Science Circle

"The First Stars"
2018-04-07 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Auditorium
Photo: NASA
Abstract:
The Universe began in a hot and dense state. After ten minutes or so, the elements had formed, and for the next few hundred thousand years the Universe was filled with hot plasma, expanding and cooling. The Universe was opaque; any light emitted would be scattered or absorbed before it could travel far. Then came a transition, when the Universe went from plasma to neutral gas, and at the same time became transparent. After that were the aptly-named “dark ages”, for nothing was emitting light. Some few hundred million years after that, the very first stars in the Universe formed. None of these stars, we believe, is still around today, and observing their effects (either directly or indirectly) is very challenging. However, a number of observations have told us things about the epoch when stars first formed in our Universe, and it remains a major goal of cosmology to learn more about the nature of these stars.
In this talk, I’ll outline the relevant history of the Universe, and tell you what we know and believe about the very first stars.

— Rob Knop
Homepage
Blog
Previous work in the Library
Previous work in the Film Collection

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

“Mitochondrial Eve”
2018-03-31 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
Abstract
Variations in the sequence of mitochondrial DNA can be used to identify human lineages and mark human migration patterns. In 1987, mtDNA samples from 147 women were compared and used to infer the sequence and origin of the mitochondria of the common ancestor of all humans. The popular press and science writers were quick to name this common ancestor “Mitochondrial Eve.” What has the continued study of human mitochondrial sequences told us about our origin and history?
M. A. Clark (aka Max Chatnoir)
Mary Anne Clark
Previous work in the Film Collection

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

Slartist@UWA Machinima Challenge - Awards Ceremony
2018-03-25 06:00 - 07:00
The theme of the SLartist@UWA Machinima Challenge (L$430,000 prize pool) was ‘ART OF THE ARTISTS.’ We encouraged connections and collaborations between 3D artists and machinima makers. Any artworks that sit on the UWA Sims in Second Life, including artworks created when the sims themselves were created in 2009, could be selected to feature in the machinimas. Filmmakers could choose individual artworks or a collection of artworks around which to weave a story. The artwork(s) needed to be a relatively significant part of the story, and not merely something glimpsed in passing. Read more…

"Astrobiology and the search for microbial life"
2018-03-24 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
Photo ESA
Introduction to astrobiology and the scientific search for evidence of microbial life beyond Earth, especially on moons in the solar system. Review, with questions welcome, the very real and exciting possibility of finding such life in the fairly near future, and its far-reaching implications. For a general audience, brief discussion of key basic principles in areas of microbiology, physics and chemistry that drive, inform and focus the search.

— James Woods
Previous work in the Film Collection

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

Meta Manifesto: Think Tank 4 Effective Tactics
2018-03-17 14:00 - 15:00
Presenters:
Kae Novak/Kavon Zenovka (Avatar)
Educators and Trainers
Cynthia Calongne/Lyr Lobo
Educators and Trainers
Chris Luchs/Abacus Capalini
Educators and Trainers
Trish Cloud/Trish Cloud
Educators and Trainers
Using the learning that happens outside the classroom, let’s go META by considering the Most Effective Tactics Available. This round table invites participants to a think tank on tactics for virtual worlds (VWs), virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and games. As we look beyond the hype and disillusionment, the session asks the participants to brainstorm actions to support our current and future directions. What can we do to shape the future? What is our Manifesto moving forward?
Participants will be able to draw connections between learning and emerging ideas and formulate a plan for looking at future innovation.
More information & location

Liberate Agency Amplification Via Avatar Identity
2018-03-17 12:00 - 13:00
Presenter:
Renne Emiko Brock/Zinnia Zauber (Avatar)
Educators and Trainers
Let go of control. Instructors empower students through agency with active learning ownership, not with ultimate authority. Build validating lessons prior to entering virtual situations with surprising personal investigation, mood board creation, and character sketches. Develop education buy-in through accelerated and immediate avatar customization to reveal individuality and unlimited potential. Use reflection exercises to reveal how this experience exposed their real investment in themselves.
Participants will be able to utilize revelations of student’s motivation via avatar development.
Participants will be able to foster personalized research, design, documentation, and blogging.
More information & location

Etopian Evolution for Real World Solutions
2018-03-17 12:00 - 13:00
Photo Etopia
Presenter:
G Ronnie Kraegel/Namaara MacMoragh (Avatar)
Advocacy and NonProfit
As an ever evolving project, Etopia is designed to bridge SL and RL by providing safe, educational space and activities for skills exploration with partners such as Peninsula College and Brain Energy Support Team. The benefits of learning social, sustainable, and behavioral skills in a virtual world give participants the opportunity to create a better quality of life for themselves and the communities they are in.
Participants will learn how Etopia has integrated real life solutions into the Second Life experience.
Participants will learn how a mutually supportive community experience can address real world environmental and social challenges.
More information & location

