Of the 300-something people packed into the room, the lucky majority sat atop foldable chairs. The rest camped out on the floor or stood three deep around the room. Some even perched on the open bar that nestled against one wall and served, among other things, a cocktail called “Planter鈥檚 punch” in honor of Dr. Martienssen鈥檚 talk on plant genetics. Welcome to the !
Billed as 鈥渁 science lecture, arts, and performance series,鈥� the Club is based at the Bell House, a Brooklyn bar that is as renowned for its mixology as it is for its performance calendar, which regularly features up-and-coming indie bands or the hottest one-person shows. The Secret Science series, which just celebrated its fifth聽anniversary, features a science-related event once or so a month at 8pm on a Wednesday. 鈥淭here鈥檚 no cover charge. Just bring your smart self,鈥� say the Club鈥檚 organizers, and the audience does, packing the space to the rafters and lingering late into the night to discuss and debate.
The roster of past speakers include science personalities who have become household names (Neil deGrasse Tyson, James Hanson), Nobel laureates (Harold Varmus, Sir Paul Nurse) and a slew of the world鈥檚 experts in topics ranging from astrophysics to zoology. Dr. Martienssen is the fifth CSHL scientist to receive a speaking invitation from the Club; others include CSHL鈥檚 President Bruce Stillman, Drs. Scott Lowe and Greg Hannon, and earlier this summer, Dr. Partha Mitra (view Partha Mitra’s talk ).
Check out Dr. Martienssen鈥檚 lecture titled, 鈥淪end in the clones: superseeds, superweeds and green energy,鈥� in which he explains how he鈥檚 using plant genetics to build better biofuels and farmer-friendly crops.