Signatures of Neutron Star Mergers in the Era of Advanced LIGOCoalescing stellar mass compact objects (binary neutron stars and black holes) are promising sources for the direct detection of gravitational waves by Advanced LIