Nine frequently asked questions related to alcohol and brain function, with an emphasis on adolescents-young adulthood. 

Why is 21 years the legal age to purchase alcohol?
Why does alcohol give you the spins?
Does alcohol truly relieve stress?
Do teenagers get hangovers?
What does alcohol do to sleep?
Are there long-term effects of adolescent drinking?
What’s wrong with drinking games?
How does alcohol cause memory impairments
Can drinking on an empty stomach increase intoxication?

Many lores and misrepresentations about beverage alcohol (ethanol) abound and are retold throughout human history. Decades of scientific studies on alcohol effects on brain and behavior, however, are just as intriguing. From myths to data, this talk will explore the complicated relationships humans have with alcohol.

Dr. Kathy Grant is Professor and Chief of Neuroscience at OHSU. She is a behavioral neuroscientist and studies mechanisms of stress-alcohol outcomes and risk factors such as genetics, adolescent vulnerability, sex differences and decision-making in chronic heavy drinking.

Dr. Aqilah McCane is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Neuroscience at OHSU. She is an expert in neural mechanisms of adolescent decision-making and studies the developmental consequences of adolescent alcohol use on neural circuitry as well as adolescent risk factors for alcohol misuse in adulthood.

Join us for an interview (now a full-on tradition) with the friend-of-Science-on-Tap Mary Roach about her latest book!

The body is the most complex machine in the world, and the only one for which you cannot get a replacement part from the manufacturer. For centuries, medicine has reached for what’s available—sculpting noses from brass, borrowing skin from frogs and hearts from pigs, crafting eye parts from jet canopies, and breasts from petroleum by-products.

In Replaceable You, Mary Roach sets sail on the uncharted waters of regenerative medicine, exploring the remarkable advances and difficult questions prompted by the human body’s failings. When and how does a person decide they’d be better off with a prosthetic than their existing limb? Is there a sensitive way to harvest tissue and bones from the deceased? Which animals might be the best organ donors? Through interviews with patients, physicians, pathologists, engineers, and scientists, Roach immerses readers in the wondrous, improbable, and surreal quest to build a new you.

Mary Roach is the author of the New York Times bestsellers STIFF, SPOOK, BONK, GULP, GRUNT, and PACKING FOR MARS. Mary has written for National Geographic, Wired, and The New York Times Magazine, among others, and her TED talk made the TED 20 Most Watched list. She has been a guest editor for Best American Science and Nature Writing and a finalist for the Royal Society’s Winton Prize.

Get 15% OFF both ticket and book by selecting the combo option at the ticket page.
Note: there is no Discount option for this special event

Cannabis has been used since antiquity to ease illness, increase sex drive, and highlight the pleasures of life. Pair that with the increasing availability of legal cannabis products in the US and it is no surprise that many people are exposed to cannabis throughout their lives.  In spite of this exposure from preconception through menopause, the long-term effects of cannabis are not widely understood. 

Join us to discuss what we know, and what we still need to know, about the effects of cannabis on: 

• Sexual health and function 
• Reproductive health and fertility 
• Pregnancy and offspring  
• Menopausal symptoms 

Jamie O. Lo, M.D., M.C.R. is an Associate Professor in the Department of Ob/Gyn and Department of Urology at OHSU. She attended medical school at OHSU and completed her obstetrics and gynecology training at the University of Utah. She further specialized in Maternal-Fetal Medicine at OHSU and also completed a Masters in Clinical Research.  

Jasper Bash, MD, is an Assistant Professor of Urology at OHSU where he helps to lead the Men’s Health and Fertility team. After medical school and residency at OHSU he completed the Male Reproductive Medicine and Surgery fellowship at UCLA before returning to Portland where he studies the effect of environmental exposures on reproductive health.  

The astonishing story of how animals use medicine and what it can teach us about healing ourselves.

Ages before the dawn of modern medicine, wild animals were harnessing the power of nature’s pharmacy to heal themselves. Animals of all kinds—from ants to apes, from bees to bears, and from cats to caterpillars—use various forms of medicine to treat their own ailments and those of their relatives.

