Join us on journeys of discovery, investigation, and persuasion into your conscious experience. From how early sensory processing shapes your brain development to why we often fail to recognize the influence we have. Examine how our relationship with data will affect our evolution as a species and explore how consciousness may be a fundamental feature of the universe. These ideas will expand the frontiers of your mind.

Boston Opera House
539 Washington Street
Boston, Massachusetts, 02111
United States

Boston Dance Theater

Contemporary Dance

Boston Dance Theater (BDT) is a contemporary dance repertory company presenting works of socio-political relevance that challenge the edges of current world issues. BDT matches Boston-based dancers with acclaimed global choreographers in a tour de force of performative dynamism, community connection, and transnational ambassadorship. BDT has performed at Jacob’s Pillow, the Institute of Contemporary Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Ailey Citigroup Theater in NYC, and the Newport Dance Festival in Rhode Island.

Caleb Scharf

Astrobiologist

Caleb Scharf is an astrobiologist and writer of critically acclaimed popular science books and hundreds of articles. His research ranges from studies of the origins of life to the climate conditions of exoplanets and the quest to find evidence of other life in our solar system on worlds like Mars. He is the Senior Scientist for Astrobiology at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, and divides his time between Silicon Valley and New York.

Philip Goff

Consciousness Philosopher

Philip Goff is a Professor of Philosophy at Durham University, UK. His research focuses on consciousness and the ultimate nature of reality. He’s best known for defending panpsychism, the view that consciousness pervades the universe and is a fundamental feature of it. Philip has published many academic articles and written extensively for newspapers and magazines, including Scientific American, The Guardian, and Aeon. He used to sing in a band and likes to play and sing Beatles songs with an acoustic.

Rebecca Schwarzlose

Cognitive Neuroscientist

Rebecca Schwarzlose is an instructor of psychiatry at Washington University in Saint Louis. She uses brain scans to study how early sensory processing shapes human brain development and relates to later neurodevelopmental and psychiatric challenges. She is the former Editor in Chief of Trends in Cognitive Sciences. When not pondering the developing brain, she loves solving puzzles and spending time with her family.

Vanessa Bohns

Social Psychologist

Vanessa Bohns is a social psychologist and professor of organizational behavior at Cornell University. She studies help-seeking, social influence, compliance, consent, and why saying no is so hard. Her research has been published in top academic journals in psychology, management, and law. Her research and writing have been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Harvard Business Review, and on NPR’s Hidden Brain.