Exploring the Dark Side of the Universe In this talk Dr. Fassnacht will show how the powerful combination of sensitive, high-resolution imaging with gravitational lensing can provide direct observational tests of galaxy formation scenarios under the cold dark matter paradigm as well as interesting constraints on cosmology. In particular, he will discuss the following two subjects. (1) ...
This talk will present and critique a body of work evolving across several years of research at the intersection of computer science and participatory culture - namely Citizen Science. I will re-examine the emerging technologies and algorithmic approaches as well as the cultural practices surrounding sensor legibility, scaffolding strategies, motivation, ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
History of MarinshipJoin Ranger Bill as he facilitates an in-depth discussion on the history of the Marinship Shipyard at the Bay Model built by the Bechtel Corporation at the request of President Franklin Roosevelt in March of 1942. Learn about the 93 ships built here during WWII.
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Function and dynamics of eukaryotic microbial communitiesPresented by Dr. Scott Fay, UC BerkeleyThe RTC Seminar Series brings leading local, national, and international scientists to a public forum at RTC to speak about the latest advances in science. The Series is open to the RTC community and the public. All seminars are held in the Bay Conference Center ...
Where: TiburonCost: FREE
End-User Programming and Intelligent Tutoring SystemsMillions of end users today have access to programmable environments such as spreadsheets and smartphones, but lack the programming expertise to write even small scripts. These users can effectively communicate their intent using examples and natural language. Our methodology involves designing a domain-specific language (DSL), developing a synthesis algorithm for ...
Intelligence and Machines: Creating Intelligent Machines by Modeling the BrainAre intelligent machines possible? If they are, what will they be like? In this talk, Jeff Hawkins frames these questions by reviewing some of the efforts to build intelligent machines. He posits that machine intelligence is only possible by first understanding how the brain works and then building systems that ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
A Whole-Cell Computational Model Predicts Phenotype from Genotype Understanding how complex phenotypes arise from individual molecules and their interactions is a primary challenge in biology that computational approaches are poised to tackle. We report a whole-cell computational model of the life cycle of the human pathogen Mycoplasma genitalium that includes all of its molecular components and their interactions. ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Supernovae Reveal an Accelerating UniverseIn 1929 Edwin Hubble discovered that our Universe is expanding. Eighty years later, the Space Telescope that bears his name is being used to study an even more surprising phenomenon: that the expansion is speeding up. The origin of this effect is not known, but is broadly attributed to a ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Energy Upgrade California Program Homeowner WorkshopThe purpose of this workshop is to introduce home performance and provide information on the Energy Upgrade California Program to homeowners, as well as to familiarize them with the Energy Upgrade California web portal.
Twitter cofounder Biz Stone has been named Nerd of the Year by GQ and anointed one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by TIME. Having gotten millions tweeting – from teens to heads of state – Stone is onto his next venture. His new company, The Obvious ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $25-30 General, $20-25 Members, $15 Students
Natural history museums often evoke the musty whiff of the Victorian era of expeditions, trophy hunting and display, but any recent trip to a museum will show visitors an updated view of the world. However, the real revolution has occurred behind the scenes in biodiversity informatics that marries natural history ...
Community Development as 'Preventive Medicine': Reducing Health Care Costs and Improving Population HealthMalo André Hutson is a nationally recognized scholar in the areas of community and economic development, urban policy and politics, and urban health. As an Assistant Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California at Berkeley, Dr. Hutson's research is concerned with how neighborhood, ...
Since Fall 2002, the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering has hosted the Silicon Valley Leaders Symposium (SVLS). The Symposium hosts industry and technology leaders to talk about business and technology trends. It also features prominent leaders who discuss broader societal and political issues that shape our life and society.Speaker: ...
Experience the wildlife and natural beauty that make Younger Lagoon an exceptional local treasure on this docent-led tour to the lagoon and its beach habitat. Learn about the ongoing research and habitat restoration work that help this vital ecosystem thrive. Tour includes a short hike and is best suited for ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free with admission
Educator's Open HouseLearn about our various K-12 classes in astronomy, earth, life and physical sciences. Meet Chabot's dynamic educational staff as you visit each of the instructional labs and classrooms.
Where: OaklandCost: Free
Insect Discovery LabDiscover the world of insects with Insect Discovery Lab. See some live animals and learn about them at the same time. Children and families welcome.
Dr. Richard Dasher, Director of the US-Asia Technology Management Center in Stanford's School of Engineering, provides an overview of new technologies and approaches coming from Asia that aim to improve the efficiency and environmental sustainability of vehicle design, fuels, and overall transportation system architectures, and that promote more efficient ways ...
