Bringing
You Closer
To Scientists
and Their Concerns
The
Collegium da Vinci allows a select number of guests to meet and
hear some of today's leading scientists in an intimate setting.
Except for the first event, dinners and lectures will be held on Sunday
evenings in the Jones Great
Room of SMU's Meadows Museum and tickets must be purchased in
advance.
The 2007-2008
schedule:
September 16, 2007
Allman Family Public Lecture 7:30pm - Crum Auditorium in Collins Executive
Education Center
Bruce D. Marsh, Ph.D., Professor, Morton K. Blaustein
Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University
The Volcanic Pulse of the Planets
Volcanism reflects
the ongoing vibrant life of inner Earth as a planet. Only the
volcanoes on Io, the innermost mysterious moon of Jupiter, erupt
proportionally more and hotter lava. The dramatic end result of
volcanism reflects extensive, greatly protracted, and deep-seated
processes of magma production and transport. Beyond simply
understanding the life cycle of volcanoes, understanding magma gives
clear clues to the origin of the continentals and the full physical
development of Earth as a planet. This involves the application of
geology, physics, chemistry, and engineering to field-generated
problems. Finding and reading magmatic rocks allows searching the
world-over for critical evidence. This quest has lead to the
discovery of the roots of a magnificent volcanic plumbing system
richly exposed in the McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica. First seen
by the early polar explorers Robert F. Scott and Ernest H.
Shackleton, the entire system can be seen in three dimensions and
the process of magma ascent, injection, chemical evolution and
eventual eruption can be studied at the most intimate levels. We
will see Earth’s magma from the perspectives of scientific and
historical discovery.
October 28, 2007
Pudur Jagadeeswaran Ph.D., Professor, Biological Sciences,
University of North Texas
Why River Ganges Water is Sacred?
Hamilton-Buchanan, the chief surgeon
for Lord Wellesley in India was later appointed as Director of
Fisheries and Forestry. During his tenure he identified 100
indigenous fishes in river Ganges and its branches including zebra
fish. Thus this single river has 1/250th number of the
fish species in the world. For Hindus, river Ganges is sacred and
its water is pure despite the pollution. Based on findings that the
zebra fish secrete trypsin and other proteases, it is hypothesized
that the purity of the river Ganges is due to the presence of
trypsin and other proteases. Therefore, the river Ganges water was
tested for the presence of these proteases and found positive
protease activity. Furthermore, they tested whether the trypsin in
fish water has antibacterial activity and found that these trypsins
will destroy bacteria. In addition, it was found that the fish water
destroyed paramecia. Dr. Jagadeeswaran will present the concluding
evidence of this study at his lecture.
November 18, 2007
David Blackwell Ph.D., Professor, Geological Sciences,
Southern Methodist University
Heat From the Earth, Green Energy for the 21st
Century
Geothermal energy has been used throughout the ages, but in the 20th
Century it began to be used to produce electrical energy on a
relatively large scale (8,000 MW worldwide in 2000). In the 21st
Century it could become the major green energy source as it
is wide spread, essentially pollution free, and cost competitive in
several forms today. There are situations where it may actually be
a carbon negative electrical energy source. According to The
Future of Geothermal Energy report released by MIT in early 2007
geothermal energy could be developed at a 100,000 MW scale over the
next 50 years. Three researchers at the SMU Geothermal Laboratory
contributed the resource analysis section of this report and I will
discuss our results and the broader implications of the analysis in
that report.
February 17, 2008
R. Alan Covey,
Ph.D., Assistant Professor
of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University
Archaeology
and the Search for Inca Origins
The Inca Empire was the largest native civilization to develop in
the Americas before the Spanish Conquest. In roughly a century, the
Incas managed to conquer the Andean highlands of South America and
govern a diverse population estimated at 10 million or more. For
more than 300 years, explanations of how such an achievement was
possible were based exclusively on Spanish accounts written after
the Conquest. In recent years, however, archaeology has begun to
bring scientific data to the reconstruction of Inca origins. Dr.
Covey will share the most recent results of his archaeological
research in the region surrounding Cuzco, the Inca capital,
explaining how history and archaeology can be used together to tell
a more accurate story of the transformation of Inca society.
March 30, 2008
Fabian E. Pollo, Ph.D., Executive Director of Orthopedics,
Director of Orthopedic Research, Department of Orthopedic Surgery,
Baylor University Medical Center
The Use of 3-Demensional Motion Capture in Orthopedics and
Elite Distance Athletes
The Baylor Motion & Sports
Performance Center is a unique motion capture facility at Baylor
University Medical Center in Dallas. The Center was designed for
both clinical investigation and sports performance assessment,
specializes in the analysis and interpretation of human movement.
Dr. Pollo will describe how the center uses advanced technology
utilizing 12-high speed digital motion capture cameras to record
motion. After the motion is recorded, an interactive report is
created providing a three dimensional skeletal reconstruction of the
individual in action. The results can be used to provide detailed
information about various medical conditions or help enhance the
performance of an athlete.
April 27, 2008
Robert Haley, M.D., Professor of Internal Medicine, Director
of the Division of Epidemiology, Southwestern Medical Center
Gulf War Syndrome: A New Brain Disease
Coming Into Focus
Following the 1991 Gulf War, tens of thousands of soldiers
returned with an acute illness that became chronic in
approximately 25% of the 700,000 deployed forces. Over the
following 10 years, the government spent over $500 million
investigating the problem and trying to demonstrate that it was
due to the stress of deployment. Researchers at UT Southwestern
Medical Center, initially funded by the Perot Foundation,
identified three variants of a Gulf War syndrome and traced them
to brain cell damage caused by low-level nerve gas and pesticide
exposures in the war. With funding championed by Senator Kay
Bailey Hutchison, advanced brain imaging studies demonstrated
differences in brain function between ill and well Gulf War
veterans. Collaboration with the SMU Department of Statistical
Science developed a novel approach to the statistical analysis
of brain imaging data that proved instrumental in identifying
the abnormal brain function.
A new phase of research is underway to attempt to verify
the initial findings in population-representative statistical
samples of Gulf War veterans and to identify the intracellular
mechanisms of the neurotoxic brain damage upon which novel
therapies could be based.
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