The St. Louis Zoo is one of UM-St. Louis' partners in the Whitney R. Harris World Ecology Center.
On selected Wednesdays, the Zoo partners with another St. Louis science institution, the Academy of Science - St. Louis, for a series of free talks on current science matters and recent discoveries by noted local scientists.
The talks are geared for non-scientist adults and are presented on Wednesday evenings in the auditorium at the Zoo's Living World.
This Wednesday, Oct. 10, Ursula Goodenough will speak on "Emergence: Nature's Mode of Creativity" at 7:30 p.m. Goodenough is professor of Biology at Washington University and is a Fellow of the Academy of Science - St. Louis. She is author of "The Sacred Depths of Nature."
Goodenough explores the implications of how scientists often study natural processes by reducing them to ever-smaller components and ever-simpler laws in an effort to understand the processes, like putting Humpty Dumpty back together again, despite the fact that scientists are moving in the opposite direction of the way the processes evolved.
Goodenough uses plain language to discuss the concept of emergence, how new properties arise in non-living and living systems. She links the concepts to the origin and evolution of life, human consciousness, existential yearnings, and the critical project of sustainability and habitat preservation.
UM-St. Louis's Des Lee Professor of Zoological Studies, Patricia Parker, will speak on "Conservation Medicine in the Galapagos Islands: Disease Threats to Endemic Birds" on Wednesday, Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m. Parker is also Senior Scientist at the Zoo and a Fellow of the Academy of Science - St. Louis.
Her presentation focuses on how wildlife populations around the world, particularly those on islands, are threatened by the increased spread of diseases. UM - St. Louis' Biology Department, the Zoo, the Charles Darwin Foundation, and the Galapagos National Park are collaborating on the first-ever of survey of Galapagos Islands pathogens.
Panelists from St. Louis University's Center for Environmental Science, including moderator Tim Kusky, the Center's Director, discuss "Advancing Research Into Climate Change and Natural Hazards - A Multidisciplinary Approach" on Wednesday, Nov. 14 at 7:30 p.m.
The Science Seminar series continues into next year, starting with "The Greenhouse Effect and Quantitative Approaches to Solving Environmental Problems" on Wednesday, Jan. 30 at 7:30 p.m., presented by Carl Bender, Professor of Physics at Washington University, followed by a look at the underground petrified forest found in Illinois, "Snapshot in Time: Geologic Secrets of the Danville, Illinois, Fossilized Forest" by geologists Scott D. Elrick and John Nelson on Wednesday, Feb. 27 at 7:30 p.m.
The seminar's co-sponsor, the Academy of Science of St. Louis, is one of the first science organizations west of the Mississippi. Founded in 1856 by twelve physicians, a lawyer, an engineer and a businessman, for the advancement of science in the rapidly growing town of St Louis, Missouri, the Academy published for many years one of the world's most respected scientific journals, Transactions of the Academy of Science of St. Louis.
Founding Academy members also started a museum collection and maintained a library.
Founders included George Engelmann, who helped plan the Missouri Botanical Garden, Friedreich Adolphus Wisleznus, who helped found the Missouri Historical Society, and James B. Eads, a self-taught engineer who built the Eads Bridge over the Mississippi River.
These days, Academy of Science of St. Louis helps promote science education and public awareness, through seminars and programs, including sponsoring the St. Louis Science Fair, and by recognition of outstanding local scientists.
Be the first to comment on this article!