<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss version="0.92">
<channel>
	<title>Down to a Science</title>
	<link>http://www.sciencecafesf.com</link>
	<description>A San Francisco Science Cafe and Science Blog</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Thu, 19 Aug 2010 17:15:05 +0000</lastBuildDate>
	<docs>http://backend.userland.com/rss092</docs>
	<language>en</language>
	<!-- generator="WordPress/3.0.1" -->

	<item>
		<title>Monday, 9/13 Book Club – Dead Men Do Tell Tales</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Noted forensic anthropologist Maples, whose specialty is the study of bones, and freelance journalist Browning here recount Maples's criminal and anthropological investigations over the past 20 years. The meandering text combines episodes from Maples's personal life and education with discourses on his philosophy, his teaching at the Univ. of Florida and his work. The book's strength is as a snapshot of the world of forensic scientists, vividly portraying the siege mentality of many of them when their objective data are used for purposes other than ascertaining the truth about how a victim died. Despite the two-dimensional depiction of the people who were the objects of Maples's investigations-including the "likely" remains of Romanov Tsar Nicholas II-his memoirs should hold readers' interest. ]]></description>
		<link>http://www.sciencecafesf.com/2010/08/16/monday-913-book-club-dead-men-do-tell-tales/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Monday, 8/23 – A Star is Born</title>
		<description><![CDATA[ how, exactly, are stars born? How did this process forge our present-day Universe, and how will it shape our destiny? Within the last few decades, astronomers have unraveled many of the key elements in this cosmic mystery. We now understand how star formation underlies not only the creation of galaxies, but also how it leads, as a byproduct, to orbiting planets like the Earth. Despite such basic advances, deep questions remain in this active field of research.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.sciencecafesf.com/2010/08/15/monday-823-a-star-is-born/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Monday 6/21, The Decision Tree</title>
		<description><![CDATA[When: Monday, June 21st 7-9 PM
What: The Decision Tree: Gameshow Version!
Who: Thomas Goetz, Executive Editor, WIRED. Author of new book &#8220;The Decision Tree&#8221;.
Where: Atlas Cafe, 3049 20th St @ Alabama St. in the Mission District
The Deets:
When it comes to our health, we&#8217;re often overwhelmed, scared and confused about how to mind it &#8211; so we don&#8217;t. Thomas Goetz will explain how personalized medicine isn&#8217;t just about tailor-made drugs; it&#8217;s about our personal data. We now have the technology to track and collect this valuable personal information, leading us to possibly ...]]></description>
		<link>http://www.sciencecafesf.com/2010/05/30/monday-621-the-decision-tree/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Monday 6/14, Book Club – Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex</title>
		<description><![CDATA[The study of sexual physiology—what happens, and why, and how to make it happen better—has been going on for centuries, behind the closed doors of laboratories, brothels, Alfred Kinsey's attic, and, more recently, MRI centers, pig farms, and sex-toy R&#038;D labs.  I spent two years wheedling  and conniving my way behind those doors to bring you the answers to the questions Dr. Ruth never asked.  Is your penis three inches longer than you think? Is vaginal orgasm a myth?  Can a dead man get an erection? Why doesn't Viagra help women—or, for that matter, pandas? ]]></description>
		<link>http://www.sciencecafesf.com/2010/05/16/monday-28-bonk-the-curious-coupling-of-science-and-sex/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Monday 7/12 Book Club – Deciphering the Ends of DNA</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Molecular biologist Elizabeth Blackburn—one of Time magazine’s 100 “Most Influential People in the World” in 2007—made headlines in 2004 when she was dismissed from the President's Council on Bioethics after objecting to the council's call for a moratorium on stem cell research and protesting the suppression of relevant scientific evidence in its final report. Catherine Brady tells the story of Elizabeth Blackburn's life and work and the emergence of a new field of scientific research on the specialized ends of chromosomes and the telomerase enzyme that extends them.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.sciencecafesf.com/2010/05/15/monday-712-book-club-deciphering-the-ends-of-dna/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Monday, 8/9 Book Club – Microcosm</title>
		<description><![CDATA[When most readers hear the words E. coli, they think tainted hamburger or toxic spinach. Noted science writer Zimmer says there are in fact many different strains of E. coli, some coexisting quite happily with us in our digestive tracts. These rod-shaped bacteria were among the first organisms to have their genome mapped, and today they are the toolbox of the genetic engineering industry and even of high school scientists. Zimmer (Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea) explains that by scrutinizing the bacteria's genome, scientists have discovered that genes can jump from one species to another and how virus DNA has become tightly intertwined with the genes of living creatures all the way up the tree of life to humans. Studying starving E. coli  has taught us about how our own cells age. Advocates of intelligent design often produce the E. coli flagellum as Exhibit A, but the author shows how new research has shed light on the possible evolutionary arc of the flagellum. ]]></description>
		<link>http://www.sciencecafesf.com/2010/05/15/monday-89-book-club-microcosm/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Saturday, 5/1 Alchemy</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Alchemy is an annual San Francisco event, packed with interactive art installations built to connect and amaze you. Participation highly encouraged — but we know you won’t be able to resist picking up that joystick, paintbrush, or microphone. This year brings some new science-y flavored talks.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.sciencecafesf.com/2010/04/29/saturday-51-alchemy/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Monday, 5/10 Book Club &#8211; Unscientific America</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A plea for enhanced scientific literacy, Unscientific America urges those who care about the place of science in our society to take unprecedented action. We must begin to train a small army of ambassadors who can translate science's message and make it relevant to the media, to politicians, and to the public in the broadest sense. An impassioned call to arms worthy of Snow's original manifesto, this book lays the groundwork for reintegrating science into the public discourse--before it's too late.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.sciencecafesf.com/2010/04/13/monday-510-book-club-unscientific-america/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Monday, 5/17 &#8211; Mendel, Evolution, and Your Hairy Knuckles</title>
		<description><![CDATA[People often grow personal gardens, hoping for a handful of vegetables after a summer of work.  And yet, with his own garden, a man with little biology training and severe test anxiety discovered the rules which govern plant, animal and human inheritance.  Many think of Gregor Mendel as the monk-creator of tedious high school biology lectures on pea plant whatever.  But the reasons Mendel worked for eight long years in a tiny monastery garden to discover the rules of heredity, rules that ultimately supported Darwin's Theory of Evolution, are surprising.
 
But why does genetics "work"?  We'll discuss Mendel's motivations, illustrate why meiosis (sex!) and Mendel are the same thing, and teach you how to follow your own inherited traits.  (Can you roll your tongue?  Do you have hairy knuckles?  Did mom have an affair with the mailman?)]]></description>
		<link>http://www.sciencecafesf.com/2010/04/12/monday-may-17th-mendel-evolution-and-your-hairy-knuckles/</link>
			</item>
	<item>
		<title>Monday, 4/5 &#8211; Book Club: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years. If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the effects of the atom bomb; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.]]></description>
		<link>http://www.sciencecafesf.com/2010/02/16/monday-45-book-club-the-immortal-life-of-henrietta-lacks/</link>
			</item>
</channel>
</rss>
