Science Circle

Henupoto Wara: Supernatural Anti-Hero of the Mythical Past
2021-03-06 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Auditorium
Graphic: The Emberá Comarca of Eastern Panama within the red circle

Henupoto Wara: Supernatural Anti-Hero of the Mythical Past

The Emberá, a tropical lowland tribe of the Darién rain forest of Eastern Panama and the Pacific coastal lowlands of Colombia, have a strong tradition of telling detailed stories about animals, spirits, and demons and of adventures in the mythical past. Henupoto Wara, or Leg-Born Child, is one of the most famous stories and chronicles the adventures of this cultural anti-hero as he engages the many supernatural ecologies and denizens of Emberá cosmology. This discussion presents the story and discusses an interpretation of some of the ecological images, assumed knowledge and cosmological implications embedded is this oft-told narrative.

Henupoto tries to tear off the face of the moon because the elders said the moon killed his mother.
The story of Henupoto is one of the most well-known stories of the pantheon of Emberá stories, myths, legends and narratives. It is the story of a man who is born of the union between a spirit and a woman. His mother dies in childbirth and he grows up a troubled but powerful orphan constantly trying to locate the being that killed his mother. As part supernatural being, he executes a series of herculean tasks that require his special skills. Like many characters in stories among the Emberá, Henupoto is not precisely a hero but rather a supernaturally strong anti-hero that makes embarrassing demands upon society that results in the elders always trying to figure out a way to get rid of him. However, no matter how difficult the task they assign or how unlikely he is to succeed at the tasks, he comes out victorious. That is, until the dramatic end. His efforts, it can be interpreted, profoundly protect society from the potential ravages of the supernatural world. Henupoto is constantly upsetting and resetting the balance between the human, the natural and the supernatural worlds. Although Henupoto is universally admired among the Emberá, for his strength, cunning, skill and determination, he is also an outcast and a cosmic misfit. He is also comically naïve as he attempts to track down the being that killed his mother when it was he, himself, when he was born, who caused his mother to die in childbirth.

Emberá in ceremonial dress from Emberá Drua, a village on the upper Chagres River, Panama
The Emberá have a sophisticated cosmology or, if you will, religion in which the many actors, spirits, demons, people, animals and natural forces interact in a complex and dynamic spiritual equilibrium. It is often the role of the shaman or in this case a human spirit being to maintain this equilibrium by creating harmony among all these competing forces and to ensure that the spirits from time-to-time can be bound to human intention through carefully executed rituals that seduce the often ambivalent spirits into cooperation. The Emberá have a strong narrative tradition that communicates ecological principles. The stories contain strong evocative images and symbols and form a type of encapsulated language, coding metaphorically the actions of the human and spirit world. This language, with its ecological imagery, shows what happens when the cultural rules are broken and they delineate the fine line between the cultural and spiritual domain.

Emberá Drua village in the upper Chagres River, Panama

The story of Henupoto dramatically illustrates the supernatural struggle of cosmological forces and demonstrates the power of narratives to encode culturally rich information. Myths, such as Henupoto, provide a unique view into the complex cultural perspective of traditional cultures that practice a pre-literary narrative tradition for countless generations.

Presentation by William Harp
Information Systems Technologist, Cultural Anthropologist and Geospatial Analyst

William Harp

Previous lectures on film

Non-members only need to register once to attend the free events.
Is this the first time you will attend a presentation with us?
Follow this link first.

Fireside Chat Gravity
2021-03-03 16:00 - 17:00 | Fireside
Fireside Chat Gravity: The Reckoning
From black holes to landing a rover on Mars, gravity is the essential consideration. Gravity is not a classical force like magnetism. Newton described the behavior of objects subject to gravity, but did not describe its nature. Einstein showed mathematically that gravity is mass/energy distorting spacetime. Accordingly, gravity is now understood to be that mass-induced spacetime distortion/curvature. Please join us for an informal chat to explore the ramifications of the modern understanding of gravity and to have your questions addressed by our panelists.

with Matthew Burr, Dr. Phil Youngblood & Dr. William Wall.

Non-members only need to register once to attend the free events.
Is this the first time you will attend a presentation with us?
Follow this link first.

Classical Sunday Concerts
2021-02-28 07:00 - 08:00, 2021-02-21 07:00 - 08:00, 2021-02-14 07:00 - 08:00, 2021-02-07 07:00 - 08:00, 2021-01-31 07:00 - 08:00, 2021-01-24 07:00 - 08:00, 2021-01-17 07:00 - 08:00, 2021-01-10 07:00 - 08:00 and 3 more dates | The Lighthouse Café
CLASSICAL SUNDAY CONCERTS
Sundays at 7 AM PST
Weekly piano concerts by Earl Kiech at the lighthouse cafe.

