Science Circle

Human Migration – What it can tell us about our past and our future
2023-11-18 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Auditorium
Human Migration – What it can tell us about our past and our future
Every migration tells a story. The migrations of people is the story of us, individually and collectively. Whether it was by choice or by force, migration is how we all have come to live where we life. It’s our global history and local present. In our rapidly changing world, many millions of people will migrate within our lifetimes. Maybe some of them will be us. Major migrations have been and will continue to be driven by environmental and societal (political and economic) events that disrupt people’s lives. The geography of where we find ourselves to be provides both challenges and opportunities for the future we can make.
Join Delia Lake and Meryl McBride for an exploration of past migrations and some future prospects. We’ll set the context for this very timely discussion. Bring your own stories, your thoughts, your concerns to this timely, important conversation.

World Television Day
2023-11-18 21:00 - 22:00 | SC East Meeting Spot
World Television Day
“Good evening… and welcome, to television” -Bruce Gyngell, launch of Television on Australia 1956.
In 1926 John Logie Baird transmitted a picture from one room to another. In 1927 he successfully sent a moving image along telephone wires from London to Glasgow, and the following year he achieved the first trans-atlantic television broadcast.
In honor of television day we will discuss the unthinkable effect television has had on generations of humans, the good, and the bad.
Is this the first time you will attend a presentation with us?
Follow this link first.

Classical Concert
2023-11-19 07:00 - 08:00, 2023-11-26 07:00 - 08:00, 2023-12-03 07:00 - 08:00, 2023-12-10 07:00 - 08:00, 2023-12-17 07:00 - 08:00 | The Lighthouse Café

A Brief History of Genetic Modification in Agriculture
2023-11-25 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
A Brief History of Genetic Modification in Agriculture
At some point, humans believed they could mold and manipulate their natural food supplies to suit their needs better. This domestication of plants changed the course of human history by helping enable brain development as well as structuring populations into larger cities. Many early civilizations thrived and some fell based on their agricultural output as most growth conditions heavily relied on the climate. Modification of plants generally relied on a crude form of artificial selection of picking each season’s best plants and replanting them. In modern times, the scale of food production to meet population needs has also required a dramatic change to our breeding to select for large-scale output as well as even shipping. In the late 20th century, a new method of plant modification via molecular biology dramatically changed how we can modify plants. And it came as no surprise that major yield gains have come about in those crops amenable to that modification. Although, along with that technology came those resistant to its usage. Modern computational power has also changed how breeding works. But, at the current pinnacle of plant biotech, we now have the ability to directly manipulate the genetic code of most plants via site-specific DNA cutters like CRISPR.
This presentation gives a historical overview of these changes to modern day.
Presentation by Stephen L. Gasior PhD

Do not try this at home!
2023-11-25 21:00 - 22:00 | Auditorium
Do not try this at home!
Join us for a multimedia livestream into Second Life of Chemistry demonstrations and explanations from Mike Shaw’s RL laboratory.

Is this the first time you will attend a presentation with us?
Follow this link first.

Mathematics Club
2023-11-30 16:00 - 17:00 | Maths Club

Field trip: Celebrating nature
2023-12-02 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
Second Life can be a place of wonder in the hands of imaginative and skilled builders. When those hands belong to people from different parts of the world or different cultures, the sense of wonder can turn into awe and can be an education and even transformative experience.
The best way to explore Second Life is through immersion. That is why we set aside December and June for field trips. This month the theme is “International Second Life.” Each week will have a subtheme having to do with our relationship to nature, from celebrating nature with minimal intrusion to the ‘human jungle’ of urban living where nature is hard to find.
We invite you to join us on the following Saturdays at 10am SLT. Each week we will start in the Science Circle Amphitheater, teleport to three or four locations during the hour, spend about 10-15 minutes apiece exploring what is there, and then come back to share what we found!
If you find yourself unable to stay the whole hour, if you get lost, or if you hopefully find a place intriguing enough to go back, here is a list of sites we will visit today (subject to change):
2 December – Celebrating nature with minimal human intrusion:
Monarch butterfly experience – a gorgeous natural and educational site
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Pebble%20Isle/51/87/81
Joshua Tree – a stark desert landscape with its own type of beauty
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Exarcheia/128/126/23
Mount Campion Caves National Park – a 26-sim Linden-owned park with the tallest mountain and largest cave system in Second Life http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Spinach/209/105/265
Natthimmel – a realistic depiction of the Scandinavian tundra environment http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/NewMoon/119/199/22

