So, yesterday I was chatting with my pal Lee Kottner (personal stylist to Jen-Luc Piquant, and an occasional guest blogger at the cocktail party), who lives in New York City, and I asked her which of the myriad of events she was planning to attend at the upcoming World Science Festival. Her response: "Festival? There's a science festival?"
Hell, yeah, there's a World Science Festival! It takes place May 29 through June 1, and it is going to be teh awesome. It worries me that Lee, of all people, hadn't yet heard of it, because she's pretty plugged into that sort of thing. Time to get the word out people! Alas, I will not be able to attend the festival personally, but here's my Top Ten list of the events I would be attending, if I lived anywhere within easy driving (or Amtrak/subway/bus) distance of NYC (and could split myself into multiple clones since many of them directly conflict with each other). You can see a complete schedule of all events here; there's even a blog.
1. Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives, Thursday, May 29th, 6 - 8:30 PM, The Paley Center for Media. Any fans of the multiverse out there? This event is tailor-made for you (and all your doppelgangers in parallel universes). Hugh Everett III was a theoretical physicist who devised the Many Worlds theory in the 1950s as a way of explaining what happens to all the other possibilities once the wave function collapses in quantum theory. His son, Mark Oliver Everett, is a musician 
with the alternative band Eels ("Souljacker Pt 1" has been on my cardio workout playlist for a couple of years now). Many Worlds languished for a very long time as kind of a fringe theory, but it's enjoying a bit of a resurgence. So much so that NOVA has produced a documentary about Everett pere et fils, detailing the younger Everett's "personal journey to understand the the astounding contribution that his reclusive father... made to physics." PBS will air the documentary this fall; now is your chance to see it first, and also participate in a panel discussion with Mark Everett, Michio Kaku, and Max Tegmark, moderated by Brian Cox.
2. Toil and Trouble: Stories of Experiments Gone Wrong, Thursday, May 29, 7:30 - 9:00 PM, The Moth at Symphony Space. Failure is an integral part of the scientific process: without it, no progress would ever be made. But for some reason, we only hear about the successes -- maybe everyone's concerned about losing their funding. The Moth is a renowned storytelling collective, fostering the art of the raconteur in the 21st century, so it's a perfect venue for scientists to tell their stories of experiments gone wrong -- horribly wrong! -- and other writers to explore, in narrative form, their ongoing relationship with science. String theorist Jim Gates will be on hand, along with cosmologist Michael Turner, Lucy Hawking (a.k.a., "Spawn of Stephen"), and novelist Nathan Englander.
3. The Brain and Bourne, Friday, May 30, 5:00 - 8:00 PM, The Museum of Modern Art. As a proud princess of pop culture science (I'd wear the tiara more often, but it itches), it is killing me -- just killing me, I tell you -- to miss this fantastic session. They'll be screening The Bourne Identity, and afterwards, the producer/director Doug Liman and neuroscientist Giulio Tononi will participate in a panel discussion exploring the science behind the entire Bourne trilogy: brain function, memory, personality and identity, among other issues. Award-winning screenwriter and producer James Schamus, CEO of Focus Features (Brokeback Mountain, Lost in Translation, Atonement), will moderate. Maybe if we close our eyes and wish really, really hard, Matt Damon will show up, too. Hey, we can dream. Apparently MoMA's Film Department has acquired the trilogy for its permanent collection. They've got taste, those curators. Bring your own popcorn and Twizzlers.
4. IJK, Friday, May 30, 7:00 - 8:30 PM, The New Victory Theater. French theater troupe Compagnie 11 will present "a witty, physics-inspired showcase of sonic juggling." Sonic juggling, people! That's gotta be pretty cool. The name "IJK" refers to mathematics' designators of direction in a 3-D world. 
Apparently, "the show explores space and movement in a balancing of light and dark that weave whimsy with geometry." Once Compagnie 11 has wowed the audience with their skills, Heidi Hammel of the Science Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado, will talk about some of the connections between the acrobatic antics and cosmic motion: the planets, comets, and galaxies.
