Boston supports a pretty impressive culture of lectures and lecture-like events (conferences, unconferences, forums, panel discussions, debates, symposia, festschrifts, workshops, poster sessions, mini-courses, roundtables, exhibitions, tech jams, demos, tours, etc.).  The intention of this list is both to present a selection of these events and convey a general sense of what the people doing the research are talking about right now.  The list is not remotely comprehensive and selection criteria are subjective. Courses, exhibits, and networking meetups with no special focus are not well handled. The activity level can fluctuate from one or two events in a given week to several dozen.

Blue boxes represent events advertised as child- friendly; yellow boxes, multi-day events.

I occasionally link to the speaker's lab.  Researchers often see these sites as the preferred medium of communication with the public.   They put a lot of work into them and many are remarkable.

There are two routes to this list: the website and the mailing list. The website carries events for the next month (roughly); the list, for the next week.   You can subscribe to the list here.  Please note that this landscape is highly volatile: Important details are often changed at the last minute.  Some events have limited seating and get sold out. Plus I make the occasional error (word of which I would be immensely grateful to receive).   All in all I strongly urge you to doublecheck the "Details" link before you head out.

Please let me know if I ought to be monitoring somebody not on my list of sources.

I would appreciate your mentioning this list to people with compatible interests.

-- Fred Hapgood

Last update: 04.0043

Selected Groups, Clubs, Societies, & Meetups
Selected New England Museums
DIY-focused organizations & resources

June 3 - 8.   "Society for Information Display."   A symposium and exhibition.   Boston Convention and Exhibition Center.   Details.   3 - 8

June 4 - 5.   "International Conference on Technology and Innovation for Global Development: Schumpeter and Polymer Research."   Harvard:  Kennedy School, Starr Auditorium, 79 JFK St.   Details.   4 - 5

Monday, June 4

5 - 8p.   "Mondays in the Cloud."   A panel discussion.   Microsoft New England Research &Development Center, One Memorial Dr. :    Details & Registration.   4

June 5 - 6.   "Simulating Physics."   A workshop on a proprietary product.   COMSOL, Inc., 1 New England Executive Park, Suite 350, Burlington.   Details & Registration.   5 - 6

Tuesday, June 5

Noon.   "Tubes: A Journey to the Center of the Internet."   An author's event.   Andrew Blum.   Boston Atheneum:    Details.   5

12:30p.   "Watch Me Play: Live streaming, computer games, and the future of spectatorship".   A Berkman Luncheon.   T.L. Taylor.   Webcast details.   Podcast details.   RSVP required for lunch.   Harvard Law School: Berkman Center for the Internet and Society, 23 Everett St, 2nd Flr.   Details & RSVP.  5

1p.   "From Seed to Tree."   Arnold Arboretum, Dana Greenhouse.   Details & Registration.   5

5p.   "What a Plant Knows: A Field Guide to the Senses."   Daniel Chamovitz.   Harvard Book Store, 1256 Massachusetts Ave.   Details.   5

6p.   "The Last Venus Transit of the 21st Century."   A rooftop viewing.   Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden St.   Details.   5

6p.   "Getting to Know Darwin."   Arnold Arboretum, Weld Hill Research Bldg.   Details & Registration.   5

7p.   "Project: Blinky Pants."   Exploring wearable light art.   The first of two sessions.   10 Tyler St, Someville.   Details.   5

7 - 9p.   "Digital Humanities Projects: Lighting Talks."   Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge.   Details.   5

7p.   "Treatment for Body Dysmorphic Disorder."   Jennifer Greenberg.   McLean:  de Marneffe 132.   Details.   5

Wednesday, June 6

11:30 - 2p.   "Big Data and the Life Sciences."   Marty Kohn, Chief Medical Scientist, Care Delivery Systems, IBM Research and Katherine Holland, General Manager, IBM Global Life Sciences Industry.   Museum of Science, 1 Science Park, Boston.   Details & Registration.   6

5:30 - 8p.   "Aging in Place: Technology to Keep People Home."   Foley Hoag Emerging Enterprise Center, 1000 Winter Street, North Building, Waltham.   Details & Registration.   6

7 - 8:30p.   "The Rare Plants of Massachusetts."   Bryan Connolly.   Cambridge Public Library, 449 Broadway, Cambridge.   Details.   6

June 7 - 8.   "Boston Bacterial Meeting."   Harvard:  Science Center, 1 Oxford St.   Details & Registration.   7 - 8

Thursday, June 7

Noon.   "Scientific Computing and Visualization."   Erik Brisson.   BU:  Instructional Building (L Building) (Room L112).   Details.   7

10:30 - Noon.   "Early Explorers."   Boston Nature Center, 500 Walk Hill St, Mattapan.   Details.   7

11a.   "Digital Transformations of Research."   Ralph Schroeder and Eric Meyer.   Harvard:  Sperry Rm, Andover Hall.   Details & RSVP.   7

1p.   "Episodic Memory and Counterfactual Thinking."   Felipe De Brigard.   Background reading.   BU:  13th flr, Conf Rm 13A-48, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 South Huntington Ave.   Details.   7

2p.  "Homeschool Trailblazers."   Boston Nature Center, 500 Walk Hill St, Mattapan.   Details.   7

4p.   "Learn How to Design a Nanomachine from Bacteria."   Jianhua Xing.   Brandeis:  Abelson 126.   Details.   7

