See a recording of this event on our Facebook video page or YouTube channel.

Our inaugural event will feature neuroscientist Dr. Larry Sherman talking about how playing, composing, and listening to music can help us get through these uncertain times. Join us as he discusses how the brain processes music, and reviews studies (with demonstrations!) on how music can influence anxiety and social connectivity. Have a drum or something to bang on at hand to play along!

See a recording of this event on our Facebook video page or YouTube channel.

It’s been called the love-hormone, the hug-hormone, and the cuddle-hormone, but just what IS oxytocin and what does it do to us? At this special online event join Dr. Randi Hutter Epstein on a journey deep into the brain as she unravels the fascinating science of oxytocin. She will talk about how the hormone is tied to social behaviors but also to lactation and childbirth, and she will distinguish the real scientific discoveries from the hoaxes. Listen as she travels back in time to meet some of the hormone’s earliest discoverers, and you’ll come away acquainted with eccentric brilliant investigators, conniving hucksters, and a few oxytocin-bonded loving mountain moles.

Dr. Randi Hutter Epstein is a lecturer at Yale University and the author of Aroused: The History of Hormones and How They Control Just About Everything. Hear her talk about her book on our podcast, A Scientist Walks Into A Bar.

See a recording of this event on our Facebook video page or YouTube channel.

Have you ever tried to describe how something tastes but didn’t quite have the words? How would you like to sample and describe flavor like a professional? At this tasty Science on Tap, Lindsay Barr, Co-Founder of DraughtLab will break down the science of how we experience flavor so you can gain insight into what you perceive and why. Learn about the tools professionals use to hone their skills and how you can apply them to enhance your everyday experiences with the foods and beverages you consume.

JOIN US FOR A REAL-TIME TASTING! We’re trying something new so if you’d like to play along at home, purchase the following items and have them with you on the night of the Science on Tap Online event. Lindsay will describe what to look for as you taste them and how to pay attention to different sensations.
– Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
– Fat Tire Amber Ale
– GT Synergy Trilogy Kombucha

DOWNLOAD THE FREE TASTING APP!

NOTE: You can still attend the event and learn a lot even if you don’t download the app or if you’re not joining in the tasting. Please follow your local laws regarding alcohol purchase age and requirements.

See a recording of this event on our Facebook video page or YouTube channel.

People used to wonder whether all four of a horse’s legs left the ground as it ran. The invention of photography answered that question, but people had no idea just how that invention would change the way we see ourselves as humans. People create inventions to fill a need, but in return those inventions have shaped lives, nations, and diverse communities.

Join us for a presentation by Dr. Ainissa Ramirez, a materials scientist and author of The Alchemy of Us: How Humans and Matter Transformed One Another. This book examines eight inventions—clocks, steel rails, copper communication cables, photographic film, light bulbs, hard disks, scientific labware, and silicon chips—and reveals how they shaped the human experience.

Filling in the gaps left by other books about technology, Ramirez showcases little-known inventors—particularly people of color and women—who had a significant impact but whose accomplishments have been hidden by mythmaking, bias, and convention. Doing so, she shows us the power of telling inclusive stories about technology.

Here are some suggestions for how to buy the book (that don’t involve Amazon)!

See a recording of this event on our Facebook video page or YouTube channel.

Antarctica, the ice kingdom hosting the South Pole, looms large in the human imagination. The secrets of this vast frozen desert have long tempted explorers, but its brutal climate and glacial shores notoriously resist human intrusion. Land of Wondrous Cold tells a gripping story of the pioneering nineteenth-century voyages, when British, French, and American commanders raced to penetrate Antarctica’s glacial rim for unknown lands beyond. Today, the white continent poses new challenges, as scientists race to uncover Earth’s climate history, which is recorded in the south polar ice and ocean floor, and to monitor the increasing instability of the Antarctic ice cap, which threatens to inundate coastal cities worldwide.

At this online Science on Tap we’ll be joined by Gillen D’Arcy Wood, author and Associate Director of Education at the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He will interweave the breakthrough research of the modern Ocean Drilling Program with the dramatic discovery tales of their Victorian forerunners, and will describe Antarctica’s role in a planetary drama of plate tectonics, climate change, and species evolution stretching back more than thirty million years. An original, multifaceted portrait of the polar continent emerges, illuminating our profound connection to Antarctica in its past, present, and future incarnations.

Get a 20% discount and free shipping on your copy of Land of Wondrous Cold when you purchase your book through the Princeton University Press website and use the code LOWC-FG at checkout. (Note: The coupon code is ONLY valid on the Princeton site.)

See a recording of this event on our Facebook video page or YouTube channel.

With social media feeds full of homemade bread, homebrew, and pickling, people seem to be embracing fermentation like never before. In this tasty Science on Tap Online event hear from geneticist Dr. Kevin McCabe, former Quality Manager for Full Sail Brewing and co-creator of KYLA Hard Kombucha as he explains the science behind some of our favorite foods and beverages. Kevin will introduce the biochemistry of fermentation, the microbes involved, and the similarities and differences of how cider, wine, beer, distilled spirits, bread, kombucha, and pickles all rely on fermentation.

Want a taste of one of Kevin’s earlier Science on Tap talks? Search for A Scientist Walks Into A Bar in your favorite podcast app and look for Episode 13 for his talk on Evolution Under the Influence: Alcohol and the Coevolution of Humans and Yeast.

