Eugenics (Sep.30), Dawkins (Oct.3), and VERY “First Things” (Oct.5)

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Dear Wonderfest Friend,

We have three terrific speaker/topic combos coming your way in the next two weeks.

On Wednesday, September 30, at 7pm, Wonderfest joins SF in SF at the Balboa Theater in presenting a special screening of the 1997 sci-fi thriller GATTACA. Complete info and ticket purchase are available here: <http://wonderfest.org/gattaca/>.

Gattaca

What makes this screening so “special” is commentary and Q&A with bioethics expert Hank Greely. Dr. Greely is TWICE a Stanford professor: of law and of genetics. He also directs Stanford’s Center for Law and the Biosciences. Dr. Greely first shared insights with a Wonderfest audience at our 2012 panel discussion entitled Does Corporate Funding Corrupt Science?  Much more recently, he was the go-to expert on KCBS radio after the California State legislature voted to allow assisted suicide. You will not find a better speaker on genetics and society than Professor Greely.

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Thanks to the Commonwealth Club Silicon Valley… On Saturday, October 3, at 2pm, Wonderfest assists in presenting Richard Dawkins at San Jose State’s Morris Dailey Auditorium. Full info and discount ticket purchase are available here: <http://wonderfest.org/richard-dawkins/>.

Richard Dawkins

The celebrated and controversial British evolutionary biologist, writer, and atheist will speak about his latest book, A Brief Candle in the Dark: My Life in Science, the second of two memoirs describing his intriguing life. Books will be available for purchase and for signing.

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On Monday, October 5, at 7pm, Wonderfest presents Stanford physicist Tom Abel on the “First Things in the Universe” at PianoFight in San Francisco. Complete information and registration info are available here: <http://wonderfest.org/first-things/>.

First Things in the Universe

Professor Abel is the director of the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford. His speciality is computer simulation of the early universe. The full title of this Wonderfest talk is “How the First Things in the Universe Came About and How They Ended Up Within Us.” Expect to see cutting-edge computer animations that are as beautiful as they are mind-stretching.

Wondrous regards,

Tucker Hiatt
Founding Executive Director

P.S. Most-excellent Wonderfest friend Andrew Fraknoi invites us to experience a total eclipse of the Moon in the early evening of Sunday, September 27. “It should be easily visible and quite spectacular from California, with the moon rising already partly eclipsed,” writes Andy. Here is his outstanding blog: <http://fraknoi.blogspot.com>.

 P.P.S. Here’s an early glimpse of a Wonderfest Halloween event to be featured in our next newsletter: The Official Houdini Séance – 2015. Even though this link presents a Kickstarter campaign that is almost “funded,” it will still allow the purchase of tickets to the Séance — and you can still support the science-education benefits of “super funding.” Please do take a look at this upcoming spectacle of science, history, skepticism, and magic.