The Fall 2013 Lectures


 








Thursday, October 3 at 7:30 pm        MISSISSAUGA

Canada’s and Mississauga’s Changing Climate and What You Can Do

Peter Love, B.A., M.B.A., Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University

Energy issues and climate change are among the most important environmental issue to face mankind. The discussion will highlight the critical role energy conservation plays, the benefits of conservation and its challenges, focusing on the Canadian context. Discussion will refer specifically to what you can do in Mississauga, at home, at work and in school. There will be time for questions and discussion to provide an opportunity to ask those questions about energy that have been nagging you for years.



Sunday, October 20 at 3 pm                    TORONTO

Safety in Numbers: How Analytical Chemistry Impacts Our Wellbeing
Ian D. Brindle, B.Sc., M.Sc., D.Sc., Department of Chemistry, Brock University
Email: ibrindle@brocku.ca

How do we know if people in Syria were exposed to the nerve agent, sarin? How do pesticides get into arctic fauna? Where did Ötzi, the iceman, come from?	Analytical chemists measure all kinds of parameters that are used in the service of crime scene investigations and in the development of regulations. They can tell us not only where Ötzi came from, but what he did for a living. This talk will provide a look into the world of analytical chemistry where sophisticated infrastructure is used to measure small amounts of chemicals that are of great consequence. Medical diagnoses, environmental policies, battery lifetimes, ancient trade routes – all of these and many aspects of our everyday life – depend upon the work of analytical chemists, who provide the numbers that are used to find the answers to diverse problems.


Sunday, October 27 at 3 pm                     TORONTO

Science and Forensic Investigations on Aircraft Crashes
 
Donato Firrao, P.Eng., M.Sc., F.A.S.M., Professor, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
Lockerbie, TWA 800 and Ustica are names cast in the collective memory for large aircraft accidents. How can science help forensic investigation? The solution of each such investigation calls for the participation of large numbers of experts from various disciplines, from coroners to aircraft forensic experts, from meteorologists and radar experts to police investigators, from ballistic to material scientists. Wreckage recovery, often at the sea, and aircraft reconstruction over convenient false fuselages call for large logistic and financial efforts. Investigation often borders true scientific research when routine investigation protocols are not sufficient. Donato Firrao has been called in Italy to the investigation of many aircraft accidents, often many years after the fact.	He will explain how science and forensic engineering is applied in these types of investigations.

This lecture is co-sponsored by the Italian Cultural Institute.



Sunday, November 3 at 3 pm                  TORONTO


Fun for Kids Ages 6 to 12

The Physics of Change

Russell Zeid, RCI Council Member

How long, how high, how fast, how far. Discover the how’s of physics as we explain changes in motion, direction, speed and weight. Participate in experiments and demonstrations that have you feeling the forces in the world around us and beyond.


Thursday, November 7 at 7:30 pm     MISSISSAUGA

Ignorance and Evolution: The Science of Women and Men, Sex and Work
Carla Fehr, Ph.D., Wolfe Chair in Scientific and Technological Literacy, Department of Philosophy, University of Waterloo
Modern science is a powerful and successful institution for creating knowledge. Given this general success, it is interesting to consider situations in which smart researchers, with integrity, get things wrong. One area in which there is a long history of good science leading to bad results is scientific research on women’s and men’s sexuality, and the distribution of labour between the sexes. This is a case in which scientific research can produce ignorance rather than knowledge. How does this happen? What are the consequences of these errors? And, how can we improve this state of affairs?

Sunday, November 10 at 3 pm                 TORONTO

Antibiotics and Resistance: the Red Queen Strikes Again
 
Gerry Wright, Ph.D., Scientific Director, Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research, McMaster University
Email: wrightge@mcmaster.ca 
Website: thewrightlab.com Twitter: @gerryiidr
Disease causing bacteria are increasingly resistant to antibiotic drugs. The result is a growing worldwide medical crisis. The development of antibiotics in the early part of the 20th Century is arguably one of the most revolutionary discoveries in modern medicine. Yet these remarkable medicines are increasingly losing their efficacy to treat disease. This fact is one of the greatest challenges to medicine and global public health in the 21st century. Why is this happening? The answer lies in evolutionary biology and the natural history of antibiotics that reaches deep into the past and reflects the need to continuously discover and invent new drugs to match microbial evolution. Lewis Caroll’s Red Queen from “Through the Looking Glass” anticipated this idea when she told Alice, “It takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place.” Unfortunately, the pharmaceutical and regulatory sectors have failed to take notice of this warning and there are few new drugs in the antibiotic pipeline. What is the impact on medicine in the short and long terms and what can be done about it?




Sunday, November 17 at 3 pm                 TORONTO

Block Copolymer Architectural Materials for Addressing Today’s Challenges
Guojun Liu, B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D., Department of Chemistry, Queen’s University 
Email: gliu@chem.queensu.ca 
Website: www.chem.queensu.ca/people/faculty/Liu
What are block polymers and where can they be used in society? This talk will explain how block copolymers form numerous intricate nanostructures with many applications that will benefit consumers, the environment, and society. The versatility of block copolymers arises from their inherent structure, which consists of two or more distinct chains of repeating molecular units. This multi-component feature allows block copolymers to form a vast array of elaborate and ordered nanostructures in solution or the solid state. More exotic block copolymer nanostructures can be created using novel generic methods we have developed. While the diversity and complexity of these structures are fascinating in their own right, these materials are also extremely useful. They can provide robust protective coatings that repel water- and oil-based pollutants alike or particles that reduce friction and engine wear.



