DO WIMPS RULE? THE LUX AND LZ EXPERIMENTS AND THE SEARCH FOR COSMIC DARK MATTERThe nature of dark matter is a profound mystery at the intersection of particle physics, astrophysics and cosmology. A leading possibility is that it is composed of weakly interacting massive particles, or WIMPs, which may be detectable using terrestrial particle detectors. Recent technological advances are enabling very rapid increases in ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: Free
Big Data, Genomics and Precision MedicineThe Life Sciences Foundation invites you to join Dr. Eric Green - Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute for conversations with Bay Area genomic research leaders at the Tech Museum of Innovation.Guests include Anne Wojcicki (23 and Me), Neil Risch (UCSF), David Haussler (UCSC), Mike Hunkapiller (Applied Biosystems), ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free - Tickets required
Captivology:The Science of Capturing People's Attention Attention is the fundamental lifeblood and currency of the modern economy. Entrepreneurs need the attention of users. Teachers need to keep the focus of their students. Artists and performers need to captivate their audiences. Yet most people have a very limited understanding of attention -- how it works, why we ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: Free
The First Five Kilobytes are the HardestAlan Turing's one-dimensional model of universal computation of 1936 led directly to John von Neumann's two-dimensional implementation of 1946. The Electronic Computer Project at the Institute for Advanced Study jump-started the digital revolution by bringing engineers into the den of the mathematicians, rather than by bringing mathematicians into a den ...
Step right up! For one night and one night only, the Exploratorium transforms into a Carnival featuring Amazing Animal Acts, Astounding Forces of Nature, Mysterious Mental Manipulations, and Thrilling Games of Skill and Chance. Within these walls lurk some of the Most Astonishing Phenomena Found in Nature-the biggest "freakshow" of ...
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 ...
Get ready for your close-up this week with film screenings, filmmaker talks, and other cinematic surprises in honor of the SF International Film Festival.In African Hall, settle in to watch a trio of short films against a backdrop of adorable African penguins.First up, animated short The Damkeeper, which snagged a ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $12 General, $10 Members
Premier of 'Butterfly Town, USA'Butterfly Town, USA follows a community of activists living in Pacific Grove, who are working together to restore the Monarch Butterfly Sanctuary. The heart of this film is the story of one activist, Bob Pacelli, who is leading an effort to plant more trees in the Sanctuary to protect the butterflies from ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: Free
Friday, 04/03/15
Replication, Communication, and the Population Dynamics of Scientific DiscoveryMany published research results are false, and controversy continues over the roles of replication and publication policy in improving the reliability of research. I will present a mathematical model of scientific discovery in the context of replication, publication bias, and variation in research quality. This model provides a formal framework ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Optofluidic Devices for Droplet and Cell ManipulationThe area of lab-on-a-chip offers exciting new capabilities for chemical/biological assays - with increased automatic, throughput and sensitivity of detection, and reduced sample and reagent usage. The field has seen remarkable progress in the last decade with applications ranging from drug development to point-of-care diagnostics. Our group has focused on ...
The David Brower Center is one of the Bay Area's most advanced green buildings and an inspiring home for environmental and social action, housing like-minded organizations. The building combines offices, the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Theater, the Hazel Wolf Gallery, meeting space, and a restaurant under one roof. It is ...
Fifteen years ago I created a multi-panel format of 2-dimensional art, which I have called "symvisio", a word that I made up from the Latin roots, "sym" and "visio" to mean "viewing together". In this format, the synergistic relationships between the panels strongly affect the dynamics of the presentation of ...
Where: San MateoCost: Free
Saturday, 04/04/15
Total Lunar EclipseThe observatory deck opens at 2am for the late night viewing festivities. A Lunar Eclipse occurs when the Moon passes through the shadow of the Earth. Witness the stellar occurrence from our observation deck and come ready with your questions for our experts. Bring binoculars, blankets and warm clothes.
Where: OaklandCost: $15
NanoDays 2015NanoDays is a nationwide festival of educational programs about nanoscale science, engineering, and Technology and its potential impact on the future. NanoDays events are organized by partners in the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net), and take place at over 250 science museums, Research centers, and universities across the country.
Where: OaklandCost: Free with admission
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
Reading your mind: An 'Image and Inquiry' presentationJoin Mark Lescroart and Natalia Bilenko to learn about their efforts to map out the visual parts of the cerebral cortex: that is, which parts of the brain respond to which characteristics of visual images. They will show how this knowledge can be used to decode brain activity. Get ...
Spring is a wonderful time to enjoy the influx of birds to the Marin Headlands. Join volunteer Jane Haley for an easy walk to discover our spring visitors. Meet at the Marin Headlands Visitor Center. Bring field guides and binoculars; dress in layers. For ages 8 and up; no pets ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Monday, 04/06/15
Seismic Performance of Steel Bridges during Last 50 Years and Lessons LearnedThe talk will focus on the observed seismic performance of steel bridges during the major earthquakes over the last 50 years (Alaska 1964- Napa 2014). During the 1964 Alaska quake major steel truss spans collapsed indicated lack of sufficient length of bearing supports on the piers. The next major quake, ...
ADVANCED LIGO AND THE SEARCH FOR GRAVITATIONAL WAVES Dr. Norna Robertson (Caltech and the University of Glasgow) will review the search for gravitational waves, and in particular discuss the Advanced LIGO detectors which are expected to carry out their first observational run during 2015.
Where: Rohnert ParkCost: Free
Interactive Information: Applications and New DirectionsIn 1948, Shannon laid the foundations for information theory - the study of one-way data transmission over a channel. Communication complexity, developed in the last thirty years, studies the communication cost of functions, and has a vast number of applications in computer science. In the standard communication setting, two players ...
