In this Starbucks era where coffee is frequently a dessert-like confection full of caramel, chocolate syrup, or other exotic flavors, people may have lost their ability to enjoy a plain cup of coffee. But great coffee doesn’t need adulteration. On December 6, learn how the bean, the roast, the water, and other ingredients combine to create a cup of the good stuff at a lecture by Andrea Illy, Chairman of illycafe, S.p.A. and coauthor and publisher of Espresso Coffee: the Chemistry of Quality. At this first event in the Science & the City Food Series, discuss the science of coffee and enjoy an espresso or cappuccino at the post-event reception.

Click here for more information about the event.

“The best wars finish fast. Nearly forty years and more than forty billion dollars since the official launch of the War on Cancer in 1971, that effort shows no signs of ending,” writes Devra Davis. In her new book, The Secret History of the War on Cancer, Davis describes how the cancer-research community focused on detecting and treating cancer while neglecting to thoroughly investigate the many things known to cause cancer including tobacco, the workplace, radiation, or the global environment.

In a note to readers Davis writes:

The hubris of the formal war on cancer is clear today. President Nixon in 1971 declared war on the disease itself, but left untouched the things known at the time to cause it, including tobacco and synthetic hormones. From the start, the cancer effort has made astonishing advances in treating and finding the disease, but failed to tackle known carcinogens like radiation, benzene, asbestos and other toxic materials, including tobacco until quite recently. The enterprise has virtually ignored the incompletely tested 80,000 industrial chemicals found—in infinite combinations—in everything from cosmetics to carpet glue.

Friday November 16, as part of the Science & the City @ NYAS event series, Davis will read from her book and discuss how the War on Cancer was influenced by leaders of industries that made cancer-causing products or that profited from drugs and technologies designed to find and treat the disease.

Click here for more information about the event.

Steven Pinker’s new book, The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature, is a 500-page exploration of the way the mind negotiates reality. Pinker, who conducts research on language and cognition as a psychology professor at Harvard, exposes how language reveals the way humans perceive space, time, and causality.

William Saletan writes in the New York Times Book Review:

“The Stuff of Thought explores the duality of human cognition: the modesty of its construction and the majesty of its constructive power. Pinker weaves this paradox from a series of opposing theories. Philosophical realists, for instance, think perception comes from reality. Idealists think it’s all in our heads. Pinker says it comes from reality but is organized and reorganized by the mind. That’s why you can look at the same thing in different ways.”

NYAS members can read an excerpt from the book in the current edition of the New York Academy of Sciences Member Magazine. Or buy a signed copy of the book this week at the Academy:

Pinker will speak Friday, October 5, at 6 pm at The New York Academy of Sciences, 250 Greenwich St., 7 World Trade Center, in lower Manhattan. The event marks the launch of the Science & the City Author Series.

While going green is sometimes seen as an economic inconvenience, many companies are thriving and making hefty profits while helping the environment. Each year Inc. magazine names the Green 50—a group of entrepreneurial companies that have committed to green initiatives and environmental sustainability.

Five of the 50 companies named on the 2006 list are based in New York. One company, Verdant Power, was in the news this week because of the underwater turbines they installed to convert currents in the East River to household electricity last December. The New York Times reported that after preliminary maintenance, the company has great expectations for the new technology that allows Verdant to foresee exactly when the turbines will generate power by monitoring current activity.

Another New York company on Inc.’s list, Voltaic Systems, has transformed environmentalism into a fashion accessory with the creation of solar powered backpacks made from recycled plastic products that are capable of charging electronics on the go.

Josh Dorfman, author of The Lazy Environmentalist and producer of a nationally broadcast radio show of the same name, also made the list with his Brooklyn-based company, Vivavi, which offers modern, eco-friendly home furnishings and a way for consumers to use the web to find green homes to rent or buy. Other New York area Green 50 companies are IceStone building products and Green Order sustainability consulting.

Just how much impact can one green idea have? CNN reported financial group Credit Suisse’s cooling system that uses blocks of ice to channel cool air throughout their Manhattan office building reduces greenhouse gases equivalent to “taking 223 cars off the streets and planting 1.9 million acres of trees.”

These companies demonstrate business savvy can turn green ideas into greenbacks. To help translate ideas from the laboratory to the marketplace, the New York Science Alliance is hosting a 12 week Technology Venture Course at the New York Academy of Sciences beginning September 4.

