Pinhead Town Talk on the Magical World of Nanoscience
What is it about the word “nano” that is so hot? Derived from the
Greek word meaning “dwarf,” it seems it can serve as a prefix to any
English word, from nanoapple to nanozoo, to garner customers,
government funding, and investors. Throw it next to “iPod” and you have
a fast selling electronic device. Or next to “car” and you have the
latest little vehicle, “The Nano,” uncovered this month at a car show
in New Delhi, selling for the tiny price of $2,500. The cosmetic
industry has caught the fever too, tossing around the pithy “nano” word
The Big Deal with Nanoscience
Things get strange at small levels. Tiny levels. Micro levels. Nano
levels. Gold can turn to liquid at room temperature. Copper goes
transparent. Inert elements turn reactive. Aluminum becomes
combustible. The familiar becomes wondrous and unpredictable.
Ivan Schuller, who is giving tonight’s Pinhead Town Talk, is also a bit wondrous and unpredictable.
Doer #434
In a town populated by uniquely interesting people, she still manages to stand out in the crowd.
This week’s Doer, #434, combines a wild and wide-ranging intelligence with a fire in her belly that won’t quit: her mission is no less than promoting science literacy for young and old, locally and globally. Stop waving your geek banner: Nana Naisbitt is someone you would find locked in a room fixated on her computer. She is an author, visionary and the driving force behind the Pinhead Institute and now the Telluride Science Research Center.
The geeky visitors, and those who brought them
You've seen them around. They tuck in their button down shirts, belt their trousers and wear leather shoes. Carrying briefcases and lost in thought, hundreds of scientists populate Telluride in the summer months. They are the geeky visitors, standing out from the burly adventure seekers or aimless tourists bent on shopping, eating ice cream and drinking beer. Few people in Telluride know who they are or why they are here.
Town on Nuclear Power May Draw Controversy Once Again
During the heated Pinhead Town Talk on August 7th entitled, “Is it Science? Global Warming, Intelligent Design, the Anthropic Principle, and Einstein’s Moon,” speaker Dr. Michael Kellman drew a charged response from climate change scientist, University of Arizona Professor and part-time local, Dr. Jonathan Overpeck, in a standing room audience of 120 people at the Conference Center.
Pinhead Town Talk “Is It Science?” May Spark Controversy
At this week’s Pinhead Town Talk, “Is it Science? — Global warming, intelligent design, the cosmic anthropic principle, and Einstein’s moon,” Dr. Michael Kellman, will touch upon issues few of his colleagues would dare address in public.
“Science at the edge is always very unsettling and full of controversy,” the University of Oregon Professor of Theoretical Chemistry & Physical Chemistry said in a recent interview. “It is mysterious. I am suspicious of any orthodoxy that arises from science until the dust settles.”
Pinhead Town Talk: The Science and Philosophy of Time
We all instinctively know that time and space are not things – the kind of objects that you can see, feel, taste, touch, or smell. There is a peculiar intangibility about them.
Pinhead and Mountainfilm Join Hands for Town Talks
For decades there has been a tradition of great discoveries in physics taking place in mountains. The creation of quantum mechanics eighty years ago in 1927 is attributed to Werner Heisenberg’s walks in the mountains, his way of escaping hectic city life to find time for contemplation. Those walks earned him a Noble Prize in physics in 1932.
Practitioner meets Researcher on topic of oxygen and blood
Lance Armstrong, arguably the best endurance athlete in the world, has been the subject of medical scrutiny. Through intensive training and good genes (it has been determined), Armstrong’s maximum muscle efficiency, strong rapidly beating heart, and maximal oxygen consumption make him the best of the best of elite athletes. Endurance depends on oxygen uptake and delivery.
Pinhead Town Talk: Serendipity and prepared minds in chemistry
Chemistry, it seems, is prone to adventurous research. Accidental discoveries are common, almost the rule in chemistry some scientists contend. Combine glorious happenstance – spilling things, dropping things, leaky equipment, dirty Petri dishes – with apparatuses such as blowpipes, funnels, cylinders, and Bunsen burners, that heat and hold various elements, and magic happens, that is, if the observer has a beautiful mind.
Pinhead Town Talk: Smoke and Fire and Magical Transformations
Right around the time prospectors and miners arrived in Telluride in the 1870s, eventually dynamiting and pick-axing their way through the San Juans, the Periodic Table was developed in Europe.
“The Periodic Table is one of the crowning achievements of mankind’s hard work to understand the world we live in,” says John Straub, Professor of Chemistry at Boston University, who will be speaking at this Tuesday’s Pinhead Town Talk Extravaganza beginning at 7:00 pm at the Telluride Conference Center in Mountain Village.
Pinhead Town Talk: Two Women Speak Out on "Perspectives in Science and Public Policy"
Tuesday, July 19th 6pm
In a meeting of great minds, tonight at the Telluride Conference Center in Mountain Village two distinguished, outspoken women will discuss the future of science and technology in the United States and abroad, the role of basic scientific research in our nation’s economy, science education, and women in science at a Pinhead Town Talk.
Measuring Earth’s CO2 from Space
The earth breathes, somewhat irregularly. It breathes carbon dioxide in a great cycle of emissions and absorptions, otherwise known as “sources and sinks,” a vital bio-geo-physical process that regulates the planet’s climate.
Attractive Molecules by the Mole
As far as Professor Crim and his lab are concerned, there are only a handful of attractive molecules. They buy them by the “mole” from businesses like Aldrich Chemical, which traffic in tens of thousands of distinct molecules.
A mole, like a “dozen,” is a very specific number of molecules, only much larger, 6 x 1023 to be exact. And the volume of a mole depends upon the substance. A mole of air molecules for example is about the size of a bread box. A mole of water is a fraction of a Dixie cup.
National Talk on Terrorism in Telluride by Lewis Branscomb
America’s current approach to solving the problem of catastrophic terrorism is inexpensive, not especially effective, and erodes our civil liberties in an atmosphere reminiscent of Hitler’s Nazi Germany. This according to professor emeritus Lewis Branscomb of the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and a physicist, who will be presenting in Telluride the first public lecture on an extensive study on terrorism conducted by the National Research Council (NRC).
