Science Circle

SC Moon Base Project Immersive Experience
2025-03-29 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | Moon base
SC Moon Base Project Immersive Experience

The SC Moon Base Project and Math Club grew out of an internal challenge towards the end of 2023 as The Science Circle was coming up on its 15th Anniversary. The challenge was to do something more than just have a party to celebrate, rather to demonstrate through example how The Science Circle had persisted for 15 years through developing a project or class or both.
Interest in the Moon had waned for decades as spacefaring nations concentrated on what humans could learn about the Earth from the International Space Station, which was celebrating its 25th Anniversary that year, and from robotic craft that explored the solar system and beyond. Since about the time that The Science Circle was established, there has been increasing interest in the Moon for a number of reasons, with a variety of lunar missions as a consequence. However, a crewed mission still seems to be slightly out of reach, despite the success of the initial manned landings of the late 1960s and early 1970s.
A diverse set of members of The Science Circle took up the anniversary challenge and formed the SC Moon Base Project, meeting every Monday for the past two years now to discuss what a sustainable Moon Base in which residents could live and work might look like and how it would operate. The group has tackled every issue they could think of or discover through research, with no subject out of bounds. The more we have discussed, the more questions have presented themselves, many of which may not have been thought of before, and the more fascinating the subject has become.
Last Fall, members of the SC Moon Base Project group decided it was time to share what we had discussed and our visualization of part of that in several virtual Moon Base versions, with members of The Science Circle and the public through participation in the Virtual Worlds Best Practices in Education (VWBPE) Conference this year. We submitted proposals for two types of events and both were accepted – an educational Immersive Experience where we could share our Moon Base visualizations and what we have learned about its design and operation, and a Roundtable event during which we will share how our peer-to-peer education experiment has been successful, as well as hear from conference participants about their own experiences with this educational format in virtual worlds.
Join us this Saturday for the background and thought behind the SC Moon Base Project and then join us in an Immersive Experience outside of the VWBPE conference event schedule.

Mathematics Club
2025-03-27 16:00 - 17:00 | Maths Club
Love numbers? Crave a challenge? Join The Science Circle’s Maths Club—where curious minds solve puzzles, explore theories, and make math fun! Dive in today!

VWBPE SC Moon Base Immersive Experience
2025-03-24 08:00 - 13:00 | Moon base
VWBPE Immersive Experience
March 24 and 31 @ 8am-1pm PDT
Step into the role of an astronaut preparing for a lunar mission with this immersive virtual experience. Starting on Earth, you’ll plan the essentials: how to breathe, maintain warmth, hydrate, eat, sleep, manage waste, work, and maintain mental health in the harsh environment of the Moon. Your journey continues as you are docked at a space station, learning the intricacies of living in space before piloting your craft to the Moon’s surface. Once there, explore virtual Moon bases, interact with objects, and navigate through challenges using visual, aural, and textual cues.
Complementing this experience, The Science Circle hosts a Roundtable Discussion [April 4 @10am PDT] to deepen your understanding and enhance the learning experience. This session offers a unique opportunity to engage with space exploration in a deeply interactive setting.
Getting Immersed at VWBPE25!

Classical Concert
2025-03-23 07:00 - 08:00, 2025-03-16 07:00 - 08:00, 2025-03-09 07:00 - 08:00, 2025-03-02 07:00 - 08:00, 2025-02-16 07:00 - 08:00, 2025-02-09 07:00 - 08:00 | The Lighthouse Café

Open Forum and Programming Feedback
2025-03-22 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium

Mathematics Club
2025-03-20 16:00 - 17:00, 2025-03-13 16:00 - 17:00, 2025-03-06 16:00 - 17:00, 2025-03-03 16:00 - 17:00, 2025-02-27 16:00 - 17:00, 2025-02-20 16:00 - 17:00, 2025-02-13 16:00 - 17:00 | Maths Club

Moon Base Meeting
2025-03-17 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-03-10 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-03-03 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-02-24 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-02-17 10:00 - 11:00, 2025-02-10 10:00 - 11:00 | Moon base

Pi-Bonding: a Chemist's view of Pi Day
2025-03-15 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
March 14 is pi day, i.e. 3/14. But to a chemist, a particular geometry of bonding comes to mind when we hear the word “pi”. Pi-bonding refers to a “sideways” sharing of electrons, and it leads to important modes of reactivity in organic synthesis, in biochemistry, industrial chemistry and nanotechnology. We’ll talk about the basics of bonding, how pi-bonding leads to representations of electron-dolecalization in organic molecules, which types of atoms participate in pi-bonding, and applications. In the spirit of the day, this talk is brought to you by the letter pi and the number pi.