Wake up quietly, start your afternoon relaxed or take a seat in a comfortable armchair to end your day with us.
No matter what time zone you are in, Earl’s music balances a stressful week at any time of the day.
This is the perfect time to catch up with colleagues and friends.

Panel: Gravity
2021-02-27 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
To aid everyone in the audience in getting the most from our presentations, The Science Circle is introducing a series of presentations that seek to explain popular and important topics in different fields of science. Each presentation will start with a basic understanding that most pre-college students may have and gradually work up to the types of things that experts know, and still do not know, about each topic, all within an hour.

For this month’s Panel discussion, the topic is Gravity. Gravity is something so present in our lives that we may take it for granted, but it is also what makes possible some of the most fantastical concepts that explain, and objects that make up, our known universe.

Panel Host Matthew Burr will start by reviewing that we understood about Gravity until the beginning of the 1900’s, based on Newtonian mechanics.
Dr. Phil Youngblood will then review the new ideas that Einstein discovered at the turn of the century regarding the relativity of space-time.
Dr. William Wall will conclude by talking about Einstein’s field equations and the more exotic aspects of gravity associated with massive objects.
On March 20, Phil Youngblood will continue the series with an explanation of “Elementary Particles” at different levels of understanding.

Phil Youngblood
William Wall

Matthew Burr

Previous panels on film

Fireside Chat Wednesday, March 3 at 4 PM PST

Non-members can register for the free event.
Is this the first time you will attend a presentation with us?
Follow this link first.

Climate Change and Risk Analysis
2021-02-20 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
Graphics tweeted by the International Federation of Red Cross / Red Crescent (IFRC) during the recent Climate Adaptation Summit (CAS 2021) summarize potential physical consequences of climate change and their social impacts.

Climate Change and Risk Analysis
Over the last 40 years, a wide scientific consensus predicted a global, annual average, temperature increase due to human emissions of carbon dioxide plus the feedback of the amount of water vapor that the atmosphere can contain as the atmospheric temperatures increased. The primary focus of scientific policy recommendations was mitigation of such global warming by shifting to carbon neutral energy production Nonetheless, the atmospheric concentration of CO2 has continued to increase from a preindustrial value of 285 ppm (parts per million) to a concentration in 2000 of 370 ppm to about 418 ppm today, high than any prior time in human history.. This increase is sufficient that we can no longer focus only on global emissions reduction but must reckon with local adaptations to already existing economic and social system risks, where a risk is considered to be an undesirable event stemming from a changing climate.

Graphics tweeted by the International Federation of Red Cross / Red Crescent (IFRC) during the recent Climate Adaptation Summit (CAS 2021) summarize potential physical consequences of climate change and their social impacts.

This initiates a project, often at the level of cities and counties, of identifying potential risks, estimating various levels of likelihood, tying those levels to consequences for human lives, social systems, and economics, and then pursuing means of adapting to reduce the risks.
Presentation by Dr. Keith Grant

Dr. Keith Grant

Reference work in the library

Previous lectures on film

Non-members can register for the free events through SC members.
Is this the first time you will attend a presentation with us?
Follow this link first.

Fireside Chat Preservation Crocodilian
2021-02-15 09:00 - 10:00 | Fireside
Still having questions regarding “Rare Preservation of a Mother Crocodilian with Eggs“?
Or are you fascinated by the work and excavations of a palaeontologist?
Come to the Fireside Chat and ask your questions, in a casual environment, to Dr. Alex Hastings

Q&A with Dr. Alex Hastings

Dr. Alex Hastings

Reference work in the library

Previous lectures on film

Non-members can register for the free events through SC members.
Is this the first time you will attend a presentation with us?
Follow this link first.

Rare Preservation of a Mother Crocodilian with Eggs
2021-02-13 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
“Rare Preservation of a Mother Crocodilian with Eggs”

Modern crocodilians exhibit parental care for their eggs during development, as do modern birds. However, given that pterosaurs (flying reptiles), which are more closely related to birds than crocodilians seem to have not exhibited parental care, this calls into question whether or not more ancient crocodilians and dinosaurs had parental care or not. A remarkably well-preserved fossil adult crocodilian with eggs helps resolve some of these issues by showing this behavior of egg-guarding likely extending back about 45 million years.
Presentation by Dr. Alex Hastings

Dr. Alex Hastings

Reference work in the library

Previous lectures on film

Fireside Chat Monday, February 15 at 9 AM PST

Non-members can register for the free events through SC members.
Is this the first time you will attend a presentation with us?
Follow this link first.

