FREE and OPEN to ALL. Junior Academy members, middle and high school students welcome and encouraged to attend. Space is limited. Registration required. CLICK Event Information link below to REGISTER! Registrants will receive Zoom information via email immediately after registering.

Featured Speaker: Pablo Sobron, Ph.D., Founder & CEO, Impossible Sensing; Research Scientist, SETI Institute

St. Louis-based research scientist, Dr. Pablo Sobron, takes us along on his journey to discover life on the Red Planet. Learn about his experience as a member of NASA’s Mars 2020/Perseverance Rover Science Team and their mission to seek signs of ancient life on Mars and collect samples for return to Earth.

FREE and OPEN to ALL. Junior Academy members, middle and high school students welcome and encouraged to attend. Space is limited. Registration required. CLICK the orange Event Information button below to REGISTER! Zoom link to join sent with confirmation email immediately after registering.

Featured Scientist: Yun Seong Song, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering; Director, Physical Human-Robot Interaction Laboratory (pHRI Lab), Missouri University of Science & Technology

We’re all familiar with robots like unmanned drones or large industrial robots that operate in solitude. In the future, human-robot interactions that involve direct physical contact are likely to become even more ubiquitous—from social-physical robots that might assist human teachers in the classroom to versatile medical robots that tackle clinical challenges in the acute care of patients. While it may feel awkward to have a robot grab and pull us around, future robots may become better at it—if we understand how humans do it and let the robots learn from the 'experts.' Mechanical engineer, Yun Seong Song, presents what we know about physical interactions in humans and what to do next to make future robots feel more friendly and helpful, with enhanced abilities to communicate through touch.

FREE and OPEN to ALL. Junior Academy members, middle and high school students welcome and encouraged to attend. Space is limited. Registration required. CLICK the orange Event Information button below to REGISTER! Registrants will receive Zoom information via email immediately after registering.

FREE and OPEN to ALL. Junior Academy members, middle and high school students welcome and encouraged to attend. Space is limited. Registration required. Click the orange Information Button for more information and to register. Registrants receive Zoom link to join via email immediately after registering.

Featured Speaker: Arpita Bose, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biology and Principal Investigator, the Bose Lab; Packard Foundation Fellow and Anant Fellow for Climate Action, Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis

In this fascinating talk on microbes and electricity, Arpita Bose talks about how the Bose Lab is studying modern microbes whose ancient relatives might have led to the deposition and formation of our largest source of iron ore in sedimentary rock structures called Banded Iron Formations (BIFs). Geologists and geo-microbiologists argue about the ancient microbiological processes that might have led to BIF deposition, including the seeming impossibility of microbes surrounded by rust to survive and even grow while being embedded in these iron coffins. Arpita and her Bose Lab colleagues have accumulated substantial evidence showing this feat can indeed be accomplished by BIF depositing microbes that are using electrical current through rust; and she shares how the Lab is leveraging this process today to find climate change solutions.

FREE and OPEN to ALL. Junior Academy members, middle and high school students welcome and encouraged to attend. Space is limited. Registration required. CLICK the orange Event Information button below to REGISTER! ! Registrants receive Zoom link to join via email immediately after registering.

Featured Speaker: Gualtiero Piccinini, Ph.D., Curators’ Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Department of Philosophy and Associate Director, Center for Neurodynamics, University of Missouri - St. Louis; author, Neurocognitive Mechanisms: Explaining Biological Cognition

Animals learn to act in a complex environment in ways that robots are still unable to replicate. In addition, people can think about things that may or may not be true and may not even exist, such as Peter Pan. How do we do it? Italian–American philosopher, Gualtiero Piccinini, presents some recent work on how our brains allow us to perceive, think, and control action.

FREE and OPEN to ALL. Junior Academy members, middle and high school students welcome and encouraged to attend. Space is limited. Registration required. This event has been cancelled!

This event has been cancelled!

