Museum of Science, Boston

Innovation in Hollywood: Past, Present & Future (Lecture): Did you know that we wouldn't have VCRs were it not for Bing Crosby? That Technicolor, the company that brought a "magic rainbow" to the silver screen in The Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind, was founded in Boston in an old railroad car? Or that Thomas Edison invented the forerunner of the video iPod? ... (details).
With: Scott Kirsner, Boston Globe columnist; author, Inventing the Movies: Hollywood's Epic Battle Between Innovation and the Status Quo.

Bigfoot, Sea Serpents, and Cryptozoology (Lecture): Could hair samples be used to verify the existence of Bigfoot? Are unexplained animal droppings evidence of a new species? Do footprints hold the key to unlocking the mystery of the yeti? World-renowned cryptozoologist Loren Coleman has spent decades researching the existence of fantastical creatures ... (details).
With: Loren Coleman, leading cryptozoologist, author of The Field Guide to Bigfoot, Yeti, and Other Mystery Primates Worldwide and Cryptozoology A to Z.

Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives (Lecture): The film Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives follows Mark Oliver Everett, lead singer of the cult band the Eels, on his quest to learn about his father, Hugh Everett III, a physicist who gave birth to one of science's most bizarre and influential theories. Everett's "many worlds" interpretation of quantum ... (details).
With: Max Tegmark, associate professor, department of physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Paula Apsell, senior executive producer, Nova, WGBH.

Marnie (Lecture): The Coolidge Corner Theatre continues its fall season of Science on Screen with a presentation of Alfred Hitchcock's classic psychological thriller, Marnie. Marnie Edgar (Tippi Hedren) is a habitual thief who uses her ample charm and good looks to gain the trust of her employers, only to rob them ... (details).
With: psychiatrist Phillip Freeman, MD.
This presentation is part of the ongoing Science on Screen Series.

Sustaining Life: A Conversation (Lecture): Please join us for this Celebrity Science Series event, part of the Reno Family Foundation Symposia. The Earth's biodiversity — the rich variety of life on our planet — is disappearing at an alarming rate. And while human health depends, to a larger extent than we might imagine, on biodiversity, ... (details).
With: Eric Chivian, MD, founder, director, Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School; Nobel Peace Prize Laureate; author, Sustaining Life: How Human Health Depends on Biodiversity; moderated by Noel Michele "Missy" Holbrook, PhD, Charles Bullard Professor of Forestry and professor of biology, Harvard University.
This presentation is part of the ongoing Celebrity Science Series.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (Lecture): The Coolidge Corner Theatre introduces a new season of its popular Science on Screen series with a special showing of Steven Spielberg's adventure classic, Raiders of the Lost Ark. Harrison Ford stars as Dr. Jones, a world-renowned professor of archaeology hired by the U.S. government to track down ... (details).
With: Curtis Runnels, professor of archeology, Boston University.
This presentation is part of the ongoing Science on Screen Series.

The Spaceman on the Art and Science of Pitching (Lecture): Nicknamed the Spaceman for his free-spirited personality, Bill Lee is one of the best left-handed pitchers ever to don a Boston Red Sox uniform — and one of the most unforgettable characters ever to play the game. On November 7, 2008, Lee will be inducted into the Red Sox Hall of Fame as the team ... (details).
With: Bill "Spaceman" Lee," former Red Sox pitcher (1969-1978), author, and star of the 2006 documentary film, Spaceman in Cuba.

Babe Ruth and Ted Williams: Behind the Legends (Lecture): Babe Ruth was the Sultan of Swat. The Wizard of Whack. The Bambino. To his teammates, he was simply the Big Bam. However, he was more than baseball's original superstar — for 85 years, he has remained baseball's reigning titan. Ted Williams was The Kid. The Splendid Splinter. Teddy Ballgame. ... (details).
With: Leigh Montville, former Boston Globe columnist, former senior writer at Sports Illustrated, and author of The Big Bam: The Life and Times of Babe Ruth and Ted Williams: The Biography of an American Hero.

Fenway and the New Generation of Ballparks (Lecture): Fans have a magical connection to ballparks, and no baseball venue is more beloved than Fenway, the oldest park in the major leagues. Janet Marie Smith is directing the revitalization of Fenway Park and was involved in the planning and development of Atlanta's Turner Field and Baltimore's Camden Yards, ... (details).
With: Janet Marie Smith, Senior Vice President of Planning and Development, Boston Red Sox.

