MGCCC’s Science Cafes offer Scientific Discussion on the Lighter Side

Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College’s Perkinston Campus will host Science Cafés on Tuesday, October 18 and Tuesday, October 25 at 6 p.m. in the Community Arts Center. The Science Café offers those with a nominal background in science the chance to meet and discuss exciting scientific issues in a relaxed social setting.

Week One’s program will be “A Southern Epidemic: Hookworm Disease in the Piney Woods” presented by Dr. Deanne Nuwer, associate dean and professor of History, The University of Southern Mississippi Gulf Park. Nuwer will discuss how hookworm disease was a plague across the Southern United States until the mid-twentieth century. Affecting thousands of people, both young and old, it left its victims listless, emaciated, and malnourished. Those who suffered from this wide-spread problem were unaware that simple sanitation methods could have cured their problem by eliminating the cause of it—parasitic worms living in their intestines. By building better bathroom facilities and educating the public about sanitation, public health officials were able to wipe out the disease. However, wherever poor hygiene existed, so did hookworm.

The program for Week Two is entitled “Scary Science: Body Snatchers, Skeletons and Brains” by Dr. John Cork, associate professor, Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans. Dr. Cork, along with Sheila A. Cork, librarian at the New Orleans Museum of Art, will present a slide show and discussion providing a brief history of anatomy and dissection and exploring the human skeleton and the brain. Bones and skulls, and even a brain, will be available for examination. (Gloves provided.) Attendees are encouraged to dress in a Halloween costume.

Admission is free and open to the public. Light refreshments will be provided. For more information contact Shugana Williams at (601) 928-6259 or pklibrary@mgccc.edu.