Heroes of Evolution: Richard Dawkins
2021-02-12 09:00 - 10:00 | Auditorium
Heroes of Evolution: Richard Dawkins

For the first time in this lecture series, I will discuss a still living icon of evolution. Richard Dawkins has had an immense impact in his lifetime on the advancement of evolutionary theory as well as science advocacy. His energy and commitment to science are still ongoing today. The talk will discuss his scientific work as well as highlight some of his activities advocating for rational thinking. The talk will consist of three sections:
Scientific Work
The Selfish Gene and select other books for the nonscience audience and their effect on science and culture
Advocacy for Skepticism and Atheism

Presentation by Dr. Stephen Gasior (Xootfly)

Dr. Stephen L. Gasior

Reference work in the library

Previous lectures on film

Podcasts

Non-members can register for the free events through SC members.
Is this the first time you will attend a presentation with us?
Follow this link first.

Fireside Chat The Rest is Silence
2021-02-10 16:00 - 17:00 | Fireside
Still having questions regarding “The Rest is Silence“?
Or are you fascinated by Genetics?
Come to the Fireside Chat and ask your questions, in a casual environment, to Dr. Mary Anne Clark

Q&A with Dr. M. A. Clark, Professor of Biology, Texas Wesleyan University

Dr. Mary Anne Clark

Reference work in the library

Previous lectures on film

Non-members can register for the free event.
Is this the first time you will attend a presentation with us?
Follow this link first.

The Rest is Silence
2021-02-06 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
Image: Wikipedia
Silent mutations are changes in the DNA of a protein-coding gene that do not result in a change in the encoded protein. How can silent mutations occur? How can you detect a silent mutation? How frequent are silent mutations relative to mutations that produce an amino acid change? Are silent mutations really silent? This presentation will address these and other questions about silent mutations.
A presentation by Dr. Mary Anne Clark
Max Chatnoir
M. A. Clark, Professor of Biology, Texas Wesleyan University

Dr. Mary Anne Clark

Reference work in the library

Previous lectures on film

Fireside Chat Wednesday, February 10 at 4 PM PST

Non-members can register for the free event.
Is this the first time you will attend a presentation with us?
Follow this link first.

Fireside Chat DNA/RNA Science
2021-02-03 16:00 - 17:00 | Fireside
Still having questions regarding “Advances in DNA and RNA Science“?
Come to the Fireside Chat and ask your questions, in a casual environment, to Dr. Mary Anne Clark & Dr. Stephen Gasior

Q&A with Dr. Mary Anne Clark & Dr. Stephen Gasior

Non-members can register for the free events through SC members.
Is this the first time you will attend a presentation with us?
Follow this link first.

Advances in DNA and RNA Science
2021-01-30 10:00 - 11:30 | Auditorium
Image: DNA vs RNA – Similarities and Differences Sciencenotes.org
Nucleic Acids: Advances in DNA and RNA Science / Forensics and Vaccines

Guests

1. Dr. Stephen L. Gasior

2. Dr. Mary Anne Clark

Matthew Burr

Previous panels on film

Fireside Chat Wednesday, February 3 at 4 PM PST

Non-members can register for the free event.
Is this the first time you will attend a presentation with us?
Follow this link first.

Fireside Chat: Covid-19
2021-01-23 10:00 - 11:00 | Fireside
Fireside chats are intimate gatherings with the last speaker to have a free-form discussion. Audience drives the discussion with their questions or topics. This additional opportunity for the audience to receive answers to questions will be scheduled a few days after the last presentation.
This week the open introduction of this new addition, central today Covid-19. The questions are answered by Phil Youngblood Ph.D. and Robert Hendrix MD.

Phil Youngblood, Ph.D.
Robert Hendrix, MD

Non-members can register for the free events through SC members.
Is this the first time you will attend a presentation with us?
Follow this link first.

The Global COVID-19 Pandemic - Are We Winning Yet?
2021-01-16 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
Image Nature.com: Coronavirus biology and replication: implications for SARS-CoV-2

The Global COVID-19 Pandemic – Are We Winning Yet?

We will present an update covering some of what has been learned in the past year, 2020, regarding
– the molecular biology of the SARS-CoV-2 virus,
– mechanisms of disease in humans
– medical COMPLICATIONS of COVID-19 infection.
Treatment will be reviewed, including strategies and limitations of various new vaccines, with some discussion of the potential of public health versus the failings of human compliance.

Robert A. Hendrix, MD

Reference work in the library

Previous lectures on film

Podcast Global Outbreak of Fatty Liver Disease

Podcast Doctor’s Tips for Healthier Mind and Body

Non-members can register for the free events through SC members.
Is this the first time you will attend a presentation with us?
Follow this link first.

The COVID-19 Pandemic A Year On
2021-01-09 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
The COVID-19 Pandemic A Year On

The last time The Science Circle presented on the COVID-19 pandemic was back at the beginning of April when we were alarmed that the number of known cases in the world had reached 1 million. By the time of this presentation, a conservative estimate of the number of cases worldwide will have reached 100 million, with no end yet in sight. One bright piece of news in recent days, however, has been the beginning of vaccinations in some countries and the unprecedented race to create more vaccines.

