Thankfully I still know many grad students at UofW and was able to attend both the public lecture at night and the private, more scientific, lecture during the day. The talks were both entertaining and thought provoking as he opened up the discussion on the usefulness of oncogene targeted cancer therapies for research and if it is really where we should be focusing.

Since researchers at the lecture focus on this type of research (Spy1 and PTEN) and you could really feel the clash of ideas flowing. Dr. Mak’s lab of course does research on the areas he was suggesting people shouldn’t look into as well as areas he suggested they should. He also made note that the two greatest cancer drugs are targeted therapies (Herceptin and Gleevec) but believes the answer to curing cancer lies in targeting metabolic processes. His lecture was more about keeping an open mind about how we look to solve problems as well getting the whole picture and never stop questioning how things are done.

One of most memorable moments of the public talk (for me anyway) was referring to Archimedes’ passion for science and experimentation. When the roman’s finally captured Syracuse a guard came running up to him, sword drawn, and ready to kill. Archimedes asked the soldier to hold off killing him until he finished an experiment he was working on. The soldier didn’t understand and killed him. Dr. Mak remarks that it is this kind of passion for science that will shape tomorrow but as he puts it “if someone runs at you with a sword, run away!”

It was a real honour to meet Dr. Mak and I got that same feeling in my gut while talking to him as I did when I met Adam West (Batman). After the lecture we headed to the keg for some drinks and some discussion about potential cancer research targets. I’m not going lie, it was a great night.

May 19th 1499 – Catherine of Aragon, is married by proxy Arthur Tudor

May 19th 1536 – Anne Boleyn is beheaded

May 19th 1643 – Thirty Years’ War comes to an end (well the last big battle anyway)

May 19th 1925 – Malcom X is Born

May 19th 1967 – The United States, Soviet Union, and United Kingdom agree to ban nuclear weapons from outer space.

May 19th 198* – Wes Wilson is Born

May 19th 2015 – Canada and United States develop the worlds first true AI

May 19th 2015 (later that day) – Time travelling Ninjas steal the AI

May 19th 2019 – A joint task force of RCMP, Navy Seals, Dr. Wilson, and a lost 3rd grade school group on a field trip to the Ontario Science Centre, use H.G. Wells time machine to pursue the ninjas and regain the AI. The mission is a success except for one tiny mishap involving a monkey and a Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch mix tape which changed the time line so that the world’s largest super power was now Upper Mongolia, which owed much of its success to the release of Heroes episodes that didn’t suck.

It took almost all summer, but I was able to finally make my over to the ROM the other day. Ever since I found out about the Darwin: The Evolution Revolution exhibit I have been trying to talk my friends into joining me on trip. Sadly, one of the side effects of growing up in this area is that from grade 1 through 8 you end up with a yearly trip to the Science Centre, ROM, AGO… etc… you get the idea. It makes people a little sick of it.

There was something for everyone. Interactive displays for children. Informative videos for the people who don’t want to read plaques all day. And Live Animals for people who love to shout “Oh my look, its alive!”. It was a nice mix of history and science. I personally learned some very neat things about Wallace’s Voyages I didn’t know about before, and it was very interesting to look at the letters between Darwin and Wallace, as well as the letters from Darwin and Wallace to their friends about how they felt about each other.

I would recommend you check it out while you still can and see the world of evolution before genetics and DNA. The exhibit closes Monday, August 4, 2008.