Sue’s “10 Questions” video is live! We bombarded our favorite neurobiologist with some tough questions - from what it’s like to be married to an astronaut, to her favorite 3-D movie. Her answers did not disappoint.

Check it out in the player above and on Sue’s Secret Life homepage.

Why in the world is neurobiologist Sue Barry jumping on a trampoline?

We’ll get to that shortly. But first, let’s go back to what first got Sue interested in studying the brain. She explained to us -

“What really struck me about any creature was that it was always adapting to its environment. And I began to think, ‘What’s the most adaptable organ in our bodies?’ And the most adaptable organ is our brain.” Sue Barry was born to bounce in 3D

So Sue studied the brain. And she did it well enough to become a professor of neurobiology and researcher at Mt. Holyoke College. An expert in her field, Sue may not have realized yet that even with all of her professional success, the brain she would learn the most from would be her own.

You see Sue was born cross-eyed and unable to see in three dimensions. Childhood surgery corrected her crossed eyes, but still left her living in a visual world that was “flat” and two dimensional. Sue couldn’t focus both her eyes on the same point at the same time - the key to stereoscopic 3D vision. And in spite of her belief in the brain’s adaptability, she always thought she herself was stuck in her 2D world. And she accepted it.

You may not have asked a neurobiologist/3D visionary a question in quite a while. Or maybe not ever - what are the odds of it really?

But that’s why we’re here for you, folks.

Ask Sue Barry your questions in the Comments section for this post and she will answer them.

This season we introduce “Stand-up Science,” a regular series in which our scientists tell a joke. And we lead off with the comic stylings of our premiere gal, neurobiologist Sue Barry.

Is there a connection between climate change and our recent spate of tornadoes? How about between climate change and the flooding Mississippi?

Who could possibly address these questions better than our own Climate Change Evangelist, Katharine Hayhoe?

All together, folks. NOBODY, THAT’S WHO.

Watch Katharine present the facts on the NewsHour. She comes in at about 2:48 in the segment.

Jean Berko Gleason drives faster than we think!

But she never EVER breaks any laws. Jean drives us crazy!

NEVER.

And besides that, she’s our favorite psycholinguist/speed demon ever.

So if you’re in NYC on June 2 at 8 PM, you should go see her speak at the World Science Festival. Jean is great “live” and we promise she won’t disappoint. The website also says something about cocktails…. do with that information what you will.

We have closed off questions for both Alan Sage and Katharine Hayhoe, but you can read their fabulous answers here and here.

Have a great weekend, Secret Lifers!

As our conversation about science and religion continues (thank you, Katharine!), we thought we’d see what Big Al had to say on this topic. Today’s special? Relativity!!

Check out this article that takes a look at some of Einstein’s thoughts on religion.

And remember to come back here on Wednesday, May 11 at 7 pm ET when we’ll be doing a live chat with Katharine Hayhoe and, I’m quite sure, exploring some of these same issues.

Happy Monday, Secret Lifers.

One of our first-season Secret Lifers, Laurie Santos, told us that her very favorite primate was the bonobo, aka “the hippie primate.” Sue and bonobo… AWWWW!!

So it’s time to peace out and watch this totally sweet video about Dr. Sue Savage-Rumbaugh and her work with bonobos. Dr. Savage-Rumbaugh was recently named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World.” (Experts believe her victory was fueled by a larger-than-expected voter turnout among bonobos. We hope this means Laurie will be on the list next year!)

The baby bonobo in the video is so adorable that you won’t mind the short commercial you’ll have to endure to see him. That little guy surely lets his freak flag fly.

Has your snowman turned into a puddle of dirty water with a carrot and top hat?

Did he die in vain? Did he?? Then you’ll definitely want to talk with Climate Change Evangelist Katharine Hayhoe.

Live Q&A here next Wednesday, May 11 at 7pm ET.

It’s gonna be fun.

And if you want to submit a question ahead of time, visit our YouTube page.

We’ll look forward to seeing you on Wednesday.

In the meantime, have a secretive weekend.

Our buddy, Dave Sulzer (aka “Dave Soldier”), and fellow scientist Roald Hoffmann run a very cool series called “Entertaining Science” at New York’s Cornelia Street Café. Dave’s pals - Dr. John Krakauer and musician Vince Bell And their next event is going to be happening this coming Sunday, May 8 at 6 p.m. Here’s Dave’s description of Sunday’s proceedings and for our NYC friends who might like to attend, here’s where you can get more details.

“Brain Trauma & One Man’s Music”

In 1982, Texas troubadour Vince Bell, who has been compared to Bruce Cockburn, Townes Van Zandt and Randy Newman, was broad-sided by a drunk driver after leaving the studio where he and Stevie Ray Vaughan had just recorded. He received a traumatic brain injury and spent a month in a coma. Vince will perform “One Man’s Music” on how he relearned to walk, talk, and play the guitar. Dr. John Krakauer, Professor of Neurology at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, is a clinician/scientist expert on recovery from stroke and brain injury. He’ll illustrate the changes within the brains of such patients, the wide range of outcomes, and results from his research on the treatment following these injuries.

