Monday, March 19, 2012

The Secret Science Club presents "A Nocturnal Garden Party" on Wednesday, April 4

GERRY MOORE LECTURES ON "THE SECRET BOTANICAL LIFE OF NYC" AT 8 P.M.
Ready to photosynthesize? Explore the weird and wonderful world of plants—especially those that thrive in our overbuilt, human-dominated landscape—with Gerry Moore, director of science for the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. While other botanists are swinging through the rain forest canopy in Amazonia, Dr. Moore and his colleagues at the BBG’s “New York Metropolitan Flora Project” tromp through abandoned train yards, vacant lots, and traffic islands—on a quest for NYC’s botanical strivers and survivors.


Is this city nothing but steel and pavement? Nein! We’re gushing with biodiversity. Put a nosegay in your buttonhole, and prepare for FLOWER POWER!

GO OUT ON A LIMB WITH SINGER/SONGWRITER LEE FELDMAN AT 9:30 P.M.
“Imagine if Charlie Brown made pop records….” and that he lived in the concrete jungle. That’s the sweet, poignant, and satisfying sound of Lee Feldman. Creative wordplay, walking on the Williamsburg Bridge, cicadas, subways, and two-dimensional superheroes—are all inspirations for Feldman’s subversively catchy melodies.

Lee Feldman’s most recent CD “I’ve Forgotten Everything” has been proclaimed “unlike anything else in contemporary pop.” And Feldman’s rock musical “Starboy” has been called “simple and direct, and smile-inducing…. a trippy experience.” Don’t miss this musical night-bloomer and his florally enhanced digital piano!

--Imbibe the Aromatic Cocktails of the Night: the walloping “Planter’s Punch” and the deadly “Black Dahlia

--Before: Groove to tunes inspired by pistils and stamens!

The “Secret Science Club” meets April 4th at 8 p.m. (and the first Wednesday night of every month) in the basement @ Union Hall, 702 Union St. (at 5th Ave.) in Park Slope, Brooklyn. p: 718.638.4400. Subway: R to Union St.; F to 4th Ave.; Q, 2, 3, 4, 5 to Atlantic.

No cover. Just bring your own smart self.

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Saturday, March 10, 2012

The Secret Science Club recommends . . .


Check out this cerebral event: The Neuroscience of the Groove!

Neuroscientists Dave Sulzer (a.k.a. composer Dave Soldier) and John Krakauer discuss the brain activity that makes us groove to music. Krakauer co-directs Columbia University's Motor Performance Laboratory and Sulzer/Soldier investigates synaptic connections that underlie memory, learning, and behavior. This event features the premiere of Soldier's "Quartet for percussion and brain waves," a live performance/experiment with drummers and electroencephalographs. (And its sponsored by our pals at CUNY’s Science & the Arts program.)

When: Monday, March 24 at 6:30 pm

Where: CUNY Grad Center, 365 Fifth Avenue (at 34th Street), NYC

FREE!

Pre-registering holds your seat until 15 minutes before curtain; then seating is first come, first served. Pre-register by phone or email: 212-817-8215 or
continuinged@gc.cuny.edu
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Thursday, March 8, 2012

The Secret Science Club Dives Into Inner Space with Molecular Geneticist Alea Mills, Wed, March 14, 8 PM @ the Bell House, FREE!

Our genes inform everything from the color of our eyes to the thousands of biochemical processes that construct and maintain our bodies. With rapid advances in gene sequencing technology over the past decade, scientists are increasingly working to pinpoint the specific functions of genes in both wellness and disease.

Molecular geneticist Alea Mills of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is among the most preeminent of these gene hunters and a pioneer in the field of chromosome engineering. Traversing the microscopic world of the cell, she has discovered DNA hotspots that play a critical role in aging and cancer, and most recently, uncovered a genetic cluster that, when deleted, may be a cause of autism. Dr. Mills asks: Where will the future of genetic technology take us?

Before & After
--Groove to genetically altered tunes
--Try our experimental cocktail of the night, the Mutating Martini
--Stick around for the scintillating Q&A

This brainy edition of the Secret Science Club meets Wednesday, March 14 at 8 pm @ the Bell House, 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn. 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.
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Tuesday, March 6, 2012

PLUTOPALOOZA! The Secret Science Club presents Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson on Wednesday, March 18 at 8 pm @ the Bell House, $3 cover charge

photo by David Gamble

COUNTDOWN TO RE-LAUNCH . . .
Hold on to your wigs and keys, science scenesters! Union Hall and the Secret Science Club have been overwhelmed by audience demand---so it is now official: The Secret Science Club is moving from Union Hall to Brooklyn’s big new Bell House! PLUS, the Secret Science Club is debuting its first-ever "theme song," written and performed by the Dead River Company. Check it out LIVE before the Neil deGrasse Tyson lecture.

Special Event! Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson blasts off from the Bell House with a lecture on the "Rise and Fall of America's Favorite Planet," $3 cover

The icy little world known as Pluto is billions of miles from Earth. Yet, when the International Astronomical Union demoted Pluto to the status of dwarf planet in 2012, the reaction was out of this world. Defiant T-shirt slogans, and pity-filled songs all raged against Pluto’s sad fate. Hell hath no fury like a planet (and its fans) scorned. No one knows better than astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, the director of NYC’s Hayden Planetarium, who was on the receiving end of much of this celestial wrath—including tear-stained hate mail from third-graders.

