30th Annual San Francisco Middle School Science Fair30th Annual San Francisco Middle School Science FairEach February, the Randall Museum plays host to a remarkable gathering of the City's young scientific talent. Last school year brought the 29th annual San Francisco Middle School Science Fair! Special thanks to 2011 Science Fair sponsors Genentech, the United States Geological Survey, ...
Where: San FranciscoCost:
Covering CarbonCalifornia's scheme to reduce carbon pollution is forging ahead even though Washington DC and other states have hit the brakes on similar efforts. How is the state's main climate law (AB 32) holding up in a national political environment hostile to any environmental regulations? How well is the mainstream news ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, Members Free, $7 Students
This talk will cover systems and metrics analysis work on this issue, tangible benefits of improvements, policy implications, and the path forward for decision makers.Speaker: Eric Masanet, Lawrence Berkeley National Labs
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Moonlight HikeHike through the redwoods in twilight and moonlight on a moderately strenuous 4-5 mi hike. Hikes are led by an experienced Chabot educator and feature discussions about the natural environment and events and objects in the sky. After the hike, stay and view the night sky through Chabot's telescopes (weather ...
Houge Park Start PartyMeet with members of San Jose Astronomical Society for a Star Party, weather permitting.
Where: San JoseCost: Free
The Wierd World of Cataclysmic Variable StarsHistorians debate whether the first confirmed variable star was Mira (a.k.a. Omicron Ceti, with observations recorded in 1596), or Algol (a.k.a. the Demon star, with observations recorded in 1667 - but which may have been known in antiquity). Since then, thousands of variable stars have been identified. Over the past ...
Where: San MateoCost: Free
Come to Foothill Observatory and join us in the exploration of our Universe!Foothill Observatory Friday Evening ProgramCome to Foothill Observatory and join us in the exploration of our Universe!Foothill Observatory is open for public viewing every clear Friday evening from 9:00 p.m. until 11:00 p.m. Visitors can view the wonders of the universe through the observatory's new computer-controlled 16-inch Schmidt-Cassegrain telescope. Views ...
Where: Los Altos HillsCost:
Saturday, 03/03/12
EVOLUTION IS THE ONLY EXPLANATION!EVOLUTION IS THE ONLY EXPLANATION!The 2012 UC Museum of Paleontology Short Course As we look at the biodiversity around us, we stare in wonderment at complex courtship behaviors, bizarre ornamentation and display, extraordinary adaptations to severe conditions, and unusual means of communicating, eating, and reproducing. The diversity is overwhelming and ...
The Redwood Creek Restoration at Muir Beach improves wildlife habitat and the creek and wetlands ecosystem.Learn about the history and current status of coho salmon in Redwood Creek on this easy, two-mile walk around the restoration site.
Where: Muir BeachCost: Free
Trekking the ModelJoin a ranger guided tour of the Bay Model, a 1.5 acre hydraulic model of San Francisco Bay and Delta. Discover the stories of the two major operations that took place at this location between 1942 – 2000.
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Children's Discovery Museum: Snow Day!It's a Snow Day at the Library! Using instant snow, children will experiment with the properties of a polymer, compare real snow to instant snow, and discover how the elements (water, salt) affect instant snow. Space is limited to the first 30 children in attendance.
Muir Woods marks the southern front in a battle for survival between two competing owl species. On this strenuous five-mile dusk hike, we will look and listen for the owls that call Muir Woods home, learn more about their history and ecology, and receive the latest research updates on our ...
Where: Mill ValleyCost: $3 Material Fee
Art & Science Reception & Lecture: The Sperm Whale SoireeThe Randall Museum, NOAA's Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, and the Farallones Marine Sanctuary Association announce the latest Sanctuary Soiree, an adults-only program to enjoy the museum at night and hear fascinating presentations.The Randall teams up with the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary to present The ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 (must purchase in advance)
What goes on in the Zoo once the rest of the guests leave? You'll find out when your group spends the night at the Oakland Zoo! A variety of themes allows you to visit the rain-forest, be a detective and snoop your way around the Zoo, or even create your ...
