Sketchy Science II

Thanks to all the participants in our Sketchy Science contest at the Secret Science Club's Kickstarter party. The challenge was to draw the “Future of Science,” and sketchers envisioned oversexed computers, jellyfish-powered vehicles, scientists wet-wired to their iPads, and scary robot monsters. Congratulations to our winner, Aaron Lampell!

The Secret Science Club presents the Census of Marine Life with Jesse Ausubel, Wednesday, September 14, 8 pm @ the Bell House, FREE!

Step into liquid, and explore strange blue worlds where no one has gone before . . .

Dive beneath the waves at the Secret Science Club with Jesse Ausubel, co-founder of the Census of Marine Life. For an entire decade, 2,700 scientists in 80 countries conducted an unprecedented exploration of the oceans, studying undersea ecosystems from hydrothermal vents to the icy Arctic. Their results reveal an astonishing diversity of life, as well as an ocean biosphere dramatically impacted by humans. Dr. Ausubel shares their amazing findings, among them: 

--More than 1,200 ocean species completely new to science, including the hairy-clawed Yeti Crab living 7,200 feet down in the South Pacific, a Darth Vader-shaped deep-sea jellyfish in the Arctic, and a new genus of “zombie worms” that feed on bones of dead whales

--The “White Shark Café,” a mysterious open-ocean hangout between Baja and Hawaii where these cartilaginous creatures congregate for purposes that remain unknown

--An almost incomprehensibly vast world of microscopic life, including tiny microbes forming ginormous mats on the Pacific seafloor, one of which is the size of Greece

An environmental scientist and recipient of the Peter Benchley Ocean Award for Excellence in Science, Jesse Ausubel is director of the Program for the Human Environment at Rockefeller University, and vice president of programs at the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Following the completion of the Census of Marine Life in 2010, a newly discovered genus and species of deep-sea lobster was named in Dr. Ausubel's honor: Dinochelus ausubeli, which roughly translates as Ausubel's terrifying-clawed creature.

Before & After

--Sway to sea shanties and the murmurs of mermaids

--Stick around for the salty Q&A

--Try our wet and wild cocktail of the night, the Deep-Sea Vent. (It’ll take you down… down…)

This undersea edition of the Secret Science Club meets Wednesday, September 14 @ 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.

Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+. Free!

Photos: Jellyfish photo by Kevin Raskoff; Yeti crab by Ifremer/A. Fifis.

Flower Power! The Secret Science Club presents Plant Geneticist Rob Martienssen, Wednesday, August 24, 8 PM @ the Bell House, FREE!

Rob Martienssen studies the strange genetics and sex lives of plants—and his garden-variety discoveries have rocked the scientific world. Until recently plant breeders used trial-and-error methods to create newer, more beautiful, and more useful hybrids. Now Dr. Martienssen and his colleagues at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory are unlocking the molecular mechanisms at the heart of plant evolution. They hope to use their new knowledge to unravel the stories behind some of the world’s most successful breeds and to create the future’s most awesome new cultivars.

Dr. Martienssen asks:

--Can we breed better biofuels? Could duckweed—a plant growing in NYC’s ponds and parklands— be supercharged to become an efficient source of energy?

--What’s the story behind King Corn? How exactly was maize—the most widely grown crop in the U.S.—created in Ancient Mesoamerica from a native grass that looks almost nothing like corn?

--What does biotechnology have to do with food security and climate change? Could the sequencing of plant genomes and a fundamental understanding of “jumping genes” lead to the production of higher-yielding crops that consume fewer resources?

Before & After

--Groove to tunes inspired by pistils and stamens

--Try our cocktail of the night, the Planter’s Punch (pow!)

--Stick around for the cultivated Q&A

This edition of the Secret Science Club meets Wednesday, August 24 at 8 p.m. @ the Bell House, 149 7^th St. (between 2^nd and 3^rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn, p: 718.643.6510 Subway: F or G to 4th Ave; R to 9^th St.

No cover. Just bring your smart self!

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

The Secret Science Club presents an ENCORE SCREENING of “Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives,” Wed., August 10, 8 PM @ the Bell House, FREE!

Can time move backwards? Is the future different on other worlds? Are meetings of the Secret Science Club forbidden in a parallel universe?

Singer-songwriter Mark Everett of the band Eels grew up not knowing that his father, Hugh Everett, was a genius—to him, his dad was the chain-smoking guy who didn’t say much at the dinner table. The fact that Hugh Everett was one of the world’s pre-eminent quantum mechanics, the physicist who came up with the Theory of Parallel Universes was just one more thing they didn’t discuss.