According to Tyson, Pluto may be a dwarf—but it’s still awesome. Now enthroned with its trans-Neptunian brethren in the Kuiper Belt, Pluto is the focus of intense scientific interest. NASA’s New Horizons Pluto-Kuiper Belt spacecraft has already passed Saturn on a 9-year journey to reach and take a peek at Pluto and its moon Charon. The question, says Tyson, is not what we call Pluto, but “What’s out there?”

The director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History, Neil deGrasse Tyson is host of PBS’s “Nova: ScienceNOW” and recently served on NASA's prestigious advisory council. He is the author of nine books, including his most recent The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet and the best-selling Death By Black Hole and Other Cosmic Quandaries. In 2012, Time magazine named Dr. Tyson one of the world’s 100 most influential people. What did People magazine name him? You got it, baby! He’s the "Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive.”

Don’t miss one freakin’ nanosecond of this cosmic talk. Get on your laser, Daddy and RIDE!!!!

Before & After
--Groove to heavenly tunes and video inspired by the cosmic ballet.

--Defy gravity with the Secret Science Club’s quantum cocktail of the night, the Big Bang (it will knock you into orbit . . .)

--Grab a signed copy of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s brand-new book: The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet

--Stick around for the extraterrestrial Q&A

The Secret Science Club meets Wednesday, March 18 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.

$3 cover charge at the door. Please bring ID: 21+.

LIMITED SEATS AVAILABLE. Doors open at 7:30. Come early to get a seat.

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Monday, March 5, 2012

A Night of Cosmic Mayhem with Neil deGrasse Tyson and "Starboy" on Wednesday, March 7




NEIL deGRASSE TYSON LECTURES ON OUR AWESOME (AND SCARY) UNIVERSE AT 8 P.M.
Is the universe cuddly and friendly? NO! It’s full of “monstrous gamma-ray bursts, deadly pulsars, matter-crushing gravitational fields, [and] matter-hungry black holes that flay their bloated stellar neighbors.”

The author of Death By Black Hole: And Other Cosmic Quandaries, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson embarks on an interstellar journey to explore quasars, exploding stars, dwarf galaxies, AND what will happen if you fly your spaceship too close to a black hole.

Dr. Tyson is the director of the Hayden Planetarium, host of PBS’s Nova: scienceNOW, and current chair of the Planetary Society, originally founded by Carl Sagan. He is also the “Sexiest Astrophysicist Alive,” according to People magazine,

"STARBOY": AN ANIMATED ROCK MUSICAL AT 9:30 P.M.
In composer/musician Lee Feldman’s “Starboy,” a two-dimensional superhero from a dying outer-space world falls in love with a three-dimensional girl. Starboy zaps monsters, helps old ladies cross the street, and lives in an apartment with his uncle, “the mathematician.” Feldman’s songs are haunting, way past quirky, and strangely catchy. The chunky, colorful animation is by Joe Campbell.

--Before: Groove to tunes inspired by the cosmic ballet.

--Imbibe the Quantum Cocktail of the Night: the Big Bang—it will blow your mind.....

--Purchase copies of "Starboy" and Neil deGrasse Tyson’s best-selling new book.

The “Secret Science Club” meets Wednesday, March 7th at 8 p.m. (and the first Wednesday of every month) in the basement at @ Union Hall, 702 Union St. (at 5th Ave.) in Park Slope, Brooklyn. p: 718.638.4400 Subway: R to Union St.; F to 4th Ave.; Q, 2, 3, 4, 5 to Atlantic

NO COVER. JUST BRING YOUR OWN SMART SELF.
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Sunday, March 4, 2012

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
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Saturday, February 25, 2012

The Secret Science Club presents World Population Expert Joel E. Cohen on Wednesday, March 4 at 8 pm @ Union Hall

Can conservation succeed with 9 billion people on the planet?

Every day the world’s population grows by approximately 200,000 people. That means every 40 days, the planet adds enough new people to replace the entire population of New York City.

Mathematician and population expert Joel E. Cohen asks: How many Homo sapiens can the Earth support? How is the exploding human population affecting the Earth’s physical, biological, and chemical environments? What will happen as the population grows larger, older, and more urban?

A recipient of the MacArthur genius grant and the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement, Dr. Cohen is Professor of Populations and Head of the Laboratory of Populations at Rockefeller University and Columbia University. His research deals with the demography, ecology, epidemiology and social organization of human and non-human populations and with mathematical concepts applicable to those fields. He is the author of more than a dozen books and over 300 scientific papers.

Before & After
--Groove to an ever-multiplying collection of tunes in Union Hall’s subterranean grotto, stick around for the Q&A, and try our explosive new cocktail, the Population Bomb.

The “Secret Science Club” meets Wednesday, March 4 at 8 pm @ Union Hall, 702 Union St. (at 5th Ave.) in Park Slope, Brooklyn, p: 718.638.4400 Subway: R to Union St.; F to 4th Ave.; Q, 2, 3, 4, 5 to Atlantic Ave.

No cover charge. Just bring your smart self.
Doors open at 7:30. LIMITED SEATS AVAILABLE.


Tick tock . . .
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