World Science Festival Blog

Diana:

We've spent quite a lot of time preparing by doing mock interviews, reviewing literature about our scientists, and working in the labs. I hope that we'll be able to convey all that we learned about Dr. Varmus to the audience on Thursday. Every time I think about the Pioneers and how awesome it's going to be, my heart starts rattling like a jackhammer. My motto last year was "pressure is a privilege" but this year, it's “pressure makes diamonds!” read more

On Monday, the Pioneers students got to interview Dr. André Fenton, a neuroscientist from SUNY Downstate. They discussed his and Dr. Todd Sacktor’s groundbreaking studies on memory, his personal journey from the liberal arts to science, the role of international cooperation in scientific endeavors, and the path ahead for neuroscientists. read more

Last week, the students preparing to interview Sylvia Earle got a taste of what it means to conduct field research, Dr. Earle style. After checking on the results of experiments they performed with Professors Nasreen Haque and Niloufar Haque CUNY’s City Tech, they headed to the pool for a scuba diving lesson with professional divers Bernie Chowdhury, Angelo Dragone and Robert Garcia. They learned about the physics and physiology of diving, and then geared up, and went deep. They were naturals!

On May 20th, the students preparing to interview Harold Varmus visited Franklin Costantini’s genetics lab at Columbia University Medical Center. They worked with grad student Paul Riccio, who led them through a mouse dissection, discussed some of Dr. Varmus’ work and techniques, and fielded questions about life in the lab. [Riccio—in accordance with protocol—terminated a mouse he was using for an experiment and harvested the embryonic kidneys for further analysis.] read more

David and Nibh weigh in on the Pioneers in Science trip to StoryCorps read more

We’re just three weeks away from the Pioneers in Science event, when two groups of students will interview two renowned scientists, Sylvia Earle and Harold Varmus.

As part of their preparation, the students went to StoryCorps’ professional sound recording booth at Lincoln Center, so the two groups could meet and hang out for the first time and sharpen their interviewing skills. They paired off and headed into the airstream trailer. The result was a series of insightful, touching and often surprising conversations about everything from killing bacteria to wearing high heels to changing the world. read more

On Thursday, the Festival held a special event in partnership with the Global Nomads Group and the ParnassusWorks Foundation. Students groups from high schools around North America screened the documentary Naturally Obsessed: The Making of a Scientist, an intense, heartfelt and at times humorous portrait of life in a molecular biology lab. Then they came together via videoconference and engaged in an informative and inspiring conversation with the filmmakers—scientist-turned-filmmaker Richard Rifkind and author/educator Carole Rifkind—and one of the featured characters from the film, Rob Townley, who was a grad student in the lab during the period in which it was filmed. read more

Students from the Brooklyn International High School have been researching the life and work of Harold Varmus to prepare for the Pioneers in Science event, during which three representatives from the group will interview Dr. Varmus. As part of the preparation, the students visited the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Harlem DNA Lab to perform a bacterial transformation experiment. Their experience was filmed read more

Students from the Brooklyn International High School have been researching the life and work of Harold Varmus to prepare for the Pioneers in Science event, during which three representatives from the group will interview Dr. Varmus. As part of the preparation, the students visited the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Harlem DNA Lab to perform a bacterial transformation experiment. Their experience was filmed. read more

The countdown to the 2009 World Science Festival has begun. From climate change to the cosmos; from neuroscience to nanotechnology; from mathematical magic to the multiverse—this year’s Festival will feature some of the world’s leading scientific minds, celebrated artists and innovative thinkers.

Among those who have already committed to join us are: Nobel Prize-winning scientists James Watson, Harold Varmus, David Gross, Frank Wilczek, Sir Paul Nurse and William Phillips; renowned authors Bill McKibben and Irene Pepperberg; esteemed researchers E.O. Wilson, James Hansen, Daniel Wegner, Erich Jarvis, Daniel Levitin and Margaret Livingstone; and acclaimed artists Alan Alda, Marin Alsop, and Anna Deavere Smith.

Please keep visiting worldsciencefestival.com for new announcements about programs, participants and tickets.

You can also befriend the World Science Festival on Facebook and MySpace. Please check out our pages at FaceBook and MySpace  read more