Events of Interest—October 2009

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Note: Some events may require advance reservation, admission fees and/or a minimum age (for example, for events where alcohol is served).

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Featured Event

Wednesday, Nov. 4, 6:30 p.m.:
NSWA will present "Nitty Gritty of Science Lit." Alan Boyle, David Williams and Carol Kaesuk Yoon promise to tell NSWA members the behind-the-scenes stories of their books, from idea to published work. How did they find agents and publishers? Where did they stumble and what can they share? The moderated discussion is sponsored by NSWA and the Society of Professional Journalists, SPJ, Western Washington Chapter. Admission is free to members of both groups, and $5 for non-members. Please RSVP to mbradbury@realscience.us. Venue: Seattle Times auditorium, 1102 John St., Seattle. Information: http://www.nwscience.org/.

NSWA Board Meeting

Monday, Oct. 12, 6:30 p.m.:
The monthly NSWA board meeting will also be held at the Pacific Science Center. Contact Michael Bradbury at mbradbury@realscience.us for more information.

Join NSWA

As an NSWA member, you get discounts on some of our events, inside information on job openings and other opportunities, and the satisfaction of knowing you’re supporting the Pacific Northwest’s community of science communicators. Annual dues are just $20.

For information or to join, visit our Join page.

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Saturday, Oct 10, 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.:
The Museum of Flight and the Pacific Northwest Section of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) will honor Northwest aerospace luminaries Dr. James Joki and Mr. John Roundhill during the 28th Annual Pathfinder Awards Banquet. Seating is limited and by reservation only. Individual tickets start at $100 per person, patron tickets at $150 and table reservations start at $1,500 per table of 10. To purchase tickets or request an invitation, please contact Alison Bailey at (206) 764-5715 or e-mail abailey@museumofflight.org. Venue: Museum of Flight.
Information:http://www.museumofflight.org/event/2009-pathfinder-awards/

Saturday, Oct. 10, 7 p.m.:
"Butte, America," a new feature-length documentary film, will be at Seattle University's Pigott Auditorium. Tickets are $10 per person. Narrated by Gabriel Byrne, the documentary tells the story of Butte, Montana, where rock mining that was lucrative for some trashed the environment for the people left behind: immigrant miners and their families. Distinguished science writer Edwin Dobb wrote the film. A Butte resident and native, and descendant of Butte miners, Dobb is a visiting lecturer at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. He edited The Sciences (RIP) and is a regular contributor to Harper's magazine.
More info at http://butteamericafilm.org/ and http://www.irishclub.org/

Monday, Oct. 12, 3:30 p.m. to 5 p.m.:
Julia Parish from the UW Program on the Environment and School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences will give a talk titled "Wrong Place, Wrong Time: Citizen Science, Sea Ducks and Surfactants." The talk is part of the UW School of Forest Resources’ Wildlife Science Seminar. Venue: UW Smith Hall, Room 120.
Information: Contact Steve West at (206) 685-7588 or sdwest@u.washington.edu

Tuesday, Oct. 13, 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.:
David Domke, chair of the UW’s Department of Communication, will give a talk titled "Healthcare in the Media Revolution." It wasn’t so long ago that staying informed meant subscribing to your hometown newspaper and watching one of three broadcast networks. Today, the business models of "the news" are under siege, and with them the role and popular understanding of journalism itself: in its place, niche-marketed cable shows, and an amateur and professional “news-gathering” apparatus of blogs, news portals, and social networking. A media revolution is being waged all around us—how are we doing? As where and how we get our news changes, can we still interpret in the same way? And what are the consequences for our democracy? A new series, co-produced with the UW’s Department of Communication and called "The Revolution is Here: How Digital Media and Awakened Citizens Are Changing the World," will explore the ways we are empowered and diminished in the new media environment. Each program in the four-part series will zero in on a different "top story"; the series kicks off with Domke’s analysis of the ways public engagement around and news coverage of the healthcare debate inflect, and even supplant, public understanding. Advance tickets are $5 at http://www.brownpapertickets.com or (800) 838-3006, or at the door beginning at 6:30 p.m. Town Hall membersreceive priority seating. Venue: Town Hall Seattle.
Information: http://www.townhallseattle.org/calendar.cfm

Wednesday, Oct. 14, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.:
The Seattle chapter of the Association or Women in Science (AWIS) will present "Preventing Hearing Loss: Fish Tales," a free talk by Kelly Owens and Allison Coffin, from the Merrill Bloedel Hearing Research Center. Non-members are welcome. Venue: UW South Lake Union Building. First Floor Auditorium
Information: http://www.seattleawis.org/events.htm/