5. Armitage Gone! Dance: The Elegant Universe, Friday, May 30, 7:30 - 8:30 PM, Works & Process at the Guggenheim Museum. You've read the book (or the first few chapters anyway), you've seen the NOVA special, and you've been wondering what the Brian Greene string theory franchise would dream up next. Wonder no more: string theory meets modern dance as famed director/choreographer Karole Armitage debuts a new work inspired by Greene's bestselling book. The performance "blends music, dance, text, and projected imagery to create a vibrant portrait of the universe as revealed by cutting-edge physics," and will include discussion by the aforementioned Jim Gates and composer Lukas Ligeti, who wrote the score. (Jen-Luc Piquant wants to know which dancer will play Peter Woit. C'mon, he has to be in there, too! Every performance piece needs some central conflict.)
6. Science of Disney Imagineering, 12:30 - 1:30 PM, NYU Skirball Center. (Also at 10:00 AM and 3:00 PM on the same day) The kids should love this one. Scientists and engineers from Walt Disney Imagineering will pull back the curtain and reveal the science behind that Disney theme park magic. They'll talk about the chemistry of creating colors and of fireworks, and how to make smog and other special effects. Maybe they'll even explain why the animatronic Jack Sparrow recently added to Disneyland's Pirates of the Caribbean ride looks so creepily more lifelike than the older ones. (Animatronic technology has come a long way, baby!)
7. Cool Jobs, Friday, May 30, 4:00 - 5:30 PM, NYU Kimmel Center for University Life. Okay, I already have a pretty cool job, but in an alternate universe, I'd totally be a forensics specialist like Peter Diaczuk. He's the real deal, director of forensic science at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, where he spends his days (and probably the occasional night) researching everything from underwater fingerprints, blood spatter patterns (we just blogged about this!) and how bullets ricochet off different surfaces. He won't be the only cool scientist on hand for this multimedia event, intended to inspire curious minds of all ages: oceanographer and marine botanist Sylvia Earle will be there, as well as Christopher McKay, a planetary scientist with NASA Ames Research Center, molecular biologist Betty Pace, and one of the Walt Disney Imagineers, Ben Schwegler, who specialized in developing sustainable, energy-efficient theme parks.
8. Science of Sports, Saturday, May 31, 3:00 - 4:30 PM, NYU Coles Sports Center. How often do you get the chance to see Olympic athletes and NBA players
in the same room as physicists and physiologists? This program promises
"a lively mix of action, audience participation and video, creating the
excitement of a live sporting event."
Physics, biomechanics,
biochemistry and so forth all have some bearing on all kinds of sports,
from running and skiing, to basketball and bicycling -- even the
martial arts.
9. QED: A Reading, Saturday, May 31, 8:00 - 9:30 PM, Columbia University's Miller Theater. It's Feynman. It's Alda. It's Alda playing Feynman in a reading of the classic play by Peter Parnell. 'Nuff said.
10. Plague in Gotham, Sunday, June 1, 2:00 - 3:00 PM, New York Historical Society. The NYHS has a new exhibition about the deadly cholera outbreaks in 19th century New York City -- I actually wrote about cholera epidemics last year -- and they figured, what a nice way to bring in leading epidemiologists and disaster-preparedness officials to discuss how well we are equipped, in the 21st century, to deal with a possible global pandemic. (Hurricane Katrina's aftermath did not inspire confidence in our organizational infrastructure.) They will also be showing excerpts from a new TV miniseries version of The Andromeda Strain.
There's so much more to choose from. Oh, and there's also a Science Street Fair, Saturday, May 31, 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM, Washington Square Park/NYU. Two years ago, I participated in a similar event, manning a booth to demonstrate the physics of the fight (i.e., martial arts). We won't be there this time around, but there'll be lots of other cool stuff going on. Jen-Luc sez check it out!
Are you familiar with Joy Hakim? I saw a talk she gave that indicated that before she wrote "The Story of Science" series she was scientifically illiterate. She sort of "learned on the fly".
I wonder if your own (I think admirable) experience might parallel hers.
Posted by: eingram | May 18, 2008 at 06:01 PM