Presidio Teachers' Night is an annual event to provide a forum for educational exchange and support learning outside of the classroom. Teachers from the Bay Area are invited to attend this free event which includes a reception, special presentation, educational materials, and an opportunity to meet representatives from about 50 ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Cafe InquiryMeet up with rationalists, skeptics, and freethinkers south of San Francisco.Cafe Inquiry is a social event hosted by the Center for Inquiry|San Francisco. We'll meet at Café Borrone http://www.cafeborrone.com/ between Kepler's Books and the British Banker's Club!
Sharktoberfest returns to NightLife, celebrating two perennial favorites again this year: sharks and beer! Taste your way through the beer garden in African Hall, featuring brews from local favorites like 21st Amendment Brewery, Almanac Beer Co., Anchor Brewing, Drake's Brewing, Lagunitas Brewing Company, Pacific Brewing Laboratory, Speakeasy Ales & Lagers, ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $12 General, $10 Members
Artist Reception for Jane Kim: The Art of ConservationOpening Reception for artist and science illustrator Jane Kim. She is the founder of INK-DWELL, a studio which creates art to inspire love, appreciation, and protection of the natural world. As an artist and science illustrator Jane is driven by her passion to merge modern art with wildlife biology and ...
Fewer than 1,100 Hawaiian monk seals survive in American waters today. Scientists predict that this critically endangered species could become extinct within 50 years. When the chance to house and study a two-day old abandoned pup arose, eminent wildlife biologist Terrie Williams took the seal in. The boisterous KP2, or ...
In 2007, Dr. Amstrup's research team at the U.S. Geological Survey projected that we could lose two-thirds of the world's polar bears by mid century and may lose all of them by the end of this century. More recently, he and his colleagues showed that preventing the extinction of polar ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 General, $12 Members
Fish and other marine life in the ocean are suffering due to pressures from fishing, habitat loss, declining water quality and climate change. Join Sylvia Earle, oceanographer, author, and National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence to learn about the complex threats facing marine life today, and how special protections may offer solutions ...
Dr. Fred Luskin teaches a variety of classes on happiness at Stanford. He's part of a movement that looked at psychology in the mid-1990's and saw science based on what's wrong with people: misery, anger, frustration, and depression. His focus is not on what's gone wrong, but instead on what ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Science In ActionThe Science in Action program, sponsored by the Northern California Chapter of American Vacuum Society [NCCAVS], provides an opportunity for students ages 6 through 12, to understand about the air surrounding us. Using a different student for each demonstration and experiment provides hands-on participation. From seeing a partially expanded and ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
The Causal Effect of Environmental Catastrophe on Long-Run Economic GrowthDo natural disasters have a causal effect on economic development? Reconstructing every country's physical exposure to the universe of tropical cyclones during 1950-2008, we exploit year-to-year variation in cyclone strikes to identify the effect of disasters on long-run growth. The data reject long-standing hypotheses that disasters stimulate growth via "creative ...
Heinrich Spiecker M.S '71 is director of the Institute for Forest Growth at the University of Freiburg, Germany, where he is also a professor. He has conducted extensive forest management research in Germany and internationally on issues such as changes in forest productivity; growing valuable broadleaved trees; and options for ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Houge Park Start PartyMeet with members of San Jose Astronomical Society for a Star Party, weather permitting.
As the tools for exploring the physical properties of space systems have evolved, we have discovered an unprecedented array of information that connects us deeply to our Universe. We live in a time when scientists have discovered nearly 780 extrasolar planets; when it has become routine to determine the ...
MSI loves sharks! Our special Shark Day invites one and all to learn about these amazing creatures, from the Great Whites that swim just off our ocean shores, to the gentle Leopard Sharks that are common in our Bay. We will be feeding and touching our local Leopard Sharks in ...
Where: Redwood CityCost: $20 General, $10 members
iPhoneography: Create Great Garden Photos Using an iPhoneThe best camera is the one that is with you! Let expert iPhone photographer Yoni Mayeri show you how to capture and edit images with just your iPhone. Learn the best practices for photographing and editing using exclusively the iPhone. The class will cover: essential phone camera tips for optimizing ...
What if you could use sadness to make you more creative, erase bad memories and wipe out stress, keep your brain fit into your 90s, and drastically reduce your risk of Alzheimer's and memory loss?The plasticity and capability of the brain has never been better understood. New research is revealing ...
