"The UCLA Center for Society and Genetics presents a series of discussions on stem cells. In this installment, Matthew C. Nisbet, Ohio State University School of Communication, explores how the debate over stem cells is framed. Richard Deyo, University of Washington School of Medicine, discusses lessons learned from previous types of cell-based therapies. Finally, NPR's Joe Palca examines how the media report on stem cells."
Stress is ubiquitous and on the rise. How we learn to manage it can have profound effects on our health and well being. This series explains how our bodies experience stress and demonstrates effective strategies to help you thrive in a fast-paced world. On this edition, Dr. Martin Rossman explores guided imagery which uses the imagination to reduce stress, relieve pain, change lifestyle habits, and stimulate healing responses in your body. Series: UCSF Mini Medical School for the Public
Stress is ubiquitous and on the rise. How we learn to manage it can have profound effects on our health and well being. This series explains how our bodies experience stress and demonstrates effective strategies to help you thrive in a fast-paced world. On this edition, Margaret Kemeny, UCSF professor of psychiatry, focuses on identifying the links between psychological factors, the immune system and health and illness.
Naomi Wolf, the bestselling author of The Beauty Myth, Fire With Fire: The New Female Power and How It Will Change The 21st Century, Promiscuities: The Secret Struggle for Womanhood, and others, will discuss and sign her new book The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot. This book cuts across political parties and ideologies, and warns us - with the straight-to-fellow-citizens urgency of one of Thomas Paine's revolutionary pamphlets - that we have little time to lose if our children are to live in real freedom. - Tattered Cover
The New School New York, NY Nov 10th, 2007 Illustration in the Age of Anxiety Illustration in the Age of Anxiety looks at how illustration handles times of unease and anxiety in our culture, from the atomic anxiety of the 1950s to today's wars and upheaval. Illustration in the Age of Anxiety will feature three conversations lead by prominent and accomplished writers and illustrators including: "A Light in the Dark" Ruth Marten and Tara McPherson in conversation with Steven Guarnaccia; and an introduction from Nora Krug - New School
Author of Kluge: The Haphazard Construction of the Human Mind, New York University psychologist Gary Marcus argues that the mind is a "kluge" - a clumsy, cobbled-together contraption.
Marcus discusses the accidents of evolution that caused this structure and what we can do about it.
University of California San Diego La Jolla, CA Feb 8th, 2008
Gut Feelings: The Intelligence of the Unconscious
Acccording to the speaker, human beings tend to think of intelligence as a deliberate, conscious activity guided by the laws of logic. Yet, he argues, much of our mental life is unconscious, based on processes alien to logic: gut feelings, or intuitions. Dr. Gigerenzer argues that intuition is more than impulse and caprice; it has its own rationale. This can be described by fast and frugal heuristics, which exploit evolved abilities in the human brain. Heuristics ignore information and try to focus on the few important reasons. Says Gigerenzer: "More information, more time, even more thinking, are not always better, and less can be more." His talk is part of an ongoing series on "Behavioral, Social and Computational Sciences Seminars" organized by the UC San Diego division of the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2), which aims to bring the benefits of computational science to disciplines that have largely been by-passed by the information-technology revolution until now. More information on this and other talks in the series can be found at http://bscs3.calit2.net. Gigerenzer, a leading expert and author on heuristics, won the AAAS Prize for the best article in the behavioral sciences. He is the author of Calculated Risks: How To Know When Numbers Deceive You, the German translation of which won the Scientific Book of the Year Prize in 2002. His books on heuristics include Bounded Rationality: The Adaptive Toolbox, with Reinhard Selten, a Nobel laureate in economics - UCSD
George Johnson, acclaimed New York Times science writer, discusses The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments, an irresistible book about the ten most fascinating experiments in the history of science, drawn from physics, chemistry, biology, and psychiatry. Johnson takes us to those times when the world seemed filled with mysterious forces, when scientists were dazzled by light, by electricity, and by the beating of the hearts they laid bare on the dissecting table. We see Galileo singing to mark time as he measures the pull of gravity, and Newton carefully inserting a needle behind his eye to learn how light causes vibrations in the retina. These ten elegant histories remind us of the original romance and excitement of a single soul staring into the unknown. George Johnson writes regularly about science for The New York Times. He has also written for Scientific American, The Atlantic Monthly, Time, Slate, and Wired, and his work has been included in The Best American Science Writing. He lives in Santa Fe - Cody's Books
The Commonwealth Club of California San Francisco, CA Apr 16th, 2008
Stephen Murdoch, author of IQ: A Smart History of a Failed Idea, discusses the invention and history of the IQ test and its applications from the past to the present.
Northern California Grantmakers Menlo Park, CA Feb 14th, 2008
Gordon Knox discusses Darwin, Web 2.0 & the Role of the Amateur at the Web & Where 2.0+ conference hosted by Northern California Grantmakers.
Twenty-first century digital media makers are pushing the boundaries of collaboration and copyright, once the exclusive domain of industry. YouTube further opened up the digital revolution by: exploding user choice, creating a user-to-user vetting system, allowing online users to share and mix media, and creating a culture of mass collaboration where audiences and communities can participate as co-creators and co-curators. YouTube's success reflects a new force where users are the agents of social change and the creators of cultural content. This day long Arts Intensive will reflect on the changes being led by digital culture. We will examine how foundations and organizations might want to position themselves to achieve impact within the digital cultural space. With a myriad of different speakers from various sectors, we will contemplate many of the emerging questions evolving from digital media and culture. This interactive program is designed to encourage participant engagement and discussion- Northern California Grantmakers
The Hillside Club CyberSalon Berkeley, CA Apr 27th, 2008 By citing examples from the distant past, Wikimedia Foundation General Counsel Mike Godwin denies the assertion that today's fragmented society is due to a plethora of media outlets.
Lives Per Gallon: The True Cost of Our Oil Addiction.
A special advisor to Governor Schwarzenegger, former head of the California EPA, and co-founder of The Riverkeeper Alliance with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, Terry Tamminen explores the price we pay for each fill up at the pump: the health care costs, government subsidies, economic costs, and environmental devastation, plus the wars and backhanded dealings all to keep our supplies pumping. Tamminen points out that we've made a deal with the devil to stay supplied - but it's time for that to stop, just as our oil reserves will in the next thirty to fifty years. Using tobacco-style litigation against oil and auto industries, Tamminen proposes to use the legal proceeds to help pay for the switch to hydrogen fuel cell energy within a decade, just as California efforts to do just that are beginning - Cody's Books
In the summer of 2003, Terry Tamminen helped Arnold Schwarzenegger win the historic recall election and become Governor of California. He became Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency in November 2003 and was promoted to Cabinet Secretary, Chief Policy Advisor to the Governor, in December 2004.