Wednesday, Oct. 14, 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.:
Peter Maass, writer for New York Times Magazine, will give a talk titled "Totalling the Cost of Oil." When gas prices topped $4 a gallon in 2008, we were all vividly reminded of the volatility of oil prices. But Maass, author of Crude World: The Violent Twilight of Oil, says there’s a lot more to the cost of oil than dollar signs, from an environmental, humanitarian and political point of view. Maass says every oil-producing nation is touched by a "resource curse"—the power of oil to exacerbate existing problems and create new ones. From the pipeline to the boardroom, from rebels to activists to CEOs, Maass documents a complex and troubled world, the unnatural consequence of our addiction to oil. Presented as part of the Seattle Science Lectures series, with Pacific Science Center and University Book Store. Advance tickets are $5 at http://www.brownpapertickets.com or (800) 838-3006, or at the door beginning at 6:30 p.m. Town Hall members receive priority seating. Venue: Town Hall Seattle.
Information: http://www.townhallseattle.org/calendar.cfm

Thursday, Oct. 15, 10:30 a.m.:
Irwin Jacobs, co-founder of Qualcomm, will give a talk titled "From Cell Phones to Smart Phones to Smart Books." Venue: UW Paul Allen Center.
Information: http://www.ee.washington.edu/news/2009/lytle_lecture.html

Friday, Oct. 16, 9 a.m. to noon:
Yoky Matsuoka, UW associate professor of computer science, will be a panelist in "Thriving in the Age of Imagination," Washington State's Imagine Conversation moderated by Eric Liu and Scott Noppe-Brandon. This free event is sponsored by the Lincoln Center Institute for the Arts in Education Venue: UW McCaw Hall.
Information: http://imagination.eventbrite.com

Friday, Oct. 16, 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.:
Emily Brodsky, associate professor of earth and planetary sciences at UC Santa Cruz, will give a talk titled "Earthquakes and the Pacific Northwest." If you were here for Seattle’s 6.8 rumbler in 2001, you don’t need to be reminded that we live in Earthquake Country. In fact, the Pacific Northwest experienced its last massive seismic event in 1700, and some researchers believe devastating quakes occur regionally on a 300-year cycle. Brodsky is a leading expert on earthquakes and what triggers them, and will separate fact from fiction, discuss our quake history, and address what we know about predicting the where and when of seismic events. Presented by the University of California, Santa Cruz. Advance tickets are $7 and available at http://community.ucsc.edu. Venue: Town Hall Seattle.
Information: http://www.ucsc.edu/

Saturday, Oct 17, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.:
K- 12 educators, administrators, and their families can enjoy The Museum of Flight free of charge at an Educators’ Open House. Come explore the museum;s exhibits, learn about their educational programs, and discover air and space resources, products and programs. Venue: Museum of Flight.
Information: http://www.museumofflight.org/

Monday, Oct. 19, 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.:
Viktor Mayer-Schonberger will give a talk titled "Deleted, but not Forgotten." Thanks to your Facebook "friends," those incriminating photos of your sloppy night in Cancun will circulate forever. And thanks to e-mail, that bitter diatribe you accidentally copied to your boss will linger in a holding folder until your next evaluation. Can’t we just put the past behind us and move on? Not these days, we can’t, and Mayer-Schonberger, director of the Information and Innovation Policy Research Centre at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, thinks we could be losing a quintessentially human right as digital technology and global networks override our natural ability to forget. Mayer-Schonberger, author of Delete: The Virtue of Forgetting in the Digital Age, sees danger in everlasting memory and holes in information-privacy rights and other superficial fixes, as we try to figure out who owns what, and who can make what go away. Presented by the Town Hall Center for Civic Life. Advance tickets are $5 and are available at http://www.brownpapertickets.com, (800) 838-3006 and at the door beginning at 6:30 p.m. Town Hall members receive priority seating. Venue: Town Hall Seattle.
Information: http://www.townhallseattle.org/calendar.cfm

Tuesday, Oct. 20, 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.:
The Puget Sound Society for Technical Communication will present a discussion on writing for mobile devices. Experts Jim Causey and Teresa Goertz describe how they tackle the challenge of writing for the small screen every day – for both consumer and developer audiences. Register online or call (206) 623-8632 by midnight, Monday, Oct. 19 $10 for STC members; $15 for non-members; $5 for students. Venue: Microsoft Building 37, Room 171, Redmond.
Information:http://www.stc-psc.org/