Sadly, Hugh Everett’s theory was so revolutionary—so trippy in fact—that its elegance and importance were not recognized until well after his death. (Mark Everett was just 18 when he found his father lying dead at age 51 on the family’s couch.) Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives chronicles the journey of the musical-but-math-challenged son to learn more about his father’s profound contributions to science and the “Many Worlds” in which we all—for better or worse—may play out different versions of ourselves.

Mind-boggling and moving, this original BBC cut of the documentary features physicist Max Tegmark of MIT, plus a guest appearance by Schrodinger’s Cat.

Before & After

--Groove to tunes from other dimensions (wha-ha-ha!)

--Plunge into the Time Warp, a tessalating cocktail that will give you multi-vision

This cinematic edition of the Secret Science Club meets Wednesday, August 10 at 8 p.m. @ the Bell House, 149 7^th St. (between 2^nd and 3^rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn, p: 718.643.6510 Subway: F or G to 4th Ave; R to 9^th St

Free! Just bring your smart self! 
Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+ 

Red alert! We're running out of rocket fuel. But never fear . . . Kickstarter is here!

Science scenesters, we need your help! We just launched a Kickstarter campaign to jumpstart "Secret Science Club: Season Five" and to help make it our most creative and mind-blowing season ever. And here's the cool part: There are awesome rewards for your Kickstarter pledges. We've got T-shirts, tickets to upcoming special events, and other swag (plus, we'll be adding new items periodically).

The Secret Science Club is serious and passionate about science communication and building bridges between science, the humanities, and the arts. As we approach our 5th anniversary, we're committed to keeping our regular monthly events free, and we're also determined to expand our low-cost programming to feed the need for more public science events. Failure is not an option!

To make a pledge, learn more about our secret mission, or just check out the rewards, visit us on Kickstarter. And thanks for your support!

Meanwhile . . . stay tuned for information about upcoming Secret Science Club events on Wednesday, August 10, and Wednesday, August 24, at the Bell House. 

Journey to the Center of Your Mind! The Secret Science Club presents Brain Explorer Partha Mitra, Wednesday, July 6, 8 pm @ the Bell House, FREE!

It's all in your head . . . One hundred billion neurons. One hundred trillion neural connections. The architecture of the human brain is more complex than any super computer. In fact, neuroscientists recently calculated that one single human brain contains more “switches” than all the computers on Earth combined. And yet . . .  we still know so little about what makes the mind tick.

Partha Mitra of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is seeking to change all that, embarking on a bold new project to map the brain’s architecture. Dr. Mitra asks: What is the brain circuitry that underlies human behavior and emotion? How many basic emotions do we have, and what causes them? How can we fundamentally expand our knowledge of the brain’s systems and interconnections in order to better treat neurological conditions and diseases of the mind?

A neuroscientist and theoretical physicist, Dr. Mitra is the Crick-Clay Professor of Biomathematics at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The author of Observed Brain Dynamics and over 100 scientific papers, he is also a musician and artist, recently collaborating with Berlin-based sculptor Fre Ilgen on artistic renditions of neurosystem anatomy. Earlier this year, Dr. Mitra was awarded a prestigious Transformative Grant from the National Institutes of Health for his Brain Architecture Project. These special grants were designed to fund “exceptionally innovative, high-risk, original and/or unconventional research that has the potential to create new or challenge existing scientific paradigms.”

Before & After

--Groove to wet-wired tunes

--Stick around for the nervy Q&A

--Peek into Dr. Mitra’s mind-blowing microscope!

--Try our synapse-stimulating cocktail of the night, the Circuit Party

Don't miss one microsecond of this mind-expanding evening!

This cerebral edition of the Secret Science Club meets Wednesday, July 6 at 8 pm @ the Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn, p: 718.643.6510. Subway: F or G to 4th Ave; R to 9th St.

Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+
Free! Just bring your smart self! 

It’s a Planet of Sound! The Secret Science Club presents Sensory Neuroscientist Jim Hudspeth, Thursday, June 9, 8 pm @ the Bell House, FREE

FEAST YOUR EARS . . . Waves of sound travel through the air at about 760 mph. But what happens when they reach the human ear? Our ears process information 1,000 times faster than our eyes, and our sense of hearing is so discriminating we can distinguish more than 300,000 sounds. In fact, if our ears were any more sensitive, we would hear the random motion of air molecules bumping against our eardrums.

World-renowned sensory neuroscientist Jim Hudspeth has revolutionized our understanding of how biological and neural networks process auditory inputs. Over the last three decades, his research has demonstrated how thousands of microscopic cells in the inner ear sway with vibrations, starting a cascade of neurotransmissions to the brain—translating sound waves into everything from Beethoven to Lady Gaga.