Meet apes that swallow leaves to dislodge worms, sparrows that use cigarette butts to repel parasites, and bees that incorporate sticky resin into their hives to combat pathogens. De Roode asks whether these astonishing behaviors are learned or innate and explains why, now more than ever, we need to apply the lessons from medicating animals—it can pave the way for healthier livestock, more sustainable habitats for wild pollinators, and a host of other benefits.

Doctors by Nature explores how scientists are turning to the medical knowledge of the animal kingdom to improve agriculture, create better lives for our pets, and develop new pharmaceutical drugs.

Jaap de Roode received his MSc in Population Biology from Wageningen University in the Netherlands and his PhD in Evolutionary Biology from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. He is interested in the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases, and currently studies infectious diseases of monarch butterflies, honey bees and humans.

Get 15% OFF the ticket AND book by selecting the Book/Ticket Combo option at checkout.

Also: PRE-SHOW EVENT!
Come at 6:30 (1/2 hr BEFORE the show start) to see OHSU grad students test out explaining their work to a general audience! 3 minutes each, no exceptions!

Science communication (#Scicomm) is an ever more important skill as our country’s mistrust of science grows. We are trying to use our platform to encourage new scientists to get the word about their work out in an accessible way. Join us!

Back by popular demand!
Have you ever noticed a tree not fall over?  A tree’s natural state is upright—it’s their default mode. Yet, myths pervade:

• “You should thin your tree”
• “You should top your tree”
• “Douglas-firs have shallow roots”
• “Lone trees are more likely to fall”
• “The roots will ruin my foundation”
• “That tree will fall and kill my whole family”

Despite the ubiquity of normal, upright trees around us, we often only notice those scattered few that stop being upright, most often in extreme weather.  And frankly, those few sully the good reputation of the thousands of others.

In the Pacific Northwest, our trees grow to be some of the tallest and largest organisms on the planet, and that can be understandably intimidating as you watch them bend and sway during winter weather from your home.  Luckily, our trees did not achieve their prominence by accident, and this talk will explain what the trees are doing, how they react to their environment, and what you can do to make sure your trees are safe.

How does a tree build itself?  How does it choose which direction to grow?  Is it a giant, static monolith waiting to crush everything beneath it? or a dynamic, self-optimizing living system that wants to keep itself upright arguably more than you? Join us on a journey through the lifecycle of a tree: how it grows, lives, and dies.  In other words: how do trees become trees and what makes them so good at it?

An arborist, a dendrologist, and educator, Casey Clapp is the principal consultant with Portland Arboriculture and co-host/co-creator of CompletelyArbortrary, a weekly podcast about trees and other related topics. He’s also the author of the forthcoming book The Trees Around You: How to identify common neighborhood trees in the Pacific Northwest.  Casey holds degrees in Forestry and Environmental Conservation, and he’s an ISA Board Certified Master Arborist, Qualified Tree Risk Assessor, and Municipal Specialist. Find him on social media @clapp4trees or reach him at casey@pdxarbor.com.

This is a repeat of the show at Kiggins Theatre 2/12/25

Back by popular demand! (And now with ASL interpretation!)
So much data. So much misrepresentation. In our era, understanding the nuances of effective visual storytelling is more crucial than ever.

What is the neuroscience of vision?
The psychology of perception?
How do our brains process visual information?

Well-designed graphs can illuminate complex data, making it accessible and engaging for all audiences, while poor design choices, including misleading logos, can distort the truth behind the numbers.

Sip on local brews and learn about the aesthetic elements of data visualization AND the ethical responsibilities that come with presenting information. How can we ensure our visuals tell an honest story? What are the implications of data manipulation in public discourse? How to think critically about the visuals you encounter and create, highlighting the ethical dimensions in the context of neuroscience and psychology.

Science, design, and ethics—perfectly paired with a pint!

