Free First WednesdayFree museum admission all day, to anyone from anywhere, at Bay Area Discovery Museum
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Free Wednesday at UC Botanical GardensEnjoy free admission to the UC Botanical Garden on the first Wednesday of the month. Parking is limited. Docent-led tours for groups are not available on Free Wednesdays. No admission after 4:30 pm. In order to minimize the impact on the plant collection, ensure the safety of visitors, and to ...
This talk will focus on tools for mapping, monitoring and sharing information about environmental and human rights abuses.Speaker: Emily Jacobi, Digital Democracy
A National Research Council report, "Sea Change: 2015-2025 Decadal Survey of Ocean Sciences" was released last week that recommends research priorities for National Science Foundation (NSF) funding in the ocean sciences over the next decade. The report was solicited by NSF to help them identify strategic research goals. The report ...
Deep Speech: Scaling up end-to-end speech recognitionSpeech recognition is still an unsolved problem in AI. Humans transcribe speech substantially better than machines, particularly when the speech is noisy, accented or spoken in a natural, unaffected manner. Over the past half-century slow yet steady progress has been made in speech recognition punctuated with rare breakthroughs including the ...
Dodging Extinction - Power, Food, Money and the Future of Life on EarthPaleobiologist Barnosky weaves together evidence from the deep past and the present to offer a practical, hopeful plan for avoiding yet another mass extinction. His compelling evidence suggests that unless we rethink how we generate power, where we get our food, and how we make our money, we will trigger ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $8 Member, $7 Student
Touch: The Science of Hand, Heart, and Mind is an engaging and fascinating examination of this critical interface between our bodies and the outside world, between ourselves and others. David Linden explores every aspect of touch: how has touch come to be central to social interactions and in general health? ...
Danny Kennedy started Sungevity in 2007 and now leads international business development. He authored the book Rooftop Revolution: How Solar Power Can Save Our Economy - and Our Planet - from Dirty Energy in 2012. He also cofounded The SfunCube - the only incubator and accelerator supporting solar entrepreneurs to ...
In 1849 San Francisco was surrounded by wild animals and a flourishing sea and bay, from which most early food was taken. But what is our "wild menu" now? How do foraging, fishing, hunting, and gathering fit into modern life? What role does conservation and ecology play in a contemporary ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Thursday, 02/05/15
Maria Sibylla Merian: A Passion for Plants and InsectsThe artist and scientist Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) was born in Frankfurt, Germany, into a middle-class family of publishers and artists. At the age of fifty-two, Merian traveled with her younger daughter to Suriname, a Dutch territory in South America, to paint its exotic insects. She was an adventurous woman ...
Speaker: William Ruh, Global Software Center, General Electric
Where: San JoseCost:
Environmental Behavior and Environmental Learning: Researching Individuals and Communities Working Toward SustainabilityIn light of today's pressing environmental issues, the need to engage individuals and communities in positive environmental behaviors is more critical than ever. Yet questions persist around how best to motivate environmental behavior, both individually and collectively. Through mixed-methods studies at a range of geographical scales, Woods Center Fellow Nicole Ardoin (Education) and her ...
Lara Kueppers is a Research Scientist in the Carbon & Climate Sciences Program at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Her research expertise is in the areas of climate-ecosystem feedbacks, ecological impacts of climate change, land-cover/ land-use change, regional climate modeling, model-experiment integration, and species effects on ecosystem function. Dr. Kueppers uses field ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
New Developments in mm-Wave and THz; Markets, Technologies, and MeasurementsThis presentation will describe the latest trends involving mm-Wave and THz frequency ranges. A brief survey of the market dynamics driving moves to higher frequencies will be discussed. This will be followed by a survey of some of the technologies being deployed. The talk will conclude with some discussion of ...
Where: Rohnert ParkCost: Free
ASTRONOMICAL TOURISM AND SOLAR ECLIPSE CHASINGSolar eclipses have been observed by humans for thousands of years and have been recorded in the archives of the ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, and Chinese going back 4,000 to 4,500 years. Precise predictions of their occurrences in space and time only date from the 19th Century when the dimensions and ...
Is the night the time when creatures go bump, our brains whirr, or when beautiful music is made? It's all these and more, so join us to explore the night-see and better understand what lurks there in the dark.Buying tickets in advance is strongly recommended; door sales are limited. Tickets for ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 General, $10 Members
Cafe InquiryMeet up with rationalists, skeptics, and freethinkers south of San FranciscoCafe Inquiry is a social event hosted by the Center for Inquiry|San Francisco. We'll meet at Café Borrone http://www.cafeborrone.com/ next to Kepler's Books. Look for CFI t-shirts.For more information or if you have questions please email sf@centerforinquiry.net ...
