Welcome back to Science Fair, Bwog’s weekly roundup of science events happening around campus. As always, email science@bwog.com if you want your event featured.

Hybrid Seminar – Barbara Meyer. Sex and Death: Chromosome Structure and Dose-Sensitive Signals Shape Nematode Sex, Development, and Lifespan

  • Monday, May 2, 2022. 12 pm.
  • Email biology@columbia.edu for the Zoom link.
  • “Dissecting the molecular mechanisms underlying X-chromosome counting has revealed how small quantitative differences in intracellular signals can be translated into dramatically different fates. Dissecting the process of X-chromosome dosage compensation has revealed the interplay between chromatin modification and chromosome structure in regulating gene expression over vast chromosomal territories.” More information here.

A Tale of Two Cities: The Decline in Child Exposure to Lead in Paris and New York

  • Tuesday, May 3, 2022. 9 am to 12 pm.
  • Online. Registration required.
  • “Blood-lead levels have declined dramatically in both Paris and New York over the past 50 years. This is good news”…“The goal of this workshop is to review progress made in Paris and New York to reduce lead exposure in recent decades and the extent to which continued exposure could and should be reduced further.” More information here and here.

Sciences of Learning and the Conditions of Educational Equity

  • Wednesday, May 4, 2022. 4:30 to 6 pm.
  • Milstein LL002, Lynn Chu Classroom.
  • “Please join the Office for DEI and the CEP in a Year of Science round table discussion about how science informs theories and practices of learning with Jalisha Jenifer, Postdoctoral Fellow and Adjunct Assistant Professor in Psychology, Na’ilah Suad Nasir,  President of the Spencer Foundation and Megan Bang, Professor in the Learning Sciences and Human Development, Northwestern University.” More information here.

Debjani Bhattacharyya – Underwriting and Cyclones in the Indian Ocean

  • Thursday, May 5, 12:15 to 1:30 pm.
  • Online and Heyman Center, Second Floor. Registration required.
  • “This talk explores how the underwriting practices that developed with Britain’s imperial expansion in the Indian Ocean critically shaped the very parameters of meteorology in the early 19th century. Analyzing navigational journals and insurance cases fought in the marine courts in India and the admiralty courts in London, the talk reflects on why tropical cyclones, instead of becoming limits to be overcome through scientific forecasting, were instead financialized and made profitable through a brisk and thriving underwriting business.” More information here and here.

A Discussion on Building a Climate and History Network at Columbia

  • Thursday, May 5, 2022. 4 to 5 pm.
  • Fayerweather 513. Registration required.
  • “The speakers’ specific collaborative research has worked to understand multi-decadal droughts in East Africa in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. They will use the preliminary work on this project to discuss the challenges and benefits of collaborations in this space and what needs to be done to cultivate and amplify climate and history collaborations more generally across Columbia University.” More information here.

Utility of Population Descriptors in Clinical Genetics

  • Friday, May 6, 2022. 12 to 1 pm.
  • Online. Registration required.
  • “What is the most important information, conceptually, for clinical genetics professionals to do their jobs well? Is the information always necessary; if not, when is it critical vs. extraneous? When is it potentially harmful?” More information here and here.

The Bird in the Vacuum via Bwarchives