On Thursday at 7pm at the Norman Public Library, we're going to gather to hear Dr. Michael Jensen of Brookhaven National Lab talk about the Midlatitude Continental Convective Clouds Experiment (MC3E). This experiment is employing the largest network of meteorological instruments in history for the study of convective clouds, which are the progenitors of severe thunderstorms. The researchers hope to better understand the processes that lead to these types of clouds, so that we can better forecast severe weather in the future.
I personally went to the Department of Energy's Southern Great Plains facility near Lamont, Oklahoma, and the array of instruments is impressive. In addition to multiple radars with different capabilities, there are many different types of sensors for estimating the amount of moisture throughout the atmosphere above the site (important for cloud formation), several different lidars (like a radar, but with pulses of light), and a pair of airplanes that fly into cloud structures to measure what the cloud looks like directly.
Hopefully you will all come out to learn more about clouds, which is a favorite topic of mine, and to support Science Cafe. Don't forget we'll we having Gray Owl Coffee, and snacks provided by the Friends of the Norman Public Library!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Posters on Therapeutic Approaches to Treating Viral Disease at the Norman Public Library
Dr. Susan Schroeder of OU's Departments of Botany and Microbiology, and Chemistry and Biochemistry, alerted our good friend and librarian Theresa Tittle to a poster display of individual research projects being put on by her students. The posters are aimed at the general public, and are being presented by students headed for health careers. The projects to be presented are related to new therapeutic approaches to treating viral diseases, and will be showcased in the Lowry Room at the Norman Public Library from 1 to 4pm on Thursday, May 12. Come check out the research of these aspiring scientists!
Friday, May 6, 2011
Last Night's Gathering with Dr. Milton
Last night we gathered at the Norman Public Library to hear Dr. Kimball Martin of Physics at OU talk about nuclear power. I was looking forward to a vigorous discussion of the topic, and the attendees did not disappoint. I would estimate about 60 people attended, and there were questions about almost every slide that Dr. Milton presented.
Some of the take away messages of the presentation:
(1) No source of energy is clean, free or without risks. Dr. Milton discussed the various ways we produce energy currently, and costs and limitations of each. He expressed concern over the contributions of fossil fuel use to accelerating warming in the climate, and to the limited supply of petroleum left to us. In addition, he noted that hydroelectric generation has gotten close to capacity for the US, and that newer and larger dams around the world are causing ecological damage and displacing millions of people. Other renewables have unknown effects, and are expensive. With this information in hand, it may be time to consider again whether nuclear power has a role to play in the energy budget.
(2) Fears about safety are based on bad calculations of risk. Dr. Milton said that the safety record of nuclear power plants is quite good, and certainly no worse than generating power by other means. The few failures have been spectacular in nature, which leads us to overestimate risk, since the probabilities of failure are low, but the outcomes have been disastrous. He also said that power generation from coal kills several hundreds per year in mining accidents, and that oil exploration is becoming more dangerous, and pointed to the recent Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico as evidence that other methods are quite risky.
(3) There are serious concerns with generation of power using nuclear reactors, other than safety. Nuclear waste must be stored for millions of years to become inert, and in a place that won't change significantly and thus expose the radioactive materials to the environment. Also, nuclear power and nuclear weapons are "entwined technologies", meaning that proliferation of nuclear weapons is a very possible side effect of widespread nuclear power use, since the same basic processes and technologies are used for both. Finally, the only international governance of nuclear power, the IAEA, has very little power for enforcement, and is chronically underfunded.
With these points, Dr. Milton suggested that we need to think deeply as a society about our goals as a society, and that moving forward will require a combined effort of efficiency, conservation, and smarter power production. He stressed that he is not an active proponent of building more nuclear power plants, but rather that our current system is not working and needs to be reconsidered.
Let me know if you're interested in the presentation, and I'll do my best to answer specific questions. Hope to see you at the next one! Details to follow soon!
