Vassar Brothers Institute Science In Your Life 2010 Sponsored by Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union

Programs whose purpose is to bring together scientists and the lay public in the exploration of topics of general interest and concern.

The 2010 series will be at 7:30 p.m. on January 27, February 3 and 10.  As in the past, each program will consist of an understandable talk by a scientist involved in research on the topic, and an opportunity for questions from the audience.  Brochures giving speakers, and subjects and the location will be distributed in January.  The purpose of these lectures is to bring together the general public and scientists to explore topics of interest and importance to everyone.  We hope you will plan to attend.

Our Lady of Lourdes High School Auditorium

131 Boardman Road

Poughkeepsie, NY 12603

7:30 - 9:15 PM

PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Mary Louise Van Winkle, Chairperson

Maung S. Htoo

Stephen Friedland

PROGRAMS

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

SECRET OF THE GREAT PYRAMID

Speaker: Dr. Bob Brier

Long Island University C.W. Post Campus

Dr. Bob Brier has worked in Egypt for more than 30 years, and is one of the world’s foremost authorities on mummies. He is Senior Research Fellow at the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. Dr. Brier’s previous projects include the reconstruction of an Egyptian nobleman’s tomb for the Hillwood Art Museum at C.W. Post, and the research of ancient Egyptian mummification techniques. He is the author of numerous books, including “The Murder of Tutankhamen” (1998), and he has collaborated on several television specials and series, including “Mummy Detective,” “The Great Egyptians,” “Unwrapped, the Mysterious World of Mummies”. Dr. Brier is currently studying mummies to determine whether Alzheimer’s Disease existed among the ancient Egyptians.

The Great Pyramind of Giza is one of the unsolved mysteries of all time. Egyptologists simply do not know how ancient builders raised thousands of 2-ton blocks to the top of the 480-foot pyramid. This lecture presents a radical new theory and the recently discovered evidence for it. For years, French architect Jean-Pierre Houdin worked in isolation in a one-room flat in Paris with nothing but his computer and the most detailed blueprints of the Great Pyramid ever drawn. In 2003 he contacted Egyptologist Bob Brier and the two began working together to find evidence for his theory--that hidden inside the pyramid is a mile-long ramp that is still there, waiting to be discovered. In the course of their explorations in Egypt, they uncovered a room 275 feet up the pyramid never mentioned in the Egyptological literature. Recently, Houdin, working with Dassault Systemes in Paris, was also able to demonstrate that the Great Pyramid cracked as it was being built, and pinpoint precisely when and why. This illustrated lecture presents the new internal ramp theory and the evidence for it, including the first photographs of the room high up on the pyramid's NE corner. This research was the subject of a recent National Geographic Channel documentary.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

PROTECTING OUR WWII MARITIME HERITAGE

SPEAKER: David William Alberg

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Newport News, VA

During the summer of 2008 and 2009, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) led a series of archaeological research expeditions to study shipwrecks, including three German submarines, sunk in 1942 off the coast of North Carolina during the Battle of the Atlantic.  These surveys also resulted in the discovery of a lost US Naval Patrol Boat – the YP389.  The expeditions were part of a larger multi-year project to research and document a number of historically significant shipwrecks tragically lost during World War II, including U.S. and British naval vessels and merchant marine vessels. This lecture will describe the findings and their significance in protecting our World War II Maritime Heritage.

David Alberg joined the National Marine Sanctuary Program in the fall of 2005.  As Sanctuary Superintendent for the Monitor National Marine Sanctuary, Mr. Alberg serves as the onsite manager for the sanctuary and as the primary point of contact between NOAA and The Mariners’ Museum in Newport News, Virginia which is conserving the thousands of artifacts recovered from the wreck of the USS Monitor.  He has an extensive background in cultural resource management, museum work and exhibit development and has been involved in a number of high-profile museum projects.  In 1992, Mr. Alberg began his museum career as the first curator for the Virginia Air and Space Center in Hampton, Virginia and went on to serve as the Director of Exhibits and Collections for the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville,  AL.  Prior to working for NOAA, he served as the Deputy Director for Nauticus, The National Maritime Center in Norfolk, Virginia.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

DIAGNOSIS, TREATMENT AND PREVENTION OF ALZHEIMER’S DISEASE:

SEPARATING FACT FROM MYTH

Speaker: Dr. Margaret C. Sewell

The Mount Sinai Medical Center

New York, NY

Research over the past several years has brought new revelations about causes, potential new treatments, and prevention of this disease that affects up to 5.3 million Americans.  There has been substantial research on refining diagnosis and treatment, as well as understanding what lifestyle factors may be a risk for developing Alzheimer’s.  Some of the information available to the lay public may seem confusing, contradictory, or even outlandish.  Dr. Sewell will help distinguish between fact and myth in this research.

Dr. Sewell’s talk will illustrate, with participation from the audience, how Alzheimer’s is diagnosed with neuropsychological testing.  She will discuss how to distinguish among problems associated with Alzheimer’s disease, Mild Cognitive Impairment and normal aging.  Dr. Sewell will review current treatments and new ones ‘coming down the pike’ currently in clinical trials.  Prevention studies will be reviewed in order to shed light on everyday changes that we can make in order to decrease the chances of developing dementia.

Margaret C. Sewell, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine.  She is the Director of Education for the Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, and also is Director of Mount Sinai’s Memory Enhancement Program.  Dr. Sewell, a neuropsychologist, conducts research on neuropsychological testing and dementia diagnosis, and lectures widely in the lay and professional community.   She maintains a private practice in Nyack, New York.