Living Free NYC Big City, Small Pockets, No Problem! 
When:Wednesday August 24, 2011
Time:8PM
Where:The Bell House
149 7th Street
Brooklyn, NY 11215
(718) 643-6510
Cost:Free
The Secret Science Club presents: A Nocturnal Garden Party with Plant Biologist Rob Martienssen.
Rob Martienssen studies the strange genetics and sex lives of plants. Until recently plant breeders used trial-and-error to create newer, more beautiful, and more useful hybrids. Now Dr. Martienssen and his colleagues at Cold Spring Harbor Lab are unlocking the molecular mechanisms at the heart of plant evolution to create awesome cultivars of the future and discover secrets of the botanical past. Dr. Martienssen asks:
–Can we breed better biofuels? Could duckweed—a plant growing in NYC’s ponds and parklands— be supercharged to become an efficient energy source?
–What’s the story behind King Corn? How exactly was maize created by early Mesoamericans from a native grass that looks almost nothing like corn?
–What does biotechnology have to do with food security and climate change? Could the sequencing of plant genomes lead to the production of higher-yielding crops that consume fewer resources and feed a growing, hungry world?
Before & After
–Groove to tunes inspired by pistils and stamens
–Try our cocktail of the night, the Planter’s Punch (pow!)
–Stick around for the cultivated Q&A
No cover. Just bring your smart self!
Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+