June 15, 2009

The Secret Science Club recommends . . .

The Secret Science Club will be back at the Bell House on Tuesday, July 14, with more mind-boggling lectures, cosmic cocktails, and sci-hi sounds! Stay tuned for more info . . . and meanwhile, don’t miss these science-loving events.

Can’t wait for the Imagine Science Film Festival to begin in October? On Friday, June 26 at 9 pm, our pal Alexis Gambis—the festival’s founder—is offering an exclusive sneak-peek at the films in this year’s competition. Check out the Imagine Science Film Festival’s summer fundraising party at Kenny’s Castaways, featuring screenings of Parallelostory and The Moth and the Firefly, PLUS live music by Audiometry. For details and tickets, click here.



On Tuesday, June 23 at 8 pm, astrophysicist Janna Levin gives a free public lecture titled “Songs from Space: Black Holes and the Big Bang in Audio” at Columbia University’s Lerner Hall. Dr. Levin will discuss gravitational waves and a monumental new effort to record the “soundtrack” of space. Sounds cosmic! Click here for the full details on this awesome audio tour of the universe.

May 21, 2009

Endless Forms Most Freaky . . . The Secret Science Club presents Marine Biologist Jack Costello at the Bell House, Tuesday, June 9 @ 8 pm, FREE!

The Undersea World of Jack Costello
Dive into summer with marine biologist Jack Costello as he lectures on the spineless wonders of the world’s oceans. Cavort with gelatinous and ghostly creatures such as jellyfish (cnidarians) and their comb jelly brethren (ctenophores). Feel the motion of the ocean, and ride the waves with copepods and zooplankton.

A professor of biology at Providence College and featured scientist in the PBS documentary The Shape of Life, Dr. Costello asks:

--Why do sea jellies have such creepy-seeming body forms?
--How do cnidarians and ctenophores kill their prey?
--What causes jellyfish invasions and how do gelatinous sea creatures get around?
-- Why is so little known about undersea invertebrates when they make up such an enormous part of Earth’s biomass?

Before & After
-- Groove to free-floating tunes and video from Davey Jones’ locker

-- Try our aquatic cocktail, the Alien Stinger. Looks like liquid… feels like fire!

-- Stick around for the utra-buoyant Q&A

The “Secret Science Club” meets Tuesday, June 9 at 8 pm @ the Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn, p: 718.643.6510 Subway: F to 4th Ave; R to 9th St; F or G to Smith/9th

No cover charge! Just bring your smart self.

Please bring ID: 21+. Doors open at 7:30 PM.

May 13, 2009

SPECIAL EVENT: The Secret Science Club & Criterion Collection present a NIGHT OF SUBMARINE CINEMA at the Bell House on Sunday, May 17 @ 7 PM, FREE!

Get wet and wild with the surreal underwater films of Jean PainlevĂ©. Sea life has never been this sexy—or strange. Experience The Love Life of the Octopus, The Witches’ Dance, and more—all featuring “The Sounds of Science,” a 21st-century score created specially by indie rockers Yo La Tengo.

Marine scientist J. Rudi Strickler will be your guide to the depths . . .

(Films from “Science Is Fiction: 23 Films of Jean PainlevĂ©” courtesy of the Criterion Collection.)

Before & After
--Groove to siren song and liquid video

--Plunge into the “PainlevĂ© Periscope,” a cinematic cocktail that will give you aqua-vision

--Immerse yourself in the tidal Q&A and soak up some fishy door prizes!

This special edition of the Secret Science Club meets Sunday, May 17 at 7 p.m. @ the Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn, p: 718.643.6510 Subway: F to 4th Ave; R to 9th St; F or G to Smith/9th

No cover charge. Just bring your smart self!
Please bring ID: 21+

April 9, 2009

Brain and Memory: The Secret Science Club presents Neuroscientist Ottavio Arancio at the Bell House on Tuesday, May 12 @ 7:30 pm

The arithmetic of the brain is staggering. In just 3 lbs. of gray matter, there are 100 billion brain cells—each with branches connecting at 100 trillion synapses. Dozens of chemical neurotransmitters travel through this neural network, creating, storing, and accessing memories—the sum total of our sensations, thoughts, experiences, and knowledge. Currently, the brain’s total capacity for memory-making is beyond calculation.

