NYU is a leading partner in the second annual World Science Festival, a celebration of scientific discovery that will take place in New York City from June 10 to June 14. The Festival will bring together dozens of Nobel laureates, esteemed artists and performers, distinguished researchers and scientists, renowned authors, and top policy makers for a range of events in venues on the NYU campus and throughout New York City.
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NYU is a leading partner in the second annual World Science Festival, a celebration of scientific discovery that will take place in New York City from June 10 to June 14. The Festival will bring together dozens of Nobel laureates, esteemed artists and performers, distinguished researchers and scientists, renowned authors, and top policy makers for a range of events in venues on the NYU campus and throughout New York City.
Through five days of discourse and debate, film and theater, exploration and discovery, the Festival seeks to shift the public’s perception of science as an esoteric and intimidating academic subject by highlighting its relevance to everyday life, revealing the insights it provides, and examining its critical role in meeting the grand challenges facing the world.
For more information, tickets, and a complete schedule of events, go to http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/
Among the events featuring NYU faculty are “Watching Wilson and Watson Through the Eyes of Anna Deavere Smith” (June 11, 8-9:30 p.m., NYU’s Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South) and “Diabesity: America’s Twin Epidemics” (June 13, 7-8:30 p.m., NYU’s Kimmel Center for University Life, 60 Washington Square South).
Smith, a professor of performance studies at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts who holds an affiliated appointment at NYU’s School of Law, will use her signature approach to create novel and insightful one-woman vignettes depicting two of the most important and influential scientists of our day-Nobel laureate and co-discoverer of the structure of DNA, James Watson, and two-time Pulitzer-Prize winner and “father of biodiversity and sociobiology” E.O. Wilson, who will both be in attendance for the performance.
More than 23 million Americans are living with diabetes, and while many of the disease’s traumatic effects are well known, new findings suggest that “diabesity”-diabetes combined with obesity-may lead to brain impairment as well. NYU’s Antonio Convit, M.D., a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center, and other leading researchers will explore the wide-ranging implications-for policy, prevention, and possibly cure-of these studies.
Other Festival events include “Rising Waters in a Thirsty World,” “The Hudson Since Henry: A Natural and Unnatural History,” and “!@#$% Traffic: Insects to Interstates.”
NYU will host the Festival’s Street Fair on Sunday, June 14-an all-day event featuring exhibits, games, and performances around Washington Square Park. For more, go to http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/2009/street-fair.