Dr. Hudspeth asks: What do we know about the sense of hearing, and how did it evolve? How is hearing different among different species? Is there such a thing as a bionic ear? Can sound-sensitive cells be repaired, regenerated, or even built to aid the deaf and hearing impaired?

Co-founder of the journal Neuron and winner of numerous awards in the fields of neuroscience, biophysics, and otolaryngology, Dr. Hudspeth is the F.M. Kirby Professor at Rockefeller University, director of Rockefeller’s Laboratory of Sensory Neuroscience, and investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute.

JUST ADDED! Lit-hop artist Baba Brinkman opens the night with an aural report from his smash show, The Rap Guide to Evolution. Darwin got it all going on!

Before & After

--Get drowned in sound at our quadraphonic cabearet

--Sample our supersonic cocktail of the night, the “Mach 5”

--Stick around for the fortissimo Q&A
--Door prizes! Two lucky peeps will win free tix to see The Rap Guide to Evolution live at the SoHo Playhouse

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

 

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

Free! Just bring your smart self.

The Secret Science Club Goes Boom with Experimenter Extraordinaire David Maiullo, Wednesday, May 4, 8 pm @ the Bell House, FREE!

Feel the electricity, the vibrations, the friction! Physics has never been this steamy!

David Maiullo of Rutgers University brings his traveling physics roadshow to the Secret Science Club for a night of wonder and experimentation. Co-host of the National Geographic Channel’s new series Humanly Impossible, Maiullo reveals the mysterious forces of the universe, using beds of nails, glasses of wine, liquid nitrogen, and a lab-made cannon. Who knows what forms of potential energy may be unleashed? Don’t miss this physics phantasmagoria . . .

Before & After
--Groove to the music of the spheres
--Stick around for the quantum Q&A
--Try our cosmic cocktail of the night, the Heavenly Motion

This edition of the Secret Science Club meets Wednesday, May 4, 2011 @ 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.

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

FREE! Just bring your smart self.

Kinda spooky, kinda wow...Thursday, April 28, Secret Science Club Goes to the Opera

The Secret Science Club is teaming up with the L Magazine to host a cocktail party following Thursday evening’s performance of Séance on a Wet Afternoon at City Opera. Everyone with tickets to the opera is invited, and when the Séance is over, Secret Science Club will materialize with ghost-busting grooves and haunting experimentation.


Special guests at the post-opera “sci- éance” include:
--Neuroscientist and composer Dave Sulzer, creating wraithlike music from brainwaves
--Physics presenter David Maiullo, combating the supernatural with a sledgehammer and pipettes

Scary! Grab your opera glasses and get over to the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center on Thursday, April 28. Séance on a Wet Afternoon starts at 8 pm, and the free cocktails start flowing afterwards in the Fourth Ring. Opera tickets can be snagged for as low as $12. 

The Secret Science Club Blasts Off to the Far Side of the Moon, Monday, April 25, 8 pm @ the Bell House, $5

Begin countdown and prepare for zero gravity . . . The Secret Science Club presents a special screening of Moon, one of the trippiest indie sci-fi films of the past decade. PLUS lunar scientist Arlin Crotts of Columbia University gets this cinema party started with a mini-lecture on Earth’s beloved satellite.

Directed by Duncan Jones (Source Code), Moon stars Sam Rockwell as an engineer in charge of a mining station on the far side of the moon. He’s all alone on this lunar outpost—or is he? Set in the near future and full of psychological chills, Moon is mind-bending, cerebral sci-fi at its best.

With stunning new maps and images of the moon, Dr. Crotts takes the Secret Science Club on a pre-film tour of the latest lunar discoveries and visions of future exploration.

Before & After

--Groove to gravity-defying tunes

--Try a rocket-fueled cocktail in our Space Lounge!

--Enter the lunar trivia contest to score cosmic prizes

Viva la luna! See you at the launch site . . .

This special “Manic Moonday” edition of the Secret Science Club meets Monday, April 25 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/9^th.

Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+. $5. Advance tix are available here. 

The Secret Science Club presents a Brain-Boggling Evening with Neuroscientist and Author Paul Glimcher, Sunday, April 3, 8 pm @ the Bell House, FREE!

Think fast! Every waking moment involves choice. Android or iPhone? Pancakes or waffles? Boxers or briefs? Time to call it quits, or time for another drink? My place or yours? What exactly goes on in our brains when we’re confronted with so many options?

A leading pioneer in the new field of neuroeconomics, scientist and author Paul Glimcher uses the latest technology to uncover how brain biology controls decision-making. He asks: Why do wrong decisions sometimes feel so right? Are other animals ever irrational? Is money an outgrowth of our neural circuitry? What happens inside the brain when we choose to take risks?

