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Put on your lab coats and prepare to enter the world of inner space . . .

Molecular biologist Gregory Hannon of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory is one of the world’s foremost genetic researchers, deciphering the mechanisms used by cells to fight invaders and that soon may be used to create treatments for cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

Dr. Hannon is a pioneer in the field of RNA interference (RNAi), a powerful new tool for gene analysis. Hannon and his colleagues have harnessed RNAi, a naturally occurring process of gene regulation, to selectively turn off genes in living cells. Hannon uses the technique to study cancer development and to probe the mechanisms that make this method of gene control so effective.

The author of over 200 scientific papers, Dr. Hannon was recently in the news with groundbreaking research on the origins of a mysterious communicable cancer that is attacking the world’s largest carnivorous marsupial, the Tasmanian Devil. He is the recipient of the Natio…

He's Got the Moves: Computer Scientist Christoph Bregler lectures on "Virtual You"

Don't move a muscle . . . Every human being has a unique body signature. Your hand gestures. Your facial expressions. The way you walk. Computer scientist Christoph Bregler of NYU's Courant Institute is a master of analyzing and recreating such subtleties--designing systems to track human movement and train computers to recognize and animate all that "you-ness." Jumping off from recent collaborations with dancers, animators, film producers, and game designers, Dr. Bregler discusses:
--motion capture in science and entertainment
--massive multiplayer "Mocap" games and flying "Squidballs"
--"Obama-ness" versus "Palin-ness"
--his "GreenDot" iPhone app, an experiment in community video and nonverbal expression
Before & After
--Groove to animated tunes
--Try our machine-coded cocktail of the night, the Wet Wire
--Stick around for th…