Feminized Frogs on Tap Feb. 18

Contact: (336) 334-4314

Posted 2-10-09

GREENSBORO, NC — Do feminized male frogs mean we’re killing ourselves?

Dr. Cheryl A. Logan, director of UNCG's Center for Critical Inquiry in the Liberal Arts, will provide an answer at 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18, at The Green Bean coffee shop, 341 S. Elm Street, Greensboro.

She will discuss research indicating that the plastics, pesticides and herbicides that contaminate our food may contribute to health problems such as infertility, immune disorders and even cancer. A growing body of evidence suggests that our health depends on lowering our exposure to these potentially dangerous chemicals, she says.

Her presentation – “Do Feminized Male Frogs Mean We Are Killing Ourselves? Hormones, Wildlife and Health” – is part of the university’s Science and Society Lecture Series, which features monthly Science on Tap talks led by faculty members and a campus lecture March 31 by Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Laurie Garrett.

Sponsored by UNCG’s Institute for Community and Economic Engagement, all events in the series are free and open to the public. The other Science on Tap discussions, 8-9:30 p.m. on the third Wednesday of each month at The Green Bean, are:

• March 18 – “Genes and Medicine: New Ways to Prevent Disease or a New Problem for Healthcare?” – Dr. Vince Henrich, director, Center for Biotechnology, Genomics and Health Research.

• April 15 – “Chemicals in the Environment” – Dr. Bruce Banks, associate professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry.

The semester’s featured speaker is Laurie Garrett, an authority on global health and disease prevention, and the best-selling author of “The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World out of Balance” and “Betrayal of Trust: The Collapse of Global Public Health.”

Garrett will speak at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 31, in the Sullivan Science Building on the UNCG campus. She is has won the Peabody, Polk and Pulitzer prizes for her work and is senior fellow for global health at the Council on Foreign Relations. Her website is http://lauriegarrett.com.

For more information about The Science and Society Lecture Series, visit scienceandsociety.uncg.edu, email researchpartners@uncg.edu or call (336) 334-4623.