Our High Energy Sun & NASA’s RHESSI Mission

Eruptions on the sun are dramatic, fascinating events that have consequences on Earth as well as in space. During solar flares, the sun’s atmosphere releases magnetic energy and accelerates high-energy particles that can cause special displays of aurorae (Northern and Southern Lights), as well as less welcome effects, such as disrupted power grids and satellite communications, and radiation damage to equipment and crew on spacecraft and high-altitude flights.

The fundamental processes of these events — how currents can dissipate and particles can be accelerated in the almost perfectly conducting solar atmosphere — remain enigmatic. However, major advances in observing and understanding high-energy events on the sun have been made since the 2001 launch of NASA’s RHESSI (Ramaty High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager) mission. Dr. Brown, the U.K. co-investigator of the mission, will describe the scientific background to RHESSI, the instrument technology, the pre-launch drama, and highlights of its many discoveries.

Here are the slides (10mb file).

Comet-Sun Impacts: Supersonic Snowballs in Hell

Throughout their history, the planets have been bombarded by cosmic debris — rocks, comets and asteroids. Though things are quieter today than in the early solar system, Jupiter has had at least three serious hits (that we know of) in the last 20 years, Earth has seen two major airbursts over former Soviet territories alone in the past century, and Mars faces a currently estimated chance of 1 in 10,000 of a major comet impact in October 2014.

Since the 1980s, we’ve learned that the sun, a much bigger, heavier target than the planets, undergoes more than 100 very close comet encounters every year. The last two years have seen rapid progress in the theory and observation of sun-plunging comets, which are destroyed in the atmosphere of our star. Near the sun, these travel 20 times faster than when near the Earth, and carry 400 times the kinetic energy — vastly more than TNT.

We’ll explore recent progress in scientists’ understanding of how these sun-plunging supersonic snowballs interact with the Hellish conditions near the sun, why this is important to both cometary and solar science, and the possible terrestrial consequences of a large comet-sun impact.

Here are the slides (24mb file).

Gravity, Black Holes, and White Rabbits

Gravity plays a fundamental role in every aspect of the universe, from its Big Bang beginnings to enabling life in diverse ways. Through the lens of magic tricks, Dr. Brown will explain what gravity is, how greatly its strength varies across the universe, and he’ll illustrate some if its properties. In particular, we’ll discuss black holes, the strongest sources of gravity and the most bizarre objects in the cosmos. Learn about space-time distortion, gravitational lensing, Hawking radiation, and the possible cosmological relevance of black holes: Big Bang multiverse creation, the cosmic flow of entropy, and the existence of life itself.

Historical Highlights of Scottish Astronomy Through the Eyes of its 10th Astronomer Royal

Except for during the Dark and Early Middle Ages, the Scots and some of their ancient ancestors have been recording aspects of the sky since before the pyramids of Egypt — take, for example, the 2800 B.C. observatory of Maes Howe in Orkney. The European Enlightenment, in which Scotland played a large part, saw the appearance of a number of Scottish luminaries with scientific interests embracing astronomy. These include James Gregory (1638–1675), known as “the Scottish Newton;” Alexander Wilson (1714–1786), the first professor of astronomy in Scotland and Glasgow’s Regius Chair of 1760); Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane (1773–1860); as well as Thomas Henderson and Charles Piazzi Smyth, the first two holders of the post of Astronomer Royal for Scotland, which was founded in 1834.

Take a historical tour of highlights from the work of these early greats and others. We’ll touch on the work of some of their early successors, such as James Clerk Maxwell and William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), and discuss the great modern astronomical heritage they all helped to create.

Here are the slides (31mb file).
 

What a Plant Knows

Take a captivating journey into the sensory lives of plants — from the colors they see to the schedules they keep. How does a Venus flytrap know when to snap shut? Can it feel an insect’s spindly legs? How do flowers know when it’s spring? Can they actually remember the weather? And do they care if you play them Led Zeppelin or Bach?