The author of Foundations of Neuroeconomic Analysis and Neuroeconomics: Decision Making and the Brain, Dr. Glimcher is professor of Neural Science, Economics and Psychology at New York University and director of NYU’s Center for Neuroeconomics.

Before & After
--Groove to synapse-stimulating sounds
--Stick around for the cerebral Q&A
--Try our dopamine-spiked cocktail of the night, the "Brainstorm"
--Snag a signed copy of Paul Glimcher's mind-blowing new book!

JUST ADDED! This brain-boggling evening will feature a special performance by theremin player Jen Rondeau. Eerie and ethereal, the theremin is one of the earliest electronic instruments—and one that is mysteriously played without touching. (Jen Rondeau will also be performing April 7 at the Knitting Factory Brooklyn with her band Changing Modes and April 20 - 23 as part of the upcoming Ensemble Studio Theatre workshop production of Pidgeon, the new play about physicist Leon Theremin, the instrument’s inventor.)

This brainy edition of the Secret Science Club meets Sunday, April 3 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.
 
Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+
Free! Just bring your smart self!

The Secret Science Club presents Theoretical High-Energy Physicist Matthew Strassler, Wednesday, March 16, 8 pm @ the Bell House, FREE!

Kick it into warp drive! The Secret Science Club is heading out—way out. The Large Hadron Collider is the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, a ginormous subterranean machine that sends subatomic particles smashing into each other at incomprehensible speeds. The resulting explosions mimic conditions just moments after the Big Bang. Theoretical physicist Matthew Strassler of Rutgers University lectures on how this phenomenal new experiment could unveil the fundamental building blocks of the universe and transform our understanding of matter, space and time, and the cosmos.

Before & After

--Groove to high-energy tunes

--Stick around for the quantum Q&A

--Try our quarky cocktail of the night, the elusive Dark Matter
--Plus! Science rapper Zach Charlop-Powers live. Oh, yeah!

The Secret Science Club meets Wednesday, March 16 @ 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.

Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+  Free!

The Compact Muon Solenoid Experiment is on the hunt for Dark Matter;
 photo courtesy of CERN

The Secret Science Club presents Dinosaur Hunter Stephen Brusatte, Thursday, February 17, 8 PM @ the Bell House, FREE!

The beast is out of the box! 
The Secret Science Club goes on a post-Valentine’s rampage with the Mesozoic Era’s most beloved creature, Tyrannosaurus rex. Paleontologist Stephen Brusatte of the American Museum of Natural History and Columbia University lectures on recently discovered tyrannosaur species, new thinking about dinosaur evolution, and the hunt for fossils in Europe, China, and the American West. Dig it! This is one creature feature you don’t want to miss!

Before & After
--Groove to prehistoric tunes
--Stick around for the Cretaceous Q&A
--Try our Darwinian cocktail of the night, the T. Rex on the Beach. (No schnapps, but lots of bite . . .)

The Secret Science Club meets Thursday, February 17 @ the Bell House, 149 7^th St. (between 2^nd and 3^rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn, p: 718.643.6510  Subway: F to 4th Ave; R to 9^th St; F or G to Smith/9^th.

Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+.  Free!

The Secret Science Club presents Astrophysicist Charles Liu, Wednesday, January 19, 2011, 8 PM @ the Bell House, FREE!

Strap on your rocket pack! The Secret Science Club is heading for the edge of time and space. Astrophysicist Charles Liu of the Hayden Planetarium and CUNY discusses the evolution of galaxies, supermassive black holes, star birth, and the large-scale structure of the cosmos. Don't miss one nanosecond of this far-out talk!

Before & After
--Groove to celestial tunes
--Stick around for the cosmic Q&A
--Try our quantum cocktail of the night. (It'll knock you into another orbit . . .)

This Secret Science Club meets Wednesday, January 19 @ the Bell House, 149 7^th St. (between 2^nd and 3^rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn, p: 718.643.6510  Subway: F to 4th Ave; R to 9^th St; F or G to Smith/9^th.

Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+. Free!

Note: This event was originally slated for January 12, 2011, and rescheduled for the 19th due to dastardly weather.

Snow Cancellation: The Secret Science Club Melts into the New Year

Sorry, folks! Due to the snow forecast, we're cancelling the Secret Science Club for Wednesday, January 12, and rescheduling for Wednesday, January 19, 8 PM @ the Bell House. Stay warm! And see you on the 19th with astrophysicist Charles Liu . . .

Meanwhile, enjoy this massive new video from science rapper Zach Charlop-Powers.