Jackie Wirz, PhD, (our own MC!) is a biochemist by training, a nonprofit executive by profession, and a teller of stories. After 15 years of bad graphics as a research scientist, she decided to educate herself on what actually goes into a great visualization. She leveraged these skills as a data management specialist, academic administrator, and as a nonprofit executive. In her spare time she is the MC (mistress of ceremonies) for a variety of events including Science on Tap!

Dr. Steven Bedrick is an Associate Professor at OHSU where his research focuses on the intersection of natural language processing and healthcare. He is also interested in the societal and ethical implications that arise from speech and language technology.

This is a repeat of a show at Kiggins Theatre January 2024.

The summer of 2024 marked the largest dam removal in world history. Four dams were removed from the Klamath River, which runs through Oregon and California. Dam removal was caused in large part by the push from tribes local to the area.

Come have a discussion with Civil Water Resource/ Restoration Engineer Brook M Thompson from the Yurok and Karuk Tribes, who has been involved in dam removal advocacy since she was seven years old. She’ll cover:

• How does one remove a dam? And what was so bad about the dam anyway?
• How does traditional ecological knowledge benefit restoration efforts?
• What can we expect now the dams are removed? What is next for bringing back the salmon population?
• Why are interdisciplinary fields required for successful restoration projects?
• What research is currently being conducted on the Klamath River post-dam removal?
• How you can build a connection with the local native community and support local restoration efforts.  

Brook M Thompson is from the Yurok & Karuk tribes of California and grew up on her ancestral river, the Klamath. The deaths there of tens of thousands of salmon encouraged her to become a water rights activist and a water resource/restoration engineer. She is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Environmental Studies at UC Santa Cruz, researching Klamath salmon, restoration cooperation with tribes, and water policy. She has an M.S. in Environmental Engineering from Stanford and a B.S. in Civil Engineering from PSU.

Babies sleep more per day during the first two years than any other point in life. Scientists agree that this is a period of rapid change in the brain and body – but the mystery remains, what function does sleep serve us so early in life?

One idea is that sleep is an opportunity for our brains to practice, and process — especially critical early in life, when we are experiencing so many new things in the world around us. The brain controls how we connect with each other, and form relationships with our peers and loved ones. Healthy physical connections with others, including a foundation called “social touch”, is formed early in life and requires proper sleep to fully develop.

Studies have found an association between poor sleep early in life and neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by differences in social connection. This talk will expand on this lingering mystery by exploring:

• How does the function of sleep change with age?
• How a unique rodent – the prairie vole – can teach us how sleep and snuggles help our brains develop the foundation of social touch.

Noah Milman is a graduate student in the Department of Behavioral Neuroscience at OHSU. Previously, he contributed to the first-in-human clinical trial of 40Hz sensory stimulation for Alzheimer’s Disease. Now, he is interested in how early-life sleep and environment impact the sensory brain and our social connections later in life.

One of humanity’s oldest beliefs is that our world is alive. Though once ridiculed by some scientists, the idea of Earth as a vast, interconnected living system has gained acceptance in recent decades. We, and all living things, are more than inhabitants of Earth—we are Earth, an outgrowth of its structure and an engine of its evolution.

Acclaimed science writer Ferris Jabr reveals a radical new vision of Earth where lush forests spew water, pollen, and bacteria to summon rain; giant animals engineer the very landscapes they roam; microbes chew rock to shape continents; and microscopic plankton, some as glittering as carved jewels, remake the air and sea.

Humans are one of the most extreme examples of life transforming Earth. We have altered more layers of the planet in less time than any other species, pushing Earth into a crisis. But we are also uniquely able to understand and protect the planet’s wondrous ecology and self-stabilizing processes. Jabr introduces us to a diverse cast of fascinating people who have devoted themselves to this vital work.

Ferris Jabr is a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine. He has also written for The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Atlantic, National Geographic, and Scientific American. He is the recipient of a Whiting Foundation Creative Nonfiction Grant and fellowships from UC Berkeley and MIT. Jabr lives in Portland, Oregon, with his husband, Ryan, their dog, Jack, and more plants than they can count.

