Events List Navigation
June 2020
Astronomy on Tap
A FREE, ONLINE Socially Distant Astronomy Sunday Fun Day!
FREE. Open to the public. All ages welcome! Registration not required. CLICK the Event Information link below for the YouTube Live link to join us on June 28 at 1PM CST.
We’re online with our June event. Avoid the midday heat and grab a drink and a bite to eat and settle in!
The Lineup!
Finding the Earliest Quasars
Featured Speaker: Sophie Reed, Ph.D., Associate Professional Specialist, Department of Astrophysical Science, Princeton University
Black Astronomy
Featured Speaker: Ashley Walker, Research Assistant, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center; Astrochemist, and Planetary Scientist, Chicago State University
July 2020
On Science Happy Hour: Mars and Martinis—A Tourist’s Guide to Mars
REGISTRATION FOR THIS EVENT IS NOW CLOSED! Stay tuned for more upcoming On Science Happy Hours shortly!
FREE and OPEN to ALL. Space is limited. Middle and high school students welcome. Zoom Happy Hour event link and password sent via email one hour prior to the event. Click the Event Link below to register.
Featured Speaker: Rich Heuermann, NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador; retired Administrative Officer, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, and Outreach Program Coordinator, NASA Missouri Space Grant Consortium, Washington University in St. Louis
NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador, Rich Heuermann, introduces us to Mars—the planet, shares some of the science results and spectacular images produced by NASA orbiters and surface rovers, and wraps up with a look at possibilities for the first human bases and settlements.
September 2020
Astronomy on Tap Celebrates Spanish Heritage Month
YouTube Live, St. Louis, MO United States
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNPkic4YrM8
A FREE, ONLINE Socially Distant Astronomy Monday Fun Day!
FREE. Open to the public. All ages welcome! Registration not required. Click the YouTube link above to join!
It’s a Monday Fun Day with Astronomy on Tap in Spanish at 7PM, CST, this Monday, September 28, via YouTube Live. Astronomy on tap STL celebrates Spanish Heritage Month with its first ever broadcast in Spanish. Our guests, Luz Maria Martinez with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Dr. Elena Manjavacas with the W. M. Keck Observatory, will talk to us about the study of radiation on Mars and the search for planets.
¡Acompáñennos en nuestro primer evento en español! ¡Abierto a todos! Haga clic en el enlace de YouTube de arriba para unirse.
Nuestras invitadas, Luz María Martinez (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) y la Dra. Elena Manjavacas (W. M. Keck Observatory), nos hablarán acerca del estudio de la radiación en Marte y de la búsqueda de planetas.
¡ADOLESCENTES! ¡Muchos maestros ofrecen crédito adicional por asistir a los eventos de la Academia! ¡Consulta con tu maestro hoy!
TEENS! Many teachers offer extra credit for attending Academy events! Check with your teacher today!
Astronomy on Tap is brought to you in partnership with The Academy of Science – St. Louis and JPL Solar System Ambassador, Andrés Alejandro Plazas Malagón. Astronomy on Tap Celebrates Spanish Heritage Month is presented in collaboration with the Girls Can STEM Series initiative of The Academy of Science – St. Louis and the Zonta Club of St. Louis. Special thanks to Astronomy on Tap program sponsor, Washington University in St. Louis Department of Physics.
October 2020
Hubble Highlights: Three Decades of Discovery
St. Louis County Library 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 the Event Information link below to REGISTER! Registrants will receive Zoom information via email immediately after registering.
Featured Speaker: Rich Heuermann, NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador; retired Administrative Officer, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, and Outreach Program Coordinator, NASA Missouri Space Grant Consortium, Washington University in St. Louis
A look at Hubble’s launch, repair missions, and some of the major discoveries that have resulted from Hubble images of planets, star clusters, interstellar dust clouds, and galaxies.
Teen Science Cafe: Picture a Scientist—documentary film screening and panel discussion
Academy of Science – Zoom
REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Space is limited. FREE and OPEN to high school students in grades 9-12 ONLY. Please note a separate liability waiver for this cafe must also be completed by a parent/guardian for each attending teen. Deadline to register is Monday, Oct 26, 4p.m., CST. Click the Event Information link below for more information and to REGISTER!
If you’re a high school teen who likes science, you won’t want to miss this interactive virtual Science Cafe for Teens featuring a screening of the documentary film, Picture a Scientist, an official selection of the 2020 Tribeca Film Festival. Following the screening, you can ask your questions of three local women scientists who share their experiences and stories as women in science along with advice for overcoming bias, obstacles, and hardships, and with tips for persevering in STEM.
