2021 Mar 30
Members: Family Fun - Animal Problem Solvers
6:00pm to 7:00pm
Location: 
Harvard Museum of Natural History—Online
Animals develop special characteristics that help them survive in their environments. From keeping warm to staying hidden, animals solve problems every day. Have you ever thought about how we humans do the same?
Get ready for a lively night of fun, games, and surprises when Javier Marin transports you back inside the Harvard Museum of Natural History. He will broadcast from the galleries pointing out some of the ways animals adapt to challenges they face in the wild. Then, you will look through your own homes in a problem-solving scavenger hunt. Your family will work together...
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2021 Mar 15
Members: Not on Display! Treasures of the Mineralogical & Geological Museum
6:00pm to 7:00pm
Location: 
Harvard Museum of Natural History—Online
Visitors to the Harvard Museum of Natural History are dazzled by the Mineral Gallery’s beautiful specimens, yet the gallery displays only a fraction of the entire collection.
While each of the collection’s 300,000+ specimens has great scientific value, a subset also has significant commercial value. Join Curator Raquel Alonso-Perez for a virtual behind the-scenes visit to view specimens that, for security reasons, are not typically on display. You’ll see a rare opal in matrix from Mexico, tourmalines from the first pegmatitic discovery in the U.S., and crystalline gold, among...
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2021 Mar 04
The Last Common Ancestor
6:00pm to 7:00pm
Location: 
Harvard Museums of Science & Culture—Online
The last common ancestor of chimpanzees and modern humans is believed to have evolved in Africa six to eight million years ago. Finding fossil apes and hominins—extinct members of the human lineage—from this period has been challenging. Ashley Hammond will discuss her approach to identifying key evolutionary adaptations of this last common ancestor using 3D technology, analyses of known fossils, and field research at six-million-year-old sites in Kenya. Hammond’s research aims to clarify the origins of bipedality, a key adaptation in human evolution.
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2021 Mar 03
After-School Animal Encounters: Weird Eaters
3:00pm to 3:45pm
Location: 
Harvard Museums of Science & Culture—Online
Have you ever thought about the way you eat, or even how you chew? Now, imagine that you are a huge bullfrog, a sea star, or even a scorpion. How would you eat? As March is Nutrition Month in the U.S., it’s the perfect time to meet some of our live animals and explore our creatures’ diets and eating habits. Join human museum staffers Javier and Ryan in this 45-minute program for families and get a close look at some weird eaters.
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2021 Mar 02
Members: Discover Oceania with Ingrid Ahlgren
6:00pm to 7:00pm
Location: 
Peabody Museum of Archaeology & Ethnology—Online
Join us for a casual evening of conversation with the Peabody Museum’s Curator of Oceanic Collections. Ingrid Ahlgren stewards one of the largest and most historically significant collections in the U.S. from the Pacific Islands, Australia, and Aotearoa/New Zealand. Hear her share some of her recent work, including the exhibit Uncovering Pacific Pasts and the important roles that Harvard University and the state of Massachusetts have played in the history of Oceania. Ingrid will also discuss her upcoming collaboration with Pacific Islanders living in Utah.
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2021 Feb 22
The COVID “Next Normal”: Lessons from the NBA Bubble and Vaccine Modeling
12:00pm
Location: 
Harvard Medical School—Online
As the coronavirus pandemic enters a new phase, science that can guide vaccination prioritization and business’ return-to-work strategies are more important than ever. In this webinar, we will explore the experience of the NBA bubble, in which players were sequestered at the Walt Disney World Resort. Data from this longitudinal testing program has important implications for our understanding of the natural history of SARS-CoV-2 infection and the utility of frequent testing strategies. In addition, we will discuss modeling studies that compare different...
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2021 Feb 17
The Popularization of Doubt: Scientific Literacy & Alternative Forms of Knowledge in the Soviet Union after World War II
12:00pm
Location: 
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard—Online
Alexey Golubev, assistant professor of Russian history and digital humanities at the University of Houston, is working on a new book project: a history of Soviet efforts to produce mass scientific literacy after World War II, when tens and later hundreds of thousands of members of the Soviet intelligentsia were recruited to communicate scientific knowledge to the public through popular science lectures, publications, public experiments and debates, and television shows.
This mass scientific literacy campaign resulted in a diverse and autonomous network of people and ideas in...
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2021 Feb 16
COVID-19 and the Law: What COVID-19 Teaches Us About Health Justice and the Path Forward
12:00pm
Location: 
Harvard Law School—Online
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected almost all aspects of life in the United States and around the world, disrupting the global economy as well as countless institutions. The issues raised by the COVID-19 pandemic present a critical juncture for the U.S. and other countries around the world. Our actions now have the potential to shape responses to future pandemics, and to ensure institutions serve all of our populations.
How have our institutions, including the structure of our health care system and its attendant regulations, affected the evolution of the pandemic? What...
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2021 Feb 15
I Heart Science: Faraway Worlds
1:00pm to 2:30pm
Location: 
Harvard Museums of Science & Culture—Online
Break out of the winter doldrums and welcome Harvard science into your home with the all-virtual I Heart Science festival lasting from Friday, February 12 to Monday, February 15. This day’s “Faraway Worlds” theme looks at exploration of places hard to get to such as space, deep oceans, and the distant past.
During the live webinar, starting at 1:00 pm ET, meet Harvard researchers studying how we study the sun and what we hope to learn from missions to Mars.
At home, try your hand at investigating light, explore what we know about coelacanths and hear the story...
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2021 Feb 14
I Heart Science: Love the Earth
1:00pm to 2:00pm
Location: 
Harvard Museums of Science & Culture—Online
Break out of the winter doldrums and welcome Harvard science into your home with the all-virtual I Heart Science festival lasting from Friday, February 12 to Monday, February 15. This day’s “Love the Earth” theme looks at how we are taking care of our planet and the geology that makes it all possible.