From Darwin’s early fascination with stems and vines to the musical Little Shop of Horrors, we have always marveled at plant diversity and form. We’ll take an intriguing and refreshing look at how plants experience the world. Highlighting the latest research in plant science, we’ll look into the sensory lives of different types of plants, and draw parallels with the human senses to reveal that we have much more in common with sunflowers and oak trees than we may realize. We’ll cover touch, sound, smell, sight, and even memory, and consider whether it’s too much to ask if plants are aware.

Here is the YouTube video.

Food Security: A Look at Hunger and the Quest to Feed the World

More than half of the world’s population suffers from some form of food insecurity. Most of those in the developed world seldom worry they might not have food on the table to feed themselves and their families. But in many countries there are people who fret daily about physical and economic access to food. And this problem may only get worse. The rapid increases in global population, coupled with increased demand for food driven by economic development in developing countries, together with dwindling agricultural resources, have put critical strains on our ability to feed the world. We’ll examine the problem and some ideas to address it.

Here are the slides (4mb file).

Franken-Foods? A Rational Look at Genetic Engineering and the Food We Eat

Many of us are concerned by food that is labeled “GMO.” But what exactly does “genetically modified” mean? Is GMO food inherently inferior to organic food? How does it affect our diet and health? We’ll examine what happens when GMO technology turns plants into factories, and delve into the scientific basis of genetic engineering of both plants and animals, with a view toward how this influences our lives.

Here are the slides (3mb file).

The Scientific Life

The process of science, and the life of a scientist, are not well known to the general public. In 27 years as a scientist, Dr. Chamovitz grew from a young graduate student studying beta-carotene in bacteria to the director of an institute trying to solve issues of world hunger. In between, he studied plants, flies, yeast, and even cancer. He’s published articles with scientists from nine different countries, given talks in five continents, and found himself advising corporations and governments. He’ll share the history and development of the hypotheses that have powered the science in his lab, and take you through some of the experiments and findings that led to these hypotheses.

Here are the slides (9mb file).
 

What Does the Higgs Boson Eat During the Winter and Other Essential Questions

Most people have heard about the Higgs boson, but how many really understand what this particle is about and why it is so important? I will first review the basics of particle physics, and explain the theoretical aspects of the Higgs boson and its role in giving mass to all fundamental particles. I will also explain how CERN accelerators and detectors work and show how the Higgs boson was discovered in 2012. Although this lecture will be accessible to everyone, people with a stronger scientific background will also learn all there is know about the Higgs boson

Here are the slides (27mb file).

Dark Matter: the Hidden Side of the Universe

The discovery of the Higgs boson completed the Standard Model, the theoretical description of matter. Unfortunately, this model only explains ordinary or visible matter, which is a mere 5% of the content of the universe. The vast majority of the universe, namely 27%, is made of a mysterious type of matter called “dark matter” and is completely unknown. The rest of the universe appears to be in the form of an equally strange type of energy called “dark energy.” How is that known? What proofs do we have of the existence of dark matter? How did scientists evaluate the content of the universe? How are we searching for it and where could it be discovered? We’ll take a complete overview of this question in terms simple enough for any interested person to follow from start to finish but with the most up-to-date information to satisfy the more curious crowd.

Here are the slides (72mb file).
 

Nanson, Amundsen, and the Norwegian Scientific Exploration of the Arctic

The Arctic begins in Scandinavia, or so the Scandinavians think, so what better place to study the scientific exploration of the Arctic than a Baltic cruise? One hundred fifty years ago, scientists and geographers knew virtually nothing about the Arctic. Then came Fridtjof Nansen and his protégé Roald Amundsen, who became legends in their own lifetime in Norway by 1910. We’ll follow their exploits as they opened the Arctic for science.

Here are the slides (29mb file).