More advice for aspiring tech entrepreneurs is on offer at Financial Research Associates’ Green Building & Technology- Finance, Construction and Investment summit on September 24-25.

To learn more about Trey Taylor, the president and co-founder of Verdant Power visit the archives of the New York Academy of Sciences Magazine. To sign up for the Technology Venture Course visit Science & the City.

*Image above of Vivavi’s tonecoon chair

Image courtesy of John Pazmino

If you’ve received an e-mail touting the appearance of two moons in the August sky, you have been deceived.

The Mars Hoax reappears every summer in a pesky e-mail chain letter designed to mislead gullible readers and stargazers. The spam missive claims that the red planet will come abnormally close to Earth on August 27 and appear the size of the moon in the night sky. As a result, astronomers throughout the country find themselves explaining how this event is utterly impossible to those who have fallen for the scam.

These are the facts: When Mars is closest to Earth, it is 56 million kilometers away. On August 27, 2003, when the red planet came as close to the earth as it will for another several thousand years, it appeared six times larger and 85 times brighter than usual—although nowhere near the size and brilliance of the moon.

Even when the moon is farthest from the Earth—some 405,503 kilometers away—Mars is still too far away to appear the size of the moon to the naked eye.

The hoax stirred up in 2003 may be especially compelling this year, says John Pazmino of NYSkies Astronomy, because a lunar eclipse will occur at 4:51 AM on August 28. If observers go out that night they may actually see the large red ball they expect.

“They are bamboozled by the eclipsed moon, believing it is Mars!” he said.

In reality, the red planet will appear low in the northeast sky during the eclipse, says Pazmino. “Look at the moon, then do an about-face. You’ll be looking right at Mars.”

However, contrary to what you may have heard, Mars will actually be closest to Earth in December this year.

Join NYSkies on August 16 for the next lecture in their seminar series which is held the first and third Thursday of every month.

Next Friday, August 17, the Columbia Department of Astronomy will open its roof for a stargazing session at the Rutherford Observatory. Stargazers will be able to see the craters on the moon and Saturn’s rings through an assortment of telescopes, and volunteers will be available to offer insight on the night sky.

According to a study conducted at Johns Hopkins University, students in the U.S. lose on average approximately 2.6 months of grade level equivalency in math computation over the summer months, while loss in reading varies depending on family income.

The study also found that students who attend summer camps and enrichment programs displayed increased self-esteem, leadership skills, and improved peer relationships. Luckily, you can fight the summertime learning lull by bringing your child to some of the many science-related activities happening this month.

Rather than hire a babysitter, working parents can enroll their child in drop-off programs this August at the New York Hall of Science, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, and many more.

Week-long camps are still open for registration, including two at the New York Aquarium that start August 13: Aquatic Adventures for ages 6 to 8 and Marine Explorers for ages 9 to 12.

The Brooklyn Botanical Garden offers children’s summer classes that look at nature through poetry, painting, and even culinary arts.

This Saturday, children as young as pre-K and kindergarten can learn about animals and their adaptations at the Staten Island Zoo’s Kids and Critters program, which explores a new topic each month.

Or, families can join the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation for nature walks, environmental games, crafts, and cake in celebration of Smokey Bear’s 63rd birthday this Saturday.

Check out more science events for kids going on this week including Family Science Workshop: Volcanoes Rock!, Greenhouse Exploration, and Larry Cat in Space by searching for “Kids & Families” events in the Science and the City Events Calendar.

The arrival of summer couldn’t be more pleasant in the city this week, with sunny skies, sailboats on the Hudson, and breezes rustling the trees. But summer solstice also marks the beginning of the terrifying smog season for asthma sufferers, and, as a meeting on new research on air pollution’s role in asthma held earlier this year at the New York Academy of Sciences noted, there’s an inordinate number of them in the Bronx. A report on the meeting posted earlier this month, and available unabridged to NYAS members, explains:

In the Bronx, rates of asthma, while somewhat lower than they’ve been, are still so high that asthma constitutes a chronic epidemic. The City’s Asthma Initiative reports that rates tend to be highest in the lowest-income neighborhoods; hospitalization rates are highest for children. New York City ranks third on a list of the 50 U.S. cities with the largest numbers of children exposed to dirty air.

