Ask the City
tell me your night, I'll build it from the listingsJune 2026
← agendaScientific Controversies: Heart, Blood, and Soul
Tue Jun 30 · 7pm · Pioneer Works · Free RSVP
Modern medicine has long relied on donated organs and blood—finite, fragile resources shaping who lives and who waits. In this episode of Scientific Controversies, host Janna Levin brings together Dr. Doris Taylor, who engineers "ghost hearts" from decellularized pig heart scaffolds, and Dr. Cédric Ghevaert, who develops lab-grown red blood cells and platelets in bioreactors, to ask what happens when we begin manufacturing the very components of life from scratch. The evening unfolds in dialogue with Jordan Eagles' Bases Loaded, an exhibition exploring the symbolic, sacred, and political life of blood. Featuring hands-on biology stations with Genspace, sounds and visuals by DJ Black Helmet, stargazing with the Amateur Astronomers Association (weather permitting), food by Makina Cafe, and a special-edition patch by Andrea Lauer available in the PW Store.
listed by Pioneer Works