4 - 7p.   "Network Science in Biology and Medicine."   A symposium.   HMS:  Joseph B. Martin Conference Center, New Research Building, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur.   Details & Registration.   7

6p.   "The Honest Truth About Dishonesty: How We Lie to Everyone—Especially Ourselves."   Dan Ariely.   Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St, Cambridge.  Details & tickets.   7

6 - 9p.   "Fukushima: Chronicles from the Heartland."   A screening.   Hidetaka Inazuka, Director, will be present.   MIT:  6-120.   Details.   7

8p.   "Sky Pollution Rejection Filters and What They Reveal About Nebulae."   Tim Barker.   Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Phillips Auditorium, 60 Garden St, Cambridge.   Details.   7

Friday, June 8

8:15 - 6:30p.   "Noise & Rhythm: Harnessing Complexity in Medicine and Robotics."   HMS:  Joseph B. Martin Conference Center, Amphitheater, 77 Avenue Louis Pasteur.   Details & Registration.   8

June 9 - 10.   "High Impact Weather."   Museum of Science, Gordon Current Science & Technology Center.   Details.   9 - 0

Saturday, June 9

10a.   "Nature Walk in Concord."   Charles Davis.   location TBA.   Details & Registration.   9

Monday, June 11

Noon.   "Severely Deficient Autobiographical Memory in Healthy Adults: A New Mnemonic Syndrome."   Daniela Palombo.   BU:  13th flr, Conf Rm 13A-48, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 South Huntington Ave.   Details.   1

6p.   "The Intention Economy: When Customers Take Charge."   Doc Searls.   An author's event.   Location TBA.  Details & RSVP.   1

Tuesday, June 12

2p.   "The Extreme Vulnerability of Network of Networks."   Shlomo Havlin.   BU:  Photonics Center, 8 Saint Mary’s St., Room 339.   Details.   2

6p.   "Interop: The Promise and Perils of Highly Interconnected Systems."   An author's event.   John Palfrey.   BPL:  Central library, Abbey Rm, 700 Boylston St.   Details.   2

6:30p.   "Autonomous Underwater Robotics for Commercial, Scientific and Defense Applications."   David P. Kelly, President, CEO, Bluefin Robotics.   Bluefin Robotics, 553 South St, Quincy.   Details.   2

7p.   "Beyond the Gene: Epigenetics Revealed."   Mary Gehring.   Belmont Media Center 9 Lexington St, Belmont.   Details.   2

Wednesday, June 13

Noon.   "The Causes and Consequences of Recombination Rate Variation in Humans and Other Mammals."   Simon Myers.   HMS:  Genetics Department Seminar Room (NRB 0350).   Details.   3

Thursday, June 14

10:30 - Noon.   "Early Explorers."   Boston Nature Center, 500 Walk Hill St, Mattapan.   Details.   7

4p.   "How We Sense Infections and Respond To Them: a forward genetic approach."   Bruce Beutler.   Bruce Beutler lab.   Tufts:  Sackler Auditorium, 145 Harrison Ave, Boston.   Details.   4

6 - 9p.   "Can Games Save Education?"   A panel discussion.  Microsoft (New England Research and Development Center), One Memorial Drive.   Details & Registration.   4

8p.   "Sky Pollution Rejection Filters and What They Reveal About Nebulae."   Tim Barker.   Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophyics, Phillips Auditorium, 60 Garden St.   Details.   4

June 15 - 17.   "@party."   A collaborative electronic art festival.   281 Summer St.  Details & Registration.   5 - 7

Friday, June 15

7:30 - 9:30p.   "Teasecraft Boston Meetup."   Artisan's Asylum (Classroom), 10 Tyler St, Somerville.   Details.   5

Saturday, June 16

11a.   "Discovering Nature in your Own Backyard."   Loree Griffin Burns.   Harvard Museum of Natural History.   Details.   6

Sunday, June 17

10 - 4p.   "Printing Arts Fair."   Museum of Printing, 800 Massachusetts Ave, North Andover.   Details.   7

Noon.   "Water Quality And Public Health."   Marcus Kempe, MWRA engineer.   Waterworks Museum:  2450 Beacon St.   Details.   7

Monday, June 18

3:30 - 5p.   "Can Social Games Solve America's Biggest Health Challenge?"   Rajiv Kumar, Founder, of ShapeUp.   IBM Center for Social Business, One Rogers St. Cambridge.   Details & Registration.   8

Wednesday, June 20

6 - 11:55p.   "Global Pitchfest 2012."   Masschallenge, One Marina Park Drive, 14th floor, Boston.   Details.   0

6:30 - 9p.   "Linux on Small Hardware."   MIT:  E-51, Rm 315.   Details.   0

Thursday, June 21

7p.   "Democracy is a Design Problem: How changes in design change the outcome of elections."   Dana Chisnell.   MIT:  E51-315.   Details.   1

Monday, June 25

6:30p.   "Web Innovators Group 34."   Royal Sonesta Cambridge, 40 Edwin H Land Blvd, Cambridge.   Details & Registration.   5

Thursday, June 28

6p.   "Cooler Smarter: Union of Concerned Scientists."   Jeff Deyette.   An author's event.   Belmont Media Center, 9 Lexington St, Belmont.   Details.   8

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