If They Build It, They Will Come!
2018-03-17 09:00 - 10:00
Presenters:
Carolyn Lowe/Clowey Greenwood (Avatar)
Educators and Trainers
Amy Pihlainen/Elsie Ocello (Avatar)
Educators and Trainers
The authors, working with children ages 10 through 14, have found that allowing the students to create the learning spaces increases engagement, deep learning, and motivation to learn and do more. This presentation will demonstrate this through showcasing the many learning activities accomplished by the children and include the childrens’ reflections on the experience.
Participants will be able to describe examples in which children created their own virtual learning experiences.
Participants will be able to express the benefits of having children building in a learning environment.
More information & location

Our Brains, Ourselves, Our Worlds
2018-03-16 16:00 - 17:30
Presenters:
Thuja Hynes (Avatar)
Advocacy and NonProfit
Lissena
Advocacy and NonProfit
A Virtual Interactive Model of the Five Pillars of Whole-Brain Health connects the goals of healthy Neuroplasticity and Collective Learning. Participants learn brain structure and function as they engage in a spectrum of activities, capture their experiences digitally in images and text, and contribute these to a collaborative document. We then correlate that information to regions of a walk-in anatomically correct model of the human brain. The result is a hologram of our collective understanding.
Participants will actively discover how the 5 pillars of whole-brain health can be applied to their own lives.
Participants will use voice, text, captured images, and movement to build a collective neural map and understanding.
More information & location

Chemistry Experiments in Virtual Worlds
2018-03-16 15:00 - 16:00
Photo: VWBPE Lecture hall A
Presenter:
Wendy L. Keeney-Kennicutt/Julia Tiraxibar (Avatar)
Educators and Trainers
The design, implementation and assessment of college-level chemistry experiments conducted in Second Life suggest that VWs can be effective for teaching chemistry laboratory. In this pilot study, 55 students successfully completed two virtual experiments and showed learning gains similar to 67 students who performed identical real world experiments, as shown by pre/post quizzes and a practicum. Students held positive views of their virtual experience; teaching assistants had mixed opinions.
Participants will be able to better translate a physical lab experience to VR for students and TAs.
More information & location

Use Cases for Social Virtual Reality
2018-03-16 10:00 - 11:00
Photo: ESA
Presenters:
Lisa Laxton/Lisa Laxton (Avatar)
Research and Development Community Foundation
Cynthia Calogne/Lyr Lobo
Educators and Trainers
Singergirl Mode
Business and Entrepreneurs
Dieter Heyne
Coders, Scripters, and System/IT Analysts
Gentle Heron
Support and Help Communities
Many virtual world technologies are available today in the social virtual reality realm. Because teachers and researchers often do not share institutional data, choosing the best technology can be a challenge. Each use case requires analytical thinking to solve problems considering: virtual world design rationale; features associated with social use; security requirements; and accessibility. Panellists will present use cases and solutions. Compass point discussion will follow the presentations.
Participants will be able to learn innovative approaches to educational virtual world use cases.
Participants will be able to learn about Infinite Metaverse Alliance and reasons for engagement.
More information & location

Improving Digital Literacy – A Solvable Challenge using Virtual Worlds
2018-03-16 09:00 - 10:00
Presenter:
Marie Vans/amvans lapis (Avatar)
Educators and Trainers
Valerie Hill/Valibrarian Gregg
Educators and Trainers
Virtual World librarians are positioned to lead efforts to develop digital citizenship by developing programs that assist in the mastery of responsible and appropriate technology use, including online identity, communication etiquette, and rights and responsibilities by learners. We present the definition of digital literacy and the very solvable challenges faced by educators and students. We also include possible solutions and call for the creation of a digital literacy lifecycle model.
Participants will have an understanding of the challenges and issues for becoming digitally literate.
Participants will understand how to engage others in meaningful conversation on digital literacy.
More information & location

How to Get There from Here
2018-03-15 14:00 - 15:00
Presenter:
Barbara McQueen/Barbara Novelli (Avatar)
Educators and Trainers
Teachers are often unnerved by how much they need to learn to best use virtual worlds as a part of their technology arsenal. So they don’t use virtual worlds or only use them in a very limited way. This presentation will detail:

The most important virtual world skills to learn and fun ways to teach them
Simple to complex games and roleplays that deeply immerse students
Tasks for blogs, Moodle, Skype, machinima, social media, online conference rooms, and other educational software and devices

Participants will be able to create virtual classes that are flipped, gamified, and student-led.
Participants will be able to modify the presented tools/techniques to enhance teaching any subject.
More information & location

Conversation with Ebbe Altberg
2018-03-15 13:00 - 14:00
Presenter: Ebbe Altberg/Ebbe Linden (Avatar)
Moderator: Kevin Feenan/Phelan Corrimal
Join us for an engaging conversation with Linden Lab CEO Ebbe Altberg, who once again opens up about topics that are most important to educators and communities of practice within Second Life. Topics will vary and conversation will flow organically.
More information & location