FREE and OPEN to ALL. Junior Academy members, middle and high school students welcome and encouraged to attend. Space is limited. Registration required. CLICK the orange Event Information button below to REGISTER! Registrants receive Zoom link to join via email immediately after registering.

Featured Speaker: Guy Darrough, Curator, Sainte Genevieve Museum Learning Center; Owner and artist, Lost World Studios

On October 15, 2021, with the help of a crane, 2,500 pounds (1,134 kilograms) of fossilized Parrosaurus missouriensis, the Missouri State Dinosaur, was excavated near Glen Allen, Missouri, by researchers from The Field Museum in Chicago and the Sainte Genevieve Museum Learning Center, to make its way to the Field Museum for preparation, research, and eventual display. Hear the story of one of Missouri’s most recent and exciting dinosaur finds from dig site director, Guy Darrough, a self-taught and highly accomplished fossil collector, fossil preparation expert, and illustrator who has worked in paleontology and related areas for more than 40 years.

FREE and OPEN to ALL. Junior Academy members, middle and high school students welcome and encouraged to attend. Space is limited. CLICK the orange Event Information button below to REGISTER! Registrants receive Zoom link to join via email immediately after registering.

Featured Speaker: Peng Bai, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, McKelvey School of Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis

Lithium-ion batteries have enabled great cellphones, portable power tools, and electric cars. But we also experience their limitations and witness their safety problems. What can we do to make them better? Are there more sustainable alternatives? Research in the Lab of Peng Bai at Washington University is paving new ways, following the guidance of the basic but fascinating science.

Zoom

FREE and OPEN to ALL. Junior Academy members, middle and high school students welcome and encouraged to attend. Space is limited. Click the event name, or the orange Event Information button, for more information and to register! Registrants receive Zoom link to join via email immediately after registering.

Featured Speaker: Erik Hall, Ph.D., Director of Forensic Science and Assistant Professor, Sociology and Anthropology, Saint Louis University

Erik Hall, Director of Forensic Science at Saint Louis University and former Biology technical leader at the St. Louis City Crime Lab, discusses the role of the forensic scientist, covers scientific techniques used by police to solve crime, and dispels some myths about CSI. Bring your Sherlock Holmes caps as we discuss DNA, fingerprints, bloodstain pattern analysis, and other crime scene investigation techniques!

FREE and OPEN to ALL. Junior Academy members, middle and high school students welcome and encouraged to attend. Space is limited. Registration required! Click the event name, or the orange Event Information button, for more information and to register! Registrants receive Zoom link to join via email immediately after registering.

Featured Engineers:
Chad Olney, Civil Engineer, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Kansas City District Extension Office, St. Louis; Project Lead, Engineers Without Borders Gateway Chapter Community Engineering Corps project, Vacant Lots to Parks, Connecting Hodiamont Tracks
Bridget Hart, Software Engineer, Mastercard; Vice President, Engineers Without Borders Gateway Professional Chapter

Learn about the basics of Engineers Without Borders - USA's project process and the local Gateway Chapter's water supply/sanitation programs in Bolivia and Nicaragua, its local infrastructure, volunteer projects in St. Louis, and opportunities for members of the community to get involved.

FREE and OPEN to ALL. Junior Academy members, middle and high school students welcome and encouraged to attend. Space is limited. Registration required! Click the event name, or the orange Event Information button, for more information and to register! Registrants receive Zoom link to join via email immediately after registering.

Featured Scientist: Vasit Sagan, PhD, Associate Professor of GIScience, Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Saint Louis University; Acting Director, Taylor Geospatial Institute

Dr. Vasit Sagan, Associate Professor of GIScience at Saint Louis University and Acting Director of the Taylor Geospatial Institute presents how remote sensing and AI are being used to develop better crops, teach plants to adapt to a changing climate, and ultimately improve global food security. Vasit demonstrates the capabilities of modern technologies and novel machine learning techniques that allow us to better understand and see inside the magnificent world of plants invisible to our naked eyes.

