By Robert J. Kriss, C2ST Editor
In a notable line from the 1967 movie, “The Graduate,” a savvy businessman takes a recent college graduate played by Dustin Hoffman into a quiet room at a party to give him a hot tip for his future. The businessman says he has a single word for the graduate — “plastics.” Today, the word might be “batteries.” Continue reading “Chicago “Hard-Tech” Tackles Global Warming”
Join C2ST on Facebook Live for a discussion on how art and physics complement one another! Continue reading “Art, Science, and the Elegant Universe”
C2ST and ONLi Packs want to help students understand what careers are available to them. Chicago is home to hundreds of thousands of creative and inspired individuals all working toward different passions. This workshop for students aims to highlight a small number of these unique pathways and help students to understand how to approach going after their dreams.
Spots are available for up to 50 middle and high school age students.
The minds responsible for mega franchises Star Wars, Star Trek, and the Marvel Universe are arguably some of the most creative of our time. But how do these creatives ensure the science in their science fiction holds up to the test of time and the ever-ready-to-pick-it-apart nerd community. This is where the scientists come in! Continue reading “Putting the Science in Science Fiction: Star Wars”
Comment by Robert Kriss, C2ST, Editor
In a collaboration with Google, Northwestern researchers are leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to develop machine learning programs that identify cancer with better accuracy than a radiologist in some cases. Other research is using powerful new microscopy techniques to examine changes in cells at the nanoscale level. These breakthroughs promise to detect cancer at very early stages when the chances of successful treatment are highest. The innovative techniques will also reduce false positives and negatives — incorrect diagnoses — and thereby target treatment better. With these advances, scientists hope to detect a range of cancers, including breast, colon, pancreatic, ovarian, and lung. Learn more about this pioneering research being performed in Chicago by visiting these sites here and here.
Watch the full program here.
For thousands of years, mathematicians have used the timeless art of logic to see the world more clearly. Today, truth is buried under soundbites, spin, memes, divisive arguments and “fake news”. Seeing clearly is more important than ever. In this talk, I will show how anyone can think like a mathematician to understand what people are really telling us. Taking a careful scalpel to politics, privilege, sexism and dozens of other real-world situations, I will show that math is not just about numbers and equations, but is about thinking better, and that it can help us find clarity without losing nuance in this complex world of ours.