June 11th, 2013: “Understanding the Paradox of Time”

Posted on by

Time travel!  Black holes! 3D printing! The Empiricist League’s sixth gathering will take place on Tuesday, June 11th  at 7:15pm at Public Assembly (70 N. 6th St., in Williamsburg, Brooklyn). Doors at 6:45pm, first speaker starts at 7:15pm.  Please RSVP at Facebook.  Admission only $5 – CHEAP!

The End of Time

George Musser is a former senior editor for Scientific American and the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to String Theory. His article, “The Paradox of Time” won the 2011 Science Writing Award from the American Institute of Physics and was selected for that year’s Best American Science & Nature Writing. He did his undergraduate studies in electrical engineering and mathematics at Brown University and his graduate studies in planetary science at Cornell University, where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Fellow.   Mr. Musser will talk to the Empiricist League about what recent work in physics says about time, and how it cannot stop, but must.

The Fact and Fiction of Time Travel

Chuck Blake is a former research scientist at the Laboratory for Computer Science at MIT. He did his undergraduate studies in physics at Caltech and graduate studies in physics at UCSD. Mr. Blake will speak to the Empiricist League about what science has to say about the possibility of time travel: how forward time travel is essentially a fait accompli and why physicists generally eschew backward time travel as usually portrayed in science fiction.

The Future of Fast: How 3D Printing is Speeding Up Everything

Linda Ricci is an entrepreneur and artist/metalsmith who has advised startups and Fortune 500 companies, as well as launched her own international luxury jewelry mass market brand.  This included teaching herself everything about jewelry production – from CAD through to 3d printing and prototyping. Ms. Ricci will speak to the Empircist League about the future of 3D printing and how it will change the way we think about everything.

March 19th, 2013: “My War: The Immune System’s Never Ending Battle Against Disease”

Posted on by

Germs!  Killer immune cells!  Insanity!  The Empiricist League’s fifth gathering will take place on Tuesday, March 19th at Public Assembly (70 N. 6th St., in Williamsburg, Brooklyn).  Doors at 7pm, first speaker starts at 7:15pm.  Please RSVP at Facebook.  Admission only $5 – CHEAP!

Sick in the Head: The Surprising Roots of Insanity

Virginia Hughes is a freelance journalist who writes about neuroscience, genetics, and medicine for the likes of Nature, New Scientist, and Slate.  Her blog Only Human is part of National Geographic magazine’s Phenomena, and she is a longtime contributor to the autism news website SFARI.org.  Ms. Hughes will speak to the Empiricist League about new research findings on the connection between the immune system and psychiatric disorders.

 

Natural Killers:  The Story of Cytotoxic T-cells, Cancer Fighting Warriors of the Immune System

 

Anastasia Liapis, PhD is a postdoctoral fellow at the Skirball Institute of Biomolecular Medicine in New York. She uses high-resolution microscopy to visualize and study immunological synapses, physical contacts that white blood cells use to communicate with one another. When she is not doing complicated experiments she is pondering the complexities of communication, between cells and humans alike.  Dr. Liapis will speak to the Empiricist League about how our immune system initiates killer cells that wage war against the  body’s attackers.

Demons, Miasma, and Microorganisms: A Hyperspeed Tour through Historical Theories of Disease

David “Lefty” Leibowitz is the founder of the Empiricist League and the author of Invisible Frontier: Exploring the Tunnels, Ruins, and Rooftops of Hidden New York.  Mr. Leibowitz will speak to the Empiricist League about the history of our understanding of disease, from the supernatural to the germ theory of today.

January 22nd, 2013: “It Came From Outer Space – The Search for Life Beyond Planet Earth”

Posted on by

Exoplanets!  Martian landers!  Little green men!  The Empiricist League’s fourth gathering will take place on Tuesday, January 22nd  at 7:15pm at Public Assembly (70 N. 6th St., in Williamsburg, Brooklyn).  Please RSVP at Facebook.  Admission only $5 – CHEAP!

Sifting the Stars with NASA’s Kepler Mission

Lucianne Walkowicz is the Henry Norris Russell Fellow in the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton and a TED Senior Fellow. She studies magnetic activity in the atmospheres of cool stars and stellar effects on planetary habitability using data from NASA’s Kepler Mission.  Dr. Walkowicz will speak to the Empiricist League about NASA’s search for life beyond our solar system, and how stars affect a planet’s ability to have life on it.

 

Mission to Mars: Curiosity and the Future of Mars Exploration

Andrew Kessler is the author of Martian Summer, a non-fiction account of his time spent working on the Phoenix Mars mission. It’s about winning the nerd lottery–getting the most exclusive ticket to work inside mission control for a NASA mission to Mars.  His work has also appeared in The New York Times and on The Discovery Channel. He holds a degree in mathematics from the University of California at Berkeley.  Mr. Kessler will speak to the Empiricist League about how NASA’s Curiosity rover seeks out signs of life on the red planet.

 

Signs of Life:  Giant Space Telescopes and the Search for Other Earth-like Planets

Lee Billings is a science journalist who has written for Nature, New Scientist, Popular Mechanics, and Seed.  His essay “Incredible Journey,” about the state of the art of interstellar exploration, was recently reprinted in Scientific American’s anthology The Best Science Writing Online 2012.  He is also the author of the upcoming book “Five Billion Years of Solitude”, about the search for other Earth-like planets.  Mr. Billings will speak to the Empiricist League about the methodologies that astronomers and planetary scientists use to someday find extraterrestrial, extrasolar life.