Voices of the Game (Lecture): Joe Castiglione is in his 26th season as the voice of the Boston Red Sox and previously handled play-by-play on television for the Cleveland Indians and the Milwaukee Brewers. Curt Smith, former presidential speechwriter, GateHouse Media columnist, and author of Voices of The Game and other acclaimed ... (details).
With: Joe Castiglione, Red Sox radio broadcaster and author; Curt Smith, author, columnist, and television / radio host.

On The Mound: A Conversation with Two Baseball Insiders (Lecture): Part of the Celebrity Science Series: A Reno Family Foundation Symposium Whether you're passionate about baseball statistics or simply get a thrill from the sound of a ball leaving the park, don't miss this chance to hear from two of baseball's premier historians and analysts. By pioneering sabermetrics ... (details).
With: George William "Bill" James, baseball writer, historian, statistician, and Red Sox executive; Rob Neyer, senior writer for ESPN.com and author.
This presentation is part of the ongoing Celebrity Science Series.

Superman (Lecture): The Coolidge Corner Theatre wraps up this season's Science on Screen series with Superman, the original superhero blockbuster starring Christopher Reeve. Clark Kent is a reporter for the Daily Planet -- at least part of the time. Born Kal-El of the planet Krypton, Kent has a secret identity: he's ... (details).
With: Max Tegmark, associate professor of physics at MIT.
This presentation is part of the ongoing Science on Screen Series.

WaterFire and the Public Art of Barnaby Evans (Lecture): Combining science and art, natural elements and soundscapes, Barnaby Evans is renowned for his category-defying multimedia public art installations. He created WaterFire, a sculpture/performance/social phenomenon that comprises one hundred bonfires burning from sunset to midnight in the rivers of downtown Providence, RI ... (details).
With: Barnaby Evans, multimedia artist.

The Search for the USS Grunion (Lecture): On April 11, 1942 the USS Grunion, a Gato-class submarine, was commissioned into service for the US Navy. By July 30 of that year, the Grunion would make its final communiqué and disappear without a trace. Among the missing was the ship's commander, Lt. Cmdr. Mannert L Abele, who left behind three sons: Bruce, John, and Brad ... (details).
With: John and Bruce Abele.

Physics of the Impossible (Lecture): One hundred years ago, lasers, televisions, and computers seemed physically impossible. Today, teleportation and invisibility seem equally far-fetched. Renowned physicist Michio Kaku explores how mind reading, the routine use of force fields, and other feats that are currently science fiction may become commonplace tomorrow ... (details).
With: Michio Kaku, co-founder of string field theory, professor of physics, and author of Physics of the Impossible.

Vertigo (Lecture): Science on Screen at the Coolidge Corner Theatre continues in April with a special presentation of the Alfred Hitchcock classic, Vertigo. During a rooftop chase, police detective John "Scottie" Ferguson (James Stewart) is grossly overcome by his acrophobia (a deep fear of falling), which ultimately brings about the death of a fellow officer ... (details).
With: Catherine Kimble, MD.
This presentation is part of the ongoing Science on Screen Series.

Darwin's Nightmare (Lecture): Darwin's Nightmare is Hubert Sauper's harrowing documentary about the devastating effects that a "globalized" economy has on the residents of a Tanzanian fishing village. Some time in the 1960s, the Nile perch was introduced into Africa's Lake Victoria as a scientific experiment. This voracious predator ... (details).
With: Les Kaufman, professor of biology, Boston University marine program.
This presentation is part of the ongoing Science on Screen Series.

BrainGate (Lecture): Matthew Nagle can change the channels on his television, adjust the volume, open and close a hand, and read his email. These feats may not sound impressive, but they are miraculous for Nagle, a quadriplegic paralyzed in 2001 by a knife wound that severed his spinal cord. Thanks to a system called BrainGate, ... (details).
With: John P. Donoghue, PhD, Henry Merritt Wriston Professor and director, Brain Science Program, Brown University; co-founder, chief scientific officer and director, Cybernetics, Inc..

Once Upon A Tide (Lecture): The Harvard Center for Health and the Global Environment presents a screening of their recent film Once Upon A Tide, a modern-day fable that helps people understand the vital connection between the ocean environment and human health. Narrated by Academy Award winner Linda Hunt, the ten-minute film uses ... (details).
With: Paul R. Epstein, MD, associate director, and Kathleen Frith, assistant director, Center for Health and the Global Environment, Harvard Medical School .

