LIVE ONLINE: YOUR BRAIN, YOUR TEEN'S BRAIN & THE LAW, Tuesday, March 14 @ 8PM, Secret Science Club presents the “Dana Foundation Neuroscience & Society Lecture” with Francis X. Shen & Adriana Galván, FREE!

We’re back with another brainy Zoom talk!

Secret Science Club presents the “Dana Foundation Neuroscience & Society Lecture” with Brain Experts Francis Shen & Adriana Galván (in honor of Brain Awareness Week)

Join us live via Zoom on TUESDAY, March 14 @ 8PM (Eastern Time USA) "Doors" open at 7:30PM 

Shhh... everyone on our mailing list will be emailed the Zoom link the night before.  To join the Secret Science Club mailing list (or request the Zoom link), send us an email (secretscienceclub@gmail.com)

At the next Secret Science Club Online, pioneering researchers Francis Shen and Adriana Galván discuss groundbreaking discoveries about the adolescent brain—and how these scientific insights are affecting our legal system, public policy, and society. They ask:

•    What’s going on in the brains of teens and young adults?
•    What impact does stress have on the adolescent brain?
•    How does the young adult brain evaluate risk-taking and rewards?
•    In what ways is neuroscientific research on the developing brain influencing laws, court decisions, and sentencing guidelines?
•    How are insights about the adolescent brain affecting young people themselves—in terms of legal culpability and incarceration, age restrictions for controlled substances, and their rights to make decisions about their own medical care?

THE SPEAKERS

Francis X. Shen is a professor at Harvard Medical School’s Center for Bioethics and an affiliated faculty member at Harvard Law School. He is a pioneer in establishing the interdisciplinary field of law and neuroscience, and conducts research on how insights from neuroscience and artificial intelligence can make the legal system more just and effective. In 2021, he was awarded the Early Career Scholars Medal from the American Law Institute. He is the director of Harvard’s Shen Lab: Law, Ethics, Neuroscience & Artificial Intelligence, where the motto is “every story is a brain story.”

Adriana Galván is a professor of psychology and dean of undergraduate education at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). An expert on the adolescent brain and the author of over 100 scientific papers, she has made seminal discoveries about brain development in children, teens, and adults. In 2019, she received the Troland Research Award from the National Academy of Sciences and the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers. Her research on the adolescent brain has played a central role in landmark Supreme Court decisions regarding the culpability and punishment of juvenile offenders.

Before & After
--Mix up our cocktail (and mocktail!) of the night, the "Legal Limit"… (recipe below!)
--Groove to synapse-soothing tunes
--Bring your questions for the live Q&A
-- Learn how you can participate in Brain Awareness Week, the global campaign to foster public enthusiasm and support for brain science

This mind-blowing edition of Secret Science Club - the “Dana Foundation Neuroscience & Society Lecture” in honor of Brain Awareness Week - is supported by the Dana Foundation as part of its Dana Education program, which includes the coordination of Brain Awareness Week. The Dana Foundation is dedicated to advancing neuroscience and society by supporting cross-disciplinary intersections such as neuroscience and ethics, law, policy, humanities, and arts.

This is a FREE event.

What’s next at Secret Science Club?
--On Tuesday, March 21, we will be back at the Bell House with an in-person event, featuring squid-ologist Diana Li!
-On Sunday, April 2, join us for a brunch-time event on misinformation. Psychologist Sander van der Linden (author of Foolproof) will be in conversation with medical doctor Seema Yasmin (author of What the Fact?!)

(Note: If you don't already have the Zoom meeting app on your computer or mobile device, you can download it for free at zoom.us)

Cocktail Recipe for the “Legal Limit” (created by the Secret Science Club experimental mixology lab)
Ingredients: 2 oz Bourbon or Spiced Rum, 4 oz Cereal Milk**, a few dashes of vanilla extract, a cinnamon stick
- Pour the alcohol and cereal milk into a cocktail shaker
- Add 2 or 3 dashes of vanilla, along with ice—and shake
- Pour the strained mixture over ice into an old-fashioned glass
- Garnish with cinnamon stick
** Cereal Milk Recipe
To make this, you will need your favorite sugary breakfast cereal (e.g., Cap’n Crunch, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, Fruit Loops… you get the idea). You will also need milk and brown sugar.
-Pour 1 cup of milk and 1 cup of cereal in a bowl. Let it “infuse” for about 20 minutes, then strain out the cereal. Mix in 1 teaspoon of brown sugar. Refrigerate until ready to use.
For a mocktail version: Substitute chilled Earl Gray tea for the alcohol.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.