Some of the take away messages of the presentation:
(1) No source of energy is clean, free or without risks. Dr. Milton discussed the various ways we produce energy currently, and costs and limitations of each. He expressed concern over the contributions of fossil fuel use to accelerating warming in the climate, and to the limited supply of petroleum left to us. In addition, he noted that hydroelectric generation has gotten close to capacity for the US, and that newer and larger dams around the world are causing ecological damage and displacing millions of people. Other renewables have unknown effects, and are expensive. With this information in hand, it may be time to consider again whether nuclear power has a role to play in the energy budget.
(2) Fears about safety are based on bad calculations of risk. Dr. Milton said that the safety record of nuclear power plants is quite good, and certainly no worse than generating power by other means. The few failures have been spectacular in nature, which leads us to overestimate risk, since the probabilities of failure are low, but the outcomes have been disastrous. He also said that power generation from coal kills several hundreds per year in mining accidents, and that oil exploration is becoming more dangerous, and pointed to the recent Deepwater Horizon disaster in the Gulf of Mexico as evidence that other methods are quite risky.
(3) There are serious concerns with generation of power using nuclear reactors, other than safety. Nuclear waste must be stored for millions of years to become inert, and in a place that won't change significantly and thus expose the radioactive materials to the environment. Also, nuclear power and nuclear weapons are "entwined technologies", meaning that proliferation of nuclear weapons is a very possible side effect of widespread nuclear power use, since the same basic processes and technologies are used for both. Finally, the only international governance of nuclear power, the IAEA, has very little power for enforcement, and is chronically underfunded.
With these points, Dr. Milton suggested that we need to think deeply as a society about our goals as a society, and that moving forward will require a combined effort of efficiency, conservation, and smarter power production. He stressed that he is not an active proponent of building more nuclear power plants, but rather that our current system is not working and needs to be reconsidered.
Let me know if you're interested in the presentation, and I'll do my best to answer specific questions. Hope to see you at the next one! Details to follow soon!
Wednesday, April 20, 2011
Nuclear Power with Dr. Kim Milton!
Dr. Kim Milton of the Department of Physics will talk about nuclear power at the upcoming Science Cafe on May 5. Here is Dr. Milton's synopsis of his presentation, titled "Does Nuclear Power Have a Role to Play in the US Energy
Budget?":
It has been plausibly argued both from a consideration of energy needs
and from the need to combat global warming that nuclear power will need
to play an increasing role in our energy sources. However, the recent
events in Japan have brought issues of nuclear safety to renewed
attention. In addition, proliferation is a major concern, and it is
necessary to increase funding, staff, and enforcement of the IAEA.
Disposal of nuclear waste, for indefinitely long periods, and
reprocessing of nuclear wastes, are issues that have yet to be solved.
These issues are extremely difficult and worrisome, and it is possible
for reasonable, responsible people to hold strong views on the issue in
contradiction to each other.
I was inspired to contact Dr. Milton at a suggestion from Jana Smith, and the fact that the issue is reemerging after the events at Fukushima Daichi in Japan following their recent earthquakes and tsunamis. This one will have lots of discussion, since people tend to pretty polarized on this issue. I'm sure that we will all learn a lot, and I hope to find out what makes the generation of power this way different than traditional fossil fuels, in terms of costs, waste production, and so forth. Don't miss it!
Budget?":
It has been plausibly argued both from a consideration of energy needs
and from the need to combat global warming that nuclear power will need
to play an increasing role in our energy sources. However, the recent
events in Japan have brought issues of nuclear safety to renewed
attention. In addition, proliferation is a major concern, and it is
necessary to increase funding, staff, and enforcement of the IAEA.
Disposal of nuclear waste, for indefinitely long periods, and
reprocessing of nuclear wastes, are issues that have yet to be solved.
These issues are extremely difficult and worrisome, and it is possible
for reasonable, responsible people to hold strong views on the issue in
contradiction to each other.
