2/2: The Enigma of Life: Confronting Marvels at the Edges of Science @ NYAS

What role does wonder have to play within the scientific world? Steve will ask a panel of experts — ecologist Robin Wall Kimmerer, physicist Marcelo Gleiser, and physician Gavin Francis — on February 2 at the New York Academy of Science.

From the event description:

Einstein famously claimed that “the most incomprehensible thing about the universe is that it is comprehensible.” This statement suggests that no amount of scientific explanation will suffice to make sense of the bizarre situation of the human mind within the universe. So what is the actual role of awe and wonder within the framework of contemporary science? How, for instance, do awe and wonder inform scientists’ understanding of the phenomena they are researching? What aspects of contemporary science are more likely to elicit wonder, and why? Is science rechanneling our innate thirst for knowledge and understanding toward more concrete and palpable realities, or is it aggravating the tension between truth and meaning by revealing the scope of our ignorance when it comes to probing the ultimate nature of reality?

This event is part of the series, The Power of Wonder: Modern Marvels in the Age of Science.