Fieldtrip roulette
2023-12-02 21:00 - 22:00 | Science Circle region
DECEMBER FIELDTRIP ROULETTE
Every Saturday in December we will visit a random location picked from a pool of beautiful locations found by Jes and Chantal!
Round and round we go, where we’ll stop? Nobody knows…

Is this the first time you will attend a presentation with us?
Follow this link first.

Mathematics Club
2023-12-07 16:00 - 17:00 | Maths Club
We will have a bit of discussion about the resources expended at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii in the attack that started just before 8 AM local time on December 7, 1941. This will be an examination of the costs of starting a war in terms of human lives, equipment and munitions, energy, and collateral environmental damage.

Field trip: Living Near Nature
2023-12-09 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
Second Life can be a place of wonder in the hands of imaginative and skilled builders. When those hands belong to people from different parts of the world or different cultures, the sense of wonder can turn into awe and can be an education and even transformative experience.
The best way to explore Second Life is through immersion. That is why we set aside December and June for field trips. This month the theme is “International Second Life.” Each week will have a subtheme having to do with our relationship to nature, from celebrating nature with minimal intrusion to the ‘human jungle’ of urban living where nature is hard to find.
We invite you to join us on the following Saturdays at 10am SLT. Each week we will start in the Science Circle Amphitheater, teleport to three or four locations during the hour, spend about 10-15 minutes apiece exploring what is there, and then come back to share what we found!
If you find yourself unable to stay the whole hour, if you get lost, or if you hopefully find a place intriguing enough to go back, here is a list of sites we will visit today (subject to change):
9 December – Human settlements on the edge of nature:
Raizes do Brasil = a village on the edge of the Amazon forest
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Raizes%20do%20Brasil/204/148/23
Hanging Gardens = a rich person’s villa with nature tamed to suit
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Antiquorum/119/199/36
St Hild Binnancumb (Abbey of St. Hild) = secluded open fields and hills
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Binnancumb/71/150/44
Petite Provence d’Annisss = tranquil French seaside town
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Petite%20Provence/64/122/28

Fieldtrip roulette
2023-12-09 21:00 - 22:00, 2023-12-16 21:00 - 22:00 | The Science Circle region

Mathematics Club
2023-12-14 16:00 - 17:00 | Maths Club
We will celebrate the BIRTHDAY of Danish mathematician and astronomer, TYCHO BRACH and discuss his life including
– his founding with the help of his smart little sister, SOPHIE BRACH, of the URANIBORG OBSERVATORY on the island of VEN (named HVEN prior to 1959).
– the first custom-built observatory in modern Europe,
and the last to be built without a telescope as its primary instrument;
– Brach’s observations of the Supernova of 11 November 1572, and its significance
– some of Brach’s work with Johannes Kepler and Kepler’ Laws of Planetary Motion (from geometric order he perceived in massive amounts of astronomical data points between 1609-1616)

Astronomical sextant used by Tycho Brahe (1546- 1601)

Field trip: Rural Living
2023-12-16 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
Second Life can be a place of wonder in the hands of imaginative and skilled builders. When those hands belong to people from different parts of the world or different cultures, the sense of wonder can turn into awe and can be an education and even transformative experience.
The best way to explore Second Life is through immersion. That is why we set aside December and June for field trips. This month the theme is “International Second Life.” Each week will have a subtheme having to do with our relationship to nature, from celebrating nature with minimal intrusion to the ‘human jungle’ of urban living where nature is hard to find.
We invite you to join us on the following Saturdays at 10am SLT. Each week we will start in the Science Circle Amphitheater, teleport to three or four locations during the hour, spend about 10-15 minutes apiece exploring what is there, and then come back to share what we found!
If you find yourself unable to stay the whole hour, if you get lost, or if you hopefully find a place intriguing enough to go back, here is a list of sites we will visit today (subject to change):
16 December – Rural Second Life: living on the land
Tonarino (Japan) = a faithful feel of a Japanese village in the hills near the sea
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/tonarino/150/135/25
Rustic California (Nature Collective) = living in the wilds of northern California
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Calland/166/87/22
Kuulua = living on the edge of a swamp http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tilheyra/243/128/23
Kona Beach (Hawaii) = beach with underwater areas, waves, animals, etc.
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Kona%20Beach/42/86/22