Presented by Dr. Michael J. Shaw (he/him)

Misinformation About Science
2025-03-08 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
The information for this session is derived from “Understanding and Addressing Misinformation About Science,” (summary press release) which is a long report of the US National Academy of Sciences published in late 2024. It discusses sources and impacts of misinformation, what promotes its spread, and who is most likely to believe it and why. The report also makes a number of recommendations for addressing this problem at several different levels.

Presented by Alice Krueger / Gentle Heron in SL

Harnessing Large Language Models (LLMs) in Digital Medicine
2025-03-01 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
The rise of Large Language Models (LLMs) has opened exciting possibilities for enhancing and automating tasks in the medical field. In this presentation, I will explore how these models can be applied to a range of medical tasks, such as extracting key insights from medical records, supporting clinical decision-making, personalizing treatment, and improving patient engagement. I will also provide an overview of the engineering approaches, such as prompt design and fine-tuning, that enable LLMs to be tailored for specific medical applications. Finally, I will examine the challenges of deploying these models in real-world healthcare settings, including ethical considerations, reliability, and regulatory concerns. As LLMs become increasingly integrated into medical practice, this talk aims to offer valuable insights into how they can be leveraged effectively and responsibly to improve healthcare outcomes.

Presented by Karthik Prathaban

Classical Concert
2025-02-23 07:00 - 08:00 | International Spaceflight Museum

New Proof of Pythagorean Theorem Discovered by Two High School Girls in Louisiana
2025-02-22 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
DEDICATED TO BLACK HISTORY MONTH
A New Proof of Pythagorean Theorem Discovered by Calcea Johnson and Ne’Kiya Jackson – two high school girls in Louisiana
by Tagline of Mathematics Club of Science Circle
In 2022, two high school students in New Orleans, Louisiana, discovered a new proof of the well-known, Pythagorean Theorem that equates the square of the hypotenuse c of any RIGHT TRIANGLE ◺abc to the sum of the square of each shorter sides, a, b
Historically, most mathematicians have argued that any attempt to prove Pythagorean Theorem based on trigonometry would necessarily employ circular reasoning because trigonometry is a calculus for the RIGHT TRIANGLE based on Pythagorean Theorem. However, Ms. Johnson and Ms. Jackson used the LAW OF SINES which is easily proven independently of Pythagorean Theorem or its consequences.
Were Pythagoras of Samos (circa 570 BCE – 495 BCE) reincarnated and alive today, and either Ms. Jackson or Ms. Johnson told him of her proof, he would probably insist:
“DON’T TELL ANYONE ABOUT THIS!”
The Pythagorean School was rather CULT-LIKE and secretive, considering their beliefs in reincarnation and mathematical discoveries to be sacred, esoteric knowledge. However, in this presentation, I will take you for a friendly walk through the steps of the proof, while avoiding tedium as much as possible.
So I will share with you how the girls did this remarkable proof!
The proof is of aesthetically beautiful conception and aside from high level language skills, their work cleverly draws on knowledge of all basic High School mathematics: geometry, algebra, TRIGONOMETRY and geometric series – it seems an achievement of WHOLE BRAIN thinking or at least “both left- and right- brain thinking”. We will also discuss the perishable resource of talented, inventive young minds and the vital importance of quality education, fair opportunity and encouragement for ALL young people.

2020 in the Science Circle - Revisited 1
2025-02-15 10:00 - 11:00 | Auditorium
A panel discussion following up on past topics from 5 years ago.
Delia — Urban Agriculture and Sustainable Food​
William — Celestial Orbits
Robert — The COVID-19 Pandemic and Q & A about the Corona Virus and China’s new Corona virus
Panelists will provide a brief summary of their past talks and context, provide a few updates, then we will open the floor for Q&A.
Moderated by Stephen Gasior/Xootfly

Darwin Day: Alfred Kinsey
2025-02-12 09:00 - 10:00 | Auditorium
forthcoming
