2006 Light Luncheon Lecture Series: Practical Science| A
new series of lunch-time talks in recreational science in 2006,
co-organized with DMERI/DSO. The first series "The Travelling
Scientist" featured our very own scientists and their view of the world. In
this second series, "Practical Science", we explore how practical ways
in which society impacts the conduct and pursuit of scientific
activities, and in turn how science impacts everyday society. Wednesdays 1230-1330h
Light refreshments will be served. Hippocrates Room, Level 2
DMERI Building at Kent Ridge
MD27 (beside CRC) No change of passes required.
Enter walkway from Physiology/Anatomy Dept. |  |
Light Luncheon Lecture Series: The Travelling Scientist |
| | A
new series of lunch-time talks in recreational science in 2006,
co-organized with DMERI/DSO. The first series features 3 talks by our
very own scientists of their views of the world. Digital images and
videos. Travel tales and anecdotes. From wild life in the Peruvian
Amazon and montane lakes. To charity work among tribal people in N
Thailand. To adventures in Africa. Being involved in scientific
research opens new doors - geographically and intellectually! Jan 11 Dr Glory Jasper (BRETSS) "Wildlife of Peru - Lake Titicaca and Amazon Rainforest"
A
native New Yorker, Dr. Glory Jasper has been living and working in
Singapore since April 1983. She visited Peru in 1981 during the heydays
of the Shining Path rebellion and again in Sept 2005 with a group of
Singaporeans and friends. On her more recent trip, Dr. Jasper went to
several ruins in the north and then to Lake Titicaca and the Amazon
jungle in the southwest. In the talk, she will share her experiences
and showcase some of the more interesting plants found in the Amazon
rainforest. Jan 18 Kelvin Chan (DMERI) "A.W.E.! (Chiang Rai, North Thailand)"Kelvin
Chan is part of a team of youths who embarked on an overseas youth
expedition in Dec 2004 to Chiang Rai, Thailand. The objective of the
expedition was to present the possibility of eco-tourism to a local
hill tribe (Akha) as a way of self-sustainable economic development
along with cultural continuity. In the talk, he will share his
experiences as an overseas youth volunteer and provide a short
introduction to what eco-tourism and hill tribes are all about! Jan 25 Ong Shin Rong (DMERI) "African Adventures – Masai Mara, Lake Nakuru and Mt. Kilimanjaro"Shin
Rong toured parts of the African continent with a group of friends in
Jun 2004. Her myriad of adventures included road tripping in the
KwaZulu-Natal region of South Africa and in Swaziland, viewing wildlife
in the Masai Mara and Lake Nakuru National Parks of Kenya and climbing
Mount Kilimanjaro of Tanzania via the Machame route. In the talk, she
will focus on her safari experience as well as the climb up the tallest
peak in Africa. Wednesdays 1230-1330h
Light refreshments will be served. Hippocrates Room, Level 2
DMERI Building at Kent Ridge
MD27 (beside CRC) No change of passes required.
Enter walkway from Physiology/Anatomy Dept. | |
2006 New Year Luncheon and Lecture
The New Year Luncheon Lecture
is a Society tradition where we take the opportunity to explore how a
scientific discipline (or field of endeavour) is linked to or impacts
broader society in general. We have therefore in past lectures explored
the historical, philosophical, socio-anthropological or
eco-environmental aspects of recent biological discoveries and medical
technologies. Our past speakers have lectured on the archaeology of
pre-colonial Singapore; the use of radiology and genetics in
bioarchaeology; how infectious diseases have shaped human history and
modern civilizations; and molecular biology and the Indian Ocean
tsunami. This Lecture is given onthe first Saturday of the New Year, and this year we will explore the invention that led to the discovery of cells. The microscope
opens the door to the minute, if not the sublime. It impacts all
branches of the empirical sciences, from biology to chemistry to
physics, and even into visual arts. Professor Colin Sheppard, an inventor of the two-photon fluorescence microscope,
the confocal microscope and other bioimaging innovations, has kindly
agreed to take us on a historical tour of how the optical microscope
has evolved over the past hundred years. 
| Professor Colin JR Sheppard
Head, Division of Bioengineering
National University of Singapore The
optical microscope is an important tool in modern medicine and biology.
The basic instrument became mature in the late 19th century, and
comparatively little improvement made since then. In contrast, a wide
range of important new techniques have been introduced in the last few
decades, that have had dramatic impact. These include fluorescence
microscopy, confocal microscopy, multiphoton microscopy, various forms
of phase contrast microscopy amongst others. We follow through the
historical developments of some of these techniques, some of which have
been reinvented several times before becoming commercially available. Saturday 7 January 2006
1230-1500hNUS Guild House at Kent Ridge
Photo at left shows a 19th Century microscope in the collection of the University of Antwerp.
Image courtesy of Professor Ian Parker, University of California, Irvine |
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