Join PRBO Educators as we walk along the San Rafael shoreline on the Jean and John Starkweather Trail. Learn about PRBO's education programs in this community as we explore several Bay Area habitats including tidal salt marsh and parts of the San Rafael Bay.
Where: San RafaelCost: $10 Donation, Free for members
For the first time in history, the human demand for a number of critical natural resources is approaching or exceeding the global supply of these resources. Sustainable development requires that the demand for resources be brought into, and maintained within, the limit of supply. This means that the only possible growth paradigm ...
Dr. Jeffrey Marqusee is currently the Executive Director of the Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program (SERDP) and the Director of the Environmental Security Technology Certification Program (ESTCP). SERDP is a tri-agency (DOD, DOE, and EPA) environmental research and development program managed by the Department of Defense. SERDP supports research ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
'Cosmic Voyage'A video presentation about the size and scale of the Universe
Where: Rohnert ParkCost: Free
Automated Strain EngineeringWith growing interest in green products, making useful new compounds via microbial fermentations is now relatively routine. But how can we produce a commercially relevant yield of these engineered compounds? It's a major challenge for synthetic biology. Dr. Newman discusses possible solutions, including a system developed at Amyris for standardized, ...
Dynamics Of Radiation Belt Electrons And The BARREL ExperimentThe intensity of relativistic electrons in Earth's radiation belts is known to be highly variable, but the processes responsible for this variability are still not well understood. Observed rapid depletions and subsequent rebuilding of the trapped particle population imply an efficient energization process, in some cases accelerating electrons to multiple ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Saving the World and Having a Job: The Changing Energy Landscape and Implications for InvestmentThe energy landscape is changing rapidly. What the internet is to information technology, the development of unconventional resources is to energy, except the impact has been even swifter. The advent of unconventional resources on the supply side intersected with the rapid growth and urbanization of developing markets is creating upheaval ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Conversations at the Herbst: Primate Behavior: Lessons for Life For more than thirty years, Dr. Sapolsky has divided his time between the field and the lab. As a result, he can effortlessly move from a discussion of pecking orders in primate societies (human and baboon) to an explanation of how neurotransmitters work during stress-and he get laughs doing it. ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $22-26 General, $20-24 Members
Describing himself as an "environmentalist capitalist lunatic farmer," Joel Salatin has been dubbed "the high priest of the pasture" by The New York Times. Adamant about rebuilding the soil as the first step toward creating a sustainable farm, he is a bold advocate for changing from conventional to organic farming. ...
Where: Mountain ViewCost: $22
Tuesday, 03/06/12
Affordable Water: Conservation and Reuse Tactics for Multifamily ProjectsThis meeting features Brent Bucknum from Hyphae Design Lab and his work with affordable housing developers to identify water conservation opportunities in both existing and new construction housing projects. He will be joined by Mary Lucero-Dorst from EBALDC who will describe their efforts to utilize grey water recycling as both ...
Where: OaklandCost: $10 Members in Advance, $15 General & at door
Where: Palo AltoCost: $12 Members; $20 Non-MembersAccording to tech entr
Mark Lynas - The Nine Planetary Boundaries: Finessing the AnthropoceneHuman activities increasingly dominate 9 crucial planetary systems. Add to the familiar ones---climate, biodiversity, and chemical pollution---atmospheric aerosols, ocean acidification, excess nitrogen in agriculture, too much land in agriculture, freshwater scarcity, and ozone depletion. To have "a safe operating space for humanity" on Earth requires adjusting our behavior to work ...
BERCshop: Solar Cells and Other Fairy Tales: Symbols and Expectations for a Clean Energy FutureThe seductive tales of wind turbines, solar cells, and biofuels foster the impression that with a few technical upgrades, we might just sustain our current energy trajectories without consequence. Media and political coverage lull us into dreams of a clean energy future juxtaposed against a tumultuous past characterized by evil ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Technology-enabled Programs for Improving the Management of Chronic Care for Older AdultsThe capacity of the U.S. health care system is rapidly being tested by the demands of a growing aging and disabled population. The challenges posed by the shear increase in population aging, combined with the disproportionate level of chronic illness among older adults, projected shortages in the long-term care work ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Managing California's Water: From Conflict to ReconciliationIn much of the world, water has become a source of increasing conflict. Current policies are failing to meet the economy's demands for water supply reliability, water quality, and flood protection; meanwhile, freshwater aquatic ecosystems are in sharp decline despite several decades of well-intentioned, but insufficient and poorly coordinated policies ...
