SC Formal Debate: Regulation of AI
2025-04-19 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Science Circle Forum
The Chamber is resolved that there should be an international legal framework enforcing the responsible use of AI in all applications. As artificial intelligence rapidly transforms industries, governance, and daily life, questions of ethics, safety, and accountability loom large. Should a unified global framework guide AI’s development and deployment, ensuring it benefits humanity while mitigating risks like bias, privacy violations, and autonomous misuse? Or does such regulation risk stifling innovation and creating bureaucratic hurdles in a fast-evolving field?
Join us for a dynamic debate exploring the balance between responsibility and progress, with implications for technology, policy, and society worldwide.

Generated with the assistance of Grok, an AI by xAI.”

Classical Concert
2025-04-20 07:00 - 08:00, 2025-04-27 07:00 - 08:00, 2025-05-04 07:00 - 08:00, 2025-05-11 07:00 - 08:00, 2025-05-18 07:00 - 08:00, 2025-05-25 07:00 - 08:00, 2025-06-01 07:00 - 08:00, 2025-06-08 07:00 - 08:00 | The Lighthouse Café

The Moon Base
2025-04-21 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-04-28 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-05-05 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-05-12 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-05-19 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-05-26 10:00 - 11:00 | Moon base

Mathematics Club
2025-04-24 16:00 - 17:00, 2025-05-01 16:00 - 17:00, 2025-05-08 16:00 - 17:00, 2025-05-15 16:00 - 17:00, 2025-05-22 16:00 - 17:00, 2025-05-29 16:00 - 17:00 | Maths Club

How Quantum Biology governs Life
2025-04-26 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
The Robin’s flight, the smell of a rose and the oxygen around us : How QUANTUM BIOLOGY governs LIFE
In 1943, Erwin Schrödinger gave a series of talks in Trinity College Dublin which were later collected in his seminal 1944 book, What is Life? For the first time in the history of science, a physicist fished in unfamiliar water and speculated that quantum mechanics might play a role in genetic stability and biological order.
Today, experimental evidence evolved Schrödinger’s ideas into fascinating paradigms showcasing quantum effects not confined to physics laboratories but to the very fabric of life. These discoveries revamped classical biology into a deep, quantum-driven framework governing the processes of life itself.
The evolving field called “Quantum Biology” shows Life operating at the “edge of the possible”, harnessing the bizarre principles of quantum mechanics to drive fundamental biological processes.
My talk explores how subatomic phenomena shape the living world, with the most improbable real-world scenarios such as the uncanny navigational skills of migratory birds to the remarkable efficiency of photosynthesis.
Along the way, we look at how magnetoreception in robins relies on quantum entanglement, how photosynthetic systems exploit quantum superposition to maximize energy transfer, and how enzymes use quantum tunnelling to accelerate chemical reactions.
Additionally, we will see how quantum mechanics is what helps to smell a rose.
By Chandrakanth Emani
Research Scientist – Crop Transformation at MyFloraDNA – Plant Genetic Engineering/Plant TissueCulture/Genomics/Gene Editing/Agrigenomics

Transgalactic Relations
2025-05-03 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
Ongoing military reports of unexplained objects flying in our skies have sparked renewed interest in alien visitors. Some scientists predict that we will have contacted advanced civilizations on other worlds within years, if not already. What might they be like, and — more importantly – how might they act? Steven Van Hook, a researcher in transcultural relations, will consider what universal social traits we could share in common with our galactic alien neighbors, with developmental theories of exobiology and exosociology.
BIO:
Dr. Steven R. Van Hook has taught courses in transcultural communications and global affairs for the University of California and other universities in the United States and abroad. He’s been a newspaper columnist, radio talk show host, TV news anchor, and television bureau chief in Moscow covering the fall of the Soviet Union 1990-91. He has a PhD specializing in transcultural education, and is published in scholarly journals including SAGE, and UNESCO’s Prospects.

