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The Curious Science of Humans at War

Monday, June 13, 2016
7:30pm Pacific Time
Venue: Nourse Theater

This event appeared in the series
Conversations on Science & the Future

How do we keep human beings intact, awake, sane, and healthy in the bizarre and extreme circumstances of war? In her forthcoming book, Grunt: The Curious Science of Humans at War, best-selling author Mary Roach tackles the science behind some of a soldier’s most challenging adversaries—panic, exhaustion, heat, noise— andintroduces readers to the scientists and experts who seek to conquer them. She visits a repurposed movie studio where amputee actors help prepare Marine Corps medics for the shock and gore of combat wounds. She samples caffeinated meat, sniffs an archival sample of a World War II stink bomb, and stays up all night with the crew tending the missiles on the nuclear submarine USS Tennessee. Mary Roach’s past books include Packing for Mars; Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex; Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, and most recently Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal. She will be in conversation with Adam Savage, industrial special effects designer and co-host of The Discovery Channel’s Mythbusters.