Last year’s party at Friend of a Farmer was such a delight—not only did attendees pull out the superlatives, but the restaurant staff thanked us for such a wonderful evening—so why look elsewhere!

From 6 p.m. to 9 p.m., we’ll be back in their mellow private upstairs space—close to Union Square, at 77 Irving Place, between 17th & 18th Sts.

See old friends, meet new ones…..good cheer, good networking, great nibbles….. cool door prizes…..and a special gift for the first 40 arrivals.

Admission (covers food and first beverage):

• 2012 Paid Members: $25 in advance/$30 at the door
• Nonmembers: $35 in advance/$40 at the door
• Students: $15 in advance/$20 at the door
• Join/renew your 2012 annual membership ($25) by PayPal or check (details at http://www.swiny.org/join-swiny/) and pay members’ rate.

RSVP:  http://www.swiny.org/2012/02/leap-day-registration/

Directions

                                         

• Subways: the N,R,Q,W, 3,4,5,6, & L trains stop just a few blocks away at the Union Square station. The F & M stop at 14th St (use the 16th St exit, or transfer to the L to Union Square).
• Bus: the M 14 along 14th St.

We look forward to seeing you!                                                            

Leap Year: Facts & Factoids

The Earth takes 365.24219 days to orbit around the sun, but until 45 BC the year was figured at 355 days. The year ended on February 23. Nothing happened at the right time for long. In 45 BC Emperor Julius Caesar devised the Julian Calendar, adding an extra 24 hours to February—creating February 24th—every 4 years. The solution was imperfect because a year isn’t quite 365.25 days, but it kept the seasons from running behind for extended periods. In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII and his Gregorian calendar eliminated the Julian calendar’s slight seasonal drift. He moved the year’s end to December 31st, skipped a bunch of days to accommodate all the unnoted Leap Days since Caesar’s time, and calculated that three Leap Days have to be omitted every 400 years. So any year divisible by 100 (i.e., a century year) but not by 400—e.g., 1900—isn’t a Leap Year.

•  The official record for number of children in one family born consecutively on February 29
• The Henriksens from Andenes, Norway. On consecutive February 29ths, Mrs. Karin Henriksen gave birth to her daughter Heidi (1960), then her son Olav (1964), then her son Leif-Martin (1968).
• Some famous people born on February 29
• 1468 – Pope Paul III
• 1792 – Gioacchino Rossini (William Tell, The Barber of Seville)
• 1916 – Dinah Shore, American singer
• 1976 – Ja Rule, American rapper and actor
• Some cool events that happened on February 29:
• 1504 – Christopher Columbus used his knowledge of a lunar eclipse that night to convince Native Americans to provide him with supplies
• 1936 – Baby Snooks, played by Fanny Brice, debuted on the radio program The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air
• 1940 – For her role as Mammy in Gone with the Wind, Hattie McDaniel became the first African-American to win an Academy Award
• 1980 – Gordie Howe of the then Hartford Whalers made NHL history as he scores his 800th goal
• There’s even a website dedicated to all things Leap Year: http://leapyearday.com/

 

The Max Planck Florida Institute (MPFI) and Science Writers in New York (SWINY) cordially invite you to two days of neuroscience programs: A public lecture on January 31 and an intimate briefing — just for science journalists — on February 1

Of 80 Max Planck Society scientific institutes across the globe, Max Planck Florida Institute is the first established in North America. MPFI brings together the field’s leading senior neuroscientists and best young researchers, representing a diversity of scientific disciplines and approaches, to seek fundamental answers about brain function and neural circuits.  These circuits form the complex synaptic networks of the brain, which determine who we are, how we think, and how we behave.Understanding the functional organization of the nervous system, its capacity to produce perception, thought, language, memory, emotion, and action, remains the ultimate challenge for biology.  These circuits hold the key to understanding how to ameliorate the effects of devastating neurological, neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders such as autism, epilepsy, schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s disease.

Among MPFI’s top scientists is internationally known neurobiologist David Fitzpatrick, PhD. Dr. Fitzpatrick joined the Institute last year from Duke University, where he was founding director of the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences, to lead the new institute as CEO and Scientific Director, as well as leading the research group studying functional development of the visual cortex.

Research began at MPFI late in 2009.  Currently working in temporary facilities on the campus of Florida Atlantic University, the Institute will move into a state-of-the-art research building on campus this summer.

On January 31, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., at German House, 871 U.N. Plaza, join David Fitzpatrick, PhD, CEO & Scientific Director of Max Planck Florida Institute, and Joshua Sanes, PhD, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Paul J. Finnegan Family Director, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, for a public dialogue entitled, “Which Way Did It Go? New Insights into the Organization and Development of Brain Circuits that Compute Motion Direction.”  The two experts will discuss their research in this area and its significance for understanding brain function and development. The free program is sponsored by the German Center for Research and Innovation and Max Planck Florida Institute. A reception follows. For more information on this program, click here.

On February 1, from 9:30 from 11:00 a.m., also at German House, 871 U.N. Plaza, science journalists will have coffee with Dr. Fitzpatrick and colleagues and  get an inside look at the new Institute, its recent research findings, its unique approach to research, and its leading edge scientific agenda.

In the February 1 program, Dr. Fitzpatrick will discuss the scientific questions each of the Institute’s six research groups hopes to answer, including his lab, which examines visual experience and perception in development of the cortex. This research has implications for understanding neurodevelopmental disorders.  Nobel laureate Dr. Bert Sakmann will participate via Skype to discuss new research findings from his lab, in which his team described their creation of the first realistic representation of a neural circuit.  This research is part of a major project of Dr. Sakmann’s lab, in which scientists are working to create a complete 3D map of the rodent brain. This map will increase understanding of how the brain computes, and lay the groundwork for future studies of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Please RSVP to Dennis Tartaglia for both events, info@tartagliacommunications.com, (732) 545-1848, indicating which event(s) you will attend. Please include your name, media affiliation, address, business and cell numbers.

NOTE: PRE-REGISTRATION AND PHOTO ID ARE REQUIRED FOR BOTH EVENTS.  PLEASE REGISTER NO LATER THAN TWO DAYS BEFORE EACH RESPECTIVE PROGRAM.  REGISTRATION FOR BOTH EVENTS IS FREE.