Podcast: Climate Change and Global Security

Friday, June 25

Neil Morisetti, Anthony Broccoli, Dennis McGinn, and Andrew Nagorski at the American Museum of Natural History. © R. Mickens/AMNH

This Tuesday, June 22, several hundred people gathered at the American Museum of Natural History for a fresh examination of climate change. A group of academic and military experts explained why any discussion about global warming should include a broader look at the implications for long-term global security.

“What often does not come across in the discussions of climate change…is that the militaries of the U.S., the U.K., and other countries have for a long time operated on the assumption that climate change is something that you have to deal with,” began moderator Andrew Nagorski of the EastWest Institute. “Whatever the causes, the consequences [of climate change], you have to factor it into your planning.”

Panelist Vice Admiral (Retired) Dennis V. McGinn could not agree more. As a member of the Center for Naval Analyses Military Advisory Board, he participated in writing National Security and the Threat of Climate Change (2007) and Powering America’s Defense: Energy and the Risks to National Security (2008). To McGinn, the conversation about climate change before the two reports were issued had been a deadlocked back-and-forth between environmentalists and business interests. But “the effects of climate change will act as a threat multiplier in the most volatile parts of the world, [and]…a recipe for more military action,” said McGinn. “Our posture is a serious threat to our national security militarily, diplomatically, and economically, and that vulnerability can be used by those who wish to do us harm.”

Listen to the Podcast: Download | RSS | iTunes (1 hr 25 mins, 98.4 MB)

Another military voice on the panel was that of Rear Admiral Neil Morisetti, climate and energy security envoy of the U.K. Ministry of Defense and Foreign Commonwealth Office. Morisetti pointed out that the U.K. military has a carbon budget and that adapting to the changing world quickly is critical. “Our responsibility is to look after national security of our citizens today and in the future,” he said. “We need to adapt our capability to deal with the changes that will come with climate change.”

Atmospheric scientist Anthony J. Broccoli, a professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Rutgers University, rounded out the panel. The symposium was sponsored by the British Consulate-General New York to raise awareness of the current environmental challenges facing the polar regions and the globe.

Museum Links Evolutionary Biology and Human Health

Wednesday, June 09

What does Darwin have to do with human disease? Quite a lot, it turns out, as the lessons of evolution, enhanced by sophisticated technologies such as gene sequencing, are being used to tease out the secrets of organisms that spread death and disability around the globe.

The American Museum of Natural History has taken a leading role in these efforts through ongoing collaborations between its evolutionary biologists and medical researchers to understand various threats to human health, from flu pandemics to malaria to the ravages of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

This work was highlighted at a Science Breakfast panel discussion held last week at the Museum before an audience of medical and science writers.

Listen to the Podcast: Download | RSS | iTunes (1 hr 09 mins, 64 MB)

The panel included three curators from the Museum’s Division of Invertebrate Zoology who work under the auspices of the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics. Rob DeSalle, who moderated, Mark Siddall, and Ward Wheeler were joined by three medical scientists: New York University School of Medicine’s Jane Carlton, Albert Einstein College of Medicine’s Robert Burk, and Columbia University’s Paul Planet.

Museum scientists help medical researchers pin down the origin, evolution, and diversity of pathogens, and, perhaps most important, how they have adapted to us and we to them.

“Every doctor, whether they know it or not, is a natural historian,” said Planet, who studies infectious diseases in children and is also a research associate at the Museum.

Another key component of collaboration is the development of new tools to make sense of masses of raw data. Case in point: the Supramap, displayed by Wheeler, a powerful new computer application which allows researchers and public health officials to track the spread and mutation of a disease over time and place.

Of course, the ultimate goal of such supercomputing, genome-sequencing, and the building of evolutionary trees is to better predict pandemic outbreaks and to find better treatments, even cures.

Said Burk, who has worked with DeSalle on the molecular phylogeny of the human papillomavirus, which is linked to cervical cancer, for a decade:  ”From the medical perspective, I think it’s very clear that the better we understand the pathogenesis of any disease, the better we are able to intervene.”

Podcast: Children’s Health and Healthy Ecosystems

Thursday, May 13

The American Museum of Natural History’s Center for Biodiversity and Conservation (CBC) partnered with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and United Nations Children’s Development Programme, and Mount Sinai School of Medicine on April 30, 2010 to discuss the role of biodiversity and ecosystems in relation to children’s health.

This panel discussion highlighted the role of biodiversity and ecosystems in meeting U.N. Millennium Development Goals to reduce child mortality and to promote child health and well being.

Panelists included Aaron Bernstein, Harvard Center for Health and Global Environment; Sigrid Hahn, associate director of Mount Sinai Global Health Center; Montira J. Pngsiri, of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and Erika Vohman, director of The Equilibrium Fund.

Podcast: Download | RSS | iTunes (1 hr 23 mins, 95.8 MB)

Podcast: 20th Annual Environmental Lecture and Luncheon

Thursday, May 06

The American Museum of Natural History hosted the 20th Annual Spring Environmental Lecture and Luncheon, Green Design for the Urban Home, on April 21, 2010.

A panel of green design experts addressed topics ranging from home construction and organization to interior design. Moderated by Lynn Sherr, a former “20/20″ correspondent, the panel included Rob Watson, CEO and chief scientist of EcoTech International, Joshua Wiener, CEO and founder of Silverlining Interiors Inc., and Robin Wilson, a nationally recognized eco-friendly and healthy home interior designer.

Listen to a sampling of the interesting conversation from this year’s lecture, and join the Museum in April 2011 for the 21st Annual Spring Environmental Lecture and Luncheon.

Podcast: Download | RSS | iTunes (26 mins, 30 MB)

Podcast: Looting of the Iraq Museum

Wednesday, April 21

Join Dr. Donny George Youkhanna, the former director general of the Iraq National Museum in Baghdad, as he shares his unique experience and perspectives on the current archeological and museum conditions in Iraq.

Dr. Youkhanna was instrumental in the recovery of thousands of Mesopotamian artworks and artifacts looted during the U.S. invasion in 2003. He was also President of the Iraq State Board of Antiquities and Heritage. In 2006, he was forced to leave Iraq and is now a visiting professor at the State University of New York, Stony Brook.

The Looting of the Iraq Museum: An Evening with Dr. Donny George Youkhanna was recorded at the American Museum of Natural History on Feburary 24, 2010.

Podcast: Download | RSS | iTunes (1 hr 24 mins, 77 MB)