ideaCity | Presenters

This text is replaced by the Flash movie.

	We have a closer genetic relationship to the ubiquitous yeast spore than we may think. Geneticist Dr. Brenda Andrews and her team of researchers use yeast spores to study how complex hereditary diseases can be linked not to a single gene, but to the interactions among many, even hundreds. In this way, she is helping to take our understanding of afflictions such as cancer, heart disease and autism, to an entirely new level of complexity and precision.
	On September 18, 2006, Anousheh Ansari captured headlines around the world as the first female private space explorer. She also earned a place in history as the fourth private explorer to visit space and the first astronaut of Iranian descent. Back on Earth, as a successful serial entrepreneur, Anousheh is co-founder and chairman of Prodea Systems, a technology company focused on simplifying the digital home experience.
	Son of former television evangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker, Jay Bakker is an American Christian pastor who preaches at the New York City branch of Revolution Church. Bakker’s philosophies of inclusiveness seek to embrace minority groups that are normally ostracized by conservative Christians, including those who are like him.
	Professor Emeritus with the College of France, Dr. Etienne-Emile Baulieu is best known for his pioneering research into RU 486, also called 'the morning-after pill'. Other interests include the treatment of tumours and the use of neurosteroids in the prevention of cerebral ageing. He has been awarded both Chevalier and Officer in France's Legion of Honour, among dozens of other awards and distinctions.
	Alexander Bock has pioneered a unique way of propelling the human body. Similar to the comic book dream of being able to ‘leap tall buildings in a single bound’, Power Skip boots attach to the feet and create a bionic calf extension that allows one to mimic the effects of jumping on a trampoline with each step. Böck has always had a strong interest in planes, rockets and combustion engines. He began his career as a turbo-jet-engine designer all the while keeping up his own creative and inventive explorations, resulting in this invention often described as a ‘jumping stilt’. It needs to be seen to be believed. Alexander will be demonstrating his unique invention, this June, on stage, with “moi” as a willing guinea pig.
	Rabbi Shmuley Boteach was recently named “a cultural phenomenon” and “the most famous rabbi in America” according to Newsweek's list of The Top 50 Rabbis. He was also named as one of the top-ten most influential rabbi's in the world. He is the host of the national TV show Shalom in the Home and best-selling author of eighteen books. His latest book, Shalom in the Home, is based on the hit series and his recent work, Parenting with Fire was featured on 'The Oprah Winfrey Show' in October 2006.
	George Bowser and Rick Blue are celebrated writers and performers of music and comedy. They have written and appeared in many full-length theatre shows including “The Paris of America” and the highly acclaimed “Blokes”. There are famous to Colorectal Surgeons around the world thanks to their smash hit “Working where the Sun Don't Shine'.”
	In 2006, Brenda Brathwaite was named one of the 100 most influential women in the game industry and Nerve magazine cited her as one of “the 50 artists, actors, authors, activists and icons who are making the world a more stimulating place.” She's also got some gripping perspectives on the future of computer technologies.
	Diane Bruni started practicing yoga in 1979. Over the years she has studied several styles, including Ashtanga which she currently practices and teaches. In 1983 Diane graduated from the Kikkawa Shiatsu College. Having worked full time as a hands-on healer, her knowledge of the human body and its many interconnected layers adds an interesting dimension to her work. Diane opened the Downward Dog Yoga Centre in Toronto in 1995 and will be leading us on a “Seventh Inning Stretch”.
	Assistant Professor of Music at Memorial University in St. John’s, NL, Karen Bulmer likes to challenge musicians to experiment with new ways of producing sound on the tuba. As a means of introducing the instrument to new audiences, Karen created an original one-woman show, ‘Girl Meets Tuba,’ about her on-again off-again relationship with her instrument.
	Quebec City based marimba soloist Anne-Julie Caron’s performances are distinguished by their depth and sensitivity. She can be heard on concert stages throughout Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Caron performs music by composers from all over the globe in order to show what the marimba can do and how much sound can be wrought from an instrument constructed of wooden bars.
	Ted Chamberlin has bred horses and collected stories about them for much of his life. He's the author of several books, but he's here to discuss his most recent tome, Horse: How the Horse Has Shaped Civilizations, which is the fascinating story of horses and humans from the beginning of time to the present.
