Tues, Sept 25 @ 7:30 PM

Join us to discuss "The Art of Saving Relics" by Sarah Everts.  Find it on page 1 of "Best American Science & Nature Writing – 2017."

The summary from Scientific American:

• Much of our modern cultural heritage, from acrylic paintings to Legos to spacesuits, is made of plastic chemicals.
• Plastics do not last forever but deteriorate into messy molecular fragments, and this instability can ruin paintings and other important objects.
• Conservators have new methods to identify early warning signs of decay and to clean the disintegrating art, tailoring the technique to the underlying chemistry.
  

Here is a related article: Conserve Neil Armstrong’s Spacesuit.

Tues, Sept 4 @ 7:30 PM

Join us to discuss "Bringing Them Back to Life" by Carl Zimmer.

Find it on page 296 of Best American Science & Nature Writing – 2014.

Read it on line at https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2013/04/species-revival-bringing-back-extinct-animals/ if you are willing to share your email address with National Geographic.

Note our latest, updated schedule:

Tues, Aug 21 @ 7:30 PM

Please join us to discuss "Gimpel the Fool" by Isaac Bashevis Singer.

See page 134 of "The Soul of the Text - An Anthology of Jewish Literature."

Read it at: http://www.101bananas.com/library2/gimpel.html.

Updated Schedule

Tues, Aug 7 @ 7:30 PM

Join us as we try again to discuss "The Rebirth of Gorongosa" by E. O. Wilson.

Don't expect lots of science in this article.  Instead consider what Dr Wilson is doing to mentor potential young naturalists in a place where "... the summer monsoon season ...release[s] great torrents of rain, like a benediction."

Find it on page 291 of Best American Science & Nature Writing – 2014.

Read it on line at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2013/06/gorongosa-park/

Learn more about the park at: http://www.gorongosa.org/our-story/news/national-geographic-magazine

Tues, July 10 @ 7:30 PM

Please join us to discuss "Chava" by Shalom Aleichem

See page 114 of "The Soul of the Text - An Anthology of Jewish Literature."

Listen to a version at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLIiOzfMmOs

Read it beginning on: 

https://nemaloknig.com/read-273735/?page=16#booktxt

A glossary of the transliterated Hebrew is on: https://nemaloknig.com/read-273735/?page=50#booktxt starting with:

111 Hoydu lashem ki toyv—“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good.” Psalms, 136:1.

Tues, June 26 @ 7:30 PM

Join us to discuss "Trapline" by David Treuer.

Find it on page 277 of Best American Science & Nature Writing – 2014

This article appeared in Orion, May/June 2013.  Contact me (Mike Levin) if you need a PDF copy.