Event
Science on Screen: The Botany of Desire
Real Art Ways Science on Screen® season invites you to experience the unique combination of a feature film and a relevant talk from a notable local figure in science.
Film: The Botany of Desire
“… the botanical evolution of and human interaction with apples, tulips, cannibis and potatoes. The observations are enlightening.” – Seanax.com
Michael Pollan, a professor of journalism and a student of food, presents the history of four plants, each of which found a way to make itself essential to humans, thus ensuring widespread propagation. Apples, for sweetness; tulips, for beauty; marijuana, for pleasure; and, potatoes, for sustenance. Each has a story of discovery and adaptation; each has a symbiotic relationship with human civilization. The film tells these stories and examines these relationships.
Pre-Film Talk | 6:30 PM
Speaker: Dr. Nikki Patel
Dr. Patel’s research and teaching focuses on field and experimental biology involving both ferns and moss evolution as well as a broad interest in plant global biodiversity. With unprecedented biodiversity loss and global change ongoing, evolutionary and organismal biology are at the forefront of these challenges. As an organismal biologist, Dr. Patel’s main objectives in the classroom are not only to foster content mastery in evolution, genetics, and cell biology, but also to ensure that students leave her classes grounded in the application of scientific thinking toward meeting challenges in the world, in their professions, and in their everyday lives. This emphasis on functional knowledge is the best way to produce graduates prepared for careers in science.
Science on Screen is an initiative of the COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE, with major support from the ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION.
