03 Sep TSRC Town Talks: Musings on 2014
and planning for 2015
2014 is a big 30th birthday year for the Telluride Science Research Center, and reflecting on the success of this summer’s Town Talks reminds me that with your support, we have established an annual tradition unique to our community.
For eight consecutive Tuesdays in July and August this year, leading national and international molecular scientists from academic institutions presented at our science lecture series. As in years past, the entire series was free and open to the public, thanks to the generous financial support of enthusiastic attendees.
Topics from this summer’s series spanned diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, innovation, energy policies, Cannabis sativa, structural color, action-figure proteins, and evolutionary mechanisms.
From every talk I learned something new. A few highlights jump out for me:
Chemist and physicist, Joan Emma Shea, gave a brilliant talk about Type II Diabetes and suggested that Alzheimer’s disease might actually be a form of diabetes, what she called, “Type III Diabetes.”
Evolutionary biologist, Paul Rainey, got our imaginations going with his presentation, “Replaying the Tape of Life,” a thought experiment on rewinding life to its origins and jumpstarting it again.
Botanist George Weiblen lamented the lack of scientific research – due to federal restrictions – on Cannabis sativa just at the time that states like Colorado are making it legal.
The Town Talks are the primary public component of TSRC’s mission to convene the world’s notable academic and private sector molecular scientists to set powerful new directions in research, build international collaborations, and find solutions to many of the great science and engineering challenges
We already have one lecture planned for the 2015 series called “The Slippery Slope of Olive Oil,” by Selina Wang, University of California, Davis, Olive Center Research Director.
If you would like to show your support for this TSRC program, please click here. I look forward to welcoming you to next summer’s series!
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