	Ian Clifford is the founder and CEO of ZENN Motor Company, a Toronto-based manufacturer of fully electric cars. Ian began his career as a photographer. Mentored by Ansel Adams, he quickly became one of Canada's leading corporate photographers. In 1995, Ian co-founded digIT Interactive, a full-service Internet marketing company. After selling digIT Interactive in 2000, Ian sought a more meaningful endeavour and in 2001 founded Feel Good Cars (now ZENN Motor Company). The ZENN (Zero Emission No Noise) electric car was introduced in 2006 and has since won the Gold medal for 'Best Urban Vehicle' at the Michelin Bibendum Challenge in Paris, and is recognized as the world's leading NEV (Neighborhood Electric Vehicle). Recently ZENN entered into an exclusive relationship with EEStor, a Texas-based energy storage company committed to making internal combustion engines a thing of the past! Ian resides in Toronto with his partner author Ruth Mandel and their two children.
	Dennis Danielson is actively engaged in research linking the humanities and the sciences. His work on the history of cosmology has received attention in both scientific and popular media. His anthology of cosmological writings, The Book of the Cosmos: Imagining the Universefrom Heraclitus to Hawking, was named to the Amazon.com Editor’s Choice Top 10 Science Books of the Year for 2000 and short listed for the Canadian Science Writers Association Science in Society award.
	Internationally renowned scientist and evolutionary biologist, Richard Dawkins, will be addressing what he sees as the malevolent influence of organized religion in society. Speaking in Toronto for the first time since 1979, he will address the issues inherent in his bestselling book, The God Delusion.
	Dr. Frans B. M. de Waal is a Dutch-born zoologist and primatologist known for his work on the social intelligence of bonobos and chimpanzees. His first book, Chimpanzee Politics (1982) compared the schmoozing and scheming of chimpanzees engaged in power struggles with that of human politicians. Ever since, de Waal has drawn parallels between primate and human behavior, from peacemaking and morality to culture.
	ideaCity proudly presents a twenty-minute extract from a show described by the Montreal Gazette as "The best political cabaret we've seen. The Four Anglos of the Apocalypse convulse their audience." This is the story of Montreal's English-speaking community, told in a hysterical mix of songs, humour and cartoons by Montreal's four troubadours of trouble: Terry Mosher (Aislin 04/05/06), political cartoonist at the Montreal Gazette; Josh Freed (05), journalist and humorist; and Bowser and Blue (06), purveyors of musical comedy since 1978.
	Along with Jane Goodall and the late Dian Fossey, Birute Galdikas is part of the legendary trio of female primatologists mentored by the late, great paleoanthropologist, Louis Leakey. She has devoted the last 36 years to studying wild orangutans in Indonesian Borneo. She'll bring us up to date about how the orangutan have fared since she spoke to us last (TED '00) and how her work has resulted in millions of acres of tropical rain forest being protected, with hundreds of wild born ex-captive orangutans rehabilitated and returned to the wild.
	What would a session on Canada be without Distinguished Research Professor of History Emeritus, Jack Granatstein. He's the author of over sixty books and taught Canadian history at York University for thirty years. He is also an Officer of the Order of Canada and has six honourary doctoral degrees.
	This year we decided to reflect on Canadian history with some of the discipline's top writers. Charlotte Gray is most recently the author of Reluctant Genius, The Passionate Life and Inventive Mind of Alexander Graham Bell, which was a 2006 bestseller. Her previous five books of popular history have also been bestsellers.
	Cofounder and Chairman of irobot, Ms. Helen Greiner envisioned robots as the basis for an entirely new class of products that would improve life by taking on dangerous and undesirable tasks. Greiner's vision has been brought to life by products such as the iRobot Roomba® Vacuuming Robot, which has sold more than 1.5 million units to consumers throughout the world, and the iRobot PackBot® tactical mobile robot, which is helping to save soldiers' lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.
	But if you do need to get somewhere in a hurry, we've got just the guy to tell you how to do it. Scott Griffith is the President of Zipcar, which has emerged as the world's largest car sharing company. This guy is helping to change urban life by providing near instant, affordable mobility. You no longer have to own a car, especially if you really only need one on the odd occasion.
