Science on Tap - Oregon & Washington

EVENT DESCRIPTION:
If the farm-to-table movement has taught us anything, it is that knowing where your food comes from can make a difference in the local community (and comes with delicious flavor!). Your microbiome–as local a community as you can get!–would also benefit from such care and attention.

How do your immune cells get their intel?
Who digests your food?
Who gave your food nutrients in the first place?

Food crops not only make their own phytochemical menu that add flavor to our lives, ward off caterpillars, etc, but plants, themselves, have their very own microbiome! From mycorrhizal connections, endophytic fungi, and nodule-forming nitrogen-fixing rhizobia, the interdependent nature of nature is an inspiration.

Come for a good “gut feeling” about your microbiome, stay to hear what soil and planetary health can offer. From microorganisms to macro-nutrients, from the garden to our guts, from the latest scientific discoveries to our beliefs, we will ask the question: what is possible by cultivating diverse communities?

EVENT DESCRIPTION:
Extreme conditions are rare in the Pacific Northwest, but when the forecast hints at chaos, a small but dedicated group of storm chasers and weather geeks across the northwest spring into action, ready to capture the extraordinary.

Join us as we explore the most extreme weather that the Pacific Northwest has to offer through the lens of meteorologist and storm chaser Garret Hartung, including strong southerly windstorms, atmospheric rivers, cold core tornadoes, thunderstorms, floods, heavy snow, freezing rain, and extreme east wind events.

• What makes these events unique to the PNW?
• Why do we often miss out on some of the more extreme weather events seen elsewhere in the US?
• What makes storm chasing here so particularly difficult?

Garret Hartung is a Senior Meteorologist at Portland General Electric with more than five years of experience forecasting weather in the PNW. An avid storm chaser since 2016, he has pursued and documented extreme weather and other natural phenomena across much of the Central and Western US.
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COST:
$15.00 DISCOUNT (senior, student, it's your birthday, just can't afford the GA price right now)
$25.00 GENERAL ADMISSION
$35.00 VIP Premium seating (front center rows)
$45.00 SUPPORTER (Premium seating, pint glass (beer not included), and good feelings for supporting the program)

EVENT DESCRIPTION:
Insects are essential to life on Earth, but insect populations are in trouble. However, there is hope in our own yards. There are many things you can do to make a real difference in improving insect biodiversity right where you live. Our gardens can host an astonishing variety of insect life—if we provide the habitat, we can make a real difference.

Five years ago, Amy Campion began making over her Portland garden to better serve the insects sharing her space. She was amazed by the creatures that soon showed up. She saw leafcutter bees harvesting petals to make nurseries, grass-carrying wasps building their distinctive nests, newly minted dragonflies taking their first flights. In all, she’s seen more than 400 insect species in her little 7,000 sq ft plot.

In this talk, you’ll learn 8 things you can do to create more insect-friendly habitat in your own garden, and you’ll meet some of the fascinating creatures that show up when you welcome them in. You’ll learn:

• to appreciate aphids
• to prioritize pollen over nectar
• why you should feed caterpillars and with what
• who’s living in your perennial stems
• how to attract more “tickle bees” to your landscape, and
• how to control mosquitoes in your pond (without fish!)

EVENT DESCRIPTION:
There is no animal we’re more aware of having as neighbors as the American Crow. Loud, ubiquitous, and immediately recognizable, most Portlanders will see crows every day. And yet, there are few animals as mysterious and captivating.

• If I feed crows, will they bring me shiny presents?
• Why are crows so intelligent, and what do they do with those big brains?
• Why, if we look outside at dawn and dusk, do we see vast numbers of them all flying in the same direction?
• Why do they tear out the grass in our lawns?
• Why do they bring bits of food and wash it in our bird baths?
• Why do they dive bomb some people?
• Do they really remember human faces? And hold funerals for their fallen?