LEARNERS? LOUNGE, SCIENCE SERIES- featuring Dr. Mark Leach

For the cost of a beverage, meet scientists at your favorite hangout!

Tiptoe through the Taxa, the Grass Family: The grasses are flowering plants that many people mistakenly think don’t have flowers. We'll learn about their flowers as we tiptoe to the beginning of civilization to ask, "Was domesticating grain humanity’s biggest mistake?" In contrast, we’ll consider current regional efforts to restore wild rice. We'll take a quick forensic botany tour of the Salem Witch Trials. We’ll end our romp learning how our native grasses flourish with sun, drought, and fire.

Dr. Leach is an authority on grassland fire ecology and is a restoration ecologist with a Ph.D. in botany from U.W. Madison. He has taught at U.W. Stout, Northland College, and U.W. Madison. He has written several scientific papers on the ecology of oak savanna, prairie, and their rare plants and insects. His new e-book, Positive Participation with Nature: Ecological Restoration in Wisconsin will be available this summer from economoebooks.com.

Find us on NOVAS, Science Cafes: http://sciencecafes.org/find/