From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4_at_msn.com)
Date: Tue Sep 27 2005 - 17:32:38 UTC
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From: cunews_at_cornell.edu<mailto:cunews_at_cornell.edu>
To: CUNEWS-CAMPUS-L<mailto:CUNEWS-CAMPUS-L_at_cornell.edu>
Sent: Monday, September 26, 2005 3:00 PM
Subject: Featuring Cornell: Science Cabaret
In a funky setting, Science Cabaret debuts with images of Mars
Sept. 26, 2005
By Lauren Gold
ITHACA, N.Y. -- A single strand of red Christmas lights sparkles
The Cornell associate professor of astronomy and leader of the
Enthusiastic and easygoing, Bell is no stranger to academic talks. As
As he says it, the first audience members arrive. Within 10 minutes,
Cornell horticulture professor Dave Wolfe gives Bell a quick
The Science Cabaret concept, inspired by Europe's popular Cafe
"It's important to get away from the ivory tower image," says
Bell's presentation, "Postcards from Mars," introduces the audience
He pauses for questions, anecdotes and the occasional sip from his
So do the audience members -- Cornell graduate fellow Enyi Elekwachi,
Freeville residents Ron Szymanski and first-grader (and aspiring
Science cafés blur the boundaries between science, music,
Sure, the concept is about teaching science. But more, says Hoffmann,
The format, especially the give-and-take between audience members and
"It was nice that people felt comfortable jumping in the middle of
With the first Science Cabaret now behind them, organizers Williams
Other cabarets planned are "God in the Forest: The Ivory-Billed
-30-
Media Contact: Press Relations Office
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along the raw brick walls of the Lost Dog Cafe's upstairs lounge -- a
space of silvery heating ducts, mirrors, beaded lamps and worn,
velvety couches -- as Jim Bell begins setting up his projector,
chatting with organizers, and wondering what to expect from the next
two hours.
panoramic camera (Pancam) team for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover
mission is the presenter at the Sept. 20 debut of Ithaca's Science
Cabaret, a monthly event sponsored by the Boyce Thompson Institute
for Plant Research (BTI).
for evening presentations in dark, funky lounges, though -- "I have
no idea what to expect," he says. "But you know what? I'm going to
have fun."
the lounge is packed.
introduction. And Bell takes it from there.
Scientifique movement of the 1990s, is about taking science away from
stiff lecture halls and bringing it into a laid-back social
atmosphere.
co-organizer and BTI public affairs officer Shawna Williams. "So many
science talks are fairly technical. People would have to come all the
way up here [to campus] in the middle of the day [to] sit in an
auditorium. We wanted people to feel comfortable." Williams has been
working with Sarah Davidson, a Cornell graduate student who proposed
the idea last March, to bring the concept to Ithaca.
to "two amazing robot geologists -- Spirit and Opportunity." Using
the images the rovers have sent back to Earth -- Spirit's first
glimpse of its landing spot at Gusev Crater, Opportunity's view,
taken just days ago, of the stretch of Meridiani Planum dubbed Erebus
Highway, and dozens more -- Bell tells the mission's story.
pint of Guinness. And yes, he has fun.
for example, who is full of questions for Bell. "When I saw [the
notice about Science Cabaret] I said, 'I have to see this,'" he says.
astronaut) Veronica Cator-Szymanski heard about the event on the
radio -- and came to see the planet Veronica wants to be the first to
visit. "We're very excited to get this experience, to have this
opportunity," says Ron Szymanski.
poetry and art. At the Cornelia Street Cafe in Greenwich Village,
Cornell chemist and poet, Nobel laureate and Ithaca's Science Cabaret
advisory board member Roald Hoffmann runs the similarly inspired
"Entertaining Science." Topics range from "Coltrane, Einstein and
Cosmology" to "Thermodynamics and the Purpose of Life."
it's "to put science in juxtaposition with music and the written and
spoken word, and for people to form the implicit connections."
speakers, encourages those connections.
things to ask questions," Bell says. "They said it was nice to hear
some of the inside-track stuff. It helps make it less academic."
and Davidson are looking forward to the next event, on Oct. 11 -- a
demonstration of the theremin, the world's first electronic musical
instrument, by musician James Spitznagel.
Woodpecker as a Spiritual Paradigm" with John Fitzpatrick, director
of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, and conservationist Dave Foreman
on Nov. 1; and "Crocheting the Hyperbolic Plane" with Cornell
mathematician Dania Taimina on Dec. 6. All events are at 7 p.m. on
the second floor of the Lost Dog Cafe, 106 S. Cayuga St., Ithaca.
Phone: (607) 255-6074
E-mail: pressoffice_at_cornell.edu<mailto:pressoffice_at_cornell.edu>
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