Mathematics Club
2023-12-21 16:00 - 17:00 | Maths Club
At 7:27 PM PST (Second Life time) is the moment of Winter Solstice with maximal tilt of the southern axis toward the sun for all on planet Earth.
Since this is the LONGEST, DARKEST NIGHT in the Northern hemisphere, we will discuss LIGHT: light as a transverse wave as described by Scottish physicist, Clerk Maxwell who was able to calculate the speed of propagation of his electromagnetic waves from field theory; SEARCH FOR the AETHER (as it was once called): the Michelson Morley experiment of 1887.

Colorado State University Department of Anthropology and Geography
2023-12-23 10:00 - 11:00 | CSU EdEx
You are invited to an open house at the Colorado State University Department of Anthropology and Geography sim on December 23. Meryl McBride will spend several minutes at the outset describing what people see, and why; and will explain the purpose of the project. While the current structure is very much a work in progress (much is unfinished), we will show how it is intended to give geography students different ways of engaging geographical concepts in the so-called “Metaverse.” As an example, we will invite guests to explore a “pedagogical place” featuring a Siberian tundra setting built by Delia Lake. –Meryl McBride (Merrill Johnson), Professor of Geography

Well-deserved Holiday
2023-12-23 21:00 - 22:00, 2023-12-30 21:00 - 22:00

The Nature Center
2023-12-25 07:00 - 08:00 | Auditorium
Like every year, we visit a number of beautiful locations for 5 days during Christmas week, ending with a joint game of Madpea.
Today we visit The Nature Center, developed to help us live in balance with our planet and learn everything about healthy nutrition.

Confederation of Democratic Simulators
2023-12-26 07:00 - 08:00 | Auditorium
Like every year, we visit a number of beautiful locations for 5 days during Christmas week, ending with a joint game of Madpea.
Today we visit the Confederation of Democratic Simulators, the oldest democracy in Second Life.

The Confederation of Democratic Simulators (CDS) is the oldest democracy in Second Life.
Originally founded in 2004 as the City of Neualtenburg in the Anzere region of Second Life, the CDS is a community operated by and for its citizens.
Our estate consists of six regions that have loosely based Germanic, Tuscan, Alpine, and Mediterranean themes, representing different historical periods. The CDS is not a role-playing community.
All are welcome to visit, explore, and become a part of our dynamic community. Land ownership in the CDS means citizenship, with the right to vote, run for office, and have a say in the direction and projects of the regions.

Ariadne Zoo
2023-12-27 07:00 - 08:00 | Auditorium
Like every year, we visit a number of beautiful locations for 5 days during Christmas week, ending with a joint game of Madpea.
Today we visit the zoo, Ariadne Zoo.

Amiais Village
2023-12-28 07:00 - 08:00 | Auditorium
Like every year, we visit a number of beautiful locations during Christmas week for 5 days, ending with a joint game of Madpea.
Today we visit a Portuguese village, developed for a Geocaching Game.

