Tuesday, November 3rd, 2015 | ae@technewsiit.com Uniqlo Chicago opens on Magnificent Mile Kori Bowns EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo is immensely popular for its reasonably-priced, high-quality basics and cold weather gear. At the beginning of this year, it operated over 1,400 stores in 16 countries, but only 21 in the United States, leaving many fans of the store only able to order online. This fall Uniqlo is opening 18 additional stores in the US, including one in Chicago. On October 23, Uniqlo opened its doors on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile at the intersection of Pearson Street and Michigan 15."ELCIJME in. "firm,” ig'u-u‘lv.>§29.ao Kori Bowns EDITOR-IN-CHIEF The Chicago Council on Science and Technology (C2ST) hosts a variety of events in the city to enhance the public perception of science and technology. On the evening of Wednesday, October 21, C2ST hosted a lecture by Stuart Firestein entitled “Failure: Why Science is So Successful.” The lecture took place in the gymnasium of Chicago Tech Academy High School on the Near West Side of the city. Firestein is a professor of neuroscience at Columbia University and has published two books that deal heavily with the differences between public perception of science and how scientific progress is actually made. The first of which, “Ignorance: How it Avenue. The store fills three floors above the Topshop location in the same building. Chicago’s new store is the second-largest in the country, the exception being the New York Fifth Avenue flagship store. After much anticipation, the opening of the store brought thousands of guests over the weekend. Customers who visited the store on Saturday were welcomed by a variety of activities taking place nearby outside of the store. A range of musical acts were performing, including several DIS and taiko drum performances. Radio station KISS FM also offered a prize where visitors could win candy, bracelets, and Uniqlo gift cards. TD UHI'JLEI '- . J - .. , 7 a i <7 . W ‘1' Drives Science,” was published in 2012, and his second book, “Failure: Why Science is so Successful” was released in early October of this year. Approximately 50 people joined members of C2ST for the lecture. The audience included a variety of teachers, scientists, and students. Firestein opened his talk with a proverb he recalls often in “Ignorancez” “It is very difficult to find a black cat in a dark room. . . especially when there is no cat.” Firestein says that this quote in particular is a great descriptor of science; while many people think of science as exact and absolute, a lot of scientists spend their time stumbling through what they don’t know, looking for a connection that may or may not exist. Firestein explained to his audience that science isn’t solely built on i I l l 7 i 7T7 l l 1 F [I] ll 1 l l I l l i 1 While the hype outside of the store was its own spectacle, entering the store itself was another. After riding a long escalator ride to the first floor of Uniqlo, customers were greeted by wall-to-wall sweaters, shirts, and jackets in dozens of colors, many of which were on sale to promote the store’s opening weekend. The first 200 customers who visited the store each day received a free Uniqlo tote bag, and all customers who spent more than $50 received a free Heattech shirt, a warm base layer similar to Under Armour. The store was well-prepared for the immensely popular launch. Dozens of sales associates were on hand to answer questions, advertise sales, and assist customers in navigating the long fitting room and checkout lines. The store features a Starbucks on its top floor that had its team members wandering the store offering samples of baked goods. While lines at the store were long, many people came away with great deals and a fun experience. Even if nothing is purchased, seeing and navigating the store is an adventure on its own. With the high quality and simple items it offers, Uniqlo is sure to become a staple on Chicago’s Magnificent Mile for tourists and locals alike. FRUH mks-m 10 Emma knowledge, objectivity, fact, and truth, as many non-scientists perceive, but it is also built on ignorance, failure, doubt, and uncertainty. Firestein spent his lecture explaining many of the human aspects of science that are often left out in an average person’s education on science. He spoke of his experiences as a professor of neuroscience, where he noticed that his curriculum and lectures seemed to imply that scientists has discovered everything that there is to know about neuroscience, when that is very far from the truth. That experience led Firestein to explore the differences between the way scientists do their work and the way the public perceives it. He says that scientists “don’t sit around and talk about what we know . . . we talk about what we don’t know and what we want to know.” \ ' FAILURE I h M ERIC! II 30 SUCCESSFUL IPhotos by Kori Bowns Stuart Firestein presents CZST Lecture on failure in sc1ence He continued his lecture and told a variety of historic stories of scientific progress and discovery that relied on human creativity, failure, and uncertainty. Firestein says that scientific progress is full of, and should be full of, failures, even though we normally don’t learn about the process of science in school or from the media; we only see the end result. Firestein also says that these human aspects aren’t a bad thing; they don’t mean that science is unsound. He told his audience that he thinks it is important that all members of the public are scientifically literate and understand more about how scientists do their jobs. After Firestein’s lecture, copies of his newest book were available for purchase and he stayed at the venue to sign books and speak with members of the audience. . 3‘ FAILURE wnv SCIENCE us so SUOCIIIFUL STUART FIRESTEIN ' 1., . val/am" Photos by Kori Bowns