A moth, a flea, a mosquito…
Insects are seldom mentioned in history texts, yet they significantly shaped human history. For example:

• Silkworms (moths) have been farmed to produce silk for millennia, and the Silk Road created a history of empires and cultural exchanges of ideas, philosophies, and religions.
• Fleas and lice carried bacteria that caused three major plague pandemics. Bacteria carried by insects left their ancient clues as DNA embedded in victims’ teeth.
• Lice caused outbreaks of typhus, especially in crowded conditions such as prisons and concentration camps. Typhus aggravated the effects of the Irish potato famine, and Irish refugees took typhus to North America.
• Mosquito-borne yellow fever was transported to the Americas via the trans-Atlantic slave trade, causing panic in the US and creating hazards in constructing the Panama Canal.

Dr. Rob Wiedenmann will explore the impact and common threads connecting these insects. This talk is based on his book, coauthored by J. Ray Fisher: The Silken Thread: Five Insects and Their Impacts on Human History.

Dr. Rob Wiedenmann is Professor Emeritus of Entomology at the University of Arkansas. He received a B.S. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and a Ph.D. in Entomology, both from Purdue University. He also worked at the Illinois Natural History Survey, where he focused on biological control of insects and weeds.  He is a past-president of the Entomological Society of America.

Many ecological restoration projects are one-size-fits-all: kill the weeds, then plant native seeds. But across the West, native plants have unexpectedly reestablished themselves via wind, water, or underground seed banks at restored properties in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and California within various ecosystems—prairies, estuaries, sagebrush steppe, wetlands and coastal sand dunes.

Scientists, in particular Indigenous scientists, have found that native seeds can regerminate after decades of dormancy underground and that some species—even federally endangered ones—will regrow once invasive plants are removed or water is returned.

This approach, known as “natural regeneration,” is understudied and overlooked by Western scientists. Yet Indigenous-led projects show that it is a more effective and more affordable way to restore degraded lands. This show will discuss a handful of tribally led restoration projects where native plants have returned on their own.

Josephine Woolington is a writer and musician based in her hometown of Portland, Oregon. She is the author of “Where We Call Home: Lands, Seas, and Skies of the Pacific Northwest,” which won the 2024 Oregon Book Award for general nonfiction. Her wide-ranging, long-form feature story on this subject was published in High Country News.

David G. Lewis (Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde) is an OSU anthropology and Indigenous studies assistant professor who descends from western Oregon’s Takelma, Chinook, Molalla and Santiam Kalapuya peoples. Lewis has studied a Willamette Valley site, called Lake Labish, where wapato, a traditional food for PNW Indigenous peoples, has reappeared after a 120-year absence. He is the author of Tribal Histories of the Willamette Valley (2023).

Image credit: Alex Boersma, High Country News

Humans unconsciously filter experience based on what they already believe (called confirmation bias). Seeing is not believing – rather, believing is seeing. Despite specific scientific methods to address this bias, it continues to confuse and confound science, leading to errors, mistakes, and failures – many on a monumental scale.

Confirmation bias begins the moment a person has a belief, regardless of its origin or truth, even if the belief is harmful to the person who has it. (Remember Prosper-René Blondlot and the great fiasco of N-Rays?)

Why would we evolve such a seemingly maladaptive trait? Surprisingly, despite the damage, without confirmation bias, forward progress in science would stop. It’s even essential to human thinking.

In this Science on Tap, Dr. James C. Zimring will explore how and why confirmation bias both drives science forward and can also drive it off a cliff. He’ll explore the questions:

• How do we harness the remarkable advantages of confirmation bias?
• How does promoting diversity maximize those advantages?

James C. Zimring MD, PhD holds the Thomas W. Tillack chair in experimental pathology at the U of Virginia. For the last 20 years, Dr. Zimring has been highly involved in teaching the “science about science” at the graduate and undergraduate levels, as well as a course on scientific thinking for high school. Dr. Zimring has published two books on the topic: What Science is and How it Really Works (Cambridge University Press) and Partial Truths (Columbia University Press).

