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.

Scarcity: A History from the Origins of Capitalism to the Climate Crisis

  • Monday, April 15 from 5:15 to 7 pm
  • In-person at Fayerweather Hall (Room 513). Registration required.
  • “This event will explore the present and future of the neoclassical scarcity postulate; the prospects of “sustainable” qualitative economic growth; the challenges of global justice and human flourishing within planetary boundaries; and the relationship between ‘generic’ economic growth and the science/practice of climate mitigation and the protection of biodiversity.” More information. 

2024 Columbia Global Energy Summit

  • Tuesday, April 16 from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm
  • In-person at Lerner Hall Auditorium and streamed live. Registration required.
  • “The Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University’s SIPA is hosting its annual Columbia Global Energy Summit on April 16, 2024. This year’s day-long Summit will address myriad issues at the heart of today’s complex geopolitical, environmental, and economic landscape, including the impact of climate change and the energy transition on geopolitics and security; the outlook for clean energy deployment; pathways to mobilize finance for clean energy in emerging and developing economies; energy justice imperatives; and the impact for energy and climate policy in key elections around the world in 2024.” More information. 

Living in a Quantum World: A Public Roundtable

  • Thursday, April 18 from 5:30 to 7:30 pm
  • In-person at the Italian Academy (Teatro). Registration required. 
  • “We live in a quantum world. But what exactly does that mean? How is it that the very matter of our existence is quantum, yet this fundamental aspect remains unseen in our daily lives? Furthermore, what potential does quantum physics have in bringing transformative technologies into society? This round table aims to demystify these questions by hosting a panel of distinguished experts. These thought leaders will share their insights and predict the revolutionary changes that quantum physics is set to bring to our world and our understanding of it.” More information. 

Unbottling the Environmental & Health Impacts of Nanoplastics

  • Thursday, April 18 from 6 to 7 pm 
  • Online over Zoom. Registration required for link. 
  • “As concerns about plastic pollution reach a crescendo, recent research has uncovered a hidden threat in one of our most common commodities: bottled water. This groundbreaking study, conducted by researchers at Columbia Climate School’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (LDEO), has revealed the presence of hundreds of thousands of previously uncounted tiny plastic particles in bottled water samples.” More information. 

Emma Park – Of Rinderpest, Famine, Smallpox, and Debt: Land, Tax, Labor, and the Structure of the Conjuncture in 19th c. Eastern Africa

  • Friday, April 19 from 11 am to 12 pm
  • In-person at Fayerweather Hall (Room 513). 
  • “In 1896, the nebulous colonial state in Kenya began the construction of the Uganda Railway, a haphazard project that critics would come to call the “Lunatic Express.” This production of “colonial state space” was accompanied by and relied upon a series of conjunctural, ecological, epizootic, epidemic, and demographic dislocations. […] Pace Marshall Sahlins, this “structure of the conjuncture” ultimately produced the historical geography of colonial capitalism in the East African Protectorate.” More information.

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