For the Dr. Funque’s homepage, please click here

(16mm B/W, short narrative)
Written and Directed by Alexis Gambis

16mm, short narrative

Dr. Funque (Corey Sullivan) enters the laboratory to start his after-dinner lab chores. He sits comfortably at the bench and prepares a cocktail of solutions that he pours into his petri dish. He would have never thought that that evening he would make an incredible discovery. People, cars, parks, buildings - an entire world was encapsulated inside his petri dish. What turned out like a solitary typical Funque lab evening ends up being a festive exchange with the petri dish city and dwellers.

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

visit http://www.biotechniques/video
A Fruit Fly in New York

Video of the Week

A Fruit Fly in New York

Brooklyn, NY, Mar. 5 — What do fruit flies and NYC have in common? Check out scientist/filmmaker Alexis Gambis’ documentary A Fruit Fly in New York, which was screened at last month’s Secret Science Club meeting (see “Secret Science Club” above). Gambis is a fourth-year Ph.D. graduate student at New York’s Rockefeller University. In his current thesis work, he uses fluorescent proteins to visualize neurons in Drosophila melanogaster eyes and studies how these neurons resist or degenerate under stress conditions.

“Science is a creative process,” Gambis said. “It is important to transmit the aesthetic value in the scientific process through a combination of visual and sound imagery.”

The short film, described on Gambis’ web site, explores the relationship between science, creativity, and the city. “Armed with a vial of fruit flies, Alexis asks both young scientists and passersby in a downtown farmer’s market about what a fruit fly reminds them of. Through this quest, the fruit fly symbolizes the gap between the perception of science inside and outside of the laboratory. The air travel of the fly from the lab into the street evokes the need to bridge the gap and communicate science to the public.”

Gambis completed a digital filmmaking program at the New York Film Academy and is the founder of Imaginal Disc Productions, which aims to enhance people’s lives by providing a better understanding of the science that surrounds us every day.

Part of the film was shot at Rockefeller University in The Laboratory of Apoptosis and Cancer, where Gambis is conducting his research under the supervision of the principal investigator Hermann Steller. Funding from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute supports Steller’s laboratory.

Underground . . .

Brimming

with exotic particles . . .

 Crammed with brainiacs . .
.

Union
Hall’s “Secret Science Club” returns
with more mind-bending lectures, cosmic cocktails, and interstellar
sounds!!

Wednesday, April 2 @ 8 pm

Union Hall’s “Secret Science Club”
presents:

Astrophysicist Ben Oppenheimer and His Quest for New
Worlds

Fuel up your flying saucer . . . the Secret Science
Club is blasting off with Ben Oppenheimer, the principal investigator of the 
Lyot Project, an ambitious mission to discover and record images of planets 
outside our solar system. He’ll discuss the challenges scientists face in probing 
for exoplanetsand reveal some of the Lyot team’s latest results.

An astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural
History, Ben Oppenheimer was the subject of a recent New York Times article 
“Star’s Dust May Hold Clue to New Planet,” documenting
the observation that a gap in dust circling a young star in the constellation
Auriga may be a planet in the making.

Dr. Oppenheimer also studies brown dwarfs, white
dwarfs and galactic structure. He served on NASA’s Terrestrial Planet Finder
Science and Technology Definition Team, and has been appointed to several
National Research Council Panels, as well as numerous NASA and NSF
committees.

Before and After

Groove to space-age tunes and video in Union Hall’s
subterranean grotto, stick around for the Q&A, and try our cosmic new
cocktail: the George
Jetson.

The “Secret Science Club” meets April 2 at 8 p.m. in
the basement @ Union Hall, 702 Union St. (at 5th Ave.) in Park Slope,
Brooklyn, p: 718.638.4400   Web: unionhallny.com  Subway: R to Union St.;
F to 4th Ave.; Q, 2, 3, 4, 5 to Atlantic Ave.