From heart-breaking to hilarious, The Story Collider show is a live storytelling event featuring stories from people from all walks of life about how science has affected their lives. Whether you wear a lab coat or haven’t seen a test tube since grade school, science is shaping all our lives.

Every year, The Story Collider hosts live shows – in person and online – around the world with all kinds of storytellers: researchers, doctors, and engineers, of course, but also patients, poets, comedians, and more. Our team’s favorite stories from those shows land on our weekly podcast. They’re all true and all very personal.

Science on Tap OR WA is excited to be partnering with them for an evening of true, personal stories about science. Speakers include:

• Amanda Pluntze        
• Justin Bohling
• Marley Parker                 
• Jackie Wirz  (our own MC!) – “Mental health in science. What does it mean to have a broken brain in an intellectual profession? How do you redefine success? How do you redefine yourself?! All questions I grapple with while also discussing the art and science of the HPLC.”
• Mark Pitzer  (a favorite speaker of ours!) – Eager to impress both his Ph.D. advisor and a charming young woman, Mark, a young graduate student in Neuroscience, stumbled into a near-disastrous experiment in both love and lab work. Mark recounts how a lab mishap reshaped his approach to science and his understanding of relationships. 

The word “shark” has historically conjured images of a mindless, man-eating machine. Yet there are over 500 shark species of all shapes and sizes, consuming everything from seagrass to marine mammals. All are critical to our oceans, and their presence usually indicates that an ecosystem is healthy. However, in order to reverse their decline, we need to know more about them.

How do sharks behave?
What is their population size?
How old do they get?
How many young do they have?

Getting answers is a huge challenge – how do you study something that is out of sight and sometimes larger than your own boats? Oregon’s waters are home to 15 shark species, but a dedicated research program was only recently established for these animals – the Big Fish Lab at Oregon State University. At this Science on Tap, learn about their innovative research methods, from animal-borne cameras and “FitBits” to satellite tracking to drone footage, as well as why this information is critical to conservation.

Some of their scientists have been featured on Shark Week, BBC and National Geographic, so come prepared with all of your questions about sharks, shark science, and sharks in the public eye!

Dr. Alexandra (Alex) McInturf (she/her) is a research associate in the Big Fish Lab (BFL) at Oregon State University. Her research focuses on the social lives of sharks and tracking the movements and assessing the diets of many species. She completed her PhD in Animal Behavior at the University of California, Davis in 2021. She has been with the Big Fish Lab since then, where she conducts her research, mentors the BFL’s many undergraduate and graduate students, and leads community engagement efforts.

What’s it like to work on the front lines of a wildfire? 
How and why are wildfires changing in the Northwest?

This talk will jump into both of these topics, while also expanding on how you can prepare for a future of fire in the Northwest. 

Amanda Monthei spent four years working as a wildland firefighter—including two years as a US Forest Service hotshot (a highly-trained team) based in the Mt. Hood National Forest. Her work gave her a first-hand glimpse at the way PNW ecosystems are shifting and how both wildfire and climate change play a critical role. This talk will give you an inside glimpse at what this unique job entails, as well as the challenges facing wildland firefighters right now. 

She’ll also address why our temperate rainforests no longer feel like the wildfire-safe haven they once were. Believe it or not, fire belongs in these “wet side” ecosystems! But while infrequent, these fires tend to be catastrophically large and fast-moving – take the Labor Day fires of 2020 as an example of how these ecosystems can burn. Explore why this relationship is expected to grow more tenuous as climate change brings more extended drought and other climactic changes to the Northwest. 

Amanda Monthei left firefighting in 2019 and found a niche career in writing about wildfire, including for outlets like The Washington Post, The Atlantic, Deseret News, Patagonia and NBC News. She also produces and hosts a podcast, Life with Fire, which examines our relationship with wildfires and how we can better coexist with them. She lives in Bellingham, WA. 

