Historians usually depict the space race of the 1960s and 1970s as a pitched technological battle between Cold War political rivals. Yet while U.S. and Soviet spacecraft forced the world to look upward towards the Moon, they also, quite ironically, encouraged citizens across the globe to gaze back down at “spaceship Earth” with a newfound environmental awareness.  >>

A customer at an Apple store asks for the latest iPhone in black, but then suddenly changes his preference to white when he sees everyone else buying black . . .  Although the child knows she shouldn't press the big red button, she finds her hand inching toward it. . . . In some cultures, young men and women who decide to marry know that they will see each other in person for the first time on their wedding day.  How did these people make their choices? How do any of us make vital and mundane choices? >>

Music has many virtues — including the potential to benefit individuals whose mobility is severely impaired by cerebral palsy and spinal injuries. In the first of NJIT’s new series of Technology and Society Forum presentations, Pauline Oliveros and colleagues from the Deep Listening Institute will demonstrate software that makes it possible to improvise music with slight head movements. This software extends the expressive, holistic and therapeutic benefits of musical improvisation to both adults and children. >>

In the first of a new series of Technology and Society Forum presentations, Pauline Oliveros, founder of the Deep Listening Institute Ltd.and Distinguished Research Professor of Music at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, will demonstrate software that makes it possible to improvise music with slight head movements. The presentation will take place on Sept. 20, 11:30 a.m.-1 p.m. in the NJIT Campus Center Atrium.  >>

Water ― life on our planet would be impossible without it, and clean water is vital for human health and well-being. Yet close to three billion people have no running water within a kilometer of their homes, and every eight seconds a child dies of water-borne disease. In the NJIT Technology and Society Forum presentation on March 10, 2010, Maude Barlow will outline a three-part strategy for achieving a water-secure world.  >>

Sarah Brownell, co-founder of Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL), will share a more positive vision for Haiti when she speaks at NJIT on Feb. 24, 2010, 3-4:30 p.m. in the Campus Center Atrium. The talk is a presentation of NJIT’s Technology and Society Forum Series.  >>

Sarah Brownell, co-founder of Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL), will share a more positive vision for Haiti when she speaks at NJIT on Feb. 24, 2010, 3-4:30 p.m. in the Campus Center Atrium.  The talk is a presentation of NJIT’s Technology and Society Forum Series.  >>

NJIT will usher in Black History Month with a free concert on Feb. 3, 2010 featuring local pianist Richard Alston.  >>