	Touring internationally since 1993, the Juno award-winning Gryphon Trio has been described by the Globe and Mail as “one of the best ensembles of its kind in the world.” The Gryphon Trio's celebrated recordings for the Analekta label includes works by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Lalo. Featuring works by Canadian composers Chan Ka-Nin, Gary Kulesha, Kelly-Marie Murphy and Christos Hatzis. In the last year the Trio has released a recording featuring works by Shostakovich and the renowned Ukrainian composer Valentin Silvestrov as well as the much anticipated recording of Christos Hatzis’ Constantinople.
	If it’s happiness that we all ultimately seek, can it be sourced from a simple mathematical equation? University of British Columbia professor John Helliwell is working to include identity, well-being, and happiness in economic models. Maybe joy really can be measured.
	Generally speaking, ideaCity is a collection of very high achievers whose accomplishments make people wonder 'Do they ever slow down?' Well, Carl Honore has been espousing the benefits of 'slow' for quite a while now. His first book, In Praise of Slow has been translated into 28 languages and has quickly landed on bestseller lists in many countries, including Canada.
	Jane Juska taught English in California for more than forty years–in high school, in college, and in prison. With the publication of her first book, A Round-Heeled Woman: My Late-Life Adventures in Sex and Romance , Juska became a spokesperson for the romantically active senior set, and she appears frequently before book groups and women's groups. Her most recent book is 2006's Unaccompanied Women: Late-Life Adventures in Love, Sex and Real Estate .
	Lawrence M. Krauss is Ambrose Swasey Professor of Physics, Prof of Astronomy, and Director of the Center for Education and Research in Cosmology and Astrophysics. He is the author of 7 popular books including international bestseller, The Physics of Star Trek. He has been particularly active leading the effort by scientists to defend the teaching of science in public schools. His essay in the New York Times on evolution and intelligent Design in May 2005 helped spur the recent controversy that has involved the Catholic Church.
	It was Dr. Anthony Leggett’s pioneering work in Superfluidity that earned him the 2003 Nobel Prize in Physics. Following this award, he was knighted (KBE) by Queen Elizabeth II in 2004 "for services to physics." He chairs the advisory committee for the Quantum Information Processing program at the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.
	Daniel Levitin is the James McGill Professor of psychology, music, and computer science at McGill University, where he directs the Laboratory for the Study of Music Cognition, Performance and Expertise. As a musician (tenor saxophone, guitar and bass), he has performed with Mel Tormé, Nancy Wilson, Santana and members of the Steve Miller Band. For his technical and marketing contributions to the recording industry, Levitin has been awarded 15 gold and platinum records, and two of his projects received Oscar™ nominations. He has published hundreds of articles for the general public on music and music technology and is the author of the international best-selling book This Is Your Brain on Music: The Science of a Human Obsession.
	Bill Lishman Aka ‘Father Goose’ is an award winning sculptor, film maker, inventor, naturalist and ideaCity Alumnus (’01). He is co-founder of Operation Migration Inc. a non profit organization dedicated to establishing safe migration routes for migratory birds. Bill pioneered ultralight aviation in Canada and in 1988 he was the first person ever to lead birds in the air on a successful migration. The 1996 Oscar nominated film ‘Fly Away Home’ was inspired by his autobiography. He is also credited with inspiring the highly successful Jacques Perrin film ‘The Winged Migration’. Bill’s current initiative is ‘Air First Aid’ a worldwide organization involving ultralight flyers in first response disaster relief.
	Perennial idealist Dr. Joe Maclnnis is here again to report on his latest adventures. He has logged more than 5,000 hours in (not on) the Atlantic, Pacific and Arctic Oceans. For the past year he's been looking into the meaning of the 'Right Stuff' and how this psychological concept has changed since it was first applied to the seven original Mercury astronauts in the 1960s.
	Brilliant Celtic fiddling and some wild antics have made Ashley MacIsaac a household name across Canada. After performing with some of the world's greatest musicians and selling close to a half million albums, he has become almost as famous for his controversial statements on drug use and Canadian politics as he is for his outstanding musicianship.