Have you ever sat down at a bar, ordered a beer, and thought to yourself, “Why do humans even have so many specific genes for breaking down alcohol?” This is what happens when a guy with a PhD in Molecular and Medical Genetics from OHSU starts making booze professionally. The answer, as it turns out, takes you a long way back in human history; our relationship with yeast (the organism that makes alcohol), predates human evolution.

At this Science on Tap, Dr. Kevin McCabe, Winemaker, Enologist, and Beekeeper at Double Strand Wine, will take you through the history of primate alcohol consumption, the importance of yeast and alcoholic fermentation to human history, and how early microbiology turned the tables on yeast and gave humans control over our boozy destiny.

The Cascades Range is home to many volcanoes, but how active and dangerous are they? What are the greatest hazards from volcanoes in the Pacific Northwest, who monitors them, and how?  

At this Science on Tap, Jon Major explores volcanic processes associated with volcanic eruptions and their aftermath, provides insights on the greatest threats posed by the Cascades volcanoes, and reveals how our regional volcanoes are monitored and why. The great 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens fundamentally changed how scientists viewed volcanic eruptions. The four decades since have seen significant advancements in our understanding of volcanic histories, processes, hazards, monitoring capabilities, and the role that scientists have in communicating with governmental agencies and the public.

Jon Major is the Scientist-in-Charge at the US Geological Survey Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Washington. He has worked at volcanoes in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, El Salvador, Chile, and the Philippines. He has been working at Mount St. Helens since 1981, and has been with the Cascades Volcano Observatory since 1983.

Back by popular demand! This is a repeat show from 9/21/22 at Kiggins Theatre in Vancouver.

The hidden role of fungi inside and all around us.

From beneficial yeasts that aid digestion to toxic molds that cause disease, we are constantly navigating a world filled with fungi. Our health and well-being depend on an immense ecosystem of yeasts and molds inside and all around us.

Come on a guided tour of a marvelously unseen realm, describing how our immune systems are engaged in continuous conversation with the teeming mycobiome inside the body, and how we can fall prey to serious and even life-threatening infections when this peaceful coexistence is disturbed. Our speaker also sheds light on our complicated relationship with fungi outside the body, from wild mushrooms and cultivated molds that have been staples of the human diet for millennia to the controversial experimentation with magic mushrooms in the treatment of depression.

Drawing on the latest advances in mycology, Molds, Mushrooms, and Medicines reveals what scientists are learning about the importance of fungi to our lives, from their vital role in supporting the ecosystems on which we depend to their emerging uses in lifesaving medicine.

Nicholas Money is a mycologist and professor at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio.

Get 15% off the book and your ticket when you buy them together! (see ticket options on the Get Tickets link)

There’s a lot going more on in the skies that’s affecting climate than just fossil fuel emissions increasing CO2! Particles in the atmosphere — like smoke from fires and pollution from engines and industrial activities — are affecting our climate. Yet, their influence on climate might surprise you – they actually act to cool the planet and “mask” some of the greenhouse gas warming.

Research scientist Dr. Sarah Doherty will talk about how particles in the atmosphere are already affecting climate, how these influences are likely to change in the future, and whether these effects can be leveraged to rapidly reduce global warming to avoid many of the negative impacts of climate change.
What are the ideas?
What’s being done so far?
Why are scientists considering these ideas?

This talk will discuss the current climate trajectory, and why cutting emissions alone won’t be enough to keep global warming from exceeding the 1.5-2 C of warming that scientists have identified as “dangerous levels of climate change”.

Dr. Sarah Doherty is a Senior Research Scientist at the University of Washington. Her interest in atmospheric science began with a year of work in Antarctica, where she was helping make measurements to better understand the ozone hole. Since getting her PhD, much of her research has involved making measurements of smoke and pollution in different parts of the world, including off the coasts of Africa, China, India, and the Arctic, and understanding how they affect climate. She has also been involved with multiple scientific assessments, including the U.S. National Climate Assessment and two international assessments of the state of the ozone layer.

