2012
From plant breeding to prescription drug abuse, Science on Tap in 2012 explored the interaction between society and science.
January 2012
Antoinette Thwaites, a forensic chemist with the Philadelphia Police Department and president of the Association of Women in Forensic Science, discussed the effects of prescription drug abuse and the role forensic chemists play in identifying drugs found at crime scenes.
February 2012
Susan Lindee, associate dean for the social sciences and professor in the department of history and sociology of science at the University of Pennsylvania, raised questions about how science and war have both changed in the 20th century.
March 2012
Bonnie Bassler, the Squibb Professor in Molecular Biology, Princeton University, discussed her discovery of quorum sensing, the cell-to-cell communication that allows bacteria to coordinate and synchronize, acting as a multicellular organism.
April 2012
Mark Sabaj Pérez, ichthyology collection manager at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, shared tales of the Academy’s ichthyological adventures in northern Mongolia.
April 2012
Teams squared off to answer tidbits of trivia, from the atomic weight of plutonium to dinosaurs to Benjamin Rush. Prizes were awarded to the top three teams.
May 2012
Linda J. Lee considered how fairy tales addressed anxieties about infertility, pregnancy, sex selection, and anomalous births.
June 2012
CHF fellow Helen Anne Curry presented “Do-It-Yourself Evolution: A Historian’s Guide to Amateur Plant Breeding.”
July 2012
Jane E. Boyd’s talk “Flash! A Quick History of Photography in Motion” delivered a swift flight from photography’s early days to today’s digital techniques.
September 2012
Amy Freestone, assistant professor of biology, Temple University, discussed her research on marine invasions and a new global initiative that she is leading to understand invasion dynamics across the Americas, Europe, and Australia.
October 2012
Kathy Haas, assistant curator at the Rosenbach Museum and Library, explored the tension between science and superstition in this classic tale of terror.
November 2012
Stephen Mason, entomologist, Academy of Natural Sciences, gave a talk about the effect of Mongolian livestock herding on insects.
December 2012
Scicurious, science blogger and researcher, explored the history of antidepressants, our understanding of how they work, and their influence on current medical theory.