	Hey, we all need to eat! But when the average North American sits down to a meal, each ingredient has typically travelled at least 1,500 carbon-fueled miles. James MacKinnon and co-author Alisa Smith chose to confront this unsettling statistic with a simple experiment: for one year, they bought or gathered their food and drink from within 100 miles of their apartment in Vancouver, British Columbia.
	Let us not forget the ubiquitous insect. Stephen Marshall sure hasn't. He has discovered and named hundreds of new species and his most recent book, Insects - Their Natural History and Diversity, recent winner in the General Book Category from the Science in Society Journalism Awards, uses over 4,000 of his own photographs to make insect diversity accessible to an unprecedented range of scientists, naturalists and students.
	Jaymie Matthews is an “astro-paparazzo” who unveils the hidden lifestyles of stars by eavesdropping on “the music of the spheres.” His version of an interstellar iPod is Canada's first space telescope, MOST. Dr. Matthews is the Mission Scientist leading the Canadian Space Agency's MOST (Microvariability & Oscillations of Stars) Project, and an astrophysics professor at the University of British Columbia. His research on the subtle vibrations of ringing stars sounds more like astromedicine than astrophysics: performing “ultrasound” on stellar embryos, checking on the hyperactivity of a pre-teen sun, and taking the pulses of stars in their twilight years.
	How did a young woman, born Catholic and raised in Canada get to be the President of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA)? Ingrid Mattson, the administrative leader of ISNA and Professor of Islamic Studies and Christian Muslim relations at Hartford Seminary will fill you in on her journey to and through Islam. Mattson has served as advisor to the Afghan delegation to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women and is a past member of the Interfaith Committee of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago. Her book, The Story of the Qur'an: Its History and Place in Muslim Life will be released by Blackwell Press in Fall 2007.
	Ron is co-owner and director of the Downward Dog Yoga Centre in Toronto and Meenakshi is a Certified Meditation and Yoga Philosophy teacher from the International Meditation Institute in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, Himalayas. She currently teaches Ashtanga Yoga, Restorative Yoga, Yogadance, Meditation, Yoga philosophy, Sanskrit, and Chanting privately and in yoga studios in Canada, the U.S. the UK and Europe. Together, they have formed the band SWAHA, with Meenakshi leading the vocals and Ron as composing partner and keyboardist. Meenakshi and Ron released their new CD “Vishnu's Dream” in February 2007.
	We also like folks who can tell us how to slow down the aging process. George Merriam specializes in the way the brain and hormones communicate with each other to regulate body composition, energy balance, and mental function. His studies have centered on whether supplementing the hormones that rise at puberty and decline with aging can be an endocrinological “fountain of youth.”
	Christopher Moore has written best-selling non-fiction, illustrated books, children's histories, historical scholarship, and commissioned histories. 'Quill & Quire' named his children's book, The Story of Canada one of the ten great Canadian children's books of the twentieth century.
	Taking another global perspective, award winning journalist Andrew Nikiforuk’s latest book, Pandemonium, documents how unrestrained globalization and its ‘twin brother’, climate change, are planting biological bombs in our livestock, crops, waterways and hospitals.
	Some people may choose to look for sustenance locally, but Ron O’Dor is trying to track it globally. “Census of Marine Life” Senior Scientist, O’Dor just received $45 million to develop the Ocean Tracking Network which will revolutionize the way fish are tracked and oceans managed. We will learn more about individual species’ responses to climate change and how the different inhabitants of the seas interact with each other.
	Is protecting indigenous humans is as important as saving the other species roaming our earth? Aaju Peter and her son Aggu recently went to The Hague in the Netherlands to protest legislation banning sealskin and sealskin products. They also met with the Dutch Parliament to address the consequences the banning would have on Inuit livelihood. She's going to tell us about her fight to maintain seal-hunting.
	Nobel laureate John Charles Polanyi is a member of the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research's Nanoelectronics program and a professor in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto . His research on molecular motions in certain chemical reactions is helping to forge a new method of manufacturing nanostructures called molecular scale imprinting. In addition to his excellence in chemistry, Dr. Polanyi is also involved in science policy, and is very concerned with the control of armaments and peacekeeping. He has written over one hundred articles on these subjects and co-edited the book The Dangers of Nuclear War.