 

No cover
charge. Just bring your smart self.

Our venue
fills up fast! Come early to get a seat.


Doors open at 7:30. LIMITED SEATS AVAILABLE.


PLEASE BRING ID: 21 and over only.

                                        Pocket protectors
suggested.

 

Dr. Funque (starring Corey Sullivan) puts on his lab coat and tucks his pipette master in his pocket for his usual evening lab routine. As he sits comfortably at his bench and looks at his Petri Dish, he makes the an incredible discovery - the cells in the petri dish are little people living in a little city in a little world.

Two Parts to the film

Part 1: Dr. Funque in Lab

Part 2: The (human-size) Petri Dish with “cell” people

These are the rushes from mid-March for PART 1. Dr. Funque goes to lab in the evening as usual and makes a discovery. His petri dish has little people living inside it.

without Audio

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

with Audio samples (from Science of Sleep Soundtrack)

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

Underground . . .

Crammed with brainiacs . . .

And teeming with cocktails previously unknown to science . . .

Union Hall’s “Secret Science Club” returns with more mind-blowing lectures, nocturnally-inspired libations, and sci-high sounds!!

Wednesday, March 5 @ 8 pm

The Secret Science Club presents A Night with Nobel Prize-Winner Paul Nurse!!

British biochemist Paul Nurse has it ALL going on.

– Knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for his service to humanity as a cancer researcher

– Co-host of the science series on PBS’s Charlie Rose Show

– Winner of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2001 for illuminating the process by which cells copy themselves—and furthering our understanding of growth, development, and cancer.

– And now, to top everything off, Sir Paul is officially a New Yorker! He’s been president of NYC’s prestigious Rockefeller University since 2003.

Break out your test tubes and get ready to bust out of the winter doldrums, as Paul Nurse takes us on a whirlwind tour of life’s most basic unit: the cell. Where will the latest discoveries take us?

Before and After

–Screen a special bio-video by scientist/film-maker Alexis Gambis: A Fruit Fly in New York

–Groove to science-inspired tunes

–Stick around for the Q&A

–Sample the cocktail of the night—the Night Nurse. It will fluff your pillow!

The “Secret Science Club” meets March 5 at 8 p.m. in the basement @ Union Hall, 702 Union St. (at 5^th Ave.) in Park Slope, Brooklyn, p: 718.638.4400 Web: unionhallny.com Subway: R to Union St.; F to 4th Ave.; Q, 2, 3, 4, 5 to Atlantic Ave.

No cover charge. Just bring your smart self.

Our venue fills up fast! Come early to get a seat.

Doors open at 7:30. LIMITED SEATS AVAILABLE.

PLEASE BRING ID: 21 and over only.

Pocket protectors suggested.

For information: contact Dorian Devins at gal9000@verizon.net, Jim Carden at jimcarden@aol.com, or secretscienceclub@gmail.com Or visit us on the Web at http://secretscienceclub.blogspot.com or www.myspace.com/secretscienceclub

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

A sound journey through the rainforest - voice of Eugenio Scannavenio Netto, founder of Health and Happiness project and exhibition coordintor, and credit music by Chico Malto.

The exhibition, which will take place from April 17 to July 13 in New York, will be its biggest international version. It is expected that approximately 400,000 will visit the exhibition, which will be on show at 11 points in the city and will include an extensive multi-cultural program, with musical artists and crafts-people from the Amazon region appearing live, a movie festival, a photographic exhibition, and other activities

Underground . . .

And crammed with strange specimens . . .

Union Hall’s “Secret Science Club” returns with more brain-altering lectures, DNA-inspired libations, and sci-high sounds!!

Wednesday, February 6 @ 8 pm

Union Hall’s “Secret Science Club” presents:

DNA Sleuth Bruce Stillman on the Future of Molecular Medicine

President of New York’s prestigious Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Dr. Bruce Stillman take us to the frontlines of cancer and disease research.