Amundsen, Scott, and Science in the Antarctic

With major colonies in Australia, New Zealand, the Falkland Islands and South Africa, Britain claimed the Antarctic as a virtual dependency by the Edwardian Era, which was an age of science in Europe. Yet like the Arctic 50 years earlier, scientists and geographers knew virtually nothing about Antarctica in 1900. That changed with the Royal Society-backed expeditions of Robert Scott and Ernest Shackleton, followed closely by Roald Amundsen’s entry in the field. Dr. Larson, author of Empire of Ice: Scott, Shackleton, and the Heroic Age of Antarctic Science, will follow the story of early research at the South Pole.

Here are the slides (103mb file).

The Evolution Teaching Controversy: Why All the Fuss?

Creationism has changed, creationists say, but has it? Rooted in supposed biblical truths, almost by definition creationism cannot evolve, but creationist tactics do. We’ll explore the world of modern creation science, intelligent design, and the 21st-century American battle over teaching evolution.

Here are the slides (19mb file).

Darwin and the Neo-Darwinian Synthesis

Charles Darwin often gets credit as the founder of modern evolutionary theory. While he was clearly central to the story, he actually stands at the middle of a longer history, rather than at either the beginning or end of it. We’ll trace this grand breakthrough in modern thought from Lamarck and the dawn of evolutionary science through Darwin to the modern neo-Darwinian synthesis of the 1930s, when genetics finally explained how evolution operated.

Here are the slides (11mb file).
 

Robotics: The State of the Art

Although robotics is a well-established and successful technology, it is currently experiencing a major transition. For several decades relatively unintelligent robots have served industry well. But that’s changing now. Robots are moving out of factories and warehouses and into homes, hospitals and offices. A second wave of robotics has started in which robots are mobile and, most importantly, now required to work alongside humans; next generation intelligent robots must be able to safely and reliably interact with people.

We’ll delve into the state-of-the-art in intelligent robotics, defining what a robot is through examples from current research. Learn how new biologically inspired approaches have radically changed the way robots are designed. We are all familiar with robots from science fiction movies; this new generation of robots is both very different and much more surprising.

Here are the slides (14mb file).

A Brief History of Robotics

Although the words “robot” and “robotics” are decidedly 20th-century creations, robotics has a long pre-history of ideas and inventions. Perhaps the first known reference to the idea of an intelligent tool that could replace human labor comes from Aristotle, who wrote in 320 B.C. that “if every tool, when ordered, or even of its own accord, could do the work that befits it then there would be no need either of apprentices for the master workers or of slaves for the lords.”

We’ll trace the history of robotics from Classical Greece to the modern day, with examples including Leonardo da Vinci’s remarkable programmable automata. We’ll conclude with an account of British neurophysiologist W. Grey Walter’s famous robot “tortoises” from the late 1940s, now widely regarded as the first autonomous electronic mobile robots.

Here are the slides (4mb file).

Robot Ethics

Like any transformative technology, intelligent robotics has the potential for huge benefit, but is not without ethical or societal risk. We’ll explore two questions: firstly, the increasingly urgent issue of the ethical use of robots. Are there particular applications of robots that should be proscribed, such as in eldercare, surveillance, or war fighting, for example? When intelligent autonomous robots make mistakes, as they inevitably will, who should be held to account? Secondly, we’ll consider the longer-term question of whether intelligent robots themselves could or should be ethical. Seventy years ago Isaac Asimov created his fictional Three Laws of Robotics. Is there now a realistic prospect that a robot that meets these requirements could be built?

Here are the slides (5mb file).

The Thinking Robot

Press headlines frequently refer to robots that think like humans, or even have feelings, but is there any basis of truth in such headlines, or are they simply sensationalist hype? Computer scientist E.W. Dijkstra famously wrote, “The question of whether machines can think is about as relevant as the question of whether submarines can swim,” but the question of robot thought is one that cannot so easily be dismissed. We’ll attempt to answer the question: How intelligent are present-day intelligent robots? There are current efforts to design robots that are not only more intelligent, but also have a sense of self. But if we should be successful in designing such robots, would they think like animals, or even humans? And what are the realistic prospects for future (sentient) robots as smart as humans?

Here are the slides (7mb file).