Body Heat (Lecture): As part of its ongoing Science on Screen series, the Coolidge Corner Theatre presents a special Valentine's Day-themed program with a screening of Lawrence Kasden's steamy, contemporary film noir, Body Heat. In one of his most memorable roles, William Hurt plays a Florida lawyer unwittingly drawn ... (details).
With: Michael Baum, PhD, professor of biology at Boston University.
This presentation is part of the ongoing Science on Screen Series.

SEAMLESS: Computational Couture (Lecture): Fashionistas and techies unite at SEAMLESS, a fashion show and celebration showcasing emerging designers from around the globe and functional creations that push the boundaries of wearable technology. The Museum transforms into a catwalk for "computational couture" as models strut groundbreaking clothing ... (details).
With: sosolimited; DJs Eddie O. and Mike Uzzi of Zero G Sounds.

Sleeper (Lecture): The Coolidge Corner Theatre kicks off a new season of Science on Screen with Woody Allen's comedy classic Sleeper. When cryogenically preserved Miles Monroe (Woody Allen) is awakened 200 years after a hospital mishap, he discovers the world is ruled by an evil dictator: a disembodied nose. Miles ... (details).
With: Brock Reeve, executive director of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute.
This presentation is part of the ongoing Science on Screen Series.

The Man Who Fell to Earth (Lecture): The Man Who Fell to Earth is a daring exploration of science fiction as an art form. Walter Tevis's novel about an alien on an elaborate rescue mission provides the launching pad for director Nicolas Roeg's visual tour de force, an adventurous examination of alienation and cultural dislocation in contemporary life ... (details).
With: Cultural Anthropologist Robert Weller.
This presentation is part of the ongoing Science on Screen Series.

Exit to Freedom (Lecture): In 1983, Calvin C. Johnson Jr. stood in a courtroom and was sentenced to life in prison for a rape and burglary he said he did not commit. "With God as my witness, I have been falsely accused," Johnson told the judge, "I'm an innocent man." After 16 years in prison, Johnson was exonerated with the help ... (details).
With: Calvin C. Johnson, Jr., national board of directors, Innocence Project; chairman of the board of directors, Georgia Innocence Project; former Innocence Project client; and author.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Crimes, History and Mystery.

Pulse (Kairo) (Lecture): Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Pulse (Kairo) tells the story of a group of young friends rocked by the sudden suicide of one of their own, and his subsequent, ghostly reappearance in grainy computer and video images. The mysterious floppy disk they find in the dead man's apartment could provide a clue, but instead ... (details).
With: Alan Lightman, author and adjunct professor of humanities at MIT.
This presentation is part of the ongoing Science on Screen Series.

Superstition, Science, and Sherlock Holmes (Lecture): Sherlock Holmes may be a fictional character, but he had a very real influence on the development of criminalistics during the Victorian Era. E. J. Wagner is the author of the Edgar®-award-winning book The Science of Sherlock Holmes, which describes the real forensic science behind the legendary sleuth ... (details).
With: E.J. Wagner, crime historian and author.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Crimes, History and Mystery.

From the Crime Scene to the Court Room (Lecture): As founder and head of the FBI's Investigative Support Unit, legendary profiler John Douglas tackled the most baffling violent crimes, describing the perpetrators' habits and predicting their next moves. His new book, Inside the Mind of BTK, is an in-depth look at Dennis Rader, the church president, ... (details).
With: John Douglas, former FBI special agent; criminal profiling expert; and author.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Crimes, History and Mystery.

Deep Ancestry: Inside the Genographic Project (Lecture): Join us for the inaugural program of the Reno Family Foundation Symposia to find out about our collective deep ancestry and how you can trace your own individual genetic journey. This program is made possible by generosity of the Reno Family Foundation and Barbara and Malcolm L. Sherman. Where do ... (details).
With: Dr. Spencer Wells, population geneticist, National Geographic explorer-in-residence and director of National Geographic and IBM's Genographic Project.

Everything's Cool (Lecture): A hot documentary about global warming, Everything's Cool follows the struggle of a group of extremely dedicated, sometimes depressed, but always passionate global-warming messengers. Their journey provides a snapshot of the fight to end global-warming denial in the United States and create the political ... (details).
With: Adam Wolfensohn, co-producer of Everything's Cool; Ross Gelbspan, veteran journalist and bestselling author of The Heat Is On and Boiling Point; Beth Daley, environmental reporter for The Boston Globe; Kathleen Frith, assistant director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School.
This presentation is part of the ongoing Science on Screen Series.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (Lecture): Admiral Kirk meets his nemesis Khan in the action-packed modern sci-fi classic, Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan. The genetically superior Kahn seeks revenge upon Kirk for having been imprisoned on a desolated planet. Their battle ensues over control of the Genesis device, a top-secret Starfleet project ... (details).
With: Dr. Jeffrey A. Hoffman, MIT professor and former NASA astronaut.
This presentation is part of the ongoing Science on Screen Series.

