Dr. Cyril Wecht: "What if they show up here with a warrant?" Dr. Bennet Omalu: "On suspicion of what? Science?" from the movie Concussion

Dr. Robin Titus, Dr. Bennet Omalu, and Mrs. Mortensen
Healthy Nevada Speaker Series, 10/25/16 
University of Nevada, Reno

Welcome back to science for our 10th week of the fall semester! This means that the 1st quarter has ended and we are moving bravely into the 2nd quarter. Parent-Teacher conferences for 9th grade will be next week and part of the following week with myself and Mrs. Stockard. 9th grade parents, please keep your eyes out on your email from a Sign-up Genius noting the available days/time slots. 10th grade parents, you will be meeting with Mr. Hubbard and Mr. Martin. 

This week in biology, the learning objective is that students will investigate and describe passive and active transport within a semipermeable membrane through discussion, labeling, laboratory exercises, and a case study. 

For physics, the students will, using the book The Martian to encourage inquiry, design a mission to Mars based on current data and studies from NASA and well as theoretical information from SpaceX. This is our project theme for the next four weeks leading us into Thanksgiving week. 

To continue my own professional learning, I was honored to be a VIP guest of my mother, a local physician to UNR's Healthy Nevada Speaker Series tonight at the Joe Crowley Student Union. The guest speaker tonight was Dr. Bennet Omalu, of the movie Concussion portrayed by the actor, Will Smith. Dr. Omalu is the physician behind the diagnosis of chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE which is most notable for its occurrence in NFL football players. His speech was incredibly awe inspiring, especially when it comes to science and knowledge. His recurrent theme for tonight's lecture was that knowledge is power! I encourage you to see the film or read the book if you have not already done so!