Department of Anthropology and Geography at Colorado State University
2025-05-10 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
Welcome to the Second Life campus of the Department of Anthropology and Geography at Colorado State University. We will tour the facility on May 10 at the usual Science Circle time. The purpose of the campus is to provide a basis for experimenting with, and developing, curricula focused on the types of experiential learning available in a social virtual world. A small test of this type of pedagogy was conducted in Meryl McBride’s (Merrill Johnson’s) fall semester, 2024, class in the Geography of Europe and the Americas (GR 102). We will tour the tropical rainforest display used by these students. Bring your snakebite kits!
Meryl McBride/Merrill Johnson, Ph.D.
Professor of Geography (Ret.)
Colorado State University
Fort Collins, Colorado

2020 in the Science Circle – Revisited 2
2025-05-17 10:00 - 11:00
A panel discussion following up on past topics from 5 years ago.
Phil Youngblood — The Biochemistry of Our Senses
Mike Shaw — Data into insight: Teasing out how molecules behave
Steve van Hook —The World 20 Years Ahead with 2020 Vision
Panelists will provide a brief summary of their past talks and context, provide a few updates, then we will open the floor for Q&A.
Moderated by Stephen Gasior/Xootfly

STEM Learning with Open Educational Resources
2025-05-24 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
STEM Learning with Open Educational Resources
Open Educational Resources (OER) are becoming increasingly important in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education by enhancing access, equity, and innovation. By removing the cost barriers associated with traditional textbooks and materials, OER promote inclusive learning environments and greater educational opportunity for all students. In fast-paced STEM fields, the adaptability of OER allows instructors to keep course content current, relevant, and aligned with specific learning goals. These resources also support active learning through interactive tools, problem sets, and virtual labs. Finally, open educational resources encourage collaboration among educators, enabling the sharing and improvement of instructional materials across institutions and disciplines. With several examples, this presentation explores the role of OER in modern STEM education and highlights how their use can support instructional flexibility and facilitate the continuous improvement of teaching practices in STEM.
by Myron W. Jones, Ph.D.
Department of Chemistry
Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Empowering Home Education: How Urban Parents Use AI and VR to Transform Learning
2025-05-31 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
Empowering Home Education: How Urban Parents Use AI and VR to Transform Learning
As rapid technological shifts redefine what learning looks like, the future of education cannot be confined to traditional classrooms. This presentation shares findings from a qualitative study on how urban homeschooling parents in Texas are integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Virtual Reality (VR) into their children’s daily learning. Grounded in Resource Mobilization and Learning Environment theories, Dr. Boleigha explores how parents leverage tools like ChatGPT, Meta Quest, Canva, and Scratch Jr. to create rich, adaptive, and immersive home learning environments. These parent-led innovations not only reveal evolving educational practices but also raise critical questions about equity, access, and the future design of learning systems in a tech-driven world.
Dr. Ebi Boleigha

Moon base
2025-06-02 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-06-09 10:00 - 11:00

Field Trip 1: The Moon Base Project
2025-06-07 10:00 - 11:00 | Moon base
The Moon Base Project: Learning More with Version 4
by Phil Youngblood, William Wall.
Come explore what living and working on a permanent base on the Moon might feel like. Join us on this unusual and imaginative field trip to learn about the challenges of living and working on the Moon and perhaps to better appreciate our home on Earth.
Naming Contest – Best entry receives L$5000!
We need a name! What would you name a futuristic virtual Moon Base imagined to be a place where residents would live and work sustainably on the Moon while upholding what The Science Circle stands for ( https://www.sciencecircle.org/mission-statement/ )?
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The Science Circle Moon Base Project was envisioned in the fall of 2022 as an exciting way to think about and visualize the physical and social sciences by learning about how to live and work on the Moon. After recruiting a team representing a diversity of expertise and perspectives, we met every Monday to share and discuss what we had learned that week. Over the course of the next year, we applied what we had learned to building three virtual versions of the base.
By 2024, we realized that what we had been learning may be of real interest to scientists, educators, and science enthusiasts in Second Life and beyond. We participated in two conferences (VWMOOC24 in August 2024 and the 18th VWBPE in May 2025), where we were well received and attracted the interest of a number of others. Now we are ready to apply what we learned from those conferences to a fourth version of the base and reach out to entities such as NASA, the ESA, educational institutions and museums.
In 2025, Robert Hendrix, MD (SL: Tagline) designed a Medical Bay for the SC Moon Base, which would be prepared to handle both regular medical care as well as the unique issues associated with living in low gravity and a pressurized environment on a hostile world. A draft build of the Medical Bay has been completed and the rest of the base envisioned and construction begun. Let’s explore these areas together and learn what decisions we have made about health and wellness here. Feedback and suggestions welcomed!
