AAAS Annual Meeting: Our Planet and its Life, part I

This year the American Association for the Advancement of Science, better known as AAAS and the publisher of Science magazine, a world-class journal that contains papers from vastly different fields of science (from astronomy to anthropology, psychology to physics, neurology to nanotechnology, etc) held its annual meeting in my very own Windy City. I got wind of the meeting from a university email that announced the meeting organizers were looking for student "session aides" to keep things running smoothly. In return for at least eight hours of aid, the aides would have their registration (normally $70 for students) paid for. Naturally, I immediately applied and was got a position a few days later.

The day the meeting started I attended a brief orientation session to find out what exactly I'd be doing and when. Simple things, though some people had dumb questions (I believe there are such things). But that always happens. Brooke Sylvester, a 4th year in my program, kindly gave me a ride home.

Friday is when the real fun started. I wasn't scheduled to perform my aide duties until Sunday so I had Fri and Sat free to explore the massive Hyatt Regency, pick up free swag, and of course attend interesting seminars on all kinds of neat topics. I first attended a seminar discussing AAAS's plans for "Year of Science 2009," basically a program that works to get schoolkids and the public in general interested in science. Some interesting comments, including emphasizing to students the non-linearity of science, especially in terms of the scientific method. Science is not always hypothesis-->experiment-->gather data-->draw conclusions, then rinse and repeat. Insights can come from unexpected places and science is more like a web of interlinked pieces in which new connections are made all the time. A neat site that has a picture of the "real scientific method." Science education is a big passion of mine and I was interested to see what the panel and attendees, including journalists, researchers, teachers, and students, had to say about the subject. Another interesting group is COPUS, or the "Coalition on the Public Understanding of Science." I got an idea for a "Rock-It Science Concert" that could be fun to stage here at UC. The last neat thing I pulled from this seminar was more info on "Science Cafes" which are informal sessions between scientists and the public that occur in public, non-academic places like coffee shops and bars. Ben Wiche from NOVA and WGBH in Boston described going into bars with a scientist and how he could get the attention of the bar patrons and engage them in a science topic they normally would probably never discuss. Takes a lot of guts to engage the public in such a direct way, but the payoff would totally be worth it! I get to host my own "junior" Science Cafe in May at UC.

The first plenary lecture was delivered by Dr. Sean Carroll of the Univ. of Wisconsin at Madison. Dr. Carroll is a very talented and famous evolutionarily biologist who has written and lectured extensively on evolution and Charles Darwin. 2009 is a special year for scientists, and in particular evolutionary biologists. This year we mark the 150th anniversary of the publication of "On the Origin of Species" (by means of natural selection) by that great naturalist and celebrate what would have been his 200th birthday. As you can imagine, the meeting was something of a Darwin lovefest and Carroll's speech epitomized the reverence for the man, the theory, and as a nice touch, the other scientists, namely Alfred Wallace, and Henry Bates, who were friends of Darwin and supportive of his theory. Great lecture with some compelling stories about Bates and Wallace in particular (mishap- and adventure-filled treks through South America and Indonesia all in the name of science).

The headline for the evening was recent Nobel laureate and environmental champion Albert Gore. I'd already purchased tickets to see him at the Chicago Theater in April before hearing of this meeting, so I was thrilled to get a second chance to see Mr. Gore. I respected him as VP and like him even more for his campaigning on the behalf of scientifically sound environmental policy. Part of the lecture felt like Inconvienent Truth, Part II, while the rest was an impassioned and moving call to action to scientists to get them, rather us, more active in politics and their community. I've got videos posted on YouTube and some pictures on my Facebook page. Check them out!