Modern science is evolving faster than laboratory fruit flies.
How are busy, curious people supposed to keep up with all the latest information? Even if you read Scientific American and watch Nova faithfully, you still probably wind up with more questions than answers.

Ask a Scientist is an informative, entertaining, monthly lecture series, held at a San Francisco cafe. Each event features a speaker on a scientific topic, a short presentation, and the opportunity to ask all those burning questions that have been keeping you up at night. No tests, grades, or pressure…just food, drinks, socializing, and conversation about the universe’s most fascinating mysteries!

UPCOMING EVENTS:

Tuesday, October 7th, 7:00 pm
Topic: The Moon
Let's talk about the moon. In my opinion it's the best celestial body to observe — it's big enough to see in captivating detail without a telescope, and it doesn't thank you for your wonderment by burning out your eyeballs. And while it may lack the kaleidoscopic coloring, dynamic vitality, and exotic mystery of some of the other local orbs, our moon is the old friend we wouldn't want to lose. Tonight we'll learn all about our trusty sidekick — the theories on its formation, predictions about its future, its internal structure, its geological past and present, and the many ways in which it affects the earth. We'll also talk about one of the next missions NASA will be sending to the moon, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite. LCROSS will launch next year and will impact the moon in search of water ice near its poles! BONUS: Weather permitting, we'll do some telescope-assisted skygazing after the talk. On tonight's menu is a lovely waxing half moon and glamorous gaseous Jupiter.
Speaker: Jennifer Heldman, Planetary Scientist at NASA Ames Research Center
Location: Axis Cafe, 1201 8th Street (btw. 16th & Irwin) San Francisco

Wednesday, November 12th, 7:00 pm
Topic: Surviving in Space
Long-range space travel brings a new set of challenges to the already formidable mission of sending humans out into space. Now that the U.S. is ramping up plans to send astronauts back to the moon and eventually on to Mars, NASA scientists must figure out how to supply crews with air, food, and water for stretches of months, and even years, at a time. The cost of shipping water into space, for example, will shut down a Tang party pretty quickly — every pound of water consumed in orbit costs around $10,000. To meet such challenges, researchers like Sherwin Gormly and his colleagues are coming up with inventive ways to recycle in an enclosed space habitat. Arguably the most intriguing example is a 10-pound machine that turns urine into drinking water using processes that duplicate those that occur in nature. Pee-licious! Come find out what Sherwin has to tell us about all aspects of exploration life support, and how such innovations could impact real-world conservation efforts here at home.
Speaker: Sherwin Gormly, Water Process Research and Development Engineer at NASA Ames Research Center
Location: Axis Cafe, 1201 8th Street (btw. 16th & Irwin) San Francisco

Wednesday, December 3rd, 7:00 pm
Topic: How Computers Look at Art
Thanks to cutting edge advancements in computer science, questions and controversies in the study of art are now being answered in ways that were not previously possible. For example, computer analysis is currently being used to authenticate paintings attributed to artists such as Jackson Pollock and Vincent Van Gogh. And analysis of perspective, shading, color and form has thrown a wrench into David Hockney's bold claim that as early as 1420, Renaissance artists employed optical devices such as concave mirrors to project images onto their canvases. How do these computer methods work? What can computers reveal about images that even the best-trained connoisseurs, art historians and artist cannot? How much more powerful and revealing will these methods become? In short, how is computer image analysis changing our understanding of art? Come find out.
Speaker: David Stork; Chief Scientist of Ricoh Innovations, Consulting Professor of Statistics and Visiting Lecturer in Computer Science at Stanford University.
Location: Axis Cafe, 1201 8th Street (btw. 16th & Irwin) San Francisco