FREE and OPEN to ALL. Junior Academy members, middle and high school students welcome and encouraged to attend. Space is limited. Registration required! Click the event name, or the orange Event Information button, for more information and to register! Registrants receive Zoom link to join via email immediately after registering.

Featured Scientist:
Richard L. Essner, Jr., Ph.D., Professor, Department of Biological Sciences, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

Miniaturized frogs are among the world’s smallest vertebrates. Living at the lower extremes of vertebrate body size offers unique opportunities but comes with substantial costs. Biologist Richard Essner shares how miniaturization has resulted in a loss of controlled landing behavior in pumpkin toadlets, a diverse group of frogs from Brazil’s Atlantic Forest.

Zoom

FREE and OPEN to ALL. Junior Academy members, middle and high school students welcome and encouraged to attend. Space is limited. Registration required! CLICK HERE to REGISTER! Zoom event link sent w/confirmation email.

Featured Scientist:
Dave Westenberg, Ph.D., Professor of Biological Sciences, Missouri University of Science and Technology; 2017 Outstanding St. Louis Science Educator, The Academy of Science - St. Louis

Learn how bacteria interact and communicate with each other and their plant partners and ways that scientists study these processes. Hear about the interdisciplinary soil microbe research being conducted in the Westenberg Lab at Missouri University of Science and Technology and the role of soil microorganisms and nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria in promoting healthy plant growth for gardening, agriculture, and environmental applications. Explore how soil bacteria work together with plants to help clean up environmental pollution in this fascinating look at the world beneath our feet.

Science in St. Louis is a public science seminar series partnership program of the The Academy of Science – St. Louis and St. Louis County Library. Science in St. Louis is underwritten in part with support from Boeing and the Employees Community Fund of Boeing St. Louis, sponsoring the full array of Academy STEM Teens programming.

FREE and OPEN to ALL. Junior Academy members, middle and high school students welcome and encouraged to attend. Space is limited. Registration required! CLICK HERE to REGISTER! Zoom event link sent w/confirmation email.

Featured Scientist:
Jai Rudra, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Biomedical Engineering, McKelvey School of Engineering, Washington University in St. Louis

Chirality is a simple geometric property that describes molecules that are not superimposable with their mirror image. One of life's most distinctive signatures is its high selectivity for chiral molecular species, like L-amino acids and D-sugars; and most biochemical reactions in organisms are driven by chirality. In living systems, chirality also dominates at the supramolecular level (e.g. DNA, microtubules, and actin); and researchers have exploited self-assembly of biomolecules, carbohydrates, lipids, nucleic acids, and proteins to generate nanomaterials with hierarchical chirality. The Rudra Lab at Washington University in St. Louis develops nanomaterials to understand how immune cells respond to chirality and how such interactions can be exploited for vaccine development.

Science in St. Louis is a public science seminar series partnership program of the The Academy of Science – St. Louis and St. Louis County Library. Science in St. Louis is underwritten in part with support from Boeing and the Employees Community Fund of Boeing St. Louis, sponsoring the full array of Academy STEM Teens programming.

FREE and OPEN to ALL. Junior Academy members, middle and high school students welcome and encouraged to attend. Space is limited. Registration required! CLICK HERE to REGISTER! Zoom event link sent w/confirmation email.

Featured Speaker:
Richard Heuermann, NASA Solar System Ambassador; Board member, St. Louis Astronomical Society; retired Administrative Officer, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, and Outreach Program Coordinator, NASA Missouri Space Grant Consortium, Washington University in Saint Louis

Join us for a kaleidoscopic sampling of telescopic images of our universe from space and earth and learn about the St. Louis Astronomical Society's Library Telescope program. If you are an adult with a library card, you can borrow a telescope from your local St. Louis area library!

Science in St. Louis is a public science seminar series partnership program of the The Academy of Science – St. Louis and St. Louis County Library. Science in St. Louis is underwritten in part with support from Boeing and the Employees Community Fund of Boeing St. Louis, sponsoring the full array of Academy STEM Teens programming.