Picture a Scientist is a Gateway Teen Science Cafe Event of the The Academy of Science – St. Louis presented in partnership with the Girls Can STEM Series initiative of The Academy of Science and the Zonta Club of St. Louis.
The Vote: What St. Louis Men Expected, What St. Louis Women Did
Missouri History Museum – Zoom
FREE and OPEN to ALL. Middle and high school students welcome and encouraged to attend. Space is limited. Registration required. CLICK HERE (and then scroll down) for the ZOOM link to JOIN!
Featured Speaker: Linda Harris Dobkins, Ph.D., author and Professor Emerita of Economics, Emory and Henry College
Economist Linda Harris Dobkins, offers us a look at the political/economic calculus that led Missouri legislators to give St. Louis women the vote. After which, we’ll analyze the actions of the early female electorate to see if St. Louis women fulfilled, or frustrated, St. Louis mens’ expectations.
The Vote: What St. Louis Men Expected, What St. Louis Women Did is a Perspectives on Science and History Series presentation of The Academy of Science – St. Louis and the Missouri History Museum and a Girls Can STEM Series initiative of The Academy of Science – St. Louis and the Zonta Club of St. Louis, presented in conjunction with the Museum exhibition, Beyond the Ballot: St. Louis and Suffrage, on display at the Missouri History Museum through March 20, 2022.
November 2020
Drinking Water as a Living System
St. Louis County Library – 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 the Event Information link below to REGISTER! Registrants will receive Zoom information via email immediately after registering.
Featured Speaker: Fangqiong Ling, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Energy, Environmental ＆ Chemical Engineering, McKelvey School of Engineering; Principal Investigator, Environmental Genomics and Microbiology Lab; Faculty affiliate, Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences and Division of Computational and Data Science, Washington University in St. Louis
In the experimental and computational Ling Lab at Washington University, they have been studying the microbiome of drinking water using DNA sequencing and other modern biotechnologies. Ling Lab principal investigator, Fangqiong Ling, explores microbiomes as environmental sensors and public health sentinels. In this fascinating talk on the life in our drinking water, she introduces the journeys the Lab has taken to study the microbiomes of potable water in St. Louis and in other regions of the U.S.
Drinking Water as a Living System is a Science in St. Louis Series partnership of the The Academy of Science – St. Louis and St. Louis County Library presented in collaboration with the Girls Can STEM Series initiative of The Academy of Science – St. Louis and the Zonta Club of St. Louis.
How to Protect Earth’s Biological Diversity Forever: Lessons from Maitreya Buddha, Pharma Bros, and Yucca Mountain
Academy of Science – Zoom
Free and OPEN to ALL. Junior Academy members and middle and high school students are welcome and encouraged to attend. Registration required! Click the Event Information button below to register for the Zoom link to attend this event.
Featured Speaker: Adam Smith, Ph.D., Associate Scientist, Global Change Ecology, Center for Conservation and Sustainable Development, Missouri Botanical Garden
Today, global society faces a grand dilemma: biological diversity upon which we depend requires tens of millions of years to evolve, and yet we are currently driving species to extinction at rates that rival past mass extinctions. How can we ensure the persistence of these “living time capsules” that have the potential to be—for all practical purposes—immortal? Using examples from around the world of how societies have wrestled with this kind of quandary, Missouri Botanical Garden conservation ecologist and scientist, Dr. Adam Smith, tackles this critical dilemma.
Oceans Ahoy! NASA’s Plans to Explore the Subsurface Seas of the Outer Solar System’s Icy Satellites
Academy of Science – 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 the Event Information button below to register for the Zoom link to attend this event.
Speaker: William B. McKinnon, Ph.D., Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis
You may have heard that certain icy moons of the outer Solar System harbor hidden oceans of liquid water. Well, it’s true! We have excellent evidence, if not proof, that there is such an ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa and on Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Dr. William McKinnon describes how this evidence was discovered and shares NASA’s exciting plans to explore these exotic — and potentially habitable — realms.
Astronomy on Tap
An Online Socially Distant Monday Astronomy Fun Day!
FREE! Open to the public. All ages welcome! Registration not required. CLICK the Event Information button below for more information and the YouTube link to join on November 30, 7PM, CST.
The Lineup!
Space Fungi: How Can Something Grow Where it’s Impossible to Survive?