Tuesday, Oct. 20, 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.:
Authors Orrin Pilkey and Rob Young discuss The Rising Sea as part of the "Soundings from Island Press" series of talks. By 2100—the time it will take a child born today to grow old—the seas could rise as much as seven feet. That might not sound alarming, say professors Orrin Pilkey and Rob Young, authors of The Rising Sea, but the consequences are daunting: All along America’s coast, the tide will rise and fall on massive seawalls or ruined roads, homes, businesses, and public buildings. Coastal cities such as Miami, New York, and New Orleans will be forced to enact a policy of retreat. Rising seas are inevitable, the authors say, but despair is not: We can save lives and communities, but only by facing hard and controversial choices, including abandoning storm-damaged property, changing where and how we build, and developing a national exit strategy from our coasts. This is the second installment of a new series on emerging, essential sustainability issues called Soundings from Island Press, presented through Town Hall Center for Civic Life, in association with IslandWood and Elliott Bay Book Company. Advance tickets are $5 at http://www.brownpapertickets.com or (800) 838-3006, or at the door. Town Hall members receive priority seating. Venue: Town Hall Seattle.
Information: http://www.townhallseattle.org/calendar.cfm

Wednesday, Oct. 21, 7 p.m.:
Magdalena Balazinska and Tadayoshi Kohno, UW assistant professors of computer science & engineering, will give a talk titled "The Cyberspace Data Explosion: Boon or Black Hole?" The talk is the first in the UW College of Engineering’s Fall Lecture Series. We are entering a cyber world where millions of sensors continuously collect data. From the ocean bottom to deep space, scientists are monitoring environments at unprecedented scales. On a more personal level, implanted medical devices can now monitor our well-being, and "smart chips" embedded in passports, IDs, and transit cards can track our comings and goings. Massive, ubiquitous databanks offer promise of great benefits but also dangers. How do we manage this data onslaught wisely? How do we guard our privacy and ensure our safety? UW scientists are asking these questions and blazing research trails on the latest frontiers of cyber-security. Venue: UW Kane Hall.
Information:http://www.engr.washington.edu/alumcomm/lectures.html#102109

Thursday, Oct. 22, 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.:
Australian scientist Tim Flannery will give a talk titled "Soving Our Climate Crisis." Flannery appeared at Town Hall in 2006 to speak about his last book, The Weather Makers. His latest book, Now or Never, describes pragmatic steps being explored and taken towards remediation of the crisis, from storing the carbon released by dead plants to carbon-trading strategies in South America to collaboration between a Danish wind-energy company and an automobile manufacturer on a viable electric car. Leavening the doomsday scenarios of much current reporting on climate change, Flannery’s work looks forward in the belief that "a sense of hopelessness is just as great a danger to our future as the bankrupt philosophies of the recent past." Presented as part of Town Hall’s Seattle Science Lectures series, with Pacific Science Center and University Book Store. Tickets are $5 at http://www.brownpapertickets.com or (800) 838-3006, and at the door beginning at 6:30 p.m. Town Hall members receive priority seating. Venue: Town Hall Seattle.
Information:http://www.townhallseattle.org/calendar.cfm

Saturday, Oct 24, 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.:
Victor Riley, an Associate Technical Fellow in Boeing Flight Deck, Crew Operations, gives a talk titled "Aircraft Design, Automation and Human Factors." Riley will give an overview of what aviation issues are, how aviation human factors has dealt with automation, and how these lessons apply to other applications of technology, as it becomes ubiquitous in everyday life. Venue: Museum of Flight.
Information: http://www.museumofflight.org/event/aircraft-design-automation-and-human-factors

Monday, Oct. 26, 7 p.m.:
An expert on medical robotics from Swedish Medical Center is scheduled to give a talk titled "Robot-assisted surgery: the past, present and future" as part of Science on Tap. Venue: Ravenna Third Place Books.
Information: http://www.scienceontap.org/

Tuesday, Oct. 27, 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.:
Thedore Gray, author of the "Gray Matter" column for Popular Science Magazine, will give a talk titled "The Elements." Anyone who’s walked into a basic chemistry classroom has seen the periodic table—that blocky catalog of the elements that everything is made of. But few have seen it as Gray has—as art. Gray, author of the new book The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe, spent five years researching and photographing the table’s 118 elements in their purest, uncombined form. Presented as part of Seattle Science Lectures, with Pacific Science Center and University Book Store. Sponsored by Microsoft. Tickets are $5 at http://www.brownpapertickets.com or (800) 838-3006, and at the door beginning at 6:30 pm. Town Hall members receive priority seating. Venue: Town Hall Seattle.
Information: http://www.townhallseattle.org/calendar.cfm

Wednesday, Oct. 28, 3:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.:
James Ralston from the UW School of Public Health will give a talk titled "Patient Access to the Medical Record and Its Impact on Medical Practice and Quality of Care." The talk is part of the UW Laboratory Medicine Grand Rounds series. Venue: UW Health Sciences Building D-209.
Information: Contact Georgia St. Aubyn at (206)
598-6131 or georgias@u.washington.edu

