Happy new year of science!

2011 brought us closer than ever to the Higgs boson and saw a computer win against human champions in Jeopardy!. A 6.5-year-long international clinical trial found that antiretroviral drugs can be used as HIV prevention. Wired, Science and just about everyone have their lists of top breakthroughs in 2011.

What will happen in 2012? Sadly, I’m not going to make any wild predictions of extraordinary discoveries about to be made. But I can tell you where to go in Seattle to get your science fix in the new year. The Science Cafes and Science on Tap continue their monthly quest for truth in wine and the scientific method. Town Hall has an impressive winter lineup of speakers on topics from the human mind to the mindless pollution of our oceans. There is no shortage of free public seminars at the UW. Benaroya Hall hosts its 15th annual National Geographic Live! speaker series. And I swear I’ll update the calendar to reflect all of these and more asap — right now it’s awfully out of date.

So, happy new year of science! Oh, and: the Feynman Series is on youtube: