Over the past two decades, technology has had huge impacts on almost everything we do — everything except participate in our democracy. When it comes to the voting booths, things look a lot like they did in 1996, and changing that scene is really hard to do. Come talk about the role technology plays in our democracy: from campaigns to voter registration to election day, this space is ripe for innovation. The time is now. Continue reading “Technology and Politics”
Our understanding of how to treat mental illnesses, and what can contribute to developing mental health problems, is constantly evolving. On September 26th, 2017 we will look at some of the current factors at play in the world today — from the role social media plays in our lives, especially the lives of children and teenagers, to identifying those among us most vulnerable or at-risk of developing mental health issues. Continue reading “New Developments in Mental Health”
Chicago’s Potemkin Village: Why Chicago’s innovation economy has failed, and how we can grow an innovation economy built around invention, technology transfer, and entrepreneurship
Since 2012, Chicago has built an estimated 1.5 million square feet of coworking spaces, and about 80 or 90 incubators and accelerators. Continue reading “Chicago’s Potemkin Village: Why our innovation economy has failed, and how to fix it”
Check out this interview with Lance Grande!
Most of us have been to natural history museums–toured the exhibits, pored over collections of bugs and bones–but who decides what goes on display? How did it all end up there? And what exactly does a curator do?
Continue reading “Curators: Behind The Scenes of Natural History Museums with Lance Grande”
Fermilab celebrates its 50th anniversary in 2017. What does the future hold for this world-renowned laboratory in Chicago’s western suburbs—and for physics itself?
Continue reading “Fermilab and the New Frontiers of Physics”
The discovery that a microorganism produced penicillin in 1928 ushered in an unprecedented global effort to mine for new antibiotics from the environment, in particular from microorganisms that live in soil. It remains one of the most impactful scientific discoveries in our species’ history, as it resulted in nearly doubling our life span. Continue reading “Antibiotic Hunters: Discovering Drugs in the Ocean”
