Cafe Sci Orlando announcements for 2013-07: Organ Transplantation; The Light on Other Planets

[cafesciorl-annc]

contents:

• Kids cafe confusion? (You are invited. Anyone is welcome, not just kids.)
  
• "Organ Transplantation" at Taste
  
• "The Light on Other Planets" at Downtown Orlando Library
  
• On the Web

This month we will have fascinating discussions at our Cafe Sci at 7PM on Wednesday 3 July, at Taste, in College Park; and at the Cafe Sci for kids at 6PM on Tuesday 9 July, at the downtown Orlando Public Library.

Kids' cafe confusion?

To clear up some misunderstanding, what's different about the new cafe is that kids are now welcome at a cafe. The "kids' cafe" does not exclude adults!  Anyone who comes to the cafes at Taste is also welcome at the cafe at the Library. The one at Taste is not restricted to ages, but is generally at least "PG-13".

Organ Transplantation

We’ll explore the different facets of solid-organ transplant and identify scientific breakthroughs that have helped us improve the quality of life among patients, and we’ll shed light onto the potential future of the field. Additionally, we will examine the fundamental principles of transplant and how they have resulted in medical and surgical innovation.

Giridhar Vedula MD is a multi-organ transplant surgeon at Florida Hospital, and focuses his practice primarily on liver, kidney, and pancreas transplants. He trained at Columbia University in transplant surgery.

Directions

Taste

717 W. Smith Street

Orlando, United States

32804

Taste is near the corner of Princeton Street (really Smith Street after the fork) and Edgewater Drive, so about 2 minutes from I-4 to parking. One can park on the street or in the parking lot behind Taste. 

• From Downtown and south, drive north ("east") on I-4 through downtown. At the exit for Princeton Street, exit and turn left/west.
  
• From Altamonte Springs and north, drive south ("west") on I-4 toward downtown Orlando. At the exit for Princeton Street, exit and turn right/west.
  

From I-4, drive a few blocks to Edgewater Drive. At the intersection, you should see a orange building ahead of you, labeled "Taste". Park on the street or behind Taste.

The Light on Other Planets

Why do we see colors? Why don’t our eyes detect all wavelengths of light? Why is the sky blue and why are sunsets so colorful? Together with planetary scientists Dr. Addie Dove and Tracy Becker, we will address these questions, talk about the electromagnetic spectrum, and look at examples of how to change the way we see objects everyday. We will also learn how astronomers use telescopes that observe at different wavelengths of light to better understand our universe.

Tracy Becker is a graduate student in the physics department at the University of Central Florida on the Planetary Sciences track. She studies Saturn’s rings using data from the Cassini spacecraft, which is currently in orbit around Saturn. By looking at the way the tiny particles in the rings diffract starlight, she measures the sizes of some of the smallest dust particles in the rings. She runs the public outreach program at the Robinson Observatory at UCF and helped host the 2013 Southeast Conference for Undergraduate Women in Physics.

Addie Dove, Ph.D., is a planetary scientist who currently holds a position as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Central Florida, and as the Laboratory Manager for the Center for Microgravity Research and Education (CMRE) there. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Colorado in May, 2012. Her thesis work was focused on the lunar plasma and dust environment, and her research expertise also includes lunar dust adhesion. At the CMRE, she leads laboratory-based studies of the behavior of planetary regolith in reduced gravity and normal gravity environments making use of parabolic airplane flights, suborbital rockets, the International Space Station, and a 0.8-second drop tower. She is a Co-Investigator of an experiment that will fly on the International Space Station to study low-velocity collisional behavior of small particles. She is also involved in a variety of outreach projects, and Co-Creator of the Lunar Graduate Conference (LunGradCon).

Directions

Orlando Public Library, first floor

101 E Central Blvd

Orlando, Florida

32801

United States

The Library is at the corner of Central Blvd and Rosalind Ave, in downtown Orlando.  From northbound Rosalind, turn left/west onto Central.  From southbound Orange, turn left/east onto Central. The library is on the north side of the street, and directly across from it is a parking deck. Parking is free downtown starting at 6, so you might need to pay some negligible amount.  Or, from anywhere in downtown, ride free Lymmo busses to Central Ave.

On the Web

You can find more about Cafe Sci on our web site, http://cafesciorl.com/ , or on Facebook, or on Google+.