Fall 2016

Manuelita Antonio Rangel-Sosa // “Machines for Absurd Living”

Venezuelan-American architect, designer, and artist Rangel-Sosa (MARS) is the co-founder of the interdisciplinary San Francisco design studio SUPERWORKS. “Machines for Absurd Living” is the first solo show of her collective, The Absurdist, founded in 2014. http://www.theabsurdist.is/

“Machines for Absurd Living are interactive tools that confront the audience with speculations of existential origin. By guiding the audience on a journey through essential and consequential concepts—time, detachment, the self & the sublime—we pose the question of human existence.  Art object translates into experience. The machines are a situational attempt to address individual dissonance over the absurdity of inherent meaning through simple interactions that prompt existential thought.” – MARS

Megan Dennis // “What Makes us Human?”

Megan Dennis is an Assistant Professor at the UC Davis Genome Center, MIND Institute, and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at UC Davis, where she researches the genetic underpinnings that distinguish humans from closely related primates. http://www.dennislab.org

“We are interested in identifying the genetic underpinnings that distinguish humans from closely related primates. Though only ~6 million years separate us from a recent common ancestor with chimpanzees, we have many obvious physical and behavioral differences including language and intellectual abilities. Through the use of genome sequencing, my lab seeks to identify genetic differences between us and our closely related apes. One area of interest are genes that are duplicated uniquely in humans. The outcome of our work is important to understanding not only evolutionary differences across species but may also provide clues what causes diseases unique to humans, including autism.” – Megan Dennis

Matthias Hess // “Revolutions of the Very Small”

Matthias Hess is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Animal Science at UC Davis, where he leads a research and teaching program in Systems Microbiology and Natural Products. http://hesslab.com/

“Our research centers around the multi-scale (from atom to molecule to cell to the population to the ecosystem) understanding of microbial systems and how they affect and respond to environmental changes. Microbes and microbial communities – also referred to as microbiomes – play a major role in many of the geochemical cycles that shape the world we live in.  (Our research) has resulted in an enhanced understanding of how microbes and microbiomes affect and respond to changes in their environment.” – Matthias Hess