Spring 2010 Season

Tuesday, February 16, 7:00 pm
Public policy in nutrition:  Where does science fit in?
Discover the science behind public policy in nutrition from the Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs) to the Dietary Guidelines to green “smart” checkmarks and health claims on food packaging. How science-based are the recommendations and who makes the decisions?

Joanne Lupton, Ph.D. (IOM) is a Distinguished Professor and William W. Allen Endowed Chair In Nutrition at Texas A & M University. She chaired the Macronutrients Panel of the National Academy of Sciences, which set the intake recommendations for energy, carbohydrates, dietary fiber, fat, and protein and also chaired the National Academy panel to determine the definition of dietary fiber and served as president of the American Society for Nutrition.

Wednesday, March 17, 7:00 pm
Mr. Lincoln’s Air Force
Abraham Lincoln nursed a life-long fascination with technology and during the Civil War seldom missed an opportunity to investigate new weapons, or to sponsor a useful innovation.  With Lincoln’s help, balloonist T.S.C.Lowe was able to create and equip the Balloon Corps, which provided improved reconnaissance for the Union Army from 1861 to 1863.This talk will explore the problems encountered in introducing a conservative military establishment to a new technology and sheds new light on an unfamiliar side of Abraham Lincoln

Tom Crouch, Ph.D.  is the Senior Curator of the Division of Aeronautics at the National Air and Space Museum. A Smithsonian employee since 1974, he has served both the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) and the National Museum of American History (NMAH) in a variety of curatorial and administrative posts.

Wednesday, March 31, 7:00 pm
Test Your Tongue: the Science of Taste
A leading expert in taste and a popular food writer look at our understanding of the science of taste and the chemical underpinnings of flavors and foods. Learn about your own tastebuds by sampling miracle fruit, artichokes, fruit strips, and more!

Linda Bartoshuk, Ph.D. (NAS) is an internationally known researcher in the chemical senses of taste and smell and Director of Human Research at the University of Florida Center for Smell and Taste. Her research explores the genetic variations in taste perception and how taste perception affects overall health.
Harold McGee is a New York Times columnist and food science guru whose books include On Food & Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen; The Curious Cook: More Kitchen Science and Lore. In 2008, Time Magazine named him to its annual list of the world's most influential people. He writes a monthly column, "The Curious Cook," for The New York Times.

Tuesday, April 20, 7:00 pm
Creativity: Unlocking Hidden Potential
“Creativity” as a human ability that can be improved is relatively recent notion.  There has been a constant evolution of the notion of creativity what it is and what it takes to do it well.  We’ll explore the key contributors to this rich and important history, and how we can further capitalize on the potential of creative minds in the future.

Richard Foster, Ph.D. is the Managing Partner for Millbrook Management Group and a Senior Faculty Fellow at Yale.  He has served as a Senior Partner and Director of McKinsey & Co. for 22 years, co-founding a number of their practices including high-tech and health care.  He is a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, serves on numerous boards including the Council on Foreign Relations and W. M. Keck Foundation, and has authored “Innovation: The Attacker’s Advantage” (1986) and “Creative Destruction” (2000).

Tuesday, April 27, 7:00 pm
Disruptive Innovation in Healthcare
This talk will relate policy changes, or lack there of, in Washington DC, to changes at the doctor-patient interface. Its thesis will be that fundamental changes at both the doctor-patient encounter and at the policy level are necessary to achieve true reform. Change at either level individually will accomplish very little.

Robert Brook, Ph.D. is Vice-President and Director of RAND Health, Professor of Medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine and Professor of Health Services at the School of Public Health at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he where he also directs the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program.  A board-certified internist, he received his M.D. and Sc.D. degrees from Johns Hopkins University.  He has been on the medical school faculty at UCLA since 1974, and divides his research time between UCLA and RAND. 

Wednesday, May 5, 7:00 pm
Darwin, Lucy and the Quest for Human Origins
Co-sponsored by OC Society of Archaeological Institute of America
Charles Darwin and Thomas Henry Huxley predicted that Africa would ultimately prove to be the cradle of humankind in spite of strong opposition from scholars who embraced a Eurocentric view for human origins. The 1974 discovery of Lucy heralded a new epoch in human origins and her species has become the benchmark by which all other finds are judged.

Donald Johanson, Ph.D. is the Founder and Director of the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University.  Known world-wide for his discovery of the Lucy skeleton, Dr. Johanson is the author of seven books and the host of the three-part Nova series In Search of Human Origins.

Thursday, May 26, 7:00 pm
Newton and the Counterfeiter
Presented in collaboration with ALOUD at Central Library, a project of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles
One of the world's greatest scientists, Isaac Newton, changed careers to manage England's Royal Mint at a time when the preponderance of fake money in circulation caused a financial crisis.  The story of Newton’s fierce pursuit of the master counterfeiter Thomas Chaloner is woven in a description of the mechanics of minting in the late 17th century and Newton’s management of the Mint.

Thomas Levenson, Director of the School's Graduate Program in Science Writing at MIT, Tom Levenson is a recipient of the Peabody Award (shared), a New York Chapter Emmy, the AAAS/Westinghouse award, and the 2005 National Academies Communications Award for "Origins." His articles and reviews have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The Boston Globe, Discover, and The Sciences.