Featured Speaker: Daniel P. Agustinho, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, The Doering Lab, Department of Molecular Microbiology, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis
Studying the Oldest Light in the Universe
Featured Speaker: Johanna Nagy, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Physics, Department of Physics, Washington University in St. Louis
Astronomy on Tap is brought to you in partnership with The Academy of Science – St. Louis and JPL Solar System Ambassador, Andrés Alejandro Plazas Malagón. Presented in collaboration with the Girls Can STEM Series initiative of The Academy of Science – St. Louis and the Zonta Club of St. Louis. Special thanks to Astronomy on Tap program sponsor, Washington University in St. Louis Department of Physics.
December 2020
Black Bears in Missouri!
Academy of Science – Zoom
Free and OPEN to ALL. Junior Academy members and middle and high school students are welcome and encouraged to attend. Registration required! Click the Event Information button below to register for the Zoom link to attend this event.
Featured Speaker: Laura Conlee, Furbearer Biologist, Resource Scientist, Missouri Department of Conservation
Join Laura Conlee, Furbearer Biologist with the Missouri Department of Conservation, to learn about one of Missouri’s large native mammals. Black bear populations are growing and expanding in Missouri and bears have been sighted in some areas near St. Louis. Learn about black bear ecology, research in Missouri and how to Be Bear Aware.
Black Bears in Missouri! is presented in collaboration with the Girls Can STEM Series initiative of The Academy of Science – St. Louis and the Zonta Club of St. Louis
What Can Evolutionary Biology Tell Us About the Origin and Spread of Human Agriculture?
St. Louis County Library – 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 the Event Information link below to register! Registrants will receive Zoom information via email immediately after registering.
Featured Speaker: Carlos Botero, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biology, Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis
Modern humans existed for at least two thousand years as hunter-gatherers before developing agriculture around 12,000 years ago. Biologist Carlos Botero uses the tools of evolutionary biology to test fundamental ideas related to why this transformative innovation originated where it did and spread so quickly around the world.
Teen Science Cafe: Self-Organization in Biology
REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Space is limited! FREE and OPEN to Junior Academy of Science members and ALL middle and high school students in grades 6-12! Click the Event Information button below to register. Pre-registration for Junior Academy of Science members ONLY through Friday, Dec 4. General registration for ALL open on Saturday, Dec 5. Look for Cafe login information in your email confirmation.
To join the Junior Academy of Science, or to find out more about the benefits of membership in the Junior Academy, CLICK HERE.
Featured Cafe Presenter: Ram Dixit, Ph.D., Professor of Biology and Program Director, Plant and Microbial Sciences, Department of Biology, Washington University in St. Louis; Principal Investigator, Working Group 2, Co-Leader, Center for Engineering MechanoBiology, National Science Foundation
Unlike human-made structures, biological structures are created without an underlying template or blueprint. Instead, these structures arise dynamically through a process called self-organization in which higher-level patterns emerge from interactions between lower-level components. Use computer modeling in this interactive virtual Teen Science Cafe to explore what self-organization means and how it applies to biological systems.
January 2021
Explore the Universe with the Largest Digital Camera in the World: The Vera C. Rubin Observatory
FREE and OPEN to ALL. Junior Academy members, and middle and high school students are welcome and encouraged to attend. Click the Event Information link below to register! Registrants will receive Zoom information via email immediately after registering.
Featured Speaker: Andrés A. Plazas Malagón, Ph.D., Associate Research Scholar, Department of Astrophysical Sciences, Princeton University; Data Management Software Scientist, Vera C. Rubin Observatory; NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador; Visiting Scientist, Department of Physics, Washington University in St. Louis
Currently under construction on Cerro Pachón in Chile, The Vera C. Rubin Observatory, the first national U.S. observatory to be named after a female astronomer, is an 8-meter-class telescope coupled to a 3.2-gigapixel camera, the world’s largest digital camera ever fabricated for optical astronomy. The mission of the Rubin Observatory construction project is to build a well-understood system that provides a vast astronomical dataset for unprecedented discovery of the deep and dynamic universe. Learn more about the mission and goals of this fascinating National Science Foundation-supported project destined to make science history.
Astronomy on Tap: The Dark Universe
A FREE online socially distant Monday Astronomy Fun Day! Open to ALL! Registration not required. CLICK the Event Information button below for more information and the YouTube link to join on Monday, January 25, 7PM, CST! Grab a drink, a snack, and settle in from the comfort of home for a fascinating look at the Dark Universe.
The Lineup!
Weighing the Dark Universe
Featured Speaker: Rutuparna Das, Ph.D., astrophysicist, NASA Universe of Learning and the Chandra X-ray Center, Harvard University | Smithsonian
and
Seeing the Dark Universe
Featured Speaker: Ami Choi, Ph.D., Center for Cosmology and AstroParticle Physics Fellow, Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University
The Dark Universe is an Astronomy on Tap Series partnership of the The Academy of Science – St. Louis and JPL Solar System Ambassador, Andrés Alejandro Plazas Malagón, presented in collaboration with the Girls Can STEM Series initiative of The Academy of Science – St. Louis and the Zonta Club of St. Louis.