Sunday, November 24 at 3 pm                  TORONTO

The Interior Design of the Cell Surface
Costin N. Antonescu, B.Sc., Ph.D., Department of Chemistry and Biology, Ryerson University 
Email: cantonescu@ryerson.ca 
Website: www.ryerson.ca/cellsurfacebio
Every cell in the human body interacts with its environment through the proteins found on its outer surface. It is through these many surface proteins that cells obtain nutrients, receive signals (e.g. hormones) and adhere to the right location in the body. In order to work properly, each cell surface protein must be organized and then removed when it is no longer needed. This critical role is carried out by a protein termed clathrin, which controls how cells respond to hormones and obtain nutrients from their environment. We will present and discuss how we obtain an understanding of how clathrin works and the important implications for human health.



Tuesday, November 26 at 7:30 pm        
AT RYERSON UNIVERSITY, TORONTO
                   
NSERC RCI FOUNDATION LECTURE*

Photosynthetic Machines: Why Nature is Astounding
Gregory D. Scholes, phD., D.J. LeRoy Distinguished Professor Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto Recipient of the 2012 John C. Polanyi Award

Photosynthetic solar energy conversion occurs on an immense scale across the earth, influencing our biosphere from climate to oceanic food webs. These are amazing solar cells! Fronds in kelp forests, crustose coralline algae and purple bacteria have shown interesting properties relevant these energy transfer phenomena. Underpinning these examples are some fascinating chemical physics, where experiments and theories reveal the mechanisms involved in the ultrafast energy transfer processes of light harvesting. This talk will introduce the incredible physical processes that initiate photosynthesis in the first picoseconds after light is absorbed.

*This lecture is co-sponsored by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and hosted by Ryerson University
*This lecture will be given at the Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University, 55 Dundas Street West, Toronto M5G 2C3, 7th Floor, Room TRS 1-067

RCI joined forces with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), Canada’s major funder of science and engineering in universities, to establish the Foundation Lecture, celebrating the foundation of the RCI in 1849.  The Lecture is delivered by the winner of NSERC’s Herzberg Award, presented for a lifetime of extraordinary accomplishment in research in science or engineering.
(For information on previous Foundation Lectures, go HERE)


Sunday, December 1 at 3 pm                  TORONTO

Cogito, Ergo Sum Socius: I Think, Therefore I am Social

Donald T. Stuss, Ph.D., F.R.S.C., F.C.A.H.S., President and Scientific Director, Ontario Brain Institute
Website: www.braininstitute.ca
Who we are, how we behave, how we love and laugh - the brain plays a very important role in these and many other behaviours. This presentation highlights some 35 years of research on damage to the frontal lobes of the brain, that area most related to the highest level of functions, and the effect of such damage on social behaviour.	Examples include early cases of damage to the frontal lobes such as the well-known report of Phineas Gage; the effects of frontal lobotomies on personality; the mystery of the “double family”; a case study of the effect of damage to the latest area of the brain to evolve; to laugh or not to laugh - that is the question; and, time permitting, can we lose feelings associated with our memories?


Thursday, December 6 at 7:30 pm    MISSISSAUGA


Nitrogen in the Environment: Climate, Cars, and Cattle
Jennifer Murphy, Ph.D., Department of Chemistry, U of T
Email: jmurphy@chem.utoronto.ca
Website: www.chem.utoronto.ca/wp/murphygroup
Human activity has significantly perturbed the nitrogen cycle leading to negative consequences for air quality, climate, acid deposition, and ecosystem health. Nitrogen is key to life on Earth, but despite being the most abundant element in the atmosphere, the strength of the N2 triple bond renders those atoms inaccessible under most natural conditions. In the modern industrial period, humans have devised technologies that break this triple bond (or “fix” the nitrogen) intentionally (e.g. for fertilizer production) and unintentionally (e.g. as a byproduct of fossil fuel combustion). Once released, fixed nitrogen can cause a cascade of environmental issues. The impacts Dr. Murphy will discuss include: 1) the role of nitrogen oxides in controlling smog production in the Greater Toronto Area; 2) the coupling of ammonia and acidic particles with implications for human and ecosystem health; and 3) the interaction of the nitrogen cycle and climate change.




We thank the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, and 
the Mississauga Central Library for their support




mailto:wrightge@mcmaster.camailto:gliu@chem.queensu.cahttp://www.chem.queensu.ca/people/faculty/Liumailto:cantonescu@ryerson.caFoundn.htmlhttp://www.braininstitute.camailto:jmurphy@chem.utoronto.cashapeimage_5_link_0shapeimage_5_link_1shapeimage_5_link_2shapeimage_5_link_3shapeimage_5_link_4shapeimage_5_link_5shapeimage_5_link_6

FREE public one-hour lectures followed by a question period


TORONTO:  Sundays at 3 pm (doors open at 2:15)

Macleod Auditorium, Medical Sciences Building, University of Toronto

1 King’s College Circle (Nearest Subway is Queen’s Park Station)

Parking on campus, pay/display; limited disabled parking available

NOTE: The Foundation Lecture will be given at Ryerson University -- see below


MISSISSAUGA: Thursday evenings at 7:30 pm at Noel Ryan Auditorium, Mississauga Central Library, 301 Burnhamthorpe Road W.  Free parking is available under the library.  The entrance is an unmarked ramp that can only be accessed southbound on Duke of York Boulevard between City Centre Drive and Burnhamthorpe Road.