Within Reach takes you behind the scenes of an immunotherapy clinical trial at Providence Cancer Institute, where doctors and scientists race against the clock to develop gene-engineered T cells for patients who have exhausted all other forms of treatment. Watch as researchers make international headlines for a breakthrough in pancreatic cancer and meet the patients who are the first in the world to receive this type of innovative immunotherapy. 

A panel discussion with Providence researchers will follow the 45-minute documentary. Panel members:
R. Bryan B. Bell, MD, DDS, FACS, FRCS(Ed)
Rachel E. Sanborn, MD | Portland, OR (providence.org)

Within Reach is produced by Providence Foundations of Oregon in partnership with ZP Productions. Watch the trailer:

Can we change the minds of science deniers? Encounters with flat earthers, anti-vaxxers, coronavirus truthers, and others.

“Climate change is a hoax—and so is coronavirus.” “Vaccines are bad for you.” These days, many of our fellow citizens reject scientific expertise and prefer ideology to facts. They are not merely uninformed—they are misinformed. They cite cherry-picked evidence, rely on fake experts, and believe conspiracy theories.

How can we convince such people otherwise? How can we get them to change their minds and accept the facts when they don’t believe in facts? In this Science on Tap, Lee McIntyre shows that anyone can fight back against science deniers, and argues that it’s important to do so. Science denial can kill.

Drawing on his own experience—including a visit to a Flat Earth convention—as well as academic research, How to Talk to a Science Denier outlines the common themes of science denialism, present in misinformation campaigns ranging from tobacco companies’ denial in the 1950s that smoking causes lung cancer to today’s anti-vaxxers. He describes attempts to use his persuasive powers as a philosopher to convert Flat Earthers; surprising discussions with coal miners; and conversations with a scientist friend about genetically modified organisms in food. McIntyre offers tools and techniques for communicating the truth and values of science, emphasizing that the most important way to reach science deniers is to talk to them calmly and respectfully—to put ourselves out there, to meet them face to face.

Lee McIntyre is a Research Fellow at the Center for Philosophy and History of Science at Boston University and a recent Lecturer in Ethics at Harvard Extension School. He holds a B.A. from Wesleyan University and a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Michigan. Formerly Executive Director of the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University, he has also served as a policy advisor to the Executive Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. McIntyre’s latest book is On Disinformation (which will also be available at the show). He’s also a native Portlander and grew up about a mile from the Alberta Rose Theatre!

Most of us humans are able to retreat to the safety of a building or a well-stocked pantry to wait out storms, smoke, or heat waves…but what do all the birds do? Do they also seek shelter? Do they leave? How long can they wait before they must go try to find food? Such decisions can literally mean life or death.

Some amazing adaptations help them decide what to do. For example, information from nearby neighbors can change their brains and how they process stress…and can even affect how large their intestines are! These strategies help them to cope with times of unpredictable food and highlight how important social interactions are for birds.

Dr. Jamie Cornelius and her lab study behavioral and physiological strategies that birds use to cope with unpredictable change. In other words, why do some birds survive better than others when the going gets tough? She’ll describe field and lab experiments that help us understand their needs and what strategies might help them to cope with global change. While many talks centered on climate change can fill you with doom and gloom, this one just might give you reason to hope that mother nature has some tricks up her sleeve.

Dr. Jamie Cornelius is an assistant professor at Oregon State University in the Department of Integrative Biology. She earned a B.S. in Zoology at the University of Washington and a PhD in Animal Behavior at UC Davis. She spent several years as a post-doctoral scholar at the Max Planck Institute of Ornithology in Germany and as a Fulbright fellow at St. Petersburg State University in Russia. Hard work and good luck have brought her back to the Pacific Northwest – and to Vancouver, where she first started her science career at Columbia River High School nearly 30 years ago! 