November 12th, 2012: “Better, Stronger, Faster – The Bionic Science of Human Enhancement”

Posted on by

Immortality!  Cyborgs!  Genetically enhanced supermen!  The Empiricist League’s third FREE gathering will take place on Monday, November 12th  at 7:15pm at Public Assembly (70 N. 6th St., in Williamsburg, Brooklyn). The program is as follows.  Please RSVP at Facebook.

Long for This World: The Strange Science of Immortality

Jonathan Weiner is one of the most distinguished popular-science writers in the country: his books have won the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. His writing has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and Scientific American. Mr. Weiner will speak to the Empiricist League about his latest book, Long for This World, and the motley array of scientists, researchers, and entrepreneurs who believe that human immortality is not only possible, but attainable in our own time.

 

More Human than Human: The Future of Brain/Computer Interfaces

Sandra Upson is the managing editor of Scientific American MIND, a bimonthly magazine on the brain and behavior. Most recently she has written about female geniuses, happy atheists, and the psychology of Starcraft 2. Before joining MIND, she was an editor at IEEE Spectrum Magazine, and her science and technology writing has also appeared in Newsweek International, the Wall Street Journal, Scientific American and New Scientist. Ms. Upson will speak to the Empiricist League about the latest developments in brain/computer interfaces, including real life paraplegics-turned-cyborgs and the future of brain as machine.

 

Brave New World:  The Promise and the Peril of Human Genetic Engineering

Daniel Grushkin is vice-president and co-founder of Genspace, the first-ever community biotechnology laboratory, and a journalist who covers the intersection of science, biotechnology and culture for publications including Businessweek, Fast Company and Discover.  Wythe Marschall is a senior editor of the Atlas Obscura and of Pomp & Circumstance. He is the co-author of Suspicious Anatomy, an illustrated book of fake science, and the co-founder of the Hollow Earth Society. Mr. Grushkin and Mr. Marschall will speak to the Empiricist League about the promise of human genetic engineering to improve our strength and intellect, as well as its associated risks – from designer babies to human/animal hybridization.

August 22nd, 2012: “Beyond Thunderdome – The Science of the Apocalypse”

Posted on by

Earthquakes!  Disease!  Technological meltdown on a global scale!  The Empiricist League’s second FREE gathering will take place on Wednesday, Wednesday, August 22nd at 7:15pm at Lolita Bar’s basement space (266 Broome St., NYC). The program is as follows.  Please RSVP at Facebook.

The Fate of the Species: Why the Human Race May Cause Its Own Extinction and How We Can Stop It

Fred Guterl is an award winning journalist who has been writing about science for more than 25 years. He is currently executive editor of Scientific American. Mr. Guterl will speak to the Empiricist League about his new book, The Fate of the Species, in which he explores the various threats to humanity’s continued existence – from superviruses to global famine to killer machines.


Jet Engines, Flamethrowers, and Obtainium: How to Survive the Apocalypse in Style

Chris Hackett is an Adjunct Professor at NYU, founder and Director of the Madagascar Insitute, and host of the Science Channel’s television show Stuck with Hackett.  Mr. Hackett will speak to the Empiricist League on how to rebuild civilization from the detritus of a lost culture – particularly car batteries and Drano.  He has not been arrested in over a year

Death from Above: How Hypernovas, Orange Dwarves and Red Giants Will Destroy Planet Earth

Dr. Jennifer Donovan Meyer is a world-class roller derby skater and postdoctoral research fellow at Stony Brook University who studies gas and star formation in other galaxies.  Dr. Meyer will speak to the Empiricist League about astronomical threats to our planet.

May 9th, 2012: Darwin vs. Robot!

Posted on by
Reply

The Empiricist League’s first FREE gathering will take place on Wednesday, May 9th at 7:15pm at Lolita Bar’s basement space (266 Broome St., NYC). The theme is “Darwin vs. Robot!” and the program is below.

We will have limited space at the event, so you must register to ensure admittance:  register now.

Darwin’s Devices: What Evolving Robots Can Teach Us About the History of Life and the Future of Technology

Biorobotics expert John Long creates robots that look and behave like extinct animals, subjects them to evolutionary pressures, lets them compete for mates and resources, and mutates their ‘genes’. In short, he lets robots play the game of life.  Professor Long will speak to the Empiricist League about his new book, Darwin’s Devices, where he tells the story of these evolving biorobots—how they came to be, and what they can teach us about the biology of living and extinct species.


Unleash the Bots of War: Envisioning the Robot Army of the Future

Noah Shachtman is the editor of Wired magazine’s national security blog, Danger Room, as well as a non-resident fellow at the Brookings Institution. He’s reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, Qatar, Kuwait, and the U.S. military’s classified military drone “cockpits” in Nevada. He has spoken before audiences at West Point, the Army Command and General Staff College, the O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference, the U.S. Strategic Command Cyber Symposium, and the National Defense University.  The Empiricist League is pleased to host a Q&A session with Mr. Shachtman on the topic of the robot hordes that will soon be marshaling their forces, and what it means for both our security and our very survival as a species.

God’s Mistakes: Bizarre Plants and Animals from the Frontiers of Science

Michael Malice is a horticulturist and subject of Harvey Pekar’s graphic
novel Ego & Hubris. He is also the co-author of five books, including
forthcoming works with Bret Michaels and D.L. Hughley. Mr. Malice will
speak to the Empiricist League about the most grotesque inhabitants of
the natural world.