See a recording of this event on our Facebook video page or YouTube channel.

Frances Glessner Lee was supposed to spend her life as an heiress and socialite. Born in 1878 into a wealthy Chicago family, she was never meant to have a career, let alone one steeped in death and depravity. Yet she developed a fascination with the investigation of violent crimes and made it her life’s work. She is best known for creating the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death, a series of dollhouses with macabre details: an overturned chair, a blood-spattered comforter, bodies splayed out on the floor or draped over chairs, and all clothed in hand-sewn garments, some of which Lee lovingly knit with sewing pins. These miniatures were used to train law enforcement officers to investigate violent crimes, and her methods are still used today.

At this Science on Tap, Lee’s official biographer Bruce Goldfarb will talk about his book 18 Tiny Deaths: The Untold Story of Frances Glessner Lee and the Invention of Modern Forensics. He will delve into Lee’s journey from a grandmother without a college degree to being a pioneer in the scientific study of unexpected death. Learn how she used the traditional “women’s work” such as sewing to improve the male-dominated profession of police work, and how she revolutionized forensic investigation.

See a recording of this event on our Facebook video page orYouTube channel.

From the current coronavirus outbreak to climate change to brewing better beer, science touches every aspect of our society. While trust in science is high, often people pick and choose the science they wish to believe and simply providing more information is not enough to change minds or impact behavior. Join us for this Science on Tap online presentation with Dr. Allison Coffin who will explore the intersection between science, communication, and storytelling to increase the impact of science in society.

Dr. Coffin is an Associate Professor of Neuroscience at WSU Vancouver and the president of Science Talk.

See a recording of this event on our Facebook video page or YouTube channel.

What do the gut and the brain talk about? Our gut microbiome is filled with yeasts and bacteria that help digest food, but also have shown to be associated with central nervous system function. The gut-brain axis involves links between the central nervous system and the intestinal tract, including the microbes that live there. Disturbances to the normal gut microbiota have been linked to causing several mental illnesses, including anxiety.

At this livestream Science on Tap, Dr. Lisa Sardinia, associate professor of biology at Pacific University, will explain what the microbiome is, and how those experiencing anxiety symptoms might be helped by regulating the microorganisms in their gut with diet (probiotics, non-probiotic foods, and supplements).

See a recording of this event on our Facebook video page or YouTube channel.

In these times of cancelled classes and events it’s comforting to know that some things haven’t changed. While we stay safe at home, bird migration continues just outside our windows.

At this special online Science on Tap we’ll be joined by Dr. Nicole Michel, a Senior Quantitative Ecologist with the National Audubon Society’s Science Division. She will tell us about birds you can see in your neighborhood or local park and how you can attract more birds to your yard. We’ll follow the adventures of individual birds as they travel between breeding and wintering locations, and face threats along the way. You’ll discover how advanced technology – machine learning, space stations, and more – lets us delve deeper into the wonders of bird migration. Finally, you’ll leave with ideas for what you can do to help protect the birds we love.

See a recording of this event on our Facebook video page or YouTube channel.

Even during times of social distancing, the desire to meet and connect with new potential partners can be strong. Since in-person activities to meet new people are out of the question for now, online dating sites can be even more important when looking for a match*. What can science tell us about using Tinder “smartly”? Do dating sites help or hinder finding a mate?

Join sexuality educator and researcher Dr. L. Kris Gowen as she goes deep into the psychology of online dating to discuss why it’s so popular, whether or not it’s effective, and how its design impacts who we choose.

Dr. Kris, Co-founder of Beyond the Talk has presented internationally on the intersection of sex, love, and technology. Hear her previous talk on finding love through technology on our podcast, A Scientist Walks into a Bar.

*to meet in person only after social distancing restrictions have been eased.

See a recording of this event on our Facebook video page or YouTube channel.

Where is the best place to find life beyond Earth? We often look to Mars as the most promising site in our solar system, but recent scientific missions have revealed that some of the most habitable real estate may actually lie farther away. Beneath the frozen crusts of several of the small, ice-covered moons of Jupiter and Saturn lurk vast oceans that may have been in existence for as long as Earth, and together may contain more than fifty times its total volume of liquid water. Could there be organisms living in their depths? Kevin Peter Hand’s book Alien Oceans: The Search for Life in the Depths of Space reveals the science behind the thrilling quest to find out.

Kevin Peter Hand is one of today’s leading NASA scientists, and his pioneering research has taken him on expeditions around the world. At this special online Science on Tap, he will bring together insights from planetary science, biology, and the adventures of scientists like himself to explain how we know that oceans exist within moons of the outer solar system, like Europa, Titan, and Enceladus. He’ll discuss how the exploration of Earth’s ocean is informing our understanding of the potential habitability of these icy moons, and draws lessons from what we have learned about the origins of life on our own planet to consider how life could arise on these distant worlds.

Two suggestions for purchasing the book Alien Oceans:
1) Support a local Vancouver small business and purchase your book through Vintage Books. They are offering online sales, shipping, and curbside pickup.

2) Purchase your book through the Princeton University Press website and receive a 20% discount by using the code HAND20-FG at checkout. (Note: The coupon code is ONLY valid on the Princeton site.)