Kombucha has gone from a weird home-brewed beverage only consumed by health-obsessed hippies (and everyone in Portland, of course) to a popular non-alcoholic alternative to soda. At the heart of this story is the perception of kombucha as healthy, and the relative simplicity of carrying out a kombucha fermentation – make some sweet tea, throw in the “SCOBY” and when it starts to smell vinegary, taste it to see if it’s done. What can go wrong?

As it turns out, the simplicity of the fermentation system relies upon a complex mixture of microbes each needing to do their part. That slimy chunk of cellulose that floats on top of an active kombucha ferment, known as “the SCOBY”, contains bacteria and yeast working together, hence the acronym (Symbiotic Culture of Bacteria and Yeast). The yeast in the SCOBY turns sugar in the sweet tea into alcohol, and the bacteria turn that alcohol into the acid that gives the vinegary flavor. Sometimes these processes are not fully synced-up and kombucha may end up tasting a bit too funky, or may not meet the requirements of a non-alcoholic beverage.

At this Science on Tap, Dr. Chris Curtin will describe his laboratory’s quest to work out which yeast and bacteria are most commonly found in SCOBY and how they cooperate to deliver tasty, non-alcoholic kombucha. He will also discuss the sometimes controversial topic of whether kombucha is a probiotic beverage.

Dr. Chris Curtin is an associate professor of fermentation microbiology at Oregon State University, chairs the Microbiology committee of the American Society for Brewing Chemists, and serves as associate editor for the Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture. His lab focuses on the role of microbes in beverage fermentation and food stability…and enjoying the consumption of those products!

When we open our eyes, are we perceiving reality? Why do we fail to agree on the color of “The Dress” (that went viral in 2015)? Have you ever glanced at ticking clock and noticed the second-hand suddenly freeze for a split second?

Neuroscience research suggests that the brain evolved to make rapid, best-guesses about the objects in our environment, rather than create a one-to-one representation of the world. Through stories and demonstrations, Dr. Mark Pitzer will discuss some of the effects of this strategy and how our visual system can highlight some objects, delete others, and alter our conscious awareness in an attempt to help us navigate our visual world.

We’re excited to welcome Mark Pitzer back to Science on Tap! (Remember that great Making Memories show??)

Mark Pitzer, Ph.D. is a neuroscientist at the University of Portland. For the last 25 years he has worked to better understand and treat diseases of the brain, including Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases. Currently, his lab studies how developmental influences in the womb can alter the number of dopaminergic neurons involved in movement and reward. Mark is also an award-winning teacher that uses the findings from the fields of learning and neuroscience to invoke enduring enthusiasm, curiosity and deep learning in his college students.  

The Pacific Northwest is due for a major earthquake along the Cascadia Subduction Zone, and a magnitude 9 Cascadia earthquake and tsunami would likely produce an unprecedented catastrophe much larger than any disaster the state of Oregon has ever faced.

Oregon’s resilience to earthquakes is low, thus, preparing for a catastrophic disaster to become more resilient is needed to improve personal safety and safeguard communities and businesses. At this Science on Tap, Yumei Wang, engineer and geologist, will discuss Oregon’s earthquake setting, expected impacts from a Cascadia earthquake, and how Portlanders are preparing for “the really big one.”

Yumei Wang focuses on deficient infrastructure to improve community safety for Cascadia earthquakes and tsunamis and extreme weather disasters. She consults on disaster resilience projects including to DEQ on their forthcoming fuel terminal safety regulation, is Affiliate Faculty Senior Advisor on Infrastructure Resilience and Risk at PSU, and served for 26 years in the State of Oregon’s Department of Geology and Mineral Industries. Wang has conducted worldwide post-earthquake engineering damage assessments including the 2011 Tohoku, Japan and 2010 Maule, Chile disasters, and appeared in documentaries produced by OPB, NOVA, National Geographic, and Discovery. In 2022, she received the Public Service Award from The Geological Society of America, was named Engineer of the Year by the Professional Engineers of Oregon, and has served as a U.S. Congressional Fellow in Washington DC.