	Lisa Randall studies particle physics and cosmology at Harvard University, where she is professor of theoretical physics. Her research concerns elementary particles and fundamental forces, and has involved the study of a wide variety of models, the most recent involving extra dimensions of space. She is the author of Warped Passages: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions, which was included in the New York Times' list of 100 notable books of 2005.
	Noah Richler is a prize-winning producer, author and host of documentaries. He was the host of the CBC's Richler on Radio and of “A Literary Atlas of Canada,” the ten-part radio series for CBC's Ideas based on his researches for This Is My Country, What's Yours? His most recent book is Cities: A Study of the Ontario Painter John Hartman.
	Roula Said is a multi-faceted, Palestinian-Canadian artist and one of Canada's leading lights in the world of belly dance. She is best known for bringing her unique style to the arena of world music and fusion. As an Arabic musician, she sings and plays qanun, having studied with a long list of luminaries over the past two decades. Some of Roula's creative projects past and present include the Arabic music group Doula with vocalist Maryem Tollar, the Canadian global music ensemble Maza Meze and numerous projects with her husband David Buchbinder.
	Has not every child or hormonally driven adolescent dreamt of owning a magical cloth that would render them invisible? David Schurig is designing Invisibility Cloaks and other devices using mathematical and scientific principles and implementing them in metamaterials, or materials using synthetic substances with both positive and negative properties.
	7 Fingers/Les 7 doigts de la main have taken the world by storm with their disarmingly eccentric and intelligent re-interpretation of circus. Founded in Montreal in 2002 by seven seasoned circus performers, 7 Fingers first performed at Montreal's Just For Laughs where they were hailed as the festival's "Best Kept Secret". 7 Fingers went on to tour the world; create a second cast for their show LOFT for an 8-month engagement in Berlin; produce short films and four television specials; and most recently were a huge hit at the Quebec Scene festival at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. This October, 7 Fingers will make their Toronto premiere at the Panasonic Theatre with TRACES, originally created for the closing ceremonies of the Olympic Games in Turin. With state-of-the-art circus skills and a jet-fueled urban street energy, TRACES explores new artistic territory combining stunning acrobatics with anything and everything that, literally, comes to hand. Starring Heloise Bourgeois, Raphael Cruz, Bradley Henderson and William Underwood.
	Talking about books, some folks believe that the internet will be the demise of the printed word. Others believe that life itself will soon be engulfed by other dimensions alive on the internet. Brian Shuster is the co-founder of Utherverse, an online digital universe which launched its first virtual world, Red Light Center, in 2006. With more than two dozen patents on a wide-range of internet and computer technologies, his opinion on real life versus virtual worlds, carries weight in the world of web 3.0.
	Principal inventor of the Battlefield Extraction-Assist Robot, or BEAR, Daniel Theobalda offers up a different kind of deliverance than religion or relaxation. BEAR is a humanoid robot with hyper-agile abilities and a powerful upper body. These capabilities enable BEAR to navigate through winding paths, buildings and stairs to rescue casualties from urban, forested and other war zones.
	Eco-warrior Paul Watson, co-founder of Greenpeace and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, might have some provocative counter-arguments for Ajau Peter. Sea Shepherd is dedicated to research, investigation, and the enforcement, occasionally by non-sanctioned force, of laws, treaties, resolutions, and regulations established to protect marine wildlife and their habitats worldwide.
	She's opening our show, so it's appropriate that she should open this newsletter. Since her ground-breaking debut at last year's Montreal Jazz Fest, where she performed before 100,000 people, thirteen-year old Nikki Yanofsky has been winning her way into the hearts of new fans everywhere with her uncanny, Ella Fitzgerald-like renditions of classic jazz songs.
	By total coincidence, we've been trying to get Nikki's dad's company to ideaCity for a couple of years. You all know that I've got a bee in my bonnet for anything robotic. Well, Richard Yanofsky is a co- founder of WowWee, a toy company that specializes in robots for you and me. They've got robot dinosaurs and dogs and sapians that function as pets and friends; and, well, there's an Elvis gag as well. We're negotiating for giveaways.