Wednesday, Oct. 28, 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.:
Fulvio Melia, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Arizona, will discuss Cracking the Einstein Code. For more than four decades after its publication, Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity remained largely a curiosity for scientists; it seemed accurate, but the code of six interlocking equations was difficult to crack. But 29-year-old Cambridge graduate Roy Kerr solved the great riddle in 1963, the same year as the discovery of black holes, finally providing fertile testing ground for general relativity. Few know how Kerr did it, but Melia, author of Cracking the Einstein Code, unmasks the history behind the search for a real-world solution to Einstein’s field equations, ultimately showcasing how pathfinding theoretical science gets done. Presented as part of Town Hall’s Seattle Science Lectures series, with Pacific Science Center and University Book Store. Tickets are $5 at beginning at 6:30 p.m. Town Hall members receive priority seating. Venue: Town Hall Seattle.
Information: http://www.townhallseattle.org/calendar.cfm

Tuesday, Nov. 3, 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.:
Archaeologist and archaeological writer Brian Fagan will give a talk titled "Water: The Elixir of Humanity." If water is the magic potion that enables and sustains life, then what will we do in the face of prolonged drought? Fagan will discuss how earlier civilizations flourished or foundered during water crises, and what a future of deep drought could look like for us. Fagan, author of The Great Warming: Climate Change and the Rise and Fall of Civilizations, is professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of California at Santa Barbara and has written several books on historical climate change and related topics. Presented as part of the Walter P. Kistler Lecture Series, a program of the Bellevue-based Foundation for the Future. Free, no tickets required. Venue: Town Hall Seattle.
Information: Visit http://www.futurefoundation.org or call (425) 451-1333.

Wednesday, Nov. 4, 7 p.m.
Gregory Johnson, a NASA astronaut in 1977, will give a talk titled "Eye on the Universe: Final Mission to Hubble." The 19-year-old Hubble Space Telescope has yielded stunning images and a remarkable scientific legacy —revealing new insight into the age of the universe, black holes, and the role of "dark energy" in our expanding universe. Husky alum Gregory Johnson piloted the space shuttle Atlantis for the final service mission to Hubble. Imagine the extreme challenges of launching the shuttle 358 miles into space, capturing the huge telescope, and making tricky repairs during five spacewalks. Johnson takes us on a thrilling journey into space and inside the final mission to Hubble. This talk is part of the UW College of Engineering’s Fall Lecture Series. Venue: UW Kane Hall.
Information: http://www.engr.washington.edu/alumcomm/lectures.html#102109

Wednesday, Nov. 4, 7:30 p.m. to 9 p.m.:
Vashon Island writer Brad Matsen will discuss the life of legendary underwater explorer Jacques Cousteau. Just like the seas Cousteau loved, his life held depth well beneath the surface of his global reputation as a celebrated oceanographer and environmentalist. With the cooperation of Cousteau’s collaborators, friends, and family, Matsen’s biography Jacques Cousteau: The Sea King examines the people, the adventures, the science and the lure of the sea that shaped Cousteau’s life. From his work for the French resistance during World War II to television’s Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau, Matsen has captured the essence of a man who profoundly changed the way we view, and treat, our planet. Presented as part of Seattle Science Lectures, with Pacific Science Center and University Book Store. Advance tickets are $5 and are available at http://www.brownpapertickets.com, (800) 838-3006 and at the door beginning at 6:30 p.m. Town Hall members receive priority seating. Venue: Town Hall Seattle.
Information: http://www.townhallseattle.org/calendar.cfm

Thursday, Nov. 5, 7:30 p.m.:
Forty years after the historic Apollo 11 moon landing, Andrew Chaikin looks back at the incredible lunar adventures of Armstrong, Aldrin and the other Apollo astronauts who made humanity’s first journeys to another world. Chaikin will share anecdotes from his extensive conversations with the moon-voyagers during his research for his definitive Apollo history, A Man on the Moon. He also will report on the recent LCROSS lunar-impact mission. Free for members and students with ID, $5 for general public. Venue: Pacific Science Center, Eames Theater.
Information: http://www.pacsci.org/events/

Friday, Nov. 6 to Sunday, Nov. 8:
Pacific Science Center in partnership with Northwest Association for Biomedical Research presents the third annual Life Sciences Research Weekend. Meet real scientists, and enjoy interactive exhibits and science demonstrations during this three day special event. Venue: Pacific Science Center, Eames Theater.
Information: http://www.pacsci.org/events/

Additions? Corrections? Write calendar@nwscience.org.