Where: StanfordCost: No cost to attend
Golden Gate Raptor Observatory Hawk Talk and Banding Demo - CANCELEDCome to Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands and get an up-close view of the fall raptor migration with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory (GGRO), a cooperative program of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and National Park Service.A GGRO docent gives an hour-long talk about hawk monitoring and identification ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Terra Blight Film ScreeningAttend a free film screening of Terra Blight followed by a Q&A with the Terra Blight film crew.Terra Blight is a 55-minute documentary exploring America's consumption of computers and the hazardous waste we create in pursuit of the latest technology. The creators of Terra Blight received a grant from The ...
Join PRBO educators for an opportunity to search for any late fall migrants and early winter residents of Sonoma County and participate in PRBO's largest annual fundraiser, the Bird-A-Thon*. Winter brings a completely new group of birds to northern California. As we walk along we will search for some of ...
Where: San JoseCost: $5 Donation/family, $6 park entrance fee
Golden Gate Raptor Observatory Hawk Talk and Banding Demo - CANCELEDCome to Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands and get an up-close view of the fall raptor migration with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory (GGRO), a cooperative program of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and National Park Service.A GGRO docent gives an hour-long talk about hawk monitoring and identification ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Monday, 10/08/12
Intro to Species Distribution Modeling: Intro to species distribution modelingOne of the fastest developing and increasingly used tool for conservation and biogeographic research, this workshop introduces species distribution modeling. We will introduce the concepts and the process of combining species location (x,y) data with environmental data (climate, landcover, etc.) to predict where a particular species may occur. It is ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: $84 UC Students/Fac,Staff, $224 General
Antineutrino emission rates and energy spectra encode information about the operational status, total power output, and fissile content of operating nuclear reactors. Researchers in Russia in the 1980s, and more recently our group in the US, have experimentally demonstrated that ton-scale antineutrino detectors operating outside of containment at some tens ...
What does the future of energy really hold? Join energy visionary Dr. Scott Tinker on a spectacular global adventure to find out.Dr. Tinker explores the world's leading energy sites, from coal to solar, oil to biofuels, many highly restricted and never before seen on film. He gets straight answers from ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
'Steven Pinker - The Decline of Violence'Steven Pinker changes the world twice in his new book, THE BETTER ANGELS OF OUR NATURE: Why Violence Has Declined. First, he presents exhaustive evidence that the tragic view of history is wrong and always has been. A close examination of the data shows that in every millennium, century, and ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $10 General, Free Members
The Hubble Space Telescope is the best known telescope in history, and the most successful. Its nearly 20 years of history have produced thousands of papers, and hundreds of thousands of images. Reviewing them all would take a lifetime, so luckily astronomer Dr. Chris Lintott has sorted through the archives ...
What has the LHC done to theory?Prof. Savas Dimopoulos will give the Applied Physics/Phyiscs colloquiumPhysics is at a crossroad that leads either to Naturalness or the Multiverse. I will discuss the implications of current LHC results on this dichotomy, as well as expectations for the next five years.
Terry L. Root is a Senior Fellow/University Faculty at the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University, and a fellow at the California Academy of Sciences. Her research addresses questions, such as: What changes have occurred in wild animals and plants in the past century with ~0.8 C of ...
High gasoline prices, hydraulic fracturing and the Keystone XL Pipeline have kept energy in the headlines. How will that play this election cycle? What national policies should be pursued to advance American competitiveness? How is natural gas changing energy politics in America? Are Democrats sanctimonious and Republicans delusional about climate ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, 12 Members, $7 Students
Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA): An OverviewHeterogeneous computing is main stream, it can be found in almost all modern media devices and it can be found in the cluster of the supercomputing world too. However, to date each system is different and heterogeneous can mean different ISAs, different memory buses, different execution models and on and ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
'Watershed'Executive produced and narrated by Robert Redford, and directed by award-winning filmmaker, Mark Decena, WATERSHED tells the story of the threats to the once-mighty Colorado River and offers solutions for the future of the American West. The most dammed, dibbed, and diverted river in the world, the Colorado struggles to ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
North American Association for Environmental Education ConferenceGaining Perspective: Seeing Environmental Education Through Different Lenses Come and glean insights into the cutting edge of environmental curriculum while mingling with other professionals at one of the largest gatherings of environmental educators in North America! On October 9-13, 2012 in Oakland, California, NAAEE (North American Association for Environmental Education) is proud to ...
Where: OaklandCost: Various packages available—see website for details