The Wild Trees (Lecture): From Richard Preston, author of the #1 bestseller The Hot Zone, comes the spellbinding story of Steve Sillett, Marie Antoine, and a group of botanists and amateur naturalists who discovered a mysterious world hidden above California. The Wild Trees: A Story of Passion and Daring is the gripping tale ... (details).
With: Richard Preston, journalist for The New Yorker and bestselling author.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Revolutionary Science.

Cinema, Science, and Invention (Lecture): A vital new framework for invention is arising. Worlds created for movies spring from real-world science research, and in turn, science and what is built in the real world are influenced by the movies. John Underkoffler has been at the heart of this feedback loop with the human-machine interfaces he's ... (details).
With: John Underkoffler, founder and chief scientist of Oblong Industries, Inc., and science and technology advisor to Minority Report, The Hulk, Aeon Flux, and other film productions.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series When Science Meets Art.

The Art of Living a Second Life (Lecture): Called "the biggest digital art installation in the world" by Warren Ellis, Second Life is a highly imaginative, online, 3-D rendered environment populated with avatars (graphic representations of people). In Second Life, you can teleport, fly, live in a house, go to clubs, take classes, make and view art, or just "hang out ... (details).
With: Wagner James Au, embedded journalist in Second Life; Pathfinder Linden, community manager for Linden Lab; John (Craig) Freeman, artist in Second Life; moderated by Eric Gordon, assistant professor of new media, Emerson College.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series When Science Meets Art.

Live from the North Pole Observatory: Searching for Signs of Climate Change (Lecture): Last month marked the beginning of the 4th International Polar Year, a period of intensive Arctic and Antarctic exploration. Scientists from around the world have been preparing to spend the last two weeks of April at the North Pole Environmental Observatory, deploying instruments to study climate change ... (details).

Pulse Pool Installation (Lecture): During the Cambridge Science Festival and the Boston Cyberarts Festival, the Museum of Science, Boston and New Radio and Performing Arts, Inc. present "Pulse Pool." Bridging art and human biology via technology — as well as two capital cities: Boston and Oklahoma City — Pulse Pool is an interactive ... (details).
This presentation is part of the ongoing series When Science Meets Art.

New Horizons Mission to Pluto (Lecture): Unmanned spacecraft have visited all of the planets except for Pluto, but that is about to change. The New Horizons robotic spacecraft was launched in January 2006 and is en route to Pluto and the outer solar system. What do astronomers expect to learn from this mission, and will it further change our ... (details).
With: Richard Binzel PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Lowell Lectures on Astronomy.

Pluto and the Outer Solar System (Lecture): Even after Pluto was discovered in 1930, astronomers continued their search for an elusive tenth planet. Decades of exploration along with advances in technology led to the discovery of icy objects more distant and sometimes even larger than Pluto. What are these objects that dwell in the outer solar ... (details).
With: Michael Brown, PhD, California Institute of Technology.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Lowell Lectures on Astronomy.

Evolution's Discoverers: Charles Darwin & Alfred Russel Wallace (Lecture): Harvard University professors Janet Browne and Andrew Berry share a remarkable story: how two naturalists independently developed their own ideas on the theory of evolution, and why, today, one is a big name and the other has been relegated to relative obscurity. One of the most remarkable aspects ... (details).

Planetary Perils in Prague (Lecture): By the end of the twentieth century, it was common knowledge that there were nine planets in our solar system. However, a group of international astronomers gathered in Prague last year and reorganized our understanding of our solar system. Pluto was put into a category different from the other planets ... (details).
With: Owen Gingerich PhD, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Lowell Lectures on Astronomy.

The Evolution of Sex: Rethinking the Y Chromosome (Lecture): Over the last few decades, the male-specific Y chromosome, the runt of the genomic litter, has been diagnosed as terminally ill. Some scientists declared that in another 10 million years or so the Y will be gone altogether, taking males along with it. However, Dr. Page and his colleagues have found that ... (details).
With: David Page, PhD, director, Whitehead Institute; department of biology, MIT; Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator .
This presentation is part of the ongoing Whitehead Institute Lecture Series.