This estate is owned by the University of Aveiro (Portugal) for the purpose of developing the LOCUS Amiais project in Second Life.
You can read more about the overall project here: https://locusproject.pt/
This estate depicts the village of Amiais (based on pictures and videos) and is meant to be explored by the public, via a geocaching game with its own narrative (based on fictitious characters very loosely based on typical inhabitants of the region), which is currently under active development.
This project is sponsored by European research funds (granted via the FCT — the National Foundation for Science and Technology — to the DigiMedia research lab of the University of Aveiro) and implemented by Beta Technologies (https://betatechnologies.info). It will exist in Second Life only for a limited time, after which, unfortunately, the estate will need to be permanently disconnected.
Some rules apply to all visitors of this estate:
– The main communication language will be Portuguese (as well as the geocaching game). A bilingual version would be possible, but time and budget restrictions will not allow its development. Sorry!
– Visitors are encouraged to explore all areas of the estate traveling by foot. Flying is disallowed (except for state managers) and teleporting around will just send you back to the starting point.
– Currently, the geocaching game is not functional and only available to estate managers, who, from time to time, will be seen in-world tweaking with the interactive objects.
– Objects (scripted or otherwise) are not allowed to be rezzed (and any that manage to override the SL permissions system will be promptly returned and/or deleted). There might be a few exceptions allowed for items related to the game.
– In general, this is a no-combat zone; however, there *are* a few places where avatars *can* be ‘harmed’ (do not worry, if you ‘die’, you will just be teleported back home!), as required by the geocaching game. So beware! 🙂
– Since all regions and parcels are set to ‘General’ and we encourage younger visitors, please faithfully respect the usual guidelines for such regions — e.g. no full nudity, no profanity, no aggressive behaviour, and so forth.
– This is *not* a role-playing region, so you’re fine to use any avatar with whatever clothing/attachments you prefer (so long as they conform to ‘General’ areas).
– Any abuses can, and should, be reported to a LOCUS Estate Manager (look them up from the LOCUS Project group). Note that the ‘estate owner’ is a special avatar reserved for administrative purposes only (e.g. paying for the estate fees!) and will very likely *not* login, much less read any messages, IMs, notecards, etc. You’re welcome to message us either in Portuguese or English. You naturally are allowed to report abuses directly to Linden Lab, of course, who may, at their discretion, pass the report to the LOCUS Estate Managers — or not.
– For any further questions related to the project in general, feel free to get in touch with us via info@betatechnologies.info

Mathematics Club
2023-12-28 16:00 - 17:00 | Maths Club
As the NEW YEAR and transition to year 2024 CE approach, we will focus on TIME, including:
– limitations in measurement of time (Planck Time)
– TIME DILATION in Special Relativity and the difference between a mathematical proof and a physics derivation based on a model;
– Exploration with Tagline’s thought experiment as to the question as to what happens to a recording made in proper time according to the clock of a space mensch (i.e., hominid astronaut in space), when that recording is played after her return to Earth.

Albert Einstein and his sister, Maja

MADPEA
2023-12-29 07:00 - 08:00 | Auditorium
Like every year, we visit a number of beautiful locations for 5 days during Christmas week, ending with a joint game of Madpea.
Today we visit MADPEA!

Field trip: The ‘Human Jungle’
2023-12-30 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
Second Life can be a place of wonder in the hands of imaginative and skilled builders. When those hands belong to people from different parts of the world or different cultures, the sense of wonder can turn into awe and can be an education and even transformative experience.
The best way to explore Second Life is through immersion. That is why we set aside December and June for field trips. This month the theme is “International Second Life.” Each week will have a subtheme having to do with our relationship to nature, from celebrating nature with minimal intrusion to the ‘human jungle’ of urban living where nature is hard to find.
We invite you to join us on the following Saturdays at 10am SLT. Each week we will start in the Science Circle Amphitheater, teleport to three or four locations during the hour, spend about 10-15 minutes apiece exploring what is there, and then come back to share what we found!
If you find yourself unable to stay the whole hour, if you get lost, or if you hopefully find a place intriguing enough to go back, here is a list of sites we will visit today (subject to change):
30 December – Urban Second Life – the ‘human jungle’
Kowloon (China) = one of the most highly populated places on Earth
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/kowloon/147/11/24
Dublin (Ireland) = Blarney Stone (oldest pub in SL) – global music
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Dublin/75/74/25
New Orleans (U.S.) = Bourbon Street and surroundings… http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/New%20Orleans%20City/175/108/22
Teranga City (Africa) = amalgam of cities in the north/west Africa
http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Tuvali/115/174/23
Venezia (Italy) = a feel for Venice http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Yumix%20Prada/110/89/30
Time Portals http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Time%20Portal/135/127/1930 —Ancient Rome | 1950s USA | 1920s-1940s NYC | Victorian London | 1940s London | Tudor London

Mathematics Club
2024-01-04 16:00 - 17:00 | Maths Club
CELEBRATING ISAAC NEWTON’S BIRTHDAY in the Maths Dojo. So come and learn how much Isaac slept at night and other interesting details!