Photo: Utrecht University
Over three Saturdays from 9 January through 23 January, we will revisit one of the most pressing issues of our times, now a year after the novel coronavirus was identified.

On the first Saturday (9 Jan), Phil Youngblood Ph.D., will talk with you about where we have come over the last year and perhaps what we will see in 2021, as well as the many ways the pandemic has taken a toll on us this past year.
On the second Saturday (16 Jan), Robert A. Hendrix, MD, will present the medical side of the pandemic, that is, what we have learned about how this new virus affects the human body and how the vaccines work.
Finally, on the third Saturday (23 Jan), we will hold a “Fireside Chat” intended to address the types of issues that is of most interest to our audience about these issues.
Presentation by Phil Youngblood

Dr. Phil Youngblood

Reference work in the library

Previous lectures on film

Podcast

Non-members can register for the free events through SC members.
Is this the first time you will attend a presentation with us?
Follow this link first.

Fireside Chat CRISPR
2021-01-04 17:00 - 18:00 | Fireside
While CRISPR science is fun, a more intimate talk about the implications and ethics. I will come with my own potential topics but come with those questions burning your brain about CRISPR. Do you fear the genome editing future? Do you want to speculate on what society and biology will be like in 10, 20, 100 years? Is this a good thing or a bad thing?

Fireside Chat with Dr. Stephen Gasior

Dr. Stephen L. Gasior

Reference work in the library

Previous lectures on film

Podcasts

CRISPR 2020: Year in Review
2021-01-02 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
Figure NobelPrize.org. Using the genetic scissors, researchers can edit the genome of practically all living things.

Every year there are new advances in genome engineering. In this talk, the most important and interesting news in CRISPR-based gene editing from 2020 will be presented. Come learn about Technology Advances, New Tools, Intellectual Property, and Target Genes and Modified Organisms from a former published practitioner in the field. Of special note this year is the awarding of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry to Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier for their work in CRISPR. Thus, the talk will start with a little deeper history of its discovery and invention. This year CRISPR was used for more than just gene editing, so those will be of particular interest and discussed as well.
Non-members can register for the free events through SC members.
Presentation by Dr. Stephen Gasior (Xootfly)

Dr. Stephen L. Gasior

Reference work in the library

Previous lectures on film

Podcasts

EXTRA
Fireside chat
Monday, January 5 at 5 PM PST
Fireside chats are intimate gatherings with the last speaker to have a free-form discussion. Audience drives the discussion with their questions or topics.

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

Follow the Food Special
2020-12-27 12:00 - 13:00 | Auditorium
Follow the Food is a BBC documentary sponsored by one of the big three agriculture companies, Corteva Agrisciences. It covers the current food chain, challenges to feeding the world, and new technologies in world agriculture.

Come watch the Special Episode Follow the Food Chain on Sunday December 27th at 12 PM PST
Features a Q&A afterwards with a Corteva Agrisciences Scientist.

Virtual Worlds: Past, Present and Future
2020-12-26 09:00 - 11:30 | Auditorium
Guests

1. Bill Harp, Panama

2. George Djorgovski, USA

3. Phil Youngblood, USA

4. Steven Van Hook, USA

09:00 – 10:00 George Djorgovski & Bill Harp
10:00 – 10:30 Intermezzo, with musical accompaniment by Earl Kiech
10:30 – 11:30 Steven Van Hook & Phil Youngblood

Matthew Burr

Previous panels on film

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

Urban agriculture and sustainable food
2020-12-19 10:00 - 11:00
Urban agriculture and sustainable food: field trip to a Second Life backyard food garden with Delia Lake

UN Sustainable Development Goal #2 is Zero Hunger, yet worldwide, hunger is increasing.

Getting fresh food to people with little waste and reduced greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs)
Food – one of the essentials for life.
Over 4 B people worldwide and growing live in urban areas.
1/3 of food produced worldwide is wasted, with people in affluent countries wasting even more, while almost 1 B people experiencing food insecurity.

Most food is produced far away from where it is eaten and is transported to us. All told, it’s estimated that it takes about 10 kcal of energy for every 1 kcal of food we get.

Can we get fresh food to people with little waste and reduced greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs)? Yes, we could grow a significant portion of our food in or near urban areas where most people eat it, but as Joni Mitchell said it in Big Yellow Taxi (1970). “Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone? They paved paradise, put up a parking lot.”
There is a nascent and growing movement toward urban and suburban farming. I have been growing vegetables in RL urban environments for decades, and in SL since 2008. On this Second Life fieldtrip we’ll explore a few ways that each of us might advance urban farming in our solid lives.

Linda M. Kelley

Reference work in the library

Previous lectures on film

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