Where: Menlo ParkCost: Free
Show Off NightlifeDon't be shy-show off! This week, NightLife invites you to step up and show us what you've got.Learn how to deliver standing ovation-worthy presentations with the help of storytelling experts from Speechless in African Hall. You'll never get tongue-tied again!Then, stick around for a battle of the brains (over beers, ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $12 General, $10 Members
Clinical Trials for Gynecologic CancersThis talk will focus on the role clinical trials play in the treatment of gynecologic cancers.Speaker: Oliver Dorigo, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology (Oncology) at Stanford University Medical Center
Where: Palo AltoCost: Free
Greening Our InvestmentsOur investment choices can have a broad impact socially and environmentally. Financial Advisor Toby Cooper will explore the origins, development, and benefits of "socially responsible" (aka, sustainable, ethical, or green) investing, including a nod to 18th Century Quakers, Dr. Martin Luther King, and anti-war activists of the Vietnam war era. ...
Where: SunnyvaleCost: $10 Advance, $15 at door
Friday, 02/06/15
Micro-Randomized Trials and Mobile HealthMicro-randomized trials are trials in which individuals are randomized 100s or 1000s of times over the course of the study. The goal of these trials is to assess the impact of momentary interventions (e.g., interventions that are intended to impact behavior over small time intervals). A fast-growing area of mHealth ...
Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization and Life at the South PoleSarah Stokes Kernasovskiy is from the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC) and a Phd candidate in Physics at Stanford University. Her research focuses on the measurement of B-mode polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). A positive detection of B-mode polarization could be direct evidence for the ...
Where: San MateoCost: Free
Saturday, 02/07/15
Bird Walk Hike at Lake Merritt in OaklandJanuary is the perfect time to observe wintering waterfowl. Join the Lindsay Wildlife Museum for a morning of birding with experienced birdwatchers from the Mt Diablo Audubon Society. Bring your binoculars and learn how to tell the difference between a tern and a gull. Bird walk hike will be at ...
Where: OaklandCost: $15.00 (Member: $10.00)
Salamander Search - Family Science Safari at YSIUnravel the secrets of our unique newt population among the redwoods of the Santa Cruz Mountains! Join us at the YSI Garden in Sanborn County Park to meet and touch some of our native Animal Ambassadors. Learn what they look and feel like, decipher their camouflage, and discover how ...
Where: SaratogaCost: $10 per person
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
Changing the Climate at Golden GateJoin a facilitated dialogue to discuss what you can do about extreme weather and rising sea level. Can our collective knowledge, curiosity, and motivation truly make a difference? Good consumers find the best product and the best price. Good citizens act to create the best community and environment.Whether you live, ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
A Brief Review of The Formation and Evolution of Earth and its Life, Darwin Day Lecture and ExhibitOrigin of Species is one of the most influential books ever written. In it, Darwin gave us a scientific understanding of our origins to replace those based on ancient myths. In commemoration of Darwin's birthday, Professor Katryn Wiese will review the main timeline and evidence for Earth's formation and evolution, including ...
The Courthouse Docket continues with an illustrated presentation by State Park Interpreter Mike Merritt. Using historic images and maps of the past, the presentation will explore the History of Año Nuevo Island.Año Nuevo Island is one of the youngest islands on the California coast, yet already it has managed to write itself into ...
Where: Redwood CityCost: Free with admission
Lunchtime for the FishWatch Ranger Ondrej feed the hungry inhabitants of our fresh and salt-water tanks. Get familiar with some of our Bay Area aquatic neighbors. Watch the different feeding styles of the rock cod, sea stars, and rainbow trout.
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
The National Effort to Save Monarch ButterfliesLeading scientists recently signed a petition to protect the monarch butterfly under the Endangered Species Act and submitted it to the U.S. Department of the Interior. Find out about the current research that prompted this move.Sarina Jepsen, Endangered Species Program Director for the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation, will present ...
In mid winter, our whoot-whooting residents are especially active as they prepare for mating season. Join us for an easy four mile dusk hike through the Tennessee Valley, where we will search for and learn more about the owls that reside in and visit the Tennessee Valley. Meet Steffen Bartschat ...
Where: Mill ValleyCost: Free
Sunday, 02/08/15
Marine Science Sunday: Marine Mammal Parents and PupsIn preparation for Valentine's Day, this month we celebrate love under the sea with Marine Mammal Parents and Pups in a fun, educational way for both kids and adults. We recommend teaming our free classroom program with a Docent-led tour at 11am, 1pm or 3pm for a truly immersive marine mammal experience. Read ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Free with admission
Spineless: Portraits of Marine Invertebrates, the Backbone of LifeIn Spineless: Portraits of Marine Invertebrates, the Backbone of Life, acclaimed photographer Susan Middleton explores the mysterious and surprising world of marine invertebrates, which represent more than 98 percent of the known animal species in the ocean. They are also astonishingly diverse in their shapes, patterns, textures, and colors. In ...