Clutch the pearls, we found a video on YouTube with both Katharine Hayhoe and Michio Kaku talking about climate change. Michio comes in at about 8:00 and Katharine joins the conversation at 12:50 or so.

You know the routine. Split screen. Two so-called experts from opposing sides of an issue wildly screaming to be heard over each other. Neither one listening at all. Finally, the host comes in and wraps it up nice and clean and tidy. And cut to a commercial. Buy a car…a six-pack…or a Bump-It.

Young Katharine with birthday cake and telescope One of the things we love about Katharine Hayhoe is that she embodies both sides of one of those split-screen scenarios—she is a climate scientist encouraging folks to take better care of the Earth (that is, if we want it to remain inhabitable)… and she’s a devout evangelical Christian.

Now based on what I usually see on the teevee machine, Katharine should clearly be at war with herself.

But she isn’t, not even a little bit. She explains:

“As far back as I can remember, my father was teaching me about the world around us—whether it was memorizing all of the birds that we would see in our backyard, or keeping an eye out for all of the rare wild flowers that there are in Ontario, or the giant telescope that we dragged with us on most of our family vacations. But at the same time, from the very beginning, as he taught me about the world, he also taught me that it was the result of a God who created it. And the more I study the world, the more it seems to me that that is the case.

“I love figuring out how things work. It just gives me enormous satisfaction to figure out what makes something happen in a certain way, or what different pieces go into making something happen…. And so that is what I love about science, putting those pieces together and really figuring out—at least, the way I think of it—what God was thinking when he put all those pieces together for the first time.”

As a scientist who has spent long hours learning how those pieces fit together, Katharine wants you to understand these facts about climate change—it’s happening, we’re responsible for a substantial amount of it, and we’d better change our ways NOW. Her religious beliefs obviously help fuel Katharine’s scientific inquiry and her work as a “climate change evangelist.” You may or may not share those beliefs, but Katharine isn’t asking you to share them anyway. What she is asking is that you share her compassion, for the current and future residents of the planet we call home.

When was the last time you got to ask a climate change evangelist a question?

That’s what we thought.

Use the comments, folks.

UPDATE: We are no longer taking more questions for Katharine. But check out her answers in the comments. She may have answered a question you were going to ask!

Although you might not know it from his videos, Alan Sage didn’t much like science until fairly recently. A creative juggernaut—in addition to his raps, he’s written many poems and several screenplays—Alan was sure he was going to have a career in the arts. Alan as a little guy, always creating worlds In fact, Alan had a healthy disdain for science that went far beyond his dislike of “gruesome killings.” Here’s a section from his interview where Alan describes the transformation in his thinking that led to his embrace of science:

“I think initially I was turned off by science simply because it didn’t seem beautiful or artistic. It didn’t seem like it was a creative process. You know, when you write a poem, you’re very much expressing your own universe through that poem. And science seemed like the polar opposite. While art is totally living in your own world, and being totally removed from the world, science is being totally involved in the world and paying attention to every single detail meticulously. But in a sense, I’ve come to see that they [art and science] are two sides of the same coin. When you’re working as a researcher, you’re looking at the world through so fine a lens that it almost becomes another world, just like with art. And in that sense, it’s very artistic. I mean, for example, a plant biologist very much lives on the plant’s schedule. You know, when he can go on vacation depends on when his plants have reached a certain time in their growth when he can no longer do experiments on them. So as a scientist, you’re not living in a world you created, but you’re also very much living in a different world. You’re living in the world of whatever you’re studying.”

You don’t have to be a scientist to raise a scientist. But you might have to sacrifice some sleep.

Our case in point is Alan Sage.

According to Alan, he didn’t really have a “science-y” childhood. His dad is an English teacher and his mom is an organist. Alan with his Mom and, of course, a train So while they exposed Alan to a wide range of great experiences, they, as Alan put it, “couldn’t help with problem sets.”

Of course, if you’ve watched Alan’s “Vegetarian Scientist?” video, you know that one of the experiences Alan’s folks exposed him to was the NYC Transit Museum. To feed Alan’s passion for anything and everything relating to the New York City subways, his dad took him to the museum over 1500 times during a five-year period! And Alan’s mom was a willing co-explorer whenever she and her son actually rode the subway to get from one place to another. As Alan explains:

You’d better ask Alan Sage some questions or else he’ll treat you like a vegetable (and I think we all know what that means!).

Use the comments, folks.

UPDATE: We are no longer taking more questions for Alan. But check out his answers in the comments. He may have answered a question you were going to ask!

And here’s another reminder about our first live chat.

We’re going to do a live chat! Shani as a young dancer

It’s with Shaundra Daily. It’s happening at 7 pm ET on Wednesday, April 13.

And you’re invited.

Bring some finger food and some friends, especially if you think they (your friends…) could benefit from some “educational engineering.”

It’s gonna be fun.