Science and the Big Questions: Roundtable Series on the Physical and Spiritual World, the Brain-Mind Connection, and Human Development and Genetics

The Helix Center for Interdisciplinary Investigation will present fourteen roundtables over a two-year period, exploring big questions in the realms of physics, neuroscience, philosophy, and human development, fostering an intimate exchange of ideas among participants and audience members. By virtue of their interdisciplinary format, the roundtables encourage participants—leading thinkers from a range of disciplines—to explore a variety of perspectives on a given topic, promoting a broadening of views and providing fodder for research projects. Because the Helix Center programs are free and open to all, our educational resources can reach a wide audience. High quality videos of each roundtable will be available on our website and YouTube channel following the events. After each roundtable, we’ll post a follow-up forum on our website, highlighting major questions and ideas that emerged at each event. Audience members may provide feedback via Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube. This interactive forum will serve to extend the spirit of collaborative discovery. In addition, in conjunction with the series, Helix will publish a scholarly monograph featuring articles by the roundtable participants to further facilitate discussion. Through this publication, panelists will be able to continue their conversations with each other, expand on relevant research, and present new material for interpretation and critique. Helix will also create a documentary of the roundtable series, featuring participants and audience members before and after the events, as a way to chronicle some of the learning that takes place over the course of the series. A partnership with the Templeton Foundation would allow us to pursue top scholars and researchers to participate in these multidisciplinary forums, to provide high quality videos and publications for a wide audience, and to create a scholarly record of the ideas and research that emerge from the discussions.