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Explorit Science Center Weekly Column
This page contains the material submitted to the local paper - The Davis Enterprise - for Explorit Science Center's news column published in
that paper on Fridays.
Date: September 15, 2006 Author: Mackenzie T. Yamamura LECTURE SERIES KICKS OFF WITH BIOFUELS TALK Biofuels are derived from recently living organisms, or their byproducts, and are a renewable energy source. Join UC Davis' Ruihong Zhang on Tuesday for the first lecture of the 16 th season of Explorit's Cutting Edge Lecture Series (CELS). Hear the latest about turning common waste into bioenergy.A goal of CELS is to offer the public an insight into what is going on in scientific research right now. Topics are selected to provide information about new discoveries, controversial subjects and emerging trends in research. This year's series is no different. The free lectures, coordinated by Explorit, sponsored by Novozymes and hosted by the Davis Public Library (315 E. 14 th St.), take place at 7:30 p.m. on the third Tuesday of the month September through May, excluding December. Each series includes speakers who do research in a wide variety of fields and come from both academia and industry. The first speaker, Dr. Zhang, is a professor in UC Davis' Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering. Her current research is focused on conversion of agricultural and food waste to biofuels and biobased products and improvement of energy efficiency in wastewater treatment. Converting 5 million tons of food leftovers that are put into the California landfills each year into usable energy sources is no easy task for scientists alone. Zhang, along with several industry partners, are using organisms smaller than the eye can see to do most of the dirty work. These researchers have developed advanced anaerobic digestion technologies to help manage the organic wastes. Anaerobic digestion is a process that uses microorganisms, such as bacteria, to break down and convert the items in your doggy-bag-gone-bad into gases, which can be used as fuel for electricity and heat generation or for transportation vehicles. The biofuels talk will explore how these new technologies could help solve the costly problem of disposing of waste in a sustainable manner while at the same time creating useful byproducts. Other lectures in this year's line up will include other speakers from UC Davis, such as Toby Allen of the Department of Chemistry who, in February, will expound on another small topic that has large implications: how biomolecules control an organism's chemical and electrical signals. Using computer simulations and the laws of physics and chemistry, Allen can explain the mechanism for these important molecules that would otherwise be invisible to the eye. In March, Maureen Stanton of the Department of Evolution and Ecology, will tackle the huge topic of the evolution of life on Earth, the cornerstone of modern biology. She will present evidence for the diversity of life that arose from a common ancestor and will discuss how the argument for Intelligent Design is fundamentally non-scientific. From visualizing the tiniest of atomic particles to illuminating the debate over evolution, the 2006-2007 CELS season promises to create a greater understanding and appreciation for the impact of science in our lives. Other lecture topics include, biophotonics, invasive plants, organic pest control and stem cells. For a complete listing of all the planned lectures, visit Explorit's Web site at www.explorit.org/program/cutting_edge.html. Cutting Edge of Science Lecture Series 2006-2007 • Sept, 19, 2006 Ruihong Zhang, UC Davis "Leftovers to Lights: Bioenergy Technology Update" • Oct, 17, 2006 Marco Molinaro, Center for Biophotonics "Seeing the 'Invisible' with Biophotonics" • Nov, 21, 2006 Lars Anderson, UC Davis Topic: Invasive Plants • Jan, 16, 2007 Pamela Marrone, Marrone Organic Innovation "Discovery and Development of Natural Products for Pest Control" • Feb, 20, 2007 Toby Allen, UC Davis "Proteins That Make Us Tick: An Atomistic Vision from Computer Simulation" • March 20, 2007 Maureen Stanton, UC Davis "Evolution vs. Intelligent Design: Which is Legitimate Science?" • April 17, 2007 Mark Zern, UC Davis Medical Center "Stem Cells 101: Everything you've ever wanted to know about stem cells but were afraid to ask." • May 15, 2007 TBD -------------------------------------------------------------------- |