http://www.cu-cafe-sci.org Café Scientifique of Champaign-Urbana Illinois USA Sun, 05 Nov 2006 23:39:02 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en CU Café Sci is looking for a new home in downtown Champaign (Its current home, Verde Gallery Café, is closing its doors on November 30 2006. Thanks to Curt Tucker and his staff at Verde for being open to the Café Scientifique concept and for providing such beautiful ... http://www.cu-cafe-sci.org/2006/11/02/cu-cafe-sci-is-looking-for-a-new-home/ Postponed until a new venue is found, geologist Susan Kieffer will lead a discussion on some of the weird features recently observed on Enceladus, one of the satellites of Saturn. MacArthur fellow and member of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr Kieffer has degrees in math, physics, geology, and planetary science. ... http://www.cu-cafe-sci.org/2006/11/01/susankieffer/ On November 1, Professor Stephen E. Levinson gave a brief presentation and led a discussion entitled: Can Robots Learn Language the Way Children Do? Speech recognition machines are in use in more and more devices and services.  Airlines, banks, and telephone companies provide information to customers via spoken queries.  You can ... http://www.cu-cafe-sci.org/2006/08/03/a-robot-that-learns-words-provisional-title/ On October 4, 2006 from 7-9 pm at Verde Café in downtown Champaign, entomologist Andrew Suarez discussed his recent research on ant invasions, social recognition systems and trap jaw ants. Ants are model organisms for understanding a variety of ecological and behavioral processes. Dr Suarez is on the entomology faculty at ... http://www.cu-cafe-sci.org/2006/08/02/the-ecology-and-behavior-of-ants/ On September 6 2006, biochemist Eric Jakobsson, Director of the National Center for Design of Biomimetic Nanoconductors, gave a brief introduction and led a discussion on "From Plastics to Nanoscience: the second chemical revolution". Professor Jakobsson's research centers on the ion channels within cell membranes. Ion channels serve several functions, ... http://www.cu-cafe-sci.org/2006/08/02/from-plastics-to-nanoscience-the-second-chemical-revolution/ On August 2 2006, microbiologist Abigail Salyers led a discussion on the newly emerging view of the multifaceted relationship between humans and the microbial world. Although microbes are viewed by most people as "germs", they are now known to be essential for life on Earth and because of this have ... http://www.cu-cafe-sci.org/2006/08/02/abigail-salyers/ On July 5 2006, heat-transfer and energy systems researcher, Ty A Newell, led a discussion on the reduction of oil usage, the shift to a hydrogen economy, and solar/renewable energy. To play the video, click on the image below: If you are having trouble playing this video, please click here. Ty Newell, Professor ... http://www.cu-cafe-sci.org/2006/07/05/ty-newell/ CU Café Sci is Champaign-Urbana Illinois' version of a spreading international phenomenon known as Café Scientifique. At 7 pm on the first Wednesday of each month, starting July 5 2006, anyone with curiosity will be able to meet with a leading researcher in a downtown Champaign café and discuss some ... http://www.cu-cafe-sci.org/2006/06/21/launch/