science. Show all posts
Showing posts with label science. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Preview of Center for Faith & Work's February 2010 Events

Just a little preview of what's to come at Redeemer's Center for Faith & Work:
February 4
Lawyers Evening Fellowship: The Lord's Prayer
A gathering of people in the legal profession on the first Thursday of every other month.
February 11
Business Fellowship
A discussion group for business people.
February 11
February PhD Students Group
PhD/EdD Students and Post-Docs - come out for food, fellowship and conversation!
February 28
2010 Info Session for The Gotham Fellowship
What is the Gotham Fellowship? How can you get involved?
February 28
An Afternoon with Edward Tom, Principal, Bronx Center for Science and Mathematics


Check back at Asphalt Eden the day before each event for details.


Which fellowships are you interested in? Is there anything that isn't covered that you think should be?

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Modern Man Killed off the Neanderthal

In this article, it would appear that modern man killed off the neanderthal. According to Wikipedia, "Neanderthals are either classified as a subspecies of humans (Homo sapiens neanderthalensis) or as a separate species (Homo neanderthalensis)." There are various Christian responses to neanderthals, and both science and religion seem to point toward neanderthals being a separate species from modern man.

Discuss.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Earth Day Events

Here are some Earth Day events around the city:::

+ Earth Ball drop in Times Square at noon -- kinda the reverse of New Year's

+ Nature sounds and art as you commute through Grand Central.

+ Free admission to the Museum of the City of New York, where you can catch the exhibit "Growing and Greening New York: PlaNYC and the Future of the City" before it closes tomorrow.

+ Earth Week at the Prospect Park Zoo.

+ Lecture called "Respect for the Future" by sustainable-design expert David Oakey at New York School of Interior Design (NYSID).

+ Confess your environmental sins at the Zipcar Green Confessions party.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Animal Hybrids, Asexual Reproduction, and Medical Tourism

Check out how the Socrates in the City talk "The Science and Politics of Stem Cells: Is There a Way Forward?" (mentioned in an earlier post) went over at Burnside Writers Collective.

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

The Science and Politics of Stem Cells: Is There a Way Forward?

Right on the heels of yesterday's announcement of President Obama lifting the ban on stem-cell research comes Socrates in the City's very interesting lecture "The Science and Politics of Stem Cells: Is There a Way Forward?". On March 25 William B. Hurlbutt, M.D., a member of the President's Council on Bioethics, will speak at The University Club (One West 54th Street at Fifth Avenue) at 7 PM. Tickets are between $35 and $75 and available through the SIC website.


President and Founder of Socrates in the City Eric Metaxas says:

On March 25th we will have a front-row seat in the stem-cell debate, with our special guest speaker, William B. Hurlbutt, M.D. Dr. Hurlbutt is a member of the President's Council on Bioethics, and teaches in the Neuroscience Intsitute at Stanford, where he has consistently been named by students as one of the top lecturers at the university. He has also worked with NASA on projects in Astrobiology.

The stem cell debate is at the very heart of some of the "big questions" we examine at Socrates in the City: "What does it mean to be human?" and "When do human beings cross the line into playing God?"

According to Socrates in the City:
Dr. William Hurlbutt is a physician and Consulting Professor at the Neuroscience Institute. After receiving his undergraduate and medical training at Stanford Univeristy, he completed postdoctoral studies in theology and medical ethics, studying with William Hamerton-Kelly, the Dean of the Chapel at Stanford, and subsequently with the Rev. Louis Bouyer of the Institut Catholique de Paris.

His primary areas of interest involve the ethical issues associated with advancing biomedical technology, the biological basis of moral awareness, and studies in the integration of theology and philosophy of biology. He is the author of numerous publications on science and ethics including the co-edited volume Altruism and Altruistic Love: Science, Philosophy, and Religion in Dialogue (2002, Oxford University Press), and "Science, Religion and Human Spirit" in the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Science and Religion. He is also a co-chair of two interdisciplinary faculty projects at Stanford University, "Becoming Human: The Evolutionary Origins of Spiritual, Religious, and Moral Awareness," and "Brain, Mind and Emergence."

In addition to teaching at Stanford, he has worked with NASA on projects in Astrobiology and is a member of the Chemical and Biological Warfare working group at the Center for International Security and Cooperation. Since 2002 he has served on the President's Council on Bioethics. He is the author of Altered Nuclear Transfer, a proposed technological solution to the moral controversy over embryonic stem cell research.

For more information on registration, the wine and cheese reception, and the patron's dinner, visit the Socrates in the City website.

Monday, March 9, 2009

Stem-Cell Research Ban Lifted

President Obama lifted the ban on stem-cell research today.

According to polls:
Fifty-nine percent of white, non-Hispanic Catholics and 58 percent of white mainline Protestants favor embryonic stem cell research, according to a poll released in July 2008 by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Only 31 percent of white evangelical Protestants, however, favored the research.
A poll from 2006 says:
69% of participating New York residents support allocation of state funds for stem cell research, and 84% would be more inclined to support financing for the research if they "knew that the scientific community was in agreement that embryonic stem cell research holds great promise to provide effective treatments and possible cures for 'diseases'"
What do you say?

