Featured Speaker: Linda Wegrzyn, Environmental Specialist, Missouri Department of Natural Resources

Is your cell phone hazardous waste? Do you have an outdated computer or two in your basement, an old TV? Used electronics have become one of the world’s fastest growing and most toxic waste streams. Computer monitors and older TVs contain an average of four pounds of lead; and old electronics can contain toxic chemicals such as chromium, cadmium, mercury, beryllium, nickel, zinc and brominated flame-retardants. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that each year, more than 2 million tons of computers and other electronics are disposed of improperly and a mere 20 percent are recycled. Missouri Department of Natural Resources Environmental Specialist, Linda Wegrzyn, talks about e-waste in Missouri and the U.S., how to prevent heavy metals and other toxic electronics materials from polluting our environment, and the Missouri Computer Equipment Collection and Recovery Act which goes into effect in July 2010.

OASIS St. Charles Community College 4601 Mid Rivers Mall Drive, Cottleville, MO 63376-2865

FREE to the first 10 registrants, $9 per person thereafter. OPEN to ALL. Space is limited.

To register call 314-533-8586 or e-mail rsvp@academyofsciencestl.org

On Science Series co-sponsor:

Featured Topics and Panelists:

Bioethics and Science Reporting: The Problem of Hype
Rebecca Dresser, JD, Daniel Noyes Kirby, Professor of Law and Professor of Ethics in Medicine, Washington University in St. Louis

Nearly every day we hear about scientific breakthroughs in the laboratory. Journalists tell us about potential cures for cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, and other diseases that plague modern society. But what works in animals often doesn’t translate to effective human treatments. Learn about the ethics of science reporting and why hype is bad for science and the public.

Medical Futility: Where Science & Morals Collide
Griffin Trotter, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, Departments of Heallth Care Ethics and Surgery, Saint Louis University

When are doctors are justified in refusing to provide treatments and other interventions because these treatments violate the standards of good scientific medicine? Of special interest are cases where physicians refuse to provide a requested treatment (e.g., mechanical ventilation) because the scientific evidence indicates the treatment will not work —that is, that it is “futile” —for the given case. Dr. Trotter Investigates medical futility claims and the philosophical puzzles they create.

The Genetics of Infertility and the Extinction of the Dinosaurs: Is Humankind Next?
Sherman Silber, M.D., Fellow, Academy of Science - St. Louis; Director, Infertility Society of St. Louis, St. Luke’s Hospital

The modern world is in the midst of an unexpected infertility epidemic. Our genetic studies of infertility offer an explanation for how the X and Y chromosomes evolved and even for how the dinosaurs went extinct. Our changing societal structure is causing the majority of couples who delay childbearing to become permanently infertile, which portends a frightening demographic future for our economy.

DRAWINGS for TWO FREE JUNIOR SCIENCE ACADEMY MEMBERSHIPS at each Seminar.

STUDENT OPPORTUNITIES TO COMPETE FOR COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS - one $250 Middle School Student Scholarship and one $250 High School Student Scholarship. Attend 3 of the 5 seminars or panel discussions and write about your experience. Scholarship decisions announced in May 2010!

To be held at Kirkwood High School Keating Theater, 801 W. Essex, Kirkwood, MO 63122

Parking free in the high school lot.

This event is free and open to middle and high school students, teachers, adults, and the general public.

Pioneering Science Series co-sponsor:

Featured Speaker: Wendy Applequist, Ph.D., Assistant Curator, William L. Brown Center, Missouri Botanical Garden

Plants have always been a major source of medicines, and to this day, two-thirds of the world’s population use medicinal plants as primary health care. Today many lifesaving pharmaceutical drugs have been developed from plants and it’s virtually certain that more lifesaving drugs remain to be found. Missouri Botanical Garden Curator, Wendy Applequist, talks on the development of the scientific study of medicinal plants, from pre-scientific and pre-human use to formal experimental methods used in medieval Arabic pharmacy to modern drug development, the means of validating traditional use of whole plants– and why some useful herbs can never be made into drugs.

To be held at: Missouri History Museum – Lee Auditorium
Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park
St. Louis, Missouri 63112

FREE and OPEN to ALL. Middle and high school students welcome.
Parking free in Museum lots or in Forest Park.

Perspectives on Science & History Series Co-sponsored by: