OMSI Hosts Virtual Science Pubs: Animal Adaptations, Earthquakes and Fires

On Tuesdays, Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI) is hosting free virtual science pubs via Facebook Live. The local science center has kicked off a new online series of short talks on topics such as geology, ethology and physics.

Since OMSI’s Facebook page is public, you can watch the livestream even without a Facebook account. Visit their page to tune in.  You can also watch the live event on their Youtube channel.

The virtual science pubs are free, but OMSI does encourage a $5 donation that can be made on their website.

Here are the descriptions and details about the upcoming virtual science pubs.

OMSI Virtual Science Pubs

Great Adaptations: Star-Nosed Moles, Electric Eels, and Other Tales of Evolution’s Mysteries Solved

Can a mammal find and eat food faster than a human eye-blink? How about a snake that can scare prey into its own mouth. Or a fish that can remotely control other animals (including you!). In this talk Ken Catania will describe his quest to understand some of natures most unusual and mysterious creatures. You’ll learn about star-nosed moles, electric eels, tentacles snakes, and even zombies. Along the way Catania describes the often unpredictable path that leads to scientific discoveries, while demonstrating that most animals have incredible, hidden abilities that defy our imagination.

This talk is September 22 at 6:30 p.m.

Imminent Shaking: What Kind of Earthquake Warning is Possible?

The United States is developing ShakeAlert, an earthquake early warning system that will provide California, Oregon, and Washington with advanced warning of potentially damaging shaking. The hopes for early warning systems are high, but the reality of what can be expected from earthquake early warning is nuanced. Earthquakes don’t happen in an instant and don’t tell us how big they will become. This means that any forecasts that we make will be imperfect, and the amount of warning will be short; in many cases, only a few seconds of warning will be possible. In spite of these limitations, there could still be significant value to earthquake early warning, especially for people who are willing to adopt a “better safe than sorry” strategy of taking protective action for earthquakes that have only a small chance of causing damage.

This talk is September 29 at 6:30 p.m.

Fires at the Top of the World: Why is the Arctic Burning?

Recent years have seen an increase in unusual wildfire events in forest and tundra in boreal and arctic regions, including Alaska, Canada, Russia, Greenland and Scandinavia. We will show a few examples of fire disasters or strange phenomena in the far north, and talk about the general background of how the environment has changed and is still changing in northern high latitudes in response to warming trends. We’ll then explore the unique characteristics of boreal forest and tundra and the reasons arctic fire regimes are so sensitive and responsive to changes in climate. Fires, in turn, can have surprising feedbacks to these environments.

This talk is October 6 at 6:30 p.m.

After the lectures there will be a Q&A session. You will be able to easily ask your questions via the comment section on the Facebook Live. For more information, visit OMSI’s website.

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