Where: Corte MaderaCost: Free
Monday, 02/09/15
Meeting in the middle: acting and learning in social environmentsIn the course of a typical day, an individual child will encounter a range of social situations, all of which afford the opportunity to learn. Patient, caring adults may be engaged with them in conversation or direct instruction. Playful groups of peers may attract their attention to interesting new objects ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
COSMOS - 'THE ELECTRIC BOY'A viewing of an episode of the documentary series Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey. Explores the connection between 19th century physicist Michael Faraday and our modern world of high technology and instantaneous electronic communication
Where: Rohnert ParkCost: Free
When Science and Technology Outrun the Law: Understanding Corporate and Personal RisksWith increasing frequency, new and evolving technologies are disrupting existing industries and legal paradigms. This panel will discuss the complex balance between driving innovation and complying with the law as currently understood. Whether hobbyists' use of drones for aerial surveillance or app-based car services' disregard for traditional hired-car licensing regimes, ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Tuesday, 02/10/15
Extending the search for ETI communication to near-infrared wavelengthsWe are poised to take advantage of a remarkable confluence of technological advances and scientific opportunity. For the first time, very fast, wide bandwidth, high-gain, low noise near-infrared avalanche photo diode (APDs) detectors are available and reasonably priced. Dr. Wright and her team are designing and constructing a new SETI ...
If we are to feed by 2050 a growing population that is increasingly adopting western style diets we will have to intensify food production - producing more but on the same amount or less of land and with the same amount or less of water. Moreover this has to be ...
Dr. Donald Abrams is a cancer and integrative medicine specialist at UCSF Osher Center for Integrative Medicine and Chief of Hematology-Oncology at SF General Hospital where he was a pioneer in HIV/AIDS care and research. At the Osher Center, Dr. Abrams provides integrative medicine consultations for cancer patients. He has completed research in ...
Where: San FranciscoCost:
Seeing Voices: Listening to Historic Sound Recordings with LightThis public lecture is presented as a part of Connecting the Dots 2015, an interdisciplinary workshop on pattern recognition. Sound was first recorded and reproduced by Thomas Edison in 1877. Until about 1950 most recordings were made on mechanical media such as wax, foil, shellac, and lacquer. Some of ...
Imagine being able to watch as Edison turned on his first light bulb, or as Franklin received his first jolt of electricity. Particle Fever follows six brilliant scientists during the launch of the Large Hadron Collider, marking the start-up of the biggest and most expensive experiment in the history of ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: $20 General, $12 Member, $7 Student
Snow LeopardsWith more than 30 years of experience, Rodney is one of the world's leading experts on snow leopards, pioneering the use of economic incentives such as tourist homestays to transform the snow leopard from a pest to an asset in the eyes of local people. Come hear about the amazing ...
There is no question about it – the Internet of Things (IoT) is happening as we speak. It is radically transforming the information technology platform, and providing an extremely high bandwidth channel between the cyber world (as represented by the Cloud) and the physical and biological world in which we ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
February LASER event - Santa CruzLewis Watts, "Black Presence in France (Paris Noir)" Noah Wardrip-Fruin, "Expanding Fiction's Possibilities" Deanna Shemek, "Fast-Forward Renaissance: the Science of Preserving Cultural Heritage" Colleen Reichmuth, "Exploring the inner worlds of marine mammals" Bios:Lewis Watts is Professor Emeritus of Art at UC Santa Cruz. He is a photographer, curator, and ...
Whether you like it or not, your house is full of uninvited guests. Insects and other arthropods (such as spiders and millipedes) have been living and evolving with humans for all of our history. Though we know a lot about several pest species that make trouble in our houses (termites ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $12 General, $10 Seniors, Free for members
A conversation about food marketing, its impact on health and health care costs, and what public health and food advocates are doing to counter it Welcome by Graduate School of Journalism Dean Edward Wasserman and introduction by School of Public Health Dean Stefano Bertozzi Q&A moderated by ...
More than fifty years ago, Michael Gazzaniga made one of the most important discoveries in all of neuroscience - the now foundational understanding that the brain's right and left hemispheres have different strengths and can act independently from one another. Join the father of cognitive neuroscience for a conversation on ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $25 - $35
An Evening with Neil deGrasse TysonJoin us for an evening with Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, award winning- astrophysicist, author, and host of FOX's Cosmos for an evening of engaging conversation on science, exploration and the world as we know it. Neil deGrasse Tyson was born and raised in New York City where he was ...
For California's almost 4000 wineries and 6000 wine-grape growers, sustainability involves low water use, healthy streams, diverse wildlife and native plants, soil rich in nutrients and free of toxics, fair treatment of workers, vibrant local communities, and more. Hear how some growers and vintners are embracing sustainability – from controlling ...
Where: AlbanyCost: Free
Lichen: A Closer LookEnjoy a 2.8-mile loop hike with a park docent to discover the incredible beauty and variety of lichen that thrive in serpentine grasslands. Learn ways these organisms benefit both wildlife and the environment. Meet at the Stile Ranch park entrance off Fortini Rd.
