In this stimulating series, scientists at the cutting edge of sense research team up with cultural icons – including a gourmand, an illusionist, a filmmaker, and a songstress – to excite each of our senses and explain the science behind your responses.
Featured in The New York Times
"At the New York Academy of Sciences, researchers and artists will team up to explore this new research in a series of talks called Science of the Five Senses. Their conversations will raise a question for the amateur hedonist: If we had a better understanding of the signals our bodies send to our brains, might we take more pleasure from them?"
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Of all our senses, touch is the most difficult to fathom doing without. It is crucial to human life and survival and also plays an important role in our emotional development, the creation of memories and connecting with our environment. Neuroscientist and sensory perception expert Ranulfo Romo and filmmaker Kun Chang explore the science behind our sense of touch.
How does a particular scent conjure a memory in your mind? How does the brain interpret olfactory signals for food, danger, or potential mating partners? The head of Rockefeller University's Laboratory of Neurogenetics and Behavior, Leslie Vosshall, and Avery Gilbert, the author of a new book on the sense of smell, explain.
Leading cognitive neuroscientist and visual perception expert Christof Koch (the research partner of the late Francis Crick) reveals the shortcomings of human sight, and sleight-of-hand artist Apollo Robbins demonstrates how readily the eye and mind are tricked.
Eating and food have become two of the most popular lifestyle topics of our culture. At this event, smell and taste researcher Linda Bartoshuk and New York Times food columnist Harold McGee look at our understanding of the science of taste and the chemical underpinnings of flavors, foods, beverages, and other edibles.
McGill University music perception expert Daniel Levitin and Grammy-winning singer Rosanne Cash explain how the brain processes aural information and how our perception of sounds can inspire emotion. Cash will also give a live musical performance during this spectacular final senses event.
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Your organization can sponsor one of these consumer science events! Contact Adrienne Burke at aburke@nyas.org, or call 212.298.8655 for full details.
The Science of Champagne
Gerard Liger-Belair
Gerard Liger-Belair has been studying the science of champagne bubbles for 10 years. Learn just how important bubbles are to the taste this celebratory drink - and find out the science behind it.
Multimedia: Video highlights
The Science of Chocolate
Jeffrey Blumberg
A nutrition scientist from Tufts University gives an overview of the health benefits of chocolate.
The Science of Coffee
Andrea Illy
The Chairman of illycaffe S.p.A. discusses the chemistry and technology that produce a great cup of coffee.
An Evening with Oliver Sacks
Tales of Music and the Brain
The famed author and physician introduces ideas from his new book, Musicophilia, to a sold-out crowd at the New York Academy of Sciences.
The Stuff of Thought
Steven Pinker
Hear what Harvard University psychologist Steven Pinker has to say about language and cognition, what swearing reveals about emotion, and what innuendo says about relationships.
Warning: explicit language
Richard Dawkins: The God Delusion
Why the Pursuit of Truth Precludes Faith in the Divine
Oxford University professor of public understanding in science, Richard Dawkins, makes a scientific argument against the existence of a supreme being.