The Minecraft VRevolution: Collaborative Learning
2018-03-15 10:30 - 11:30
Picture: Wikipedia
The session features an panel of educators actively utilizing Minecraft in educational settings. Participants will explore how Minecraft can be utilized as a tool to motivate and engage young 21st century learners. Diverse examples of integration will be presented for participant consideration. The panel will discuss creative and innovative ways to integrate Minecraft and tips on how to provide opportunities for students to collaborate, create, and problem solve in meaningful ways.
Presenters:
Katherine Hewett/TwelfthNight (Avatar)
Educators and Trainers
Mary O’Brien/Serena Offcourse
Educators and Trainers
Beth S. O’Connell/Beth Ghostraven
Educators and Trainers
Kim Harrison/Thunder Insippo
Educators and Trainers
More information & location

Opening Ceremony Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education
2018-03-15 08:00 - 09:00
11th Annual Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education
Opening Ceremony of VWBPE 2018
Join us at the Gateway for Kick Off Event of VWBPE 2018. This is a time to socialize and network with friends, old and new, while enjoying the lovely piano music of Arisia Vita. The Conference Executive and Organization Committees will share a few of the upcoming highlights. Executive Director Phelan Corrimal will officially start the conference with the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. You will also have time to explore and enjoy the exhibits. Be sure to check for the Exhibit Scavenger Hunt Notecard in your Swag Bag. There will be a prize for completion!

More information & location

Punctuated Equilibrium, Neoteny, and Evolution
2018-03-10 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
Punctuated Equilibrium, Neoteny, and Evolution: A tribute to the late Dr. Stephen Jay Gould
Stephen Jay Gould was undoubtedly one of the most influential scientists of the 20th Century who along with Niles Eldredge published the theory of Punctuated Equilibrium. He was a prolific author of many articles on Neoteny, and other ideas that revolutionized biologists ideas of evolution. I had the fortune to attend several of his lectures as well as interview him at Harvard University before his untimely death in 2002. I will be sharing my personal reflections on this great scientist as well as sharing unpublished correspondence with Dr. Gould.

by Dr. William F. Schmachtenberg (Dae Miami SL)
Previous work in the Film Collection

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

Copernicus' Epicycles
2018-03-03 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
Copernicus’ Epicycles
Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) is sometimes called the father of modern astronomy. He’s famous for introducing to Western Europe a thorough and worked-out model of the Solar System with the Sun at the center. At the time, nearly everybody accepted Ptolemy‘s Earth-centered model, with planets riding on celestial spheres, and riding on epicycles inside those spheres. Many of us carry the idea that Copernicus simplified it all by moving the Sun to the center. It turns out, however, that Copernicus’ system is not appreciably simpler than Ptolemy’s — he, too, had epicycles in his model! Nor was Copernicus the first one to think about Sun-centered models of the Solar System, as that idea goes back at least to ancient Greece.
In this talk, I will outline the history of our understanding of the Sun-centered model of the Solar System, and give some detail about how Copernicus’ model worked, and why it took the work of others later for us to really accept that his basic idea was right.

— Rob Knop
Previous work in the Library
Previous work in the Film Collection
Home Page
Blog

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

"CRISPR"
2018-02-25 09:00 - 10:00 | Auditorium
“CRISPR”
“New Advances in Genetic Engineering: The Nuts, The Bolts, Frankenstein Monsters?, and Ethics”

In the last 150 years we’ve had an amazing advancement in our understanding of the genetic code that programs life. While some technologies for manipulating genes have developed in the last few decades, new programmable systems have been discovered in the past few years. Developed from bacteria, the CRISPR/Cas systems allow a new level of ease for genetic changes in cells. This presentation will describe the origins of the CRISPR/Cas9 system, how it works, applications for its use, and implications for the future.

Dr. Stephen L. Gasior
Previous work in the Library
Previous work in the Film Collection

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

"Discrepancies in the Measured Expansion Rate of the Universe"
2018-02-24 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
“Discrepancies in the Measured Expansion Rate of the Universe”
Abstract:
The most basic parameter in our description of the expanding Universe is the current expansion rate, given by the Hubble Constant.
A mere two decades ago, the value of that constant was uncertain to a factor of two. Since then, the face of cosmology has changed, and we are now in an era of precision cosmology. We are able to measure the value of the Hubble Constant to within a few percent. The problem is, we now have two measurements– one from nearby objects such as variable stars and low-redshift supernovae, and the other from statistics of fluctuations in the early Universe. The two measurements are different at about the six-percent level, which is greater than the uncertainties on the individual measurements. While astronomers of two decades ago would dream to be in this situation, we find ourselves questioning whether there is something going on in the expanding universe that we haven’t figured out, or whether it is a matter of systematic uncertainties that we haven’t yet identified.
In this talk, I will discuss the history of both the Universe and of our dominant model of the Universe. I will describe how the Hubble Constant went from being extremely uncertain to relatively well known… well enough that we can see a discrepancy in two different measurements. I will describe the two ways we measure the Hubble Constant, and talk about possibilities for resolving the discrepancy in their results.

