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Cambridge Science Festival: Science in Everyday Life Series

Lectures curated around science in areas of our daily lives, including medicine, health, psychology, and design technology in connection with the Cambridge Science Festival.

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Unexpected Interface: Proteins and Evolutionary Change

Susan Lindquist

Susan Lindquist describes protein folding, and how this phenomenon allows orgnisms to evolve rapidly in response to new environmental conditions. All proteins start out as long strings of amino acids. Before a protein can function, it must fold into an extremely precise, highly complex structure.

Doctors, Patients, and Other Strangers

Jay Baruch discusses his new book, Fourteen Stories: Doctors, Patients, and Other Strangers, Baruch pulls back the curtain a bit, not just on the world of medicine and surgery, but on much of what is hidden about the human condition.

Jon Kabat-Zinn: Body Revealed

November 3, 2006

Jon Kabat-Zinn investigates the mind, with a primary emphasis on the science of meditation, the mind/body connection and how it can influence our behavior.

Global Health Series

Global Health Series

Lectures curated around the issues and challenges of global health, and that examine the diseases that kill more people each year than conflict alone.

Crab Wars: Horseshoe Crabs, Bioterrorism, and Health

William Sargent

William Sargent, environmental author and NOVA consultant, reveals intense debates currently surrounding horseshoe crabs.

Planarians: How to Regenerate a New Head in Under a Week

Peter Reddien, a researcher at MIT's Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, discusses how he uses the planarian flatworm to study the mystery of regeneration. The human anatomy is no stranger to regeneration.

Feathers, Fins and Scales: Aquatic Animal Medicine

Dr. Scott Weber highlights the work of the Animal Health Department in a public aquarium, emphasizing medical cases from the New England Aquarium collection, research, and rehabilitation animals.

Double Helix: The Script for Life

This is the first in a four-part series of lectures celebrating the 50th anniversary of Watson and Crick's discovery of DNA in 1953.

Double Helix: Implications for Disease

Robert Weinberg

This is the third in a four-part series of lectures celebrating the 50th anniversary of Watson and Crick's discovery of DNA.

Double Helix: Genomes to Biological Networks

This is the fourth in a four-part series of lectures celebrating the 50th anniversary of Watson and Crick's discovery of DNA in 1953.

How Genomes and Other Forces are Changing Your Life

December 11, 2003

Juan Enriquez discusses his book, As the Future Catches You, which puts the reader face to face with a series of unprecedented political, ethical, economic, and financial issues, dramatically demonstrating the cascading impact of the genetic, digital, and intellectual revolutions of life.

Adding Years to Your Life

Leonard P. Guarente

Dr. Guarente discusses his research, which focuses on issues surrounding aging. Leonard P. Guarente has written numerous papers and books, the latest of which, Ageless Quest, was published in 2003.

Alexis Borisy: Building New Medicines

October 6, 2005

Alexis Borisy, a chemist who has helped to grow a variety of pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and the founder and CEO of CombinatoRx, discusses developing new medicines built from synergistic combinations of approved drugs. This lecture is part of the 2005 Boston IDEAS conference.

Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness

October 4, 2006

Tal Ben-Shahar discusses current research on the science of happiness and introduces ideas and tools that can actually make a difference in one's life.

Inventing Modern America: Microwave to the Mouse

November 27, 2001

This lively panel, discussing Inventing Modern America: From the Microwave to the Mouse, celebrates the best of American ingenuity and inventiveness.

Boston IDEAS 2005: Neil Gershenfeld

Neil Gershenfeld

October 7, 2005

Director of The Center for Bits and Atoms at MIT, Neil Gershenfeld discusses his development of "fabrication laboratories" that bring design technology to ordinary people.

Boston IDEAS 2005: Amy Smith

October 6, 2005

A MacArthur fellow and mechanical engineer, Amy Smith discusses her interest in creating elegantly simple life-enhancing solutions and labor-saving technologies for the developing world.

Great Scientific Breakthroughs of the 20th Century

December 2, 2005

Alan Lightman and Christopher Lydon discuss the 25 most important scientific discoveries of the 20th century. The last century brought us washing machines and the Internet, relativity and the Big Bang. What are the 25 most important scientific discoveries of the 20th century?

Meeting of the Academy of Arts and Sciences

Alan Lightman outlines the intellectual and emotional landscape of the groundbreaking discoveries of the 21st century, and explores how scientists think, whether there are common patterns of discovery

Citizen Science Divers

Joe Cavanaugh, director of field services for REEF, explains how citizen science divers can help us to protect our marine resources.

Atheism, Punk Rock, and Science

Scientist and rock star Greg Graffin accepts the Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award in Cultural Humanism award. The punk rocker and professor gives an acoustic performance after accepting the award, which is conferred by Harvard University's Humanist Chaplaincy.

Landscape Design: New Garden Paradise

Dominique Browning

January 19, 2006

Dominique Browning takes us on a private tour of 35 of the world's most exquisite examples of cutting edge garden design. Astonishing in their range, vibrancy, and attention to detail, many of the featured gardens have never before been shown to the public.

Timeless Landscape Design: The Four-Part Master Plan

February 22, 2007

Hugh Dargan and Mary Palmer Dargan, ASLAs, explore the depth of visual art in landscape design in their new book, Timeless Landscape Design: The Four-Part Master Plan. A well-designed garden takes more than plants and flowers to consider it eye-catching.