Join us as we bring some of our favorite friendly, neighborhood scientists into local watering holes. Our events are free, open to the public, and meant for the curious, no matter your background. We love lively discussions, making new connections, and learning something new. Join us for our annual festival, taking place across the country, with two events right here in Chicago.

DO NO HARM? A modern look at evaluating the evidence for medical practices

Featuring Drs. Adam Cifu and Michael O’Connor discussing how physicians evaluate evidence and make decisions to heal, not harm, as well as times when physicians and scientists get it wrong.

SPEAKERS

We are excited to host two events this year for the annual taste of science festival: one on modern medicine, and the other on climate change. No matter your interests, we promise to bring fresh new ideas to get your wheels spinning.

Cheers to Science!

Earth day special

Bringing out your friendly neighborhood scientists, to meet you in your favorite places 

April 27, 2023

6:30 PM- 8:30 PM

Whiner Beer Company
1400 W 46th St, Chicago, IL 60609

Meet our speakers:

Cheers to Science!

Bringing out your friendly neighborhood scientists, to meet you in your favorite places 

February 15, 2023

6:30 PM- 8:30 PM

Marz Community Brewing Company
3630 S Iron St, Chicago, IL 60609

Meet our speakers:

Seth Richardson

Seth Richardson is a historian of the ancient Near East who works in four different ways. First, his work on the history of Mesopotamia's Old Babylonian period (ca. 2000–1600 BC) primarily addresses political-economic questions. This extends to problems of infrastructural power, the nature of political subjectivity, and the role of institutional claims on bodies; it also entails work on the specific historical problem of the Fall of Babylon in 1595 BC. Second, he engages with theoretical questions of state sovereignty, about legitimacy, territory, rebellion, membership, and state-society epistemologies. Third, Richardson also works on problems related to the history of violence, including war-and-peace, but also on asymmetric, non-state, informal, symbolic, and community practices of violence. Finally, his fourth area of work is as a generalist-comparativist, working on problems as diverse as liver divination, icons and iconicity, animal personhood, ancestor cult, the legal use of divine emblems, the social location of slavery, food security, a disappearing princess, labor value, and ancient historiography. He is an Associate at the Oriental Institute and the Managing Editor of the Journal of Near Eastern Studies since 2011. Prior to this, he was Assistant Professor of Ancient Near Eastern History at the University of Chicago since 2003, having earned his Ph.D. at Columbia University in 2002. His work is almost entirely available here:

Sarah Newman

Sarah Newman is an anthropological archaeologist. Her research combines archaeological, historical, and art historical methods and evidence to explore anthropological and environmental issues, including histories of waste and reuse, long-term landscape transformations, and human-animal relationships. Newman primarily conducts research in Latin America, with a particular focus on Mesoamerica and the ancient Maya, but she is also involved in comparative projects to study landscapes, infrastructure, and environment in other parts of the world.

Didi El-Behaedi

Didi is a PhD candidate in Egyptian Archaeology and a National Geographic Explorer. Her dissertation centers on the reconstruction of paleolake and ancient settlement development in the Fayum using remote sensing and machine learning techniques. She was awarded a grant from the National Geographic Society to fund her research and fieldwork in the Fayum Depression.

Didi received her B.A. with Honors in Anthropology (Archaeology) and a minor in Geospatial Technologies from the University of North Carolina Wilmington (2017). Her research interests include understanding ancient Egyptian settlement patterns and ancient landscapes through the lens of remote sensing, GIS, and 3D modeling. She intends to use these technologies to further propel cultural heritage preservation efforts and education initiatives in Egypt.

Didi has conducted archaeological fieldwork at several sites, including in the United States, France, and Egypt (Tell Edfu, Deir el-Bahri, Asasif), worked at the University of North Carolina Wilmington’s Pottery Residue Lab and interned at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. In addition, she has worked as a remote sensing research consultant at NASA Langley Research Center (2016) and NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (2017). Most recently, in 2018, she also completed a Space Archaeology internship at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

John Novembre, PhD
University of Chicago
@jnovembre

Genes and geography in humans
Modern tools for DNA sequencing are allowing the rapid accumulation of large data sets with observations of human genetic variation. How can we visualize the underlying patterns in such large-scale data? What do these patterns teach us about our history as a species on this planet? In this talk, we’ll explore answers to these questions and improve our understanding of evolutionary processes that shape both human adaptations, disease, and personalized ancestry. 

