2009-10 Penn Science Café Schedule

Sept. 16

Oct. 14

Anthony Cashmore,Department of Biology
Free Will and the Criminal Justice System

Nov. 18

Lyle Ungar, Computer Science
The Singularity—When Computers Will Think Like Humans

Dec. 14

Adrian R. Morrison, Institute of Neurological Sciences
An Odyssey With Animals: Reflections on the Animal Rights and Welfare Debate

The relationship between animals and humans is more complex today than ever before. In addition to the animals that have served as household pets and the farm animals that have provided labor and food, countless monkeys, rabbits, rats, and cats have enabled modern scientists to treat and cure humanity's most devastating illnesses. This aspect of animal-human interaction has engendered a bitter enmity between animal rights activists and the biomedical researchers whose work depends on the use (and oftentimes the killing) of laboratory animals. In An Odyssey with Animals , veterinarian and sleep researcher Adrian R. Morrison argues that humane animal use in biomedical research is an indispensable tool of medical science, and that efforts to halt such use constitute a grave threat to human health and wellbeing. Adrian R. Morrison is Professor Emeritus of Behavioral Neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania's School of Veterinary Medicine. He is an internationally known expert on REM sleep and a defender of the humane use of animals in biomedical research.

Jan. 20, 2010

Ruth Schwartz Cowan, History and Sociology of Science
DNA Banks and Genetic Tests, Should I make a deposit? Should I take one?

Feb. 16

Max Mintz, Department of Computer Science
Quantum Computing

March 17

Jonathan Moreno, History and Sociology of Science
Bioethics in Washington

April 14

Josh Plotkin, Department of Biology
A Viral Evolution

May 12

Robert Kurzban, Department of Psychology
The Cognitive Process Behind Hypocrisy