Experts blame the major highways that carry asthma-exacerbating diesel trucks through the Bronx and a large number of facilities that emit other known air pollutants there.

In one step in the right direction, the EPA yesterday announced plans to strengthen air quality standards for ground level ozone for the first time in 10 years.

But ironically, today’s news revealed that one of Mayor Bloomberg’s initiatives aimed at cleaning up the city air, Congestion Pricing, was killed in Albany yesterday.

If asthma is a concern to you or your family, the Asthma Initiative at the city’s Department of Health is a great resource. In New York, you can also request brochures and other materials by dialing 311. And you can keep a daily eye on air quality in New York at the EPA Region 2 Air Quality Index online.

As Natalie Angier’s New York Times tribute to the splendiferous sperm attests, Father’s Day is a true celebration of basic science. Then there’s anthropologist Sarah Blaffer Hrdy’s essay today in Time Magazine, The Psychology of Fatherhood, which points out that “Father’s Day salutes the world’s greatest dads, but it takes science to explain why some aren’t so great.” With no disrespect to all the fellas who’ve heroically taken on parenting of another’s offspring with little concern for what Angier calls “the central verity of paternity — that it’s a lot more fun to become a father than to be one,” we think Sunday seems the perfect holiday for a science outing.

Here are some fun ways to spend time with Dad, in New York or elsewhere this weekend:

• Check out Dad’s Day Out at the Bronx Zoo, 10:00-5:30, Saturday and Sunday. Enjoy games, storytelling, and music while zookeepers demonstrate the toys that help animals stay as physically fit and mentally stimulated as dear old Dad.

• Stay up superlate Saturday night and greet the dawn on Father’s Day watching the sky with Dad and the New York Amateur Astronomers Association at Bear Mountain or at Great Kills in Staten Island

• If you’re in the Boston area, take in Father’s Day brunch at the Boston Museum of Science.

• In Avon, Ohio, a weekend-long fair pays tribute to Dad’s favorite quick fix tool. The Duct Tape Festival promises lots of low tech educational entertainment.

• In Oakland, Calif., Dads can take a mission to Mars at the Chabot Space Center.

• If Dad has more fun tinkering around the garage, check out Make Magazine’s guide to DIY gifts for Dad. If you happen to be a Dad yourself, you’ll find plenty of projects here you can rope the kids into.

It’s a sorry state of affairs when two young bloggers can draw crowds on a national speaking tour about America’s crisis communicating about science. Are scientists and the public really so inept at understanding each other?

Journalist Chris Mooney, author of The Republican War on Science, and strategic communication expert Matthew Nisbet, a professor of communications at American University, offer help.

They’ve teamed up to give a presentation that aims to help scientists better communicate with the public. Drawing on case studies from the battles over stem cell research, evolution, global warming, hurricanes, and other subjects, and by exposing public opinion and media coverage of science issues, they coach scientists to frame old science stories in new ways, and to use the media to target specific audiences.

Mooney and Nisbet laid out the simple idea behind their speaking tour— “…scientists should package their research to resonate with specific segments of the public”—in a Washington Post article published in April. Perhaps more interesting than their essay is the stream of comments following it —evidence that the public is upholding their end of the conversation.

Catch Mooney and Nisbet live on Monday evening, June 4, at the Academy as they present Framing Science: The Road to 2008 and Beyond.

Einstein’s back in the news. He got more press than any other scientist in 2005 when the world celebrated the 100-year anniversary of his Annus Mirabilis Papers with lectures, concerts, performances and the World Year of Physics.

But Walter Isaacson’s newly released biography of history’s most famous geek, Einstein: His Life and Universe, is generating new media attention for the immortal genius.

Isaacson, CEO of the Aspen Institute and former CNN chairman and Time Magazine managing editor, describes previously unrevealed detail about Einstein’s inner world, which he uncovered in papers that were only unsealed last year.

The author will speak on the evening of June 12 at the New York Academy of Sciences.

Listen to Science & the City’s podcast conversation with Isaacson, or read an abridged version of the interview online.

Or choose between these two Einstein events next week, both at 7:00 p.m. on May 30:

• At Brookhaven National Lab, famed physicist Lawrence Krauss of Case Western Reserve gives a lecture, Einstein’s Biggest Blunder? A Cosmic Mystery Story.
• At CUNY Graduate Center, a performance of Einstein’s Dreams, a workshop version of a new musical by Albert Innaurato.