Darrel Waggoner, MD
University of Chicago

Your genes' impact on your medical care: myths and reality
Genetic testing seems to be the future, but how much can we actually determine and what is used in today's hospitals? We will talk about how genetic information is transforming diagnostics and clinical care, as well as address some of the myths surrounding genetic testing.

Event information:

• This event is open to all ages
• Drinks and food will be available for purchase
• In the event of any last-minute event cancellations, we will post an announcement on our TOS Chicago webpage, Facebook, and Twitter
• If you are interested in volunteering for any of our events, please email us at chicago@tasteofscience.org

Sliman Bensmaia, PhD
University of Chicago
@slimanjbensmaia

Biological and bionic hands: Natural neural coding and artificial perception
Our ability to manipulate objects dexterously relies fundamentally on sensory signals originating from the hand. To restore motor function with upper-limb neuroprostheses requires that somatosensory feedback be provided to the tetraplegic patient or amputee. To this end, we develop approaches to intuitively convey sensory information that is critical for object manipulation through electrical stimulation of the sensory areas of the brain.

Lee Miller, PhD
Northwestern University
@PresNCM

We zap the body electric: Restoring movement following paralysis with brain-controlled functional electrical stimulation
Spinal cord injury is devastating, and there is currently no real treatment. Ultimately we’d want to regrow the spinal cord, but in the meantime, it is now possible to literally reconnect the brain and muscles electronically. I will describe experiments in which we eavesdrop directly on signals in a monkey’s brain, translate them into appropriate control signals, and send them to an electrical stimulator that causes muscles to contract, thereby allowing voluntary control of paralyzed muscles.

Event information:

• This event is open to all ages
• Drinks and food will be available for purchase
• In the event of any last-minute event cancellations, we will post an announcement on our TOS Chicago webpage, Facebook, and Twitter
• If you are interested in volunteering for any of our events, please email us at chicago@tasteofscience.org

Liz Moyer, PhD
University of Chicago

Energy is the foundation of the human economy, but our energy system is now so large that its waste product, CO2, can alter global climate. We’ll discuss the scale of humanity’s activities, their physical effects, and possible energy technologies of the future.  One goal is to provide simple physical frameworks and back-of-the-envelope calculations that can lead to core insights (for example, that biofuels cannot be a solution, or that CO2 tends to make climate less rather than more variable).

Event information:

• This event is open to all ages
• Drinks and food will be available for purchase
• In the event of any last-minute event cancellations, we will post an announcement on our TOS Chicago webpage, Facebook, and Twitter
• If you are interested in volunteering for any of our events, please email us at chicago@tasteofscience.org

Jack Gilbert, PhD
University of Chicago
@gilbertjacka

The human microbiome is quickly being recognized as a dynamic part of the human ecosystem, and research is starting to demonstrate that using ecology to understand this ecosystem has profound benefits for patient wellness. The immune system controls our interaction with the microbial world, and yet the microbial communities in our bodies are central to modulating the immune response. 

How is it that these unseen organisms living in and on our bodies affect our health, happiness, and day-to-day lives?

Event information:

• This event is 21+ only
• Drinks and food will be available for purchase ($1 tacos and half off all drafts!)
• In the event of any last-minute event cancellations, we will post an announcement on our TOS Chicago webpage, Facebook, and Twitter
• If you are interested in volunteering for any of our events, please email us at chicago@tasteofscience.org

Cristian Luciano, PhD
University of Illinois at Chicago

Haptics and Virtual Reality in Medicine: 4 case studies
The emerging technologies of virtual reality and haptics have the potential to improve medical training, enhance image-based diagnostics, and increase surgical outcomes. This talk will focus on the research and development of interactive applications for surgical training and simulation, non-invasive prostate cancer diagnosis, preoperative planning, and multi-sensorial surgical guidance, conducted by a multidisciplinary collaboration among engineers, physicians, and 3D modelers at UIC.

Craig Niederberger, MD FACS
University of Illinois at Chicago
@Craigni

Zero Bar Innovation
We are in an era where creating highly sophisticated technological innovations that previously required substantial resources accessible to a few large industries are now available to all. This social sea change in the democratization of high technology has resulted in a zero bar for innovation with extraordinary ramifications for educating engineers and for public innovators. And sex and bicycles. Got your attention? 

Event information:

• This event is open to all ages
• Drinks and food will be available for purchase
• In the event of any last-minute event cancellations, we will post an announcement on our TOS Chicago webpage, Facebook, and Twitter
• If you are interested in volunteering for any of our events, please email us at chicago@tasteofscience.org