AMNH Podcasts Selected Lectures

March 26, 2013 8:12 AM

Science & the City is the public gateway to the New York Academy of Sciences. We publish a comprehensive calendar of public science events in New York City, host events featuring top scientists in their fields, and produce a weekly podcast covering cutting-edge science. Meanwhile, the American Museum of Natural History presents over 200 public programs each year including workshops, seminars, lectures, cultural events, and performances. Museum lectures are presented by scientists, authors, and researchers at the forefront of their fields. These engaging sessions often reveal the findings of the Museum's own cutting-edge research in genomics, paleontology, astrophysics, biodiversity, and evolutionary biology and complement the science behind the Museum's world-famous cultural and scientific halls and special exhibitions. Now many are available in podcast form.

Some of my recommendations from the New York Academy of Sciences include,

The Tangled Bank
S&C chats with science writer Carl Zimmer about his newest book on evolution. Hear what's changed since Darwin.
Looking for the Key in P53
Visit the lab of Hunter College's Jill Bargonetti, a biologist researching cancer. Her team studies P53, a natural tumor-suppressor protein found in our bodies with a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality.
Advances in Autism
We talk to two scientists at Hunter College who research different aspects of Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD). Jason Dictenberg studies synapses in our brain, and Michael Siller looks at play-based therapies for autistic children. Both are on the cutting edge of new research in the field of autism.
Why Humans Have Sex
Evolutionary psychologist David Buss explains the mating rituals and patterns of our quirky species. We might not have colorful peacock tails, but we've got some fancy strategies of our own to make up for it.
Science as a Modern Creation Story
History professor David Christian's riveting account of the known world is acclaimed for synthesizing the history of everything, including the sciences, into one framework. So says Bill Gates.
Wrath Goes Viral: Part 1
This is Part 1 of our podcast coverage of the event Wrath Goes Viral, the first in our Science and the Seven Deadly Sins series.
Wrath Goes Viral: Part 2
This is Part Two of our podcast coverage of the event Wrath Goes Viral, the first in our Science and the Seven Deadly Sins series.
Prideful Predictions?
This is an excerpt from our Pride: Flying Cars and Other Broken Promises event.
(Envy coming soon in this series)

Particularly their focus on nutrition:

Antioxidant Science
Foods high in antioxidants are believed to fight oxidative stress. But what is oxidative stress? Two scientists from a recent NYAS conference break it down and discuss whether antioxidants have superpowers.
Are You What You Eat?
Harvard science historian Steven Shapin discusses the history of food science and the human view of nutrition from dietetics to modern moderation in this podcast presented by The Sackler Institute for Nutrition Science at the New York Academy of Sciences.
A Thought for Food: My Dinner with My Dinner
How do we know what's really good for us in an age of information overload? The first installment in our new podcast series on nutrition follows the journey of food from the table through the digestive tract to begin to get to the bottom of that big question.
A Thought for Food: Tiny Amounts
Scurvy was once the scourge of the seven seas, but it turned out to have a simple solution: Vitamin C. In the second installment of our nutrition series, learn all about the power of vitamins, minerals, and other micronutrients.
A Thought for Food: Fire in Your Belly
Though fat and sugar are often seen as the bad guys in the world of nutrients, the truth is our body needs them to survive. Begin to explore those most maligned compounds in the third edition of our nutrition series.
A Thought for Food: Fat Lot of Good
Trans fat, saturated fat, hydrogenated oil—such terms are plastered on food labels across the country. But what do any of them really mean? Find out all about fat in this episode of our nutrition series.
Getting Behind the Resveratrol Hype
A few years ago, Resveratrol—a compound found in red wine and dark chocolate, among other foods—made a splash in the news as an anti-aging wonder and was soon after seized upon by marketers. But the truth is that research is still in its early stages. Dr. Joseph Baur leads us through the science behind the hype.
A Thought for Food: Sugar in the Morning...
The battle of wills to resist the last cupcake isn't the only one being waged over sugar. In fact, sugar—or fructose to be more precise—is one of the most hotly contested subjects in the world of nutrition. Find out why in the fifth edition of our nutrition series.
The Science of Local Food
Locavorism is all the rage these days, but does science back it up? Is local food more nutritious? Can it improve our environment? And does it even taste better? This June, we invited a panel of experts from the New York area to find out.
A Thought for Food: Rock Steady
Salt is one of the most important and versatile ingredients in foods around the world. We like it, we need it, but are we getting too much of it these days? Get the big picture on this unique compound in episode six of our nutrition series.

Some of my recommendations from The American Museum of Natural History include,

Science in the Middle East
Uri Ten Brink
A geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey discusses the challenges he's faced when doing science in the Middle East, and his research on the Dead Sea basin. (00:25:08)
A Life Decoded
Craig Venter
The leader of the private-sector human genome project has published an autobiography. (01:02:13)
The Search for "The Missing Link"
Alan Walker
The Evan Pugh Professor of Biological Anthropology and Biology at Penn State discusses the fossil evidence of our earliest human ancestor. (00:47:52)
Biblical Natural History
Daniel Hillel
An ecologist and soil physics expert who has consulted globally to the U.N. and the World Bank describes how the natural environment in the Middle East has changed since biblical times. (00:56:27)
Death by Black Hole
Neil deGrasse Tyson
The Hayden Planetarium director, Nova ScienceNow host, and eminently entertaining astrophysicist discusses his new book. (01:20:13)
I, WOZ
Steve Wozniak
Steve Wozniak, cofounder and inventor of Apple computers, describes his childhood, his sources of inspiration, and the offbeat thinking that led to the Apple II computer. (00:36:42)
Carl Sagan: Science & the Search for God
Ann Druyan, Steve Soter, and Neil deGrasse Tyson
In this panel discussion with Hayden Planetarium director Tyson, Carl Sagan's widow and former colleague discuss the astrobiologist's perspective on science, the spiritual experience, and the search for God. (01:22:12)
An Evening with Edward O. Wilson
Two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Edward O. Wilson, an entomologist and biologist known for his pioneering work on evolution and sociobiology, converses with Michael Novacek, Senior Vice President and Provost of Science and curator in the division of paleontology at the AMNH. The event, celebrating the recent publication of a collection of Wilson's writing, "Nature Revealed," was part of the museum's programming related to its Darwin Exhibition, which runs through August 20, 2006. (53:17)

Incidentally, you lucky bastards in DC and New York have plenty of awesome stuff at each of these places to organize meetups around.

posted by Blasdelb (3 comments total)

These look great! Really looking forwards to taking a walk and listening to them.
posted by Artw at 9:40 AM on March 26, 2013

This is such a great list, but I have to ask a point of clarification-- the American Museum of Natural History is also in NYC; am I missing their DC events, or are you thinking of the National Museum of Natural History?
posted by jetlagaddict at 10:04 AM on March 26, 2013

"This is such a great list, but I have to ask a point of clarification-- the American Museum of Natural History is also in NYC; am I missing their DC events, or are you thinking of the National Museum of Natural History?"

WAIT THERE IS NO WOOLLY MAMMOTH IN A GIANT GORGEOUS ATRIUM ANYWHERE ON THEIR WEBSITE. Yes I got them confused, no wonder NdGT seems to be hanging around so much, sorry DC mefites.
posted by Blasdelb at 10:09 AM on March 26, 2013