ADULT EDUCATION MERCER SOCIETY LECTURE SERIES
H M N S A D U LT E D U C AT I O N
Celebrating Mercer Arboretum & Botanic Gardens’ 40th anniversary. Purchase tickets to the entire 4-lecture series and receive a discount: Series Tickets $60, Members $40 Individual Tickets $18, Members $12
www.hmns.org/adults
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“Plant Conservation in a Rapidly Changing World” Peter Raven, Ph.D. Missouri Botanical Garden Thursday, January 30 6:30 p.m. The animals, plants, and other organisms of our planet collectively make our lives on Earth possible, and yet we are destroying their habitats, changing the climate, widely introducing weeds, diseases and pests, and overharvesting many of them. In turn, these factors are driven by our rapidly growing population, increasing consumption levels, and use of destructive technologies. As a result, we could drive to extinction more than half the kinds of plants and animals that exist now within the next 75 years or so. Fortunately, plants can be saved through genetic seed banks, protected areas, and botanic garden collections. Dr. Peter Raven will describe the efforts to save as many species in the USA as possible, while we still have time to do so. This lecture is co-sponsored with The Mercer Society.
“The Chinese Economic ‘Bloom’ – People, Plans and Plants for a Verdant Earth” David Creech, Ph.D. Stephen F. Austin University Thursday April 10 6:30 p.m. “Exploration to Exploitation – The Road from Plant Discovery to Market” Tony Avent, Ph.D. Juniper Level Botanic Gardens and Plant Delights Nursery Thursday, September 4 6:30 pm “Growing an Ark: The Expanding Role of Botanic Gardens in Plant Conservation” Peter Wyse Jackson, Ph.D. Missouri Botanical Garden Thursday, November 6 6:30 p.m.
DISTINGUISHED LECTURES “Small Stars in a Large Context: All Things White Dwarf” Don Winget, Ph.D. McDonald Observatory Tuesday, January 14, 6:30 p.m. Tickets $18, Members $12 Dubbed “impossible stars,” white dwarfs are the simplest stars with the simplest surface chemical compositions known—yet they are very mysterious. The McDonald Observatory leads in investigating white dwarfs along several avenues: telescope observations, theory, and most recently, the making of starstuff using the most powerful x-ray source on Earth. Dr. Don Winget will examine how studies of these stars can shed light on everything from the age of the Universe to the understanding of dark matter and dark energy. This lecture is sponsored by the University of Texas at Austin McDonald Observatory in celebration of their 75th anniversary in 2014.
“Chocolate, A Revolution in a Cup” Rosemary Joyce, Ph.D. U.C. Berkeley Tuesday, February 4 6:30 p.m. Tickets $18, Members $12 The Maya were the first to begin cultivating the cacao plant to produce chocolate, one of the wonders that emerged from domestication of plants and an innovation that initially was made available to only a few in the form of an intoxicating chocolate drink laced with peppers. Surely chocolate must be one of the greatest ideas that humanity has produced! Dr. Rosemary Joyce is chair of graduate studies at University of California, Berkeley. This lecture is cosponsored by Archaeology Institute of America – Houston Society.
CULTURAL FEAST “Chemistry of the Cocktail2” Thursday, February 20 7 p.m. Hosted at Brennan’s Tickets $115, Members $95 Shaken? Stirred? Sustainable? In addition to exploring principles such as specific gravity and melting point, our second Chemistry of the Cocktail showcases how many producers of spirits are working to help reduce the carbon footprint by using innovative methods of production and distillation. Organic ingredients are also an important component of today’s growing trend for sustainable and green cocktails. Our cocktailian festivities are again hosted at Brennan’s of Houston, led by mixologist Richard Middleton and culinary historian Merrianne Timko. Chef Danny Trace will create small plates to complement the featured cocktails.