Get ready to go cellular as Dr. Stillman asks: Where will the latest discoveries in genetics take us? Will it be possible to live with cancer one day? What are the most promising new technologies for biomedical researchers? How can we employ the latest breakthroughs in science to benefit public health?

A recipient of the Curtin Medal for Excellence in Medical Research, a Fellow of the Royal Society, and a Member of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Stillman focuses his research on DNA replication. In addition to serving as Cold Spring Harbor’s president, he is the director of the laboratory’s cancer center.

Before and After

Groove to science-inspired tunes and self-replicating bio-video, stick around for the Q&A, and sample the cocktail of the night—the Double (Make That a Triple) Helix.

The “Secret Science Club” meets February 6 at 8 p.m. in the basement @ Union Hall, 702 Union St. (at 5^th Ave.) in Park Slope, Brooklyn, p: 718.638.4400 Web: unionhallny.com Subway: R to Union St.; F to 4th Ave.; Q, 2, 3, 4, 5 to Atlantic Ave.

No cover charge. Just bring your smart self.

Doors open at 7:30. LIMITED SEATS AVAILABLE.

For information: contact Dorian Devins at gal9000@verizon.net or Jim Carden at jimcarden@aol.com Or visit us on the Web at http://secretscienceclub.blogspot.com or www.myspace.com/secretscienceclub

Audio podcast of Apple Store talk available below:

[See post to listen to audio]

[See post to watch QuickTime movie]

Just a reminder . . .

Union Hall’s “Secret Science Club” rings in 2008 with more high-flying lectures, over-the-moon cocktails, and stargazing sounds!!

Wednesday, January 9 @ 8 pm

Union Hall’s “Secret Science Club” presents: Space Is the Place

Astrophysicist David Spergel Lectures on the Latest News from the Cosmos

Strap on your rocket pack! The Secret Science Club is heading for the edge of time and space.

Observations of the “cosmic microwave background”—the heat created by the Big Bang more than 13 billion years ago—have allowed astrophysicists like David Spergel to answer some of cosmology’s biggest questions: What is the size and shape of the universe? How much of the universe is made of ordinary matter—and how much is dark matter?

And these interstellar observations have posed a new set of questions as well, including: What is “dark energy”? And what exactly happened during the Big Bang?

A recipient of the MacArthur genius grant and chair of the Department of Astrophysical Sciences at Princeton, Dr. Spergel is a member of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) working group and an advisor to NASA.

Don’t miss David Spergel’s mind-bending tour of the universe!

Before and After

Groove to space-age tunes and video in Union Hall’s subterranean grotto, stick around for the Q&A, and try our Interplanetary Punch. (It will send you into orbit…)

The “Secret Science Club” meets January 9 at 8 p.m. in the basement @ Union Hall, 702 Union St. (at 5^th Ave.) in Park Slope, Brooklyn, p: 718.638.4400 Web: unionhallny.com Subway: R to Union St.; F to 4th Ave.; Q, 2, 3, 4, 5 to Atlantic Ave.

No cover charge. Just bring your smart self.

Doors open at 7:30. LIMITED SEATS AVAILABLE.

For information: contact Dorian Devins at gal9000@verizon.net or Jim Carden at jimcarden@aol.com Or visit us on the Web at http://secretscienceclub.blogspot.com or www.myspace.com/secretscienceclub

The Union Hall Secret Science Club is curated by Dorian Devins, Margaret Mittelbach, and Michael Crewdson. Dorian Devins is a NYC-based radio producer and host of WFMU, 91.1 FM’s “The Speakeasy,” a weekly arts and cultural interview program. Margaret Mittelbach and Michael Crewdson write about nature in the strangest of places; they are the co-authors of “Carnivorous Nights” and “Wild New York.” Union Hall’s owners, Jim Carden and Andy Templar, keep the cosmic cocktails flowing and the biological/taxidermy specimens dust-free.