But what happens when the brain loses its ability to remember new things? In his lab at Columbia University, neuroscientist Ottavio Arancio explores the molecular mechanisms of memory formation. He asks:

--Why do some people stop remembering?
--How does disruption of the brain’s pathways affect our ability to learn?
--Can new drugs slow, stop, or even reverse the process of memory-impairing diseases such as Alzheimer’s?
--What can we learn from forgetful lab mice?
--Can memory be enhanced? Will future medications act as brain boosters?

Dr. Arancio is a cellular neurobiologist at Columbia University’s Department of Pathology and Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain.

Don’t miss this dopamine-spiked evening . . .

Before & After
-- Groove to brain-bending tunes and video

--Enjoy the Cocktail of the Night—the “Brain Scan”

--Stick around for the mind-altering Q&A

The “Secret Science Club” meets Tuesday, May 12 at 7:30 p.m. @ the Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn, p: 718.643.6510 Subway: F to 4th Ave; R to 9th St; F or G to Smith/9th

No cover charge. Just bring your smart self! Please bring ID: 21+.

March 23, 2009

Destination Mars! The Secret Science Club presents Planetary Geoscientist James Head at the Bell House, Wednesday, April 1 @ 8 pm, FREE!

Put on your life support suits and set the dial to “extreme conditions” . . . the Secret Science Club is heading for the Red Planet via Antarctica.
Recent unmanned missions have revolutionized our thinking about Mars. The Red Planet is no longer known as just a dry dusty desert—but the repository for 2 to 3 million cubic kilometers of ice. Surprisingly, it turns out Mars may have a lot in common with the environment at Earth’s South Pole.

Mars expert James Head recently spent his “holidays” in Antarctica, studying the bone-chilling landscape for clues that might help explain the mysterious Martian terrain. Dr. Head asks: Could frigid water below the surface of Mars contain evidence of life—like the microscopic extremophiles surviving such conditions in Antarctica? What’s the latest news from recent Mars missions such as the Mars Express and Phoenix? Will Earthlings send a manned mission to the Red Planet?

Professor of Geological Sciences in the Planetary Geosciences Group at Brown University, Dr. James Head spent his early career at NASA, training Apollo astronauts and planning lunar landing sites. As a geological explorer, he has traveled around the world (and to the bottom of the ocean in deep-sea submersibles) to study volcanism and tectonism. He is the author of more than 300 scientific papers on topics ranging from glaciation on Mars to Venusian impact craters. Currently, he is a co-investigator for the European Space Agency’s Mars Express Mission, the NASA MESSENGER mission to Mercury and the NASA Moon Mineralogy Mapper(M3).

Before & After
--Groove to spaced-out tunes and video

--Blast off with the Secret Science Club’s quantum cocktail of the night, the “Mars Express”

--Stick around for the out-of-this-world Q&A and music from Phantogram and Big Bang TV!!

The Secret Science Club meets Wednesday, April 1 at 8 p.m. @ the Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn, p: 718.643.6510 Subway: F to 4th Ave; R to 9th St; F or G to Smith/9th

No cover charge. Just bring your smart self!
Please bring ID: 21+. Doors open at 7:30 pm.

March 21, 2009

The Secret Science Club’s new “theme song”—written and performed by the Dead River Company

For those of you who missed seeing it performed live at Plutopalooza (before astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson’s tour de force talk), listen here and check out the lyrics below.

“Secret Science Club” by the Dead River Company

I’ve got a secret for you
It’s the kind of secret that will split your mind in two

Take my hand, I’ll show you wonders
The sharpest minds speak clearly
Where there’s lightning there is thunder.

[Chorus]
Hold on to your hats, kids (at the Secret Science Club)
Shocking information (at the Secret Science Club)
Gonna blow your mind out (at the Secret Science Club)
Indulge your science addiction
Because truth is stranger than fiction

You’ve got a light, I’ll make it brighter
You got me feelin’ like a particle in the Large Hadron Collider!

