Virtual SUTS! Super Humankind: How humans have adapted to thrive all over the world
Welcome to the first ever Science Under the Virtual Stars! We will be exploring human adaptation to extreme environments this month. Enjoy the kids (of all ages) activities, virtual natural history tour of Brackenridge Field Laboratory, and the lecture on Super Humankind! A Zoom link to the live Q&A with the speaker, Christina Balentine, will be posted next week. This live Q&A will be held on October 8th at 7:00 pm CDT (UTC -5).
Activity 1 (hands-on): Can you adapt? (To print or fill out on your computer, click File > Download > Microsoft Word (.docx) or PDF Document (.pdf))
Activity 2 (hands-on): Feeling peckish! (To print or fill out on your computer, click File > Download > Microsoft Word (.docx) or PDF Document (.pdf))
Activity 3 (online): Skin color adaptation
Coloring book: Adventures in Archaeological Science (multiple languages available)
Tour of Brackenridge Field Laboratory (13 min)
The lecture! Super Humankind: How humans have adapted to thrive all over the world (31 min). Please fill out this form with your questions for the live Q&A on October 8th at 7:00 pm CDT (UTC -5)!
October 1st & 8th, Christina Balentine
Super Humankind: How humans have adapted to thrive all over the world
Superheroes like Wonder Woman, Spiderman, and the X-Men spark the imagination: what if we could have super powers like these heroes? In fact, humans all over the world do have certain super powers! Thanks to genetic adaptation by natural selection and through cultural innovations, humans thrive in seemingly intolerable environments: at extremely high altitudes in the Himalayas; the freezing cold Arctic; and in toxic, arsenic-rich regions. In this presentation, we will explore these and other super human abilities, and see that humans really do have super powers!
Science Under the Stars has gone virtual! This semester all SUTS activities will be online, but we encourage you to participate outdoors under the stars in your backyard! (If wifi allows for it, of course.) October’s schedule is as follows:
- October 1st: Links to the pre-recorded lecture, video tour of Brackenridge Field Lab, kids activities, and more will be posted here and as an event on our Facebook page.
- October 8th, 7:00pm CT: Live Q&A with the speaker! Ask questions ahead of time by filling out the Google Form posted with the event links, or ask your question(s) live during the event.
We can’t wait to “see” y’all again and chat about science!
Science Under the Stars is a free public outreach lecture series based in Austin, Texas.
Fall 2020 Virtual SUTS Schedule
Thanks to everyone who responded to our Google poll! You all gave us valuable feedback on how to move forward with SUTS in a socially-distant world. We received overwhelming support for having a Science Under the Virtual Stars this semester. We will host three lectures by UT Austin graduate students in October, November, and December. Pre-recorded lectures, tours of Brackenridge Field Lab, activities and more will be posted to our website and Facebook on the first Thursday of the month. Then on our regular second Thursday of the month, we will have a live Q&A session with the speaker! A form will be provided for you to submit questions ahead of the Q&A, or feel free to ask them during the live event. Below is the schedule of speakers, with more details to come soon. Thank you all for your support!
- October 1 (lecture posted) & October 8 (live Q&A): Christina Balentine – Super humankind: how humans have adapted to thrive all over the world
- November 5 (activities and event link posted) & November 12 (live lecture and Q&A): Tristan Kubik – Planet of the Insects
- December 10 (live lecture and Q&A): Isaac Miller-Crews – Animal brains!
Note: We will post the links for the videos/activities/live Q&A for each event in a separate, event-specific post. Follow this blog or our Facebook page to get event notifications.
Science Under the Stars is a free public outreach lecture series based in Austin, Texas.
Science Under the (Virtual?) Stars Interest Poll
Hello all and welcome to the new academic year! Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, we are still unable to hold SUTS in person. However, we would like to know if there is interest in a Science Under the (Virtual) Stars this year. We are thinking of posting a pre-recorded lecture once a month (or more frequently, if there is enough interest) followed by a Q&A session with the speaker (either live or pre-recorded answering questions that are emailed/posted here). We are also thinking of posting video tours of the Brackenridge Field Lab, natural history facts, and instructions for kids activities related to the lectures on our website. Since this is Science Under the Stars, we encourage you to participate outside! (If the internet connection allows for it, of course.) Please vote in the Google poll linked here to help us gauge interest. Thank you! 🙂
Spring Talks Canceled
Science Under The Stars 