Monday December 16, 2019
Brooklyn
8pm Free: Secret Science Club Presents Marine Biologist & Explorer David Gruber. Join marine biologist David Gruber for this month’s Secret Science Club lecture. Dr. Gruber tries to see the ocean through the eyes of sea creatures and lately, he’s particularly interested in how these animals communicate. More info. [SCIENCE]
Tuesday December 17, 2019
Manhattan
4-5pm Free: Perception Meets Memory: A New View on Memory Disorders. During this seminar at Columbia’s Zuckerman Institute, Morgan Barense, PhD, Professor and Canada Research Chair at the University of Toronto, will explore the notion that memory and perception are inextricably intertwined, relying on shared neural representations and computational mechanisms. More info. [SCIENCE]
6:30pm Free: Don’t Be Evil: Rana Foroohar. Join journalist Rana Foroohar at the NYPL for a discussion on her new book, Don’t Be Evil, an investigation of the dark turn tech has taken from weaving our social fabric to undoing it. More info. [BOOKS]
6:30-8pm $20: The Life of a Professional Glutton: Adam Platt. Join New York Magazine restaurant critic Adam Platt as he discusses his new memoir The Book of Eating and recounts a life of globetrotting and his adventures in professional gluttony in a conversation with Ambassador Nicholas Platt, president emeritus of Asia Society. More info. [BOOKS]
7-8:30pm Free: Emanuele Coccia: Metamorphic Beings: The Nonhuman Life in the Human Body and Spirit. Emanuele Coccia is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales in Paris. Join Professor Coccia for a free, public lecture at Cooper Union. More info. [PHILOSOPHY]
Wednesday December 18, 2019
Manhattan
6-8:30pm $15: Science in the Headlines: 2019’s Discoveries, Disappointments, and Downright Weirdness. 2020 is almost here—but before we bid this year adieu, join Science Friday for a celebration of all the wonderful, worrisome, and weird science news from 2019! More info. [GEEK]
6:30-8:30pm Free: Workshop: From a KonMari Closet to a KonMari Life. You’ve read Marie Kondo’s books, you’ve tried the folding and even decluttered your entire home. So now what? Cassidy Nasello, FELT Founder and Gold Level KonMari Certified Consultant will guide you on the “what’s next” after decluttering and help to get you clutter-free in your career and personal life. Nasello will show you how to apply the KonMari Method™ to all facets of life (health, relationships, career, etc.) so you can start 2020 with purpose, focus, and unstoppable energy. More info. [CULTURE]
9:30pm $12: Publish or Perish: Scientists Review Christmas Movies. Publish or Perish brings peer review to the big screen! Scientists and comedians watch and discuss the science of hit movies, and, with your help, decide if the film deserves to be published and have its findings endorsed across the land, or should perish for its crimes against science! This time around, in a very special show, we’ll discuss the science and legal ramifications of Christmas movies. More info. [FILM]
Brooklyn
730pm $15: Transforming Police into Jedi Peacebuilders. This Olio event will focus on NYU professor Brad Heckman’s work with the NYPD to imbue police officers with skills to de-escalate conflict and build trust with civilians during our divided times — in the wake of countless tragic incidents between cops and civilians and against the backdrop of Black Lives Matter. We’ll focus on the question: How do you meaningfully engage and communicate with a group that may be dissonant with your values, ethics, and beliefs? More info. [CULTURE]
Thursday December 19, 2019
Manhattan
6-9pm Free (Pay-What-You-Wish): BIOHACK THE WORLD: The Science of Mindfulness, Breathwork, and Laughter. In this 15th installment of Biohack the World, we’ll dive deep into the practical applications of a variety of mindfulness techniques ranging from meditation, breathwork, and laughter, all with the aim of improving neuroplasticity, relaxation and recovery, and making lasting positive changes to our default mode network (i.e. self-rumination, depression, habit-formation). More info. [MINDFULNESS]
6:30pm Free: Your Move: Games, Migration, and Social Impact. In 2019, more people are living outside their country of birth than ever before. Millions of people migrating experience detention, live in refugee camps, and must make difficult decisions about their future. Can games help us understand the experiences of migrants around the world? Could play inspire us to create real change? In this conversation, game designers and researchers discuss how recent digital games have presented stories and choices of migration, and how they see play as a key to building empathy. More info. [CULTURE]
Brooklyn
7:30pm $15: The Art of Dying, The Act of Grieving. This Olio event, featuring Jamie Warren (Assistant Professor at BMCC-CUNY), will look the lost art of dying, the absence of clear social expectations for the grieving, and try to understand how and why we let death disappear from life. More info. [PHILOSOPHY]
Friday December 20, 2019
Manhattan
7pm $15: AMNH Presents: Astronomy Live: Winter Solstice and the Year Ahead. Celebrate the solstice and get ready for the cosmic year ahead. Irene Pease and Ted Williams conduct this tour around the Sun and preview important astronomical and scientific happenings you won’t want to miss. More info. [SCIENCE]
Saturday December 21, 2019
Bronx
11am-1pm $30: Christmastime on Arthur Avenue: The Little Italy of the Bronx. Residents of the Italian-American neighborhoods along Arthur Avenue in the Bronx are the guardians of what some would call New York’s “real Little Italy”. Home to Doo-Wop music and authentic Italian restaurants and shops, many of the area’s businesses have been family owned and operated for generations. The neighborhood is especially charming and festively decorated for the Christmas season! Join guide Alexandra Maruri to explore the history of this vibrant Bronx neighborhood and warm up from the cold with visits to long-standing neighborhood delis, pastry shops, restaurants, the Arthur Avenue Market and more. More info. [TOUR]
Brooklyn
1-2:30pm $39: Inside Final Frontier Design, NASA Space Suit Developer Workshop & Lab. Get up close and personal with a private spacesuit maker and its cutting-edge technologies & materials being developed for commercial spaceflight. Join New York Adventure Club for an exclusive visit to Final Frontier Design, a private design studio designing flight-ready space suits for space access providers, EVA suits future deep space exploration, as well as garments for use here on Earth. More info. [GEEK]
Sunday December 22, 2019
Manhattan
11am-12:30pm Free: Saad Amer: Climate Action: Why Collective Action is The Answer. Despite the billions of dollars in damages and lives lost this last year, the US is moving backward in climate policy. While individual actions can make a difference, systematic change is essential in dealing with the Climate Crisis, especially given its impact on marginalized communities, human health, inequality and the economy. This talk, featuring Saad Amer, environmentalist and founder of Plus1Vote, will focus on the why voting is essential, how we can organize our communities, and how we can turn the momentum on climate into a movement to the polls come 2020. More info. [NATURE]