Houston Science Enthusiasts

HYBRID: The Johnson Space Center Astronomical Society presents Dr. Aaron Clevenson in a talk titled "The Current State of Gravity Wave Research."

Dr. Aaron Clevenson is an astronomy professor at Lone Star College in Montgomery and the Observatory Director for the Insperity Observatory in the Humble Independent School District.

The meeting at will be held at the University of Houston-Clear Lake STEM Building, Room 1203 starting at 7:30 p.m.. Attendees should park in Parking Lots D3 or D4 no earlier than 7 p.m.

Please see the UHCL Map here -- Please park in lots D3 and D4. The STEM building is building #5 on the map. Come in from the east side and go left. When you come to the end of hallway, you should find the auditorium where the meeting will be.

The meeting can be accessed by going to the JSCAS YouTube Channel at the link: https://www.youtube.com/c/JSCAstronomicalSociety

Also, the JSCAS YouTube Channel link will be posted on the JSCAS web page: http://www.jscas.net

To submit questions for our presenters during the meeting, please either enter your questions as a YouTube comment (if you have an account that will allow doing so) or send your questions to: jscaslive@gmail.com

JSCAS is open to anyone who wants to learn about astronomy and membership is free. After joining, you’ll have access to our amazing Astronomy DVD Library with 100’s of choices to learn from (from Astronomy Magazine, NASA, The Great Courses, Discovery Channel, etc.).

For more information, see the website at http://jscas.net/.

Top image: C. Henze/NASA Ames Research Center

ONLINE: The Baylor College of Medicine's Center for Medical Ethics presents its annual Health Policy Symposium with the theme "When Medicine Becomes Political."

Description; "Our annual event where we highlight health policy work at Baylor College of Medicine and discuss contemporary challenges in health policy that impact our community. This year, we hope to have candid conversations about how to engage in productive discussion around controversial topics and promote respectful discourse in the face of disagreement. We will also have a poster session from Baylor students."

Keynotes:

• Where Do We Go from Here: Robert J. Blendon, Sc.D., Richard L. Menschel Professor and Senior Associate Dean for Policy Translation and Leadership Development at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; Professor of Health Policy and Political Analysis at both the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He directs the Harvard Opinion Research Program, which focuses on better understanding of public knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about major social policy issues in the U.S. and other nations.
• The Political Doctor: Admiral Bret Giror, M.D., CEO, Altesa BioSciences, Inc. Former Assistant Secretary for Health, Acting FDA Commissioner, WHO, Board Member, and Admiral in the US Public Health Service, Author of “Memoir of a Pandemic: Fighting the Coronavirus, the Presidency, and Leadership”
• The Political Academic: Peter Jay Hotez, M.D., Dean for the National School of Tropical Medicine, Professor, Departments of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine, Endowed Chair in Tropical Pediatrics Texas Children's Hospital, Co-Director, Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development; Author of new book “The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science: A Scientist's Warning”

Panels:

• The Political Patient: April Dione Adams, M.D. MS, FACOG, FACMG, Joseph Kass, M.D., J.D., FAAN, Susan Patricia Raine, M.D., J.D., M.Ed., LLM, Jean Raphael, M.D., MPH.
• Transcending Politics: Mary Brandt, M.D., FACS, J. Wesley “Wes” Boyd, M.D., Ph.D., Ricardo Nuila, M.D., Stacey Rubin Rose, M.D., F.A.C.P., F.I.D.S.A.

This virtual event is free and open to the public.

Full agenda and registration: https://www.bcm.edu/academic-centers/medical-ethics-and-health-policy/health-policy-program/health-policy-symposium

NOTE: RSVP'ing on this Meetup page DOES NOT mean you are registered for the event itself.

IN-PERSON: Let's meet and talk about the history of language based on John McWhorter's book.

"In the first book written for the layperson about the natural history of language, McWhorter ranges across linguistic theory, geography, history, and pop culture to tell the fascinating story of how thousands of very different languages have evolved from a single, original source in a natural process similar to biological evolution.
"There are approximately six thousand languages on Earth today, each a descendant of the tongue first spoken by Homo sapiens some 150,000 years ago. While laying out how languages mix and mutate over time, McWhorter reminds us of the variety within the species that speaks them, and argues that, contrary to popular perception, language is not immutable and hidebound, but a living, dynamic entity that adapts itself to an ever-changing human environment. Full of humor and imaginative insight, The Power of Babel draws its illustrative examples from languages around the world, including pidgins, Creoles, and nonstandard dialects."

Everyone is welcome whether you have read the book or not.

You can:

• view past selections
• view pool of candidates
• add your ideas to the pool of candidates

At this meeting each person can nominate a book to be voted on whether it is from the pool of candidates or not.

We'll be meeting at Cafe Express. There is ample parking in the nearby lot.

Come prepared to discuss the ideas in the book and have a good time.

Looking forward to seeing you there!