Video of Programs (search and sort)

The Northern Ireland Conflict
10/13/2013
Bill Meulemans

This is a presentation by Bill Meulemans. His book "Belfast: Both Sides Now"  tells the story of the Northern Ireland conflict through the eyes of both communities. The author writes in a journalistic style. He went out on the street to learn why the conflict started and why it will not end soon. Meulemans lived and worked among the working-class people of Belfast for 11 years while he was on the politics faculty of The Queen's University of Belfast. Bill Meulemans has been an HGP member for about ten years or so. He taught at PSU for 8 years and at Southern Oregon University for 28 years.

Whale Evolution
10/06/2013
Dr. Jon Peters

Presentation by Dr. Jon Peters. The preponderance of evidence detailing whale evolution from multiple fields of research makes it nearly impossible to deny that whales have evolved from a deer-like ancestor to the aquatic forms that we know today. The importance of this example is to demonstrate that macroevolution is true for whales and, by extension, true for other species also, including humans. If macroevolution is true, then all types of creationism are invalidated except theistic evolution since only the latter can accommodate macroevolution, the evolution of species across large and divergent groups of organisms. Dr. Peters has been active promoting secular humanism and rational thought in his board activity with the Center For Inquiry (Portland). In 2008 he founded Secular Humanists of East Portland, an organization which has grown to over 400 Meetup members. 

Public Health and Social Justice
09/29/2013
Dr. Martin Donohoe

Presentation by Dr. Martin Donohoe about the major forms of social injustice in the U.S. and worldwide, how these impact human and environmental health, and how citizens can bring about a more just world. The talk is based on his clinical (M.D.) and academic work (see website phsj.org) and his recently published book “Public Health and Social Justice” (phsj.org/public-health-and-social-justice-reader/).

 

 

Epigenetics
09/15/2013
Lisa Sardinia

The question of epigenetics is: Can the environment re-program your genes? If the genome is the keyboard of a piano, then the epigenome is the fingers playing those keys. Recently, it has become clear that the environment can alter these epigenetic modifications and, more surprisingly, these modifications can sometimes be inherited. In this presentation, Lisa Sardinia discusses the mechanism of epigenetic modification, as well as some newly discovered environmental effects on epigenetic modifications. Lisa Sardinia is an associate professor in the Department of Biology at Pacific University. She teaches Molecular Biology, Microbiology, Basic Science for Optometry, and Genetics for Physician Assistant students.

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