al-mofhariz

In the wake of JAS-BIO (which I mentioned earlier and which Joanna thoroughly recapped last week ), Nathaniel Comfort over at PACHSmörgåsbord has been continuing his ongoing thinking about what academic history of science is good for. After beginning with a query ( "Who Cares about the History of Science?" ), Comfort shifts gears to ask (and provide a few answers for) why anyone should care. His first stab was about "History as a Way of Knowing." In that post, he paints scientific and historical reasoning as the contrast between determinism and contingency, simplification and complication. He ends with a plea to reach out to broader audiences, to engage ourselves and to change people's minds. After JAS-BIO, Comfort takes what looks like a sharp turn. His third installment answers the question about why we should care more polemically: "Maybe we shouldn't." Here, he's arguing against careerism and in favor of passion. He adopts a similar st...

The Secret Science Club is teaming up with the L Magazine  to host a cocktail party following Thursday evening’s performance of Séance on a Wet Afternoon at City Opera. Everyone with tickets to the opera is invited, and when the Séance is over, Secret Science Club will materialize with ghost-busting grooves and haunting experimentation . Special guests at the post-opera “sci- éance” include: --Neuroscientist and composer Dave Sulzer, creating wraithlike music from brainwaves --Physics presenter David Maiullo, combating the supernatural with a sledgehammer and pipettes Scary! Grab your opera glasses and get over to the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center on Thursday, April 28. Séance on a Wet Afternoon starts at 8 pm, and the free cocktails start flowing afterwards in the Fourth Ring. Opera tickets can be snagged for as low as $12.