I was inspired to contact Dr. Milton at a suggestion from Jana Smith, and the fact that the issue is reemerging after the events at Fukushima Daichi in Japan following their recent earthquakes and tsunamis. This one will have lots of discussion, since people tend to pretty polarized on this issue. I'm sure that we will all learn a lot, and I hope to find out what makes the generation of power this way different than traditional fossil fuels, in terms of costs, waste production, and so forth. Don't miss it!
Monday, April 11, 2011
Don Wyckoff's Presentation about Oklahoma's Past Climate
We gathered last Thursday to hear Dr. Don Wyckoff, the Curator of Archaeology at Sam Noble Museum of Natural History, talk about reconstructing past climates using all sorts of different types of "proxies", which are different types of preserved materials that indirectly tell scientists what environmental conditions in a particular region must have been like. As an example, Dr. Wyckoff talked about different types of pollen that are preserved for thousands of years, and existence of a pollen for a particular tree might indicate that there was a range of temperatures and precipitation in that location when the pollen was created. He showed several pollen records that describe the natural variability of the climate over the most recent 10000 to 35000 years. He also discussed the finding of "buried soils", which are different types of soil lying in layers below the uppermost layer. These also serve as indicators of the climate at a particular time, with darker carbon rich soils indicating periods of significant plant growth and favorable conditions.
Based on his findings, Dr. Wyckoff expressed a concern for people living in Oklahoma in the future, since the past points to long periods of drought, with short periods in between of relatively moist conditions. He placed a strong emphasis on the need for wiser use of water and resources, since the state's past implies a future where these will be in limited supply.
Based on his findings, Dr. Wyckoff expressed a concern for people living in Oklahoma in the future, since the past points to long periods of drought, with short periods in between of relatively moist conditions. He placed a strong emphasis on the need for wiser use of water and resources, since the state's past implies a future where these will be in limited supply.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
First Post!
This is the first post of the official blog for Science Cafe Norman. I plan to use this space to announce speakers and introduce topics, but also to post general science topics that I think are interesting to the general public. Hopefully, this will inspire more involvement from the community, and more speakers to volunteer.
Here is some general information about Science Cafe. We meet on the first Thursday of the month at 7pm, typically at the Norman Public Library. All are welcome, and there is no cost to attend. The atmosphere is casual, with speakers being open to general questions throughout their presentations. In the past we have had talks on climate change, the Large Hadron Collider, glaciers at the equator at sea level hundreds of millions of years ago, wind energy, biofuels, tornados, severe winter weather, extraction of natural gas from shale, environmental health risks and ozone, using gamma rays to detect leaks in underground gas tanks, and many others.
Please feel free to suggest a topic, speaker, or anything else, either in the comments, or by email to me at sean.m.crowell@gmail.com. Sign up on the right sidebar to receive emails when I post something new, or join our Google Group to get emails about meetings and such. Finally, we have a Facebook group (search ‘Science Cafe Norman’) that has our gatherings posted as events!
Here is some general information about Science Cafe. We meet on the first Thursday of the month at 7pm, typically at the Norman Public Library. All are welcome, and there is no cost to attend. The atmosphere is casual, with speakers being open to general questions throughout their presentations. In the past we have had talks on climate change, the Large Hadron Collider, glaciers at the equator at sea level hundreds of millions of years ago, wind energy, biofuels, tornados, severe winter weather, extraction of natural gas from shale, environmental health risks and ozone, using gamma rays to detect leaks in underground gas tanks, and many others.
Please feel free to suggest a topic, speaker, or anything else, either in the comments, or by email to me at sean.m.crowell@gmail.com. Sign up on the right sidebar to receive emails when I post something new, or join our Google Group to get emails about meetings and such. Finally, we have a Facebook group (search ‘Science Cafe Norman’) that has our gatherings posted as events!
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