Science

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 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 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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2020 Dec 12

A Materials Wonderland: A Celebration of How Materials Science Makes our Holidays Fun

1:00pm to 2:00pm

Location: 

Harvard School of Engineering & Applied Sciences—Online

Join us for a virtual celebration of materials, and their importance in our lives. Professor Howard Stone and team will investigate the wonders of common materials, and delve into the science of some materials that make our holidays special. Get ready to learn some interesting science about materials you use every day; we will then go into the lab and check out some not-so-everyday materials.

This 1-hour presentation is designed for children ages 7 and up and their families, but all are welcome to join and learn something new! Visit our website for registration and some...

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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 Dec 14

Members: Digging Harvard with Trish Capone & Nam Hyun Kim

6:00pm to 7:00pm

Location: 

Online Event

Students have been digging up and learning about Harvard's past through the Harvard Yard Archaeological Project. Meet the Peabody's Trish Capone and current Harvard student Nam Hyun Kim as they talk about the objects they have found and the larger history of what has been uncovered in this long-standing dig on campus.

 

To register, send an email to members@hmsc.harvard.edu. If possible, please include your member number. A...

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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 15

Astronauts: Women on the Final Frontier

7:00pm

Location: 

Center for Astrophysics | Harvard & Smithsonian—Online

The first person who will set foot on Mars is alive right now. We believe this, but even if we're wrong we know the first crew to arrive there will look nothing like the ones that landed on the Moon fifty years ago.

Our world has changed for the better, and ASTRONAUTS tells the story of the women who built this better world. The main character and narrator is Mary Cleave, an astronaut you may not have heard of. It's not because so many people have been to space; only a few hundred have! It’s because this graphic novel isn’t about fame. No astronaut you'll ever meet took the...

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