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Event Archives

2027
  • Primates in the News – Jan 5Primates in the News – Jan 5
    In recent years, our anthropoid cousins have been getting good press. For example, changing legislation in England has brought primates into the light and out of private homes. Going from news to gossip, have you heard of the risque “love triangle” formed when a female Japanese macaque seized management of her troop? And who can ...
  • Northern (De)Lights – Jan 19Northern (De)Lights – Jan 19
    In recent years, people throughout California have witnessed the Northern Lights. Where, when, and why do the different types of Northern Lights and their southern counterpart, the Southern Lights — collectively known as the aurora — appear? What special conditions allowed us to see recent auroras in California? Where and when might we see them ...
  • New Searches for ET – Feb 2New Searches for ET – Feb 2
    Earthlings have been using radio telescopes to search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) since 1960. Despite our continuing failure to strike SETI gold, radio waves remain an excellent medium for hypothetical interstellar communication. Of course, we might be looking for ET in all the wrong places, and perhaps even in all the wrong ways. Are anthropocentric ...
  • Atom-level Biology – Feb 16Atom-level Biology – Feb 16
    Can we understand biology at the atomic level by looking at a cell’s molecular machinery under the electron microscope? Unfortunately, most human macromolecules are just too small to be studied in noisy, low-contrast images. Now, researchers have imported a 1930s breakthrough in light microscopy to electron microscopy: phase contrast. Physicists are using the world’s most ...
  • Psychology of Happiness – Mar 2Psychology of Happiness – Mar 2
    All humans strive to be happy in some form. Yet, surprisingly, people are not very good at the pursuit of happiness, often falling short of their happiness goals — by a lot. Should we give up on happiness altogether?! What does modern psychology say regarding why people are bad at the pursuit of happiness … ...