Come on girls, I’m no pretender
We’re just a ragtag bunch of pencil pushers slash the Universe’s defenders

[Chorus]
Hold on to your hats, kids (at the Secret Science Club)
Shocking information (at the Secret Science Club)
Gonna blow your mind out (at the Secret Science Club)
Indulge your science addiction
Because truth is stranger than fiction

Now you’ve cracked our little code
Well hush my love and face your fears and enter the unknown

[Chorus]

March 6, 2009

PLUTOPALOOZA! The Secret Science Club presents Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson on Wednesday, March 18 at 8 pm @ the Bell House, $3 cover charge

photo by David Gamble

COUNTDOWN TO RE-LAUNCH . . .
Hold on to your wigs and keys, science scenesters! Union Hall and the Secret Science Club have been overwhelmed by audience demand---so it is now official: The Secret Science Club is moving from Union Hall to Brooklyn’s big new Bell House! PLUS, the Secret Science Club is debuting its first-ever "theme song," written and performed by the Dead River Company. Check it out LIVE before the Neil deGrasse Tyson lecture.

Special Event! Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson blasts off from the Bell House with a lecture on the "Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet," $3 cover

The icy little world known as Pluto is billions of miles from Earth. Yet, when the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto to the status of dwarf planet in 2006, the reaction was out of this world. Defiant T-shirt slogans, and pity-filled songs all raged against Pluto’s sad fate. Hell hath no fury like a planet (and its fans) scorned. No one knows better than astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, the director of NYC’s Hayden Planetarium, who was on the receiving end of much of this celestial wrath—including tear-stained hate mail from third-graders.

According to Tyson, Pluto may be a dwarf—but it’s still awesome. Now enthroned with its trans-Neptunian brethren in the Kuiper Belt, Pluto is the focus of intense scientific interest. NASA’s New Horizons Pluto-Kuiper Belt spacecraft has already passed Saturn on a 9-year journey to reach and take a peek at Pluto and its moon Charon. The question, says Tyson, is not what we call Pluto, but “What’s out there?”

The director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, Neil deGrasse Tyson is host of PBS’s “Nova: ScienceNOW” and recently served on NASA's prestigious advisory council. He is the author of nine books, including his most recent The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet and the best-selling Death By Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries. In 2007, Time magazine named Dr. Tyson one of the world’s 100 most influential people. What did People magazine name him? You got it, baby! He’s the "Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive.”

Don’t miss one freakin’ nanosecond of this cosmic talk. Get on your laser, Daddy and RIDE!!!!

Before & After
--Groove to heavenly tunes and video inspired by the cosmic ballet.

--Defy gravity with the Secret Science Club’s quantum cocktail of the night, the Big Bang (it will knock you into orbit . . .)

--Grab a signed copy of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s brand-new book: The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet

--Stick around for the extraterrestrial Q&A

The Secret Science Club meets Wednesday, March 18 at 8 pm @ the Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn, p: 718.643.6510 Subway: F to 4th Ave; R to 9th St.

$3 cover charge at the door. Please bring ID: 21+.

LIMITED SEATS AVAILABLE. Doors open at 7:30. Come early to get a seat.

February 25, 2009

The Secret Science Club presents World Population Expert Joel E. Cohen on Wednesday, March 4 at 8 pm @ Union Hall

Can conservation succeed with 9 billion people on the planet?

Every day the world’s population grows by approximately 200,000 people. That means every 40 days, the planet adds enough new people to replace the entire population of New York City.

Mathematician and population expert Joel E. Cohen asks: How many Homo sapiens can the Earth support? How is the exploding human population affecting the Earth’s physical, biological, and chemical environments? What will happen as the population grows larger, older, and more urban?

A recipient of the MacArthur genius grant and the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, Dr. Cohen is Professor of Populations and Head of the Laboratory of Populations at Rockefeller University and Columbia University. His research deals with the demography, ecology, epidemiology and social organization of human and non-human populations and with mathematical concepts applicable to those fields. He is the author of more than a dozen books and over 300 scientific papers.

Before & After
--Groove to an ever-multiplying collection of tunes in Union Hall’s subterranean grotto, stick around for the Q&A, and try our explosive new cocktail, the Population Bomb.

The “Secret Science Club” meets Wednesday, March 4 at 8 pm @ Union Hall, 702 Union St. (at 5th Ave.) in Park Slope, Brooklyn, p: 718.638.4400 Subway: R to Union St.; F to 4th Ave.; Q, 2, 3, 4, 5 to Atlantic Ave.

No cover charge. Just bring your smart self.
Doors open at 7:30. LIMITED SEATS AVAILABLE.


Tick tock . . .