Science Café Fort Collins

Second Wednesday of every month
Fort Collins, Colorado

Science Café Fort Collins joins the international community of scientists and interested citizens who meet monthly for informal discussions of lively and interesting issues in contemporary science. We host top-notch local and internationally recognized scientists, from academia and industry, in our quest to transform scientific discourse into “polite conversation.”

We gather for no-host drinks and snacks beginning at 5:30pm.
Science Café features a short talk about the scientist’s area of specialty starting at 6:00pm, followed by group discussion and plenty of time for Q&A.

No cover charge.

Going to space and learning to live there is a great adaptive challenge. Since life began on Earth all organisms have grown and modified their form and function to conform to Earth’s gravitational field. Gravity is no longer effective when you go on a space voyage. We have no information about what adaptations may occur on really long space voyages or on other worlds like the moon or Mars.

The talk will present some of the changes that occur in space flight and how and why we change form, function and behavior to accommodate this strange new environment. The talk will include a power point presentation and some short videos from space.

Meet Dr. Robert W. Phillips

Robert W. Phillips, (Bob) is a Veterinarian with a PhD in Physiology/Nutrition. He taught and conducted research at Colorado State University in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences for over twenty years. His research resulted in over 130 scientific publications and two patents. He is now Professor Emeritus. In 1984 he was selected by NASA and trained as a Payload Specialist to be an in-flight researcher on the first dedicated Biomedical Research Space Shuttle flight. About one year prior to launch, flight medicine removed him from flight status due to a cardiac irregularity. He continued to support the mission, and after it was completed, he served at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C. He spent three years as Space Station Chief Scientist. Following that tour he joined NASA’s Life Science Education and Outreach program from 1994-2005, focusing on high school and college educators and students regarding how space travel affects life. He is retired and lives in Colorado.