with Bassam Z. Shakhashiri, Professor of Chemistry
William T. Evjue Distinguished Chair for the Wisconsin Idea
Director, Wisconsin Initiative for Science Literacy
Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Course Description What We Heard from Participants
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 6:00-8:00 p.m.
June 16 - July 9, 2015
Seminar Hall (Room 1315) Chemistry Building
UW-Madison Campus
Course email: scifun@chem.wisc.edu
Tuesday, June 16
—Purposes and Expectations
—Grand Challenges to Science and Society
—Influencing Attitudes and Behavior for Responsible Action
—Representation of Chemicals
Guest Speaker: Rodney Schreiner, Senior Scientist and WISL Associate Director, UW-Madison Chemistry Department
What is Science?
Presentation Slides
List of Sources
Watch a video of this lecture
Materials:
ACS Climate Science Toolkit Card
Thursday, June 18
Guest Speaker: Patrick McBride, MD, MPH
UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health
Wellness: Cardiovascular Health and Cholesterol
Presentation Slides
Watch a video of this lecture
Suggested Readings:
2013 ACC/AHA Cholestrol Guideline
2013 ACC/AHA Lifestyle Management Guideline
2013 ACC/AHA/TOS Obesity Guideline
Materials:
Periodic Table Handout
Chemists Celebrate Earth Week (ACS)
Science is Fun on Independence Day, July 4, Memorial Union Terrace
Tuesday, June 23
Guest Speaker: Kevin Strang, Faculty Associate, Department of Neuroscience, UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health
The World's Second-Most Popular Drug
Presentation Slides
Watch a video of this lecture
References:
Buzzed: The straight facts about the most used and abused drugs from alcohol to ecstasy
by Cynthia Kuhn, Scott Swartzwelder, and Wilkie Wilson.
WW Norten and Co, 2008
Drink: A Cultural History of Alcohol
by Iain Gately
Gotham Books, 2008
The Ghost Map
by Steven Johnson
Riverhead Books, 2006
Materials:
Ethanol
Water
Carbon Dioxide
Methane
What We Know (This initiative from the AAAS details the facts about climate change.)
MG&E Natural Gas Safety Information
First official day of summer: Questions and answers about the year's longest day
Thursday, June 25
Guest Speaker: Susan Nitzke, Professor Emeritus, Nutritional Sciences, UW-Madison College of Agriculture & Life Sciences
Nutrition for Your Health
Presentation Slides
Watch a video of this lecture
Suggested Readings:
Sodium
How Change is Going to Come in the Food System by Michael Pollan
Optional: Scienitific Report of the 2015 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee
Materials:
Names and Symbols of Selected Elements
(Workbook for General Chemistry)
Names and Formulas of Some Common Substances
(Workbook for General Chemistry)
Climate Science Narratives & Presentations (Responses to common climate science questions and arguments, from the ACS Climate Science Toolkit)
Statement of Diane Grob Schmidt, Ph.D., president, American Chemical Society, upon the publication of the 'Laudato Si: On Care for Our Common Home' by Pope Francis
Tuesday, June 30
Guest Speaker: Elliott Sober, Hans Reichenback Professor and William F. Vilas Research Professor, Department of Philosophy, UW-Madison College of Letters & Science
Two Arguments for Intelligent Design—
Complex Adaptations and Fine-Tuning
Presentation Slides
Watch a video of this lecture
Suggested Readings:
Watchmaker Analogy (via Wikipedia)
Fine-tuned Universe: Counter Arguments (via Wikipedia)
Additional Readings:
Researchers turn to the ocean to help unravel the mysteries of cloud formation
(via UW-Madison News)
Your Contribution to the California Drought (via The New York Times)
A visual representation of the foods we commonly eat, and the amount of water required to produce them.
Chemistry of Fireworks
Thursday, July 2
Guest Speaker: Dick Smith, Citizens Climate Lobby, Madison
Addressing Climate Change
Presentation Slides
The Problem: What makes climate change a unique social problem? First, it comes with a brutally short time limit for taking effective action. Second, it has no “reverse gear” (at least on any human timescale). Third, “business as usual” will lead to a “game over” scenario for human civilization as we know it.
Dave Roberts’ very popular 17-minute TEDx talk introduces these key concepts very effectively.
Deniers: Find rebuttals to over 150 climate-denier arguments at skepticalscience.com website with “basic, intermediate and advanced” responses. This example rebuts deniers’ most effective message:
There’s no scientific consensus.
Solutions: The cumulative decisions of motivated individuals to reduce their carbon footprints will not reduce global carbon emissions big enough and fast enough to avoid the worst impacts of global warming. Collective citizen action is essential in both the public and private sectors. Here’s a very small sample of options for active citizen participation in climate solutions:
Carbon Tax
Divestment, at 350.org and CTI
Pipelines
Legal Action at Beyond Coal and Our Children’s Trust
International: The Paris Agreement
Special Guest: Marc Fink, Principal Oboist, Madison Symphony Orchestra, and Emeritus Professor, UW-Madison School of Music
Tuesday, July 7
Guest Speaker: Paul Robbins, Director, Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies, UW-Madison
Sustainability: People and Environment in the Anthropocene
Presentation Slides
Watch a video of this presentation
Reading:
Almost Time for Pluto's Close-Up via The New York Times
Lake Lore: Information about the Madison Lakes
Connecting That Salty Sea Smell and Climate Change, ACS Headline Science (video)
Blue Sky Science: How do the sun and rain make rainbows? from Morgridge Institute (video)
Thursday, July 9
Guest Speaker: Robin Goldman, Assistant Scientist, Center for Investigating Healthy Minds, UW-Madison Waisman Center
The Neurobiology of Well-being And How it Can Be Trained
Presentation Slides
Watch a video of this presentation
Materials:
Final course handout
In honor of Oliver Sacks' birthday:
The Joy of Chemistry, a Chemical & Engineering News Editorial written by Roald Hoffmann and Bassam Shakhashiri on the occasion of Sacks' 80th birthday in 2013
Review of Uncle Tungsten by Oliver Sacks