— Rob Knop
Previous work in the Library
Previous work in the Film Collection

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

Science Circle 10th anniversary
2018-02-17

“Quantification of Fossil Data”
2018-02-10 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
“Quantification of Fossil Data” and an update on the fossil identification app
ABSTRACT:
It has been over 75 years, since Charles Butts published his famous and classic monograph on the fossils of the Appalachian mountains in 1941. Recently, I have been in the process of updating the taxonomy of his work and I am in the process of developing an app to help paleontologists identify fossils. This talk will present the results of my work which has revealed interesting evolutionary patterns in fossil organisms. At the request of Virginia Tech University and James Madison University, I have added traditional morphological filters to the database of the app, which has allowed me to increase the number of fossils the app can identify and the accuracy of the identifications. The app is currently being used by curators at the Virginia Museum of Natural History to identify their unknown fossil specimens.
by Dr. William F. Schmachtenberg (Dae Miami SL)
Virginia USA
Previous work in the Film Collection

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

The Cold Case of SN 1054 by Giuseppe Longo
2018-02-04 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
The Cold Case of SN 1054
One of the most thrilling events on the sky would be Supernova (SN) event. Here, we investigate possible causes for missing historical records of SN1054 in Europe. We reconstruct the European sky at the time of the event and found that the new “star” (SN1054) and planet Venus are on opposite sides of the sky.
Namely, we find that Venus was in the east and SN1054 was in the west, with the Sun sitting directly between the two equally bright objects, as documented in East-Asian records. In spite of the relevance of the phenomenon no record of it is found anywhere in the European chronicles.
We present a likely explanation of such silence. An explanation which is connected with the schism between the Catholic and the orthodox churches and with the excommunication of Astrology and astrologers.
Event location

Giuseppe Longo
Professor of Astrophysics
Accademico Pontaniano
Associate – California Institute of Technology
Associate . INFN and INAF
Previous work in the Film Collection

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

“Virtual Worlds as an Educational Tool” By Gregory Perrier
2018-01-26 07:00 - 08:00
How do instructors in higher education use virtual worlds to promote learning and make their class more exciting and fun? Many educators initially think of lecturing in a virtual world, but there are many other ways to engage students in learning. This presentation will cover 15 different ways that instructors incorporate virtual worlds into their courses and discuss how instructors have used each method.

Gregory Perrier
Previous work in the Library
Previous work in the Film Collection

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

"The Common and Misplaced Racism of David Duke, Hitler, and Darwin: The Value of Diversity in Human Interactions” by Stephen L. Gasior
2018-01-13 10:00 - 11:00
“The Common and Misplaced Racism of David Duke, Hitler, and Darwin: The Value of Diversity in Human Interactions” by Stephen L. Gasior

Racism is the worst idea ever in its impact on the evolution of the human species and its longterm survival. Yet, it is a persistent and strong perspective that has early roots in our evolution that has continued through the Enlightenment, the Scientific Revolution, and modern day. This talk covers the biological basics of human genetic diversity as it pertains to race and some historical perspectives of notable individuals and how that has impacted culture. A more in-depth presentation on population genetics and interesting genetic traits will finish the discussion with a thought on how a rational anti-racism is beneficial in the continued evolution of Homo sapience.

Dr. Stephen L. Gasior
Previous work in the Library
Previous work in the Film Collection

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

"Black hole Demographics" by Dr. Rob Knop
2018-01-06 10:00 - 11:00
Abstract:
The term “black hole” conjures up many fanciful images, some of which are false, and, surprisingly, many of which are true. To astronomers,”black hole” actually means two different things: first, the theoretical construct predicted by General Relativity (GR), and second, the objects in space that we have observationally confirmed; there is a subtle, at least semantic, difference. For a long time, we’ve known of black holes that are several to about ten times the mass of the Sun, observed as X-Ray sources in our Galaxy. We’ve also known about black holes that are millions to billions times the mass of the Sun, lurking at the cores of galaxies. In the last few years, thanks to gravitational wave observations, we’ve confirmed black holes that are thirty times the mass of the Sun. Are there any in between? Do black holes hundreds or thousands the mass of our Sun exist? If so, where are they hiding? In this talk, I’ll outline our current knowledge of where black holes exist in the Universe, and mention some of the remaining questions we have about these exotic objects.

— Rob Knop
Previous work in the Library
Previous work in the Film Collection

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