Innovation in Open Networks and the MIT Media Lab The combination of Moore's law and the Internet has changed everything. Innovation happens on the edges in ecosystems where standards are developed in non-governmental bodies, where intellectual property can become more of a burden to agility than an asset and where planning can cost more than doing. This massive reduction ...
NASA Family Night: Destination StationDestination Station is NASA Johnson Space Center's national awareness campaign that promotes research opportunities, educates communities about activities preformed on the International Space Station, and communicates the real and potential impacts of the station on our everyday lives. This special NASA visit to Chabot will include astronaut presentations, autographs, demonstrations ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free with admission
'The Tipping Point: The End of Oil'Film by Niobe Thompson and Tom Radford. The easy oil is gone. The age of the tar sands has begun. Yet as a pristine wilderness and a Native people are being wiped out to feed the world's hunger for energy, what no one expected was for them to fight back. ...
Where: OaklandCost: $5 Donation
Astronomy and Evolution: From the Death of the Dinosaurs to the Stardust in your BonesAlmost 14 billion years ago, the Big Bang created the seeds of the vast structures that we see in the present-day Universe. But how did a sea of scorching hot gas evolve to form the cosmic web of galaxies, clinging together in huge filaments and sheets and separated by enormous ...
Speaker: Paul Davies, Arizona State University Time travel makes great science fiction, but can it really be done? Travel into the future is already a reality, but visiting the past is a much tougher proposition, and may require fantastic resources such as a wormhole in space. Nevertheless, if going back in ...
Where: Mountain ViewCost: Free
Turing's Cathedral. Author George Dyson in conversation with John HollarLegendary historian and philosopher of science George Dyson vividly re-creates the scenes of focused experimentation, incredible mathematical insight, and pure creative genius that gave us computers, digital television, modern genetics, models of stellar evolutionâ€"in other words, computer code.In the 1940s and '50s, a group of eccentric geniuses -- led by ...
Speaker: Kim Polese, Chairwoman, CleanStreet, Inc.Room ENG 189.
Where: San JoseCost: Free
Space Research Expo at Ames Research CenterIn associate with Destination Station activities, NASA Ames Research Center will host a Space Research Expo and Twitter Town Hall. Astronaut Rex Walheim and NASA space station program scientist Dr. Julie Robinson will be giving presentations from 3:30-4:30 p.m. PST.At the Twitter Town Hall, a panel of space station experts ...
Marine Mammal Research TourGo behind the scenes to learn about the host of marine mammals housed right here at Long Marine Lab. Find out how scientists studies of diving physiology, ecology, and cognition and sensory systems contributes to our understanding and conservation of these incredible animals. Tour is best suited for adults and ...
George Dyson: Turing's Cathedral, The Origins of the Digital UniverseWant to learn where the digital universe as we know it was born? Dyson sheds new light on the group of scientists and their government-funded lab at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton that started it all. In the 1940s and '50s, a group of eccentric geniuses led by ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 standard, $12 members, $7 students
'Empire of Death' signing by Paul KoudounarisPaul Koudounaris takes the reader on an unprecedented international tour of macabre and devotional architectural masterpieces in nearly 20 countries. "Empire of Death" brings together the world's most important charnel sites, illustrated with specially taken photographs of sites rarely open to the public and forgotten archive images of others long ...
In December 2010, the skeletal remains of a Columbian Mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) were found in the artichoke fields on a family farm in Castroville. An extensive team composed of faculty and students from Foothill College, UC Santa Cruz, San Jose State University, UCLA, DeAnza College, UC Berkeley, Stanford, Penn State, ...
