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In popular culture, whistleblowers are conscience-driven heroes who triumph against the odds. Yet when research abuses occur, medical institutions deny wrongdoing even when it is glaringly obvious, and rarely do mistreated research subjects or their families get any real justice. Whistleblowing is the exception, not the rule. In many scandals, doctors and other staff members remain silent for years while unwitting research subjects are abused. If abuses do come to light, the researchers are usually protected by the medical establishment while the whistleblowers are punished.

Retired astronaut Joe Tanner and space industry expert Mike Kaplan will discuss the evolution of large space observatories from the Hubble Space Telescope and its intentional design to be regularly serviced on orbit by astronauts, the paradigm-shifting James Webb Space Telescope, and current plans for future large space observatories that could leverage the emergence of new commercial capabilities for observatory assembly, integration and test in space. Joe and Mike will also discuss the roles and interrelationships between humans and robots in space.

RECOMMENDED ADDITIONAL READINGS (optional)

Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020's

Habitable Worlds Observatory

The Rocky Mtn Bio Lab is combining traditional field science with emerging technologies that involve machine learning and remote sensing. We will tour the history of science, from the age of discovery, through the 1870 surveys of Colorado by Ferdinand Hayden, to the emergence of field stations. We’ll discuss RMBL’s research productivity, including the emergence of the largest collection of long-term ecological studies. We’ll examine how machine learning can integrate data streams such as traditional field work, embedded sensors, drones, planes, and satellites to address fundamental problems scaling biological processes in time and space.

New drugs such as Ozempic/Wegovy and Mounjaro/Zepbound (GLP-1 agonists) have revolutionized how we treat obesity over the past 2 years. However, these drugs that reduce food intake (energy intake) only solve one component of the equation. Increasing energy expenditure is key to effective and durable weight loss. Loss in muscle mass and function is associated with the use of GLP-1 agonists and combination of these drugs with newer agents that increase muscle function may provide a more effective and durable weight loss while also improving quality of life in terms of muscle function, which is particularly important as we age. Here, Dr. Burris will describe some of the break throughs that have been made in development of such new drugs and how they may change treatment of obesity in the future.

Increasingly, governments are realizing that obtaining the mineral requirements for reducing the planet's dependence on fossil fuels and bringing on renewable energy options is a monumental task that involves far more than simply passing legislative mandates.

The global scramble for natural resources is intense and is largely driven by the desires and actions of the three most populous countries on the planet. This talk examines the current uses of primary energy and electricity, and the resource needs to achieve net zero by 2050.

Chronic pain is a significant issue amongst adults aged 65+. We’ll explore the three underlying mechanisms behind chronic pain, the intricate interplay between the body's pain signaling pathways and the central nervous system including; “central sensitization” where the nervous system becomes hypersensitive to pain signals, even in the absence of ongoing tissue damage and “nociplastic pain”, which cannot be solely attributed to structural or tissue damage (with profound implications for diagnosis and treatment).

We’ll examine key features that can be used to recognize each of these and explore the treatments most likely to work for these different underlying pain mechanisms.

This century will see some major changes in how many people reproduce. Selecting embryos because of their genetic variations is already well established; editing the DNA of embryos has been done (and condemned). In a decade or two we will be able to make functional human eggs and sperm from skin cells. And, at some point—perhaps even within a decade—we may be able to develop a healthy baby entirely outside any human body. Good, bad, or ugly…we need to be thinking about these futures!

RECOMMENDED ADDITIONAL READINGS (optional)

Henry T. Greely, The End of Sex and the Future of Human Reproduction (2016)

Henry T Greely, CRISPR People: The Science and Ethics of Editing Humans (2021)