Speakers' corner

Since penicillin was made available in the 1940s, bacteria have shown a stubborn ability to develop resistance. Drug resistant pathogens are having a dramatic impact on healthcare and infections that were once limited to hospitals are increasingly common. Better education, reporting and a pipeline of new antimicrobial agents are needed to confront this issue. Stanford Associate Professor of Bioengineering Annelise Barron has been leading efforts to bioengineer an entirely new class of synthetic drugs that may prove to be a bright spot on the horizon. Join Barron for a discussion of how these new bacterial killers work.

Barron discusses "Bioengineering Molecules to Fight Deadly Infections" Tuesday, March 10 from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at SRI Menlo Park, Middlefield Road at Ringwood, International Building. Entrances to Conference Center parking are next to the church on Ravenswood and at Ringwood and Middlefield. This event is free.

Michael Svanevik

Popular College of San Mateo History Professor Michael Svanevik speaks at Cypress Lawn Memorial Park, Colma, on "Oceans of Dread: Death on the High Seas." Greek mariners wrote that the Atlantic is "where Hell begins." No single body of water on the globe is more notorious. Join this most interesting speaker in a most appropriate venue for gripping tales of human disaster and death on the high seas. Svanevik is the author of "City of Souls: San Francisco's Necropolis at Colma," "Burlingame: City of Trees," and "No Sidewalks Here: A Pictorial History of Hillsborough, California."

Svanevik presents "Oceans of Dread: Death on the High Seas" Sunday, March 15 at 2 p.m. at the Cypress Lawn Reception Center, 1370 El Camino Real, Colma. This talk is part of the 2009 season of events sponsored by Cypress Lawn Heritage Foundation. Light Refreshments Served. For more information call 550-8811 or visit www.cypresslawnheritagefoundation.com. The public is welcome at this free event.

Patricia Burchat

The San Mateo County Astronomical Society presents Patricia Burchat, Chair of the Physics Department at Stanford University, speaking about "The Dark Side of the Universe” March 6 at the College of San Mateo Planetarium. Professor Burchat studies differences in the time evolution of matter and antimatter created at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. In her presentation she explores the evidence for dark matter and dark energy, and the experiments being developed to investigate their fundamental nature.

The public is invited to come at 7:30 p.m. to the Integrated Science Center (ISC) room next to the Planetarium at the College of San Mateo to hear announcements of upcoming astronomical events in this area and for refreshments. At 8 p.m. the group adjourns to the Planetarium to hear Professor Burchat. At the conclusion of the talk, weather permitting, those interested can go to the rooftop CSM Observatory for star gazing.

The College of San Mateo is located at 1700 W Hillsdale Blvd. in San Mateo. This event is free with parking provided in lot 7, which offers easy access to the Planetarium and Science building (36). For more information call 862-9602 or visit www.smcas.com.

David Thomson

In "Try to Tell a Story: A Memoir,” film historian and novelist David Thomson looks back at his childhood and teen years, beginning with hazy memories of frosty mornings, air-raid shelters in wartime London, fear of bombs and the evacuation of children to the countryside. An only child born in 1941, Thomson talked with an imaginary sister, Sally, as he progressed from reading comic books to listening to BBC dramatizations on radio. Thomson recalls the films that left an indelible impression on him: "Red River,” "Meet Me in St. Louis,” "Citizen Kane” and "East of Eden.” While following a film critic in the making, the memoir shows the changing cultural landscape of the 1940s and 1950s.

Thomson, who lives in San Francisco, is a regular contributor to The New York Times, Movieline and Salon. This event is free. Thomson reads from and discusses "Try to Tell a Story: A Memoir” on Saturday, March 7 at 7 p.m. at Moon News, 315 Main St., Half Moon Bay.