The world's bees can improve economic and ecological sustainability, if only we let them. We know the vital importance of bees, yet we also know that they are dying off. What does the future human condition look like in a world that incorporates bees into our architecture, healthcare, and everyday ...
In this presentation, Scowen will discuss the legacy of the Hubble Space Telescope with respect to what it has taught us about the formation of stars and planets in our Galactic neighborhood. The resolution of Hubble has allowed us to see things moving over the 20-25 years of its mission ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $12 General, $8 Members
Tuesday, 04/07/15
Stardust: analyses of cometary and interstellar dust in the laboratoryStardust was the first spacecraft ever to bring back to Earth extraterrestrial materials from beyond the Moon. It was two missions in one spacecraft. Stardust returned the first samples from a known primitive solar system body, the Jupiter-family comet Wild 2. Stardust also carried a separate collector that was exposed ...
Dr. Shashi Tharoor is an Indian politician and writer who has twice been elected Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He was previously Minister of State in the Government of India for External Affairs (2009–2010) and Human Resource Development (2012–2014). He is a member of the Indian National ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Searching for Dark-Matter AxionsProf. Leslie Rosenberg from the University of Washington will give the Applied Physics/Physics colloquium.
Understanding that fossil fuels are not endless and that their extensive use is causing irreversible, climate changes prompts us to realize we are in urgent need of sustainable energy processes, energy vectors, and solutions to reduce pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Replacing fossil fuels while maintaining our current standard of ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Becoming Steve Jobs: The Evolution of a Reckless Upstart into a Visionary LeaderThere have been many books-on a large and small scale-about Steve Jobs, one of the most famous CEOs in history. But this book is different from all the others. Becoming Steve Jobs takes on and breaks down the existing myth and stereotypes about Steve Jobs. The conventional, one-dimensional ...
Back to the Future: Is the course of evolution predictable?Current Topics in the Natural Sciences: A panel discussion hosted by the Biology Dept. and sponsored by the H&S Dean's Office. This discussion is entitled "Back to the Future: Is the course of evolution predictable?" and will feature Professors Elizabeth Hadly, Erin Mordecai and Dmitri Petrov, moderated by Tim Stearns. ...
The Thief Looked Like My Grandma The Science of Forensic ArtBlack and white WANTED posters are supported by SCIENCE. Find out how forensic artists use intricate knowledge of facial anatomy, witness interview techniques, and tricks for overcoming fallible human memory to identify suspects, and see how it can go horribly, ...
The lack of a formal framework to link local mechanism to larger scale patterns challenges our capacity to understand and monitor pelagic ecosystem responses and feedbacks to global change. I will describe three case studies where we apply the hierarchical patch mosaic paradigm of landscape ecology to the study of ...
Robotics WorkshopHands on activities include:*Experimenting with interactive robots*Building simple robotic cars *Learning the basics of robot programming *Adapting your robot to an obstacle courseSee website for additional details
As California faces an historic statewide drought, we must also recognize the role of global water resources in sustaining California's population and economy. In this talk I will outline the contours and trends of California's water footprint, that is, the water required to support our consumption of everyday products, from food ...
Writing a program involves three tasks:Deciding what the program should do.Deciding how the program should do it.Coding: Implementing these decisions in code.Too often, all three are combined into the process of coding. This talk explains why they should be separated, and discusses how to perform the first two.Speaker: Leslie Lamport, ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Conversations About Landscape The Lexicon of Carbon FarmingJoin Douglas Gayeton from the Lexicon of Sustainability, and Jeff Creque and Torri Estrada from the Marin Carbon Project and the Carbon Cycle Institute, in a conversation on new techniques for carbon sequestration. And learn how the food we eat can contribute to or combat climate change.Conversations About Landscape brings ...
7:00-7:25: Lily Alexander(UC Santa Cruz) on "Counterculture, Collectivity, and the Aesthetics of Early Communications Art at the Western Front and Beyond"The confluence of avant-garde performance, postmodern dance, experimental video and sound in the early development of communications media projects...Read more7:25-7:50: Melanie Swan(Founder, Institute for Blockchain Studies) on "Bitcoin/Blockchain ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Building Community - Food SecurityWhat is food security, and who are the hungry in Marin County? Speakers will discuss the impacts of food insecurity on communities. Agency and individual efforts to address food security through food banks, food redistribution, and agricultural production. Speakers will also discuss environmental impacts of drought and climate change on local ...
Where: San RafaelCost: $10 Advance/$15 at Door General, Free for members
Encountering the First Dwarf PlanetNASA's Dawn mission has now arrived in orbit around Ceres-the largest asteroid in the asteroid belt and also the first dwarf planet to be discovered. Ceres is among the last uncharted worlds in the solar system, and one of the largest "left-overs" from the formation of our solar system. We are about ...
With new breakthroughs in neuroscience, combined with insights from thousands of years of contemplative practice, we are beginning to understand how we can actively shape our own brains for greater happiness, love, and wisdom. Rick Hanson combines modern science with ancient teachings to show you how to have greater emotional ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $27 General, $24 Members
Thought leaders around the world define sustainability as meeting the needs of people today without compromising the well-being of future generations. Current circumstances and trajectories present a significant challenge to achieving that goal. In just fifteen years the world population is expected to increase by 1 billion to more than ...
New Developments in the Treatment of Amatoxin PoisoningS Todd Mitchell MD, MPH is the Principal Investigator of an FDA sanctioned nationwide clinical trial regarding the treatment of patients with deadly Amatoxin Mushroom Poisoning. This is the first prospective trial ever conducted with regards to AMP and is also in that it is being conducted through Dominican Santa ...
