‘Talking Science’ lecture moves to January

The university’s annual holiday lecture for high school students, a tradition dating back to 1960, received a makeover this year. In addition to a new name, “Talking Science,” which debuted in 2013, the lecture was moved to the second Saturday of January, and expanded to include a lunchtime program of scientific demonstrations — highlights included electric fish, visual illusions and fruit fly mating — in the CRC, as well as the customary two-part lecture in Caspary Auditorium.

Attracting over 400 students and teachers from 70 schools in New York City and its suburbs, this year’s lecture was on the biology of perception, delivered by A. James Hudspeth, F.M. Kirby Professor and head of the Laboratory of Sensory Neuroscience. Vanessa Ruta, Gabrielle H. Reem and Herbert J. Kayden Assistant Professor and head of the Laboratory of Neurophysiology and Behavior, was the host. Dr. Ruta and Dr. Hudspeth’s labs sponsored the demonstrations along with the university’s Science Outreach Program, led by Jeanne Garbarino.