A little beverage mixed with a discussion of nuclear energy is always a good thing, right?
The spring lineup for “Science on Tap,” a monthly series hosted by Schlafly Bottleworks, has been announced, and nuclear energy is just one of the topics to be explored.
All meetings are from 7-8:30 p.m. on the last Wednesday of the month in the Crown Room of the Bottleworks.
Following a 30-minute presentation, there will be a seven-minute break for attendees to introduce themselves to each other at the table, and then an hour of discussion. Seating is limited to the first 100 people, and no reservations are accepted.
The schedule is as follows:
Feb. 22: “Solar Energy and Nuclear Energy: Promise for the 21st Century?” Presented by Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton.
Also professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences, Wrighton will address energy as one of the major challenges of the 21st century and discuss the prospects and role of solar energy and nuclear energy.
Abundant, affordable, environmentally clean energy is vital to the future of the United States and other countries. Advances in science and technology will be critical to our international competitiveness economically.
March 29: “Man, The Hunted.” Presented by Robert Sussman, Ph.D., professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences.
Despite popular theories posed in research papers and popular literature, early man was not an aggressive killer, Sussman argues. He says primates, including early humans, evolved not as hunters but as prey of many predators, including wild dogs and cats, hyenas, eagles and crocodiles.
Sussman’s most recent book, Man the Hunted: Primates, Predators and Human Evolution, poses a new theory, based on the fossil record and living primate species, that primates have been prey for millions of years, a fact that greatly influenced the evolution of early man.
April 26: Richard Chapman, senior lecturer in screenwriting in the Program in Film and Media Studies in Arts & Sciences, will talk about his work in Belarus concerning the harmful heath effects from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The topic is part of a new docudrama he is writing.
Chapman is a veteran screenwriter and producer in film and television with particular interest in the ways journalists report on war. He recently co-wrote the HBO Original Film Live From Baghdad, which told the behind-the-scenes story of CNN’s coverage of the early days of the first Persian Gulf War. The film was nominated for three 2003 Golden Globe Awards.
Schlafly Bottleworks is located at 7260 Southwest Ave. in Maplewood, Mo.
For more information, e-mail sciontap@artsci.wustl.edu or call 935-5285.