During the live webinar, starting at 1:00 pm ET, meet Harvard researchers studying how we can design batteries large enough to power a building and investigate what it takes to save endangered species.
At home, try your hand at growing crystals, modeling volcanos, and...
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2021 Feb 13
I Heart Science: Tiny Creatures
1:00pm to 2:30pm
Location: 
Harvard Museums of Science & Culture—Online
Break out of the winter doldrums and welcome Harvard science into your home with the all-virtual I Heart Science festival lasting from Friday, February 12 to Monday, February 15. This day’s “Tiny Creatures” theme looks at bacteria, viruses, and other microbial creatures.
During the live webinar, starting at 1:00 pm ET, meet live tardigrades, also known as water bears. Watch recorded videos featuring Harvard scientists who study bacterial resistance, ways to test for viruses, and how bacteria grow.
At home, try your hand at making a water-drop microscope, comparing...
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2021 Feb 12
I Heart Science: Incredible Evolution
1:00pm to 2:30pm
Location: 
Harvard Museums of Science & Culture—Online
Break out of the winter doldrums and welcome Harvard science into your home with the all-virtual I heart Science festival lasting from Friday, February 12 to Monday, February 15. Today’s “Incredible Evolution” theme looks at ways that animals have adapted to their environments.
During the live webinar, starting at 1pm ET, meet Harvard researchers studying how brains evolve and how stress can enhance performance.
At home, watch recorded videos by Harvard scientists studying mice behavior or try your hand at comparing bone structures, collecting...
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2021 Feb 10
Enduring Unethical Lessons from the Past: Learning from the USPHS Syphilis Study at Tuskegee
5:00pm to 6:00pm
Location: 
Harvard Medical School—Online
The United States Public Health Service Syphilis Study at Tuskegee is used as a case study of the exploitation of communities of color at the hands of medical professionals. What are the lessons learned and how far has medical ethics really come in terms of the treatment of Black and other communities of color? Lillie Head, president of Voices for Our Fathers Legacy Foundation, and Riggins R. Earl, Jr...
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2020 Dec 10
What Old Chimps Can Tell Us About Healthy Aging
3:00pm to 4:00pm
Location: 
Harvard Alumni Association—Online
Humans are living longer lives than ever before and so it is critical to understand the process of aging. It has become increasingly recognized that successful aging is not just about physical health but also about our social lives.
Chimpanzees are our closest living relative and also lead long and complex lives. In this talk, you’ll learn what chimpanzee aging can tell us about human aging.
Learn more...
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2020 Dec 08
The Future of COVID-19 Epidemiology
4:00pm to 5:00pm
Location: 
Online Event
To what extent is our future with COVID-19 knowable? As new information about the transmission, demographics, and treatment of COVID-19 emerge, epidemiologists continue to address complex data and generate new predictive models to better understand the dynamics of the virus. Join leading epidemiologists for a panel discussion as they assess the current and future state of the epidemic.
This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. 
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2020 Nov 17
Benefitting from the Human Genome
4:00pm to 5:15pm
Location: 
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard—Online
In 2006, Anne Wojcicki cofounded 23andMe to help people access, understand, and benefit from the human genome, and she now serves as the company’s CEO.
In this conversation, Wojcicki will discuss the evolving benefits of genomic science, including the company’s crowdsourced research platform. This platform has played a role in creating one of the largest COVID-19 research studies, exploring whether genetics plays a role in the severity or susceptibility to the virus, and is helping to drive the discovery of novel, genetically validated therapeutic targets to bring new...
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2020 Nov 14
Fabulous Fungus Fair
2:00pm to 3:30pm
Location: 
Harvard Museums of Science & Culture—Online
Explore the wondrous world of fungi! Join Harvard students for a closer look at the mushrooms, yeasts, and molds found in gardens, forests, labs—even in our own refrigerators.
This popular annual event turns virtual this year, featuring videos created by Harvard students. Join the webinar to participate in live conversation in response to student projects. Be prepared to see fungi in a whole new way!
Learn more about and RSVP for...
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2020 Nov 10
Harvard Science Book Talk: Black Hole Survival Guide
7:00pm to 8:00pm
Location: 
Harvard Division of Science—Online
Janna Levin, professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College and an acclaimed author of Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space, and How the Universe Got Its Spots, will present her new book, Black Hole Survival Guide.
Through her writing, Levin has focused on making the science she studies not just comprehensible but also intriguing to the nonscientist. This book, illustrated with original artwork by American painter and photographer Lia Halloran, helps us to understand and find delight in possibly the most opaque theoretical construct ever imagined...
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2020 Oct 23
Next in Water
11:00am
Location: 
Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard—Online
The Next in Science series provides an opportunity for early-career scientists whose creative, cross-disciplinary research is thematically linked to introduce their work to one another, to fellow scientists, and to nonspecialists from Harvard and the greater Boston area. The speakers in this program will discuss water’s vital role across four areas of modern inquiry: biology, earth science, public health, and the search for extraterrestrial life.
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2020 Oct 22
Diving with a Purpose: A Fifteen-Year Odyssey
6:00pm to 7:00pm
Location: 
Harvard Museums of Science & Culture—Online
Diving with a Purpose is an organization dedicated to the documentation and protection of African slave-trade shipwrecks and the maritime history and culture of African Americans. Jay Haigler and Albert José Jones will share a documentary on the organization’s work and recent discoveries. They will discuss the importance of submerged heritage resources in advancing the fields of maritime archaeology and ocean conservation and the need for a better understanding of the transatlantic slave trade and its global, cultural, and social-economic impact on society.
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