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Celestial Highlights: Star Nests of Orion

As part of its Celestial Highlights series, the American Museum of Natural History will host "Star Nests of Orion" ($15) tonight at 6:30 in Hayden Planetarium. Calling it a "tour of the heavens," the presentation uses the Zeiss Mark IX Star Projector to show the splendors of the universe and teach about the way in which stars form and evolve.

Nerdy or magnificent? You decide.

Thursday, January 15, 2009

Handmade Music Night: Before You Make Music, Make an Instrument

A lot of people make their own music, but how many make their own instruments? Now that'll get you some bragging rights. Whether you're sonically savvy or just musically adventurous, tonight (7:30 - 10:30 pm) 3rd Ward (195 Morgan Ave., Brooklyn) is the place to be:
3rd Ward, Etsy.com, Make Magazine, and createdigitalmusic.com present
Handmade Music Night. Part party, part mixer, part Science Fair, and
part performance, this is an informal chance for geeksters and the
geek-curious to come together, relax, discover new sounds and drink
some complimentary Pabst.
[image 3rd Ward]

Handmade Music Night is January 15 and every third Thursday of the month.

Pump up the volume or reach for your earplugs?

Top 5 Things to Do January 15, 2009

1. Stargazers might appreciate The Journey to Palomar, what is billed as "a film about American astronomer George Ellery Hale’s dramatic public and private struggle to build the four largest telescopes of the 20th century." Afterwards Dr. Ben Oppenheimer will discuss contemporary astronomy. FMI

2. Heloise & The Savoir Faire, described as "one part theatrical pop, one part post-punk revival,"
at Bowery Ballroom. FMI

3. Would you care for a spot of tea in the grand ballroom at Gracie Mansion? FMI

4. Forget tea. You can pay with beer to attend the
Jugger-Nut Comics #2 "Wak Fantastic" release party at the Bowery Poetry Club (308 Bowery).

5. Necrophiliacs might appreciate the talk on Green Wood Cemetery at the B&N in Park Slope. FMI



Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Top 5 Things to Do January 13, 2009

1. Enjoy Brahms on the cheap: Attend ChamberFest 2009, put on by students from Juilliard, at Paul Hall (155 65th Street) at 8 pm

2. Attend FOS' cocktail kick off

3. Live variously through Michael Pearson as he tells about his Semester at Sea during his reading from the Mark Twain-titled Innocents Abroad Too at Barnes & Noble (82nd & Broadway) at 7 pm

4. Dance at the Slavic Soul Party at Barbes (376 9th St. by the corner of 6th Ave., in the Park Slope section of Brooklyn) at 9 pm. $10

5. Geologist Sidney Horenstein uncovers the building stones and fossils in the walls (both interior and exterior) of the Museum of Natural History at 6:30 pm ($30)

Monday, January 12, 2009

Is God a Mathematician?

Most New Yorkers would probably say they believe in a Higher Power. However even many devout Christians have a more difficult time associating God with the minute facts and figures of life. God exists as a warm feeling, but does He show up in science and math? Senior Astronomer and the former Head of the Science Division at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) Mario Livio tackles just how calculating God is in his new book Is God a Mathematician? Tonight at 7:30, January 12, Livio will be at the Museum of Natural History's Hayden Planetarium Space Theater to discuss the connection between math, God, and the world we live in:
For centuries, mathematical theories have proven uncannily accurate at describing–and predicting–the physical world. What is it that gives mathematics such power? Mario Livio attempts to answer this question in his new book Is God A Mathematician?. Spanning such fields as cosmology, physics, and cognitive science, Mario offers an accessible and lively account of the lives and thoughts of some of the greatest mathematicians and scientists in history, from Archimedes to Galileo, Descartes to Gödel, and on up to today.

Tickets are $15 for non-members.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Top 5 Things to Do January 8, 2009

1. Everyone you know full of contradictions? Attend the opening reception for Contradictions in Black and White at Hasted Hunt (529 West 20th St., 3rd Fl.)

2. Discover the hidden branch that tells time in Central Park. Meet at 1:00 in front of the statue of Samuel F. B. Morse (inside the Park at Fifth Avenue and 72nd Street)

3. If you have Peter Pan Syndrome, you might as well join all the kiddies that'll be at the Swedish Cottage in Central Park for the marionette production of Peter Pan and Adventures in Neverland

4. Hey there, karaoke stud, head on over to the Barnes & Noble at 106 Court Street in Brooklyn at 7:00 pm for a free reading of Don't Stop Believin' by author Brian Raftery, who, by the by, calls Night Ranger's "Sister Christian" his favorite karaoke song

5. Itching for a behind-the-scenes look into the Museum of Natural History's Conservation Lab? (Yeah, me too.) The Museum is offering three half-hour sessions, the first at 6:30, for $35 apiece.