The Maryland Science Center is introducing a new speaker series where you can get a deeper understanding of topics which are making headlines in the fields of science and technology. Tuesday Talks take place in the morning and focuses on issues which are connected to the city, state and region that cover issues related to the environment, health and wellness, recent discoveries, and other topics curious people want to know more about. Experts will present the latest information and research on a particular subject and time for Q & A will follow the presentation. Tuesday Talks are free to anyone with advance registration.

Aurora, Substorms, and THEMIS
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
8:30 am Coffee and Bagels
9:00 am Presentation

D.G. Sibeck is a Project Scientist, THEMIS at NASA/GSFC in Greenbelt, Maryland.

Shimmering aurora in the polar skies have fascinated observers for thousands of years. For scientists, they have been the topic of intense interest (and often heated debate) for the last century. Now NASA's THEMIS mission, comprising a set of five identically-instrumented spacecraft and a dedicated network of ground observatories, is hard at work pinpointing when and where the disturbances in the Earth's magnetic field that drive aurora begin, essential information for determining their cause.

In this talk D.G. Sibeck will present examples of what aurora look like and describe when and where you should look for them. Sibeck will discuss what we know (and don't know) about the processes that produce them, then describe what THEMIS is doing to help us understand and predict one of nature's most beautiful phenomena. We will see that aurora are part of a chain of processes that lead back all the way to the surface of the Sun.

Biotechnology for the Nonscientists
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
8:30 am Coffee and Bagels
9:00 am Presentation

What is biotechnology and how does it affect you? This is a brief introduction to the language, promise, and perils of biotechnology. Lori M. Kelman is Chair of the Department of Natural Sciences and Professor of Biotechnology at Montgomery College, Germantown, MD. She received an A. B. in biochemistry from Mount Holyoke College, a M. S. in biology from St. John;s University, a MBA in management from Iona College, and a Ph.D. in molecular biology from Cornell University. Prior to coming to Montgomery College, she was on the faculty of Iona College in New Rochelle, NY, a performed research at the Rockefeller University, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and the National Institutes of Health. She has taught more than 20 different courses at three colleges, and is the author of one textbook. She is also Editor of BIOS: a quarterly journal of biology, a journal of undergraduate research and the journal of the Beta Beta Beta Biological Society.

Force of Nature
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
8:30 am Coffee and Bagels
9:00 am Presentation

Hurricanes, Katrina, and the future of Louisiana - recent events have shown what kind of havoc waves can cause. We may never calm the seas, but advances in coastal engineering could reduce their damage. Join Tony Dalrymple, a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering in Johns Hopkins Whiting School, he works as a coastal engineer, trying to better predict the behavior of the shoreline during short-term events like a hurricane, and over longer durations, like the next century of human development. His contributions to the field resulted in his election last February to the National Academy of Engineering. As a scientist, he analyzes and models waves. As an engineer, he studies the human implicationsof all that moving water.