Webinars   

Although the presence of natural hydrogen in the subsurface of the Earth is well documented in a variety of geologic environments, economic accumulations have generally been assumed to be non-existent. Recent discoveries in Africa and elsewhere have challenged this notion, and there is a growing acknowledgement that geoscientists have not looked for native hydrogen in the right places with the right tools. This webinar will discuss what is known about the global resource potential for natural hydrogen, and what new knowledge and technologies are needed to improve our understanding of this previously overlooked potential low-carbon energy resource.

Denver Zoo Conservation Alliance is in a unique position to save wildlife through connection, education, and science, both at the zoo and around the globe. Hear about how a modern zoo approaches saving wildlife and why this work is more important than ever.

While the necessity of Senior Age Tech is well-documented, the current discourse often lacks specifics required for effective implementation and remote support. This session transcends standard product reviews, offering a practical, Do-It-Yourself (DIY) approach to aging in place. Tailored for professionals navigating these challenges personally or for loved ones, we will examine how to use existing technologies to mitigate vision loss, hearing impairment, dexterity issues, and cognitive decline. Join us to move beyond high-level theory and master the specific "how-to" of creating innovative, supportive solutions for independence.

In this talk, Dr. Townsend will share the state of research understanding around fat (adipose) and brain crosstalk, through both the circulation and the peripheral nerves, and how these avenues of communication impact on our health, including as we age, or our risk for conditions like obesity, diabetes, peripheral neuropathy, and cardiometabolic diseases. She will share original research, as well as a synthesized view of the field and where research is going next to improve human health.

The entire R&D structure in this country helps us stay technologically advanced as a nation. It’s a very complex process that most Americans know nothing about. However, it is vital for our economic and social well-being. Many essential actors in this process help the nation develop capabilities and skills for the future. It includes the universities, Not-for-Profit research institutes, numerous government entities, including state and federal executive branches, as well as their legislative branches. It includes the national laboratories, the various defense department research institutes, and the universities both in their R&D and educational roles.

Heatwaves, wildfires, hurricanes and flooding caused by climate change are already impacting people and nature. Adaptation until now has been incremental with governments and institutions tinkering around the edges of current systems. This will not be enough. In this talk drawing on her new book Sink or Swim, Susannah Fisher explores the hard choices that lie ahead to adapt to a changing climate. She lays out the ways we can still have a livable planet later in this century and beyond, and how we can get there. Will we choose to sink or swim?

More than 1,100 ultra-high peaks in the conterminous, western United States rise to heights between 13,000 and 14,505 feet above mean sea level (AMSL). What you and I learned in school concerning when and how these peaks formed—isn’t true. They are tens of millions of years younger, and they formed in the exact opposite way than we were told (and in many places, are still being told). This new knowledge came from a combination of 20th-century field studies and 21st-century tools and techniques.

Electron transfer is the basis of most cellular processes, ranging from photosynthesis to cellular respiration. These processes have evolved over billions of years to be highly efficient, far surpassing engineered systems. Our research harnesses this natural efficiency by integrating materials science with synthetic biology to develop versatile, low-cost, and user-friendly technologies, ranging from inexpensive diagnostics for infectious disease to improved catalysis for sustainable conversions.

Dr. Chapman will present the exciting story behind the research to virtually unwrap the carbonized papyrus scrolls from the ancient city of Herculaneum. The scrolls were buried and carbonized by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, and since their discovery in 1752, various attempts have been made to open them, with disastrous results. Hundreds of them remain unrolled and unread. In 2024, after more than twenty years of research and a global, $1 million AI contest called the Vesuvius Challenge, Professor Brent Seales and his team were able to reveal for the first time—and purely via computational methods—sixteen columns of text from within an unopened Herculaneum scroll. This talk will provide a behind-the-scenes look at how the decades of work Dr. Seales the open-source software development competition cracked open this window into the ancient world.

What happens when the dust of ancient civilizations collides with the grit of modern academic life? Thomas E. Levy’s The Boomer Archaeologist is a thrilling excavation of the past and an unflinching look at the personal and professional upheavals of a life in archaeology. Through vivid graphic storytelling, Levy guides readers on expeditions across Israel, Jordan, Greece, and beyond, where every dig site becomes a lens for exploring identity, belonging, and purpose—capturing the rush of discovery alongside the disillusioning shifts in elite American universities over three decades. More than a career memoir, it is a meditation on tribes—ancient and modern, academic, and cultural, chosen and inherited—that resonates with anyone piecing together meaning from the past while grappling with the present. A candid postscript reflects on how the events of October 7, 2023, reshaped fieldwork and scholarly life in the region.

Conspiracy theory beliefs are notoriously persistent. Yet we are able to substantially reduce belief among believers by leveraged developments in generative artificial intelligence (AI). When we engage conspiracy believers in personalized evidence-based debunking dialogues with AI models such as GPT, we reduced conspiracy belief by ~20%. The effect remained 2 months later, generalized across a wide range of conspiracy theories, occurred even among participants with deeply entrenched beliefs, and occurred even if participants were led to believe they were talking to a human expert instead of an AI. These findings suggest that many conspiracy theory believers can revise their views if presented with sufficiently compelling evidence.