Up-Coming Events

Sometimes, bigger is better. The Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) will collect 9 times more light than the largest currently existing telescope and, with adaptive optics, make images 9 times sharper. Overall, that’s 81 times better! The TMT International Observatory (with members from the US, Japan, China, India, & Canada), together with its partner in the southern hemisphere, the Giant Magellan Telescope, will give humanity a powerful new system to probe the full sweep of the cosmos — from the nearest stars and their planets, to black holes in our Galaxy, and on out to the edge of the visible universe where we see the very first stars and galaxies beginning to form.

Our speaker is astronomer Dr. Robert Kirshner, Executive Director of the TMT International Observatory and Clowes Professor of Science, emeritus, at Harvard University. Formerly, Dr. Kirshner was head of the science program at the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

Recent evidence suggests that psychedelics mitigate several mental health problems. Specifically, clinical findings show that psilocybin, MDMA, LSD, ayahuasca, ibogaine, and ketamine may be effective in treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), generalized anxiety disorder, depression, alcohol and substance use disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. MDMA ("ecstasy") will most likely be the first psychedelic to undergo evaluation for full FDA approval (for treatment of PTSD) and DEA rescheduling.

Our speaker, Dr. Jennifer Mitchell, is Professor of Neurology and of Psychiatry at UC San Francisco. She is also Deptury Associate Chief of Staff for Research and Development at San Francisco VA Medical Center.