The Next Gold Rush: Bioprospecting, Medicine & The Environment (Lecture): We are at a crossroads. The latest scientific discoveries give us the ability to manipulate life, but does this mean that we should? And, when genetic materials are gathered from rain forests and oceans, who should reap the financial benefits? In a program that is part panel discussion, part forum conversation, ... (details).
With: Mark J. Plotkin, president, Amazon Conservation Team; Jay Short, CEO, E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Foundation; Janet Browne, author of Charles Darwin: Voyaging and Charles Darwin: The Power of Place; Dan Dillon, PhD, researcher for the GoodWork Project directed by Howard Gardner.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Revolutionary Science.

An Unexpected Interface: Protein Folding Driving Evolutionary Change (Lecture): Learn about Dr. Lindquist's recent work, which suggests that the forces that govern protein folding (when strings of amino acids fold into a functioning protein structure) exert a profound effect on how genetic information is translated into phenotypic traits. This folding process allows organisms to ... (details).
With: Susan Lindquist, PhD, department of biology, MIT; Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator; member and former director, Whitehead Institute.
This presentation is part of the ongoing Whitehead Institute Lecture Series.

An Inconvenient Truth Film Screening (Lecture): In what Larry King labeled "one of the most important films ever," Al Gore makes an engaging and passionate argument that global warming be viewed as a moral dilemma rather than as a political issue. In the film, Gore outlines the effects of global warming on natural environments, plant and animal life, ... (details).
With: Kevin Knobloch, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists; Leith Sharp, director of the Harvard Green Campus Initiative.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series Global Warning.

Evolution as a Tool Kit for Understanding Human Disease (Lecture): Comprehensive studies of genes and proteins from many organisms are giving us an extraordinary documentation of the history of life. We share thousands of individual genes and proteins with other eukaryotes (organisms with nucleated cells), all as a result of our common evolutionary history. Dr. Lodish ... (details).
With: Harvey Lodish, PhD, department of bioengineering, MIT; founding member, Whitehead Institute.
This presentation is part of the ongoing Whitehead Institute Lecture Series.

STREB: Extreme Action In a Hard Core World (Lecture): Recipient of a MacArthur Foundation 'Genius' award and once called the Evil Knievel of dance, Elizabeth Streb intertwines extreme sports, circus arts, Hollywood stuntwork, and dance in her unique choreography, called POPACTION. In this lecture, she takes on the physics of kinetic energy to show how humans ... (details).
With: Elizabeth Streb, Director & Choreographer, STREB Dance Company.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series When Science Meets Art.

Nature Is an Incredible Nanoengineer: The Story of Seashells (Lecture): Find out about the state-of-the-art in nanotechnology research on the CS&T stage at one of several special guest researcher presentations! Super-tough synthetic materials created by mimicking nature's design are becoming a reality thanks to the work of MIT Professor Christine Ortiz and graduate student Benjamin Bruet ... (details).
With: Professor Christine Ortiz, MIT; Benjamin Bruet, MIT.

YPTRATRPY (You Play The Robot And The Robot Plays You) (Lecture): Ensemble Robot is a Boston-based organization of musicians, engineers, and programmers working together to create an orchestra of robotic musical instruments and music for them. On the afternoon of Saturday, January 27, Ensemble Robot will present an interactive exhibit featuring Giles Hall's YPTRATRPY ... (details).
With: Ensemble Robot.
This presentation is part of the ongoing series When Science Meets Art.

So Much, So Fast (Lecture): The critically acclaimed new documentary So Much, So Fast is a gripping, refreshingly candid chronicle of one family's remarkable battle with the paralyzing neural disorder ALS (Lou Gehirg's disease). Diagnosed with the disease at just 29 years old, Stephen Heywood resolves to carry on with his life's plans in spite of an uncertain future ... (details).
With: Jamie Heywood, founder, ALS TDF.
This presentation is part of the ongoing Science on Screen Series.

The Andromeda Strain (Lecture): Decades before Spielberg's splashy dinosaur flick made Michael Crichton's name synonymous with summer blockbusters, there was The Andromeda Strain (1971), a taut, cerebral thriller adapted from Crichton's novel of the same name. When an army satellite falls to earth near a small New Mexico town, ... (details).
With: Dr. Alfred DeMaria, chief medical officer and the state epidemiologist, Massachusetts Department of Public Health; director, Center for Laboratories and Disease Control; director, Bureau of Communicable Disease Control; acting director, Massachusetts State Laboratory Institute and the Bureau of Laboratory Sciences.
This presentation is part of the ongoing Science on Screen Series.

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