Saving Southern California’s Urban Sea Turtles
The Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, California, in partnership with The Academy of Science – St. Louis, present—Saving Southern California’s Urban Sea Turtles, a virtual event about sea turtles in Southern California.
COST: $5 per household. OPEN to ALL. Families, Junior Academy members, elementary, middle, and high school students welcome and encouraged to attend. Space is limited. Registration required. CLICK the Event Information link below to register! Registrants receive the Zoom link to join via an Eventbrite confirmation email immediately after registering.
In and around Southern California’s San Gabriel River near Long Beach is a local population of Pacific green sea turtles at the tip of its northernmost range. Considered threatened, this local population has been recovering thanks to efforts from government and nonprofit organizations, such as the Aquarium of the Pacific. Working to help this resident population thrive, the Aquarium conducts a sea turtle monitoring program and provides any necessary treatment and rehabilitation of injured turtles, with veterinary care at the Aquarium.
Join Cassandra Davis, Dr. Lance Adams, and Nate Jaros, of the Aquarium of the Pacific, for a fascinating multimedia look at Southern California’s urban population of threatened sea turtles and efforts to conserve them. The Aquarium of the Pacific, the nation’s fourth most attended aquarium, is currently home to two olive ridley sea turtles, Theo and Lou, residents since 1998, and Copper, the Aquarium’s green sea turtle.
February 2021
Smart Farm Technologies: Breeding and Farming Crops for the Future Today
St. Louis County Library – 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 the Event Information link below to REGISTER! Registrants will receive Zoom information via email immediately after registering.
Featured Speaker: Nadia Shakoor, Ph.D., Senior Scientist, Associate Director, TERRA-REF, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center; Co-Founder/CEO, Agrela Ecosystems
Working with experts from fields including remote sensing, engineering, computer and plant science, research scientist, Nadia Shakoor, is designing smart farm technology like PheNode and the solar-powered FieldDock drone to drive advances in crop breeding and automate farming tasks to help researchers and farmers bring food from the farm to the family table.
Smart Farm Technologies is a Science in St. Louis Series partnership of the The Academy of Science – St. Louis and St. Louis County Library presented in collaboration with the Girls Can STEM Series initiative of The Academy of Science – St. Louis and the Zonta Club of St. Louis.
The Electrolysis of Martian Brines: Production of Hydrogen Fuel and Life Support Oxygen on the Red Planet
FREE and OPEN to ALL. Junior Academy members, middle and high school students welcome and encouraged to attend. Space is limited. CLICK the Event Information button below to register. Registrants receive the Zoom link to join via a confirmation email immediately after registering..
Featured Speaker: Vijay Ramani, Ph.D., Roma B. & Raymond H. Wittcoff Distinguished University Professor of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering, McKelvey School of Engineering; Director, Center for Solar Energy and Energy Storage; Faculty Fellow for Entrepreneurship, Washington University in St. Louis
There is increasing interest from NASA and others on manned missions to Mars, which raises the question of in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) to minimize what needs to be carried on board the spacecraft at launch. Recent reports have suggested the presence of deposits of regolith brines (salt water) on Mars. Chemical engineer, Vijay Ramani, shares a novel approach to fuel and oxygen generation on the Martian surface through brine electrolysis.
Teen Science Cafe: Deep Space AI—Navigating Swarms of Small Satellites Beyond Earth Orbit with Neural Networks
Academy of Science – Zoom
REGISTRATION REQUIRED. Space is limited. FREE and OPEN to all middle and high school students in grades 6-12. Please note a separate liability waiver for this cafe must also be completed by a parent/guardian for each attending teen. Pre-registration for Junior Academy of Science members ONLY through Friday, February 12. General registration for all opens Saturday, February 13. Deadline to register is Thursday, Feb 25, 4p.m., CST. Click the Event Information link below for more information and to REGISTER!
Train a neural network to recognize different objects in space in this interactive virtual Science Cafe for Teens on satellites in deep space and advanced spacecraft navigation techniques.
Deep Space AI is a Gateway Teen Science Cafe Event of the The Academy of Science – St. Louis presented in partnership with the Girls Can STEM Series initiative of The Academy of Science and the Zonta Club of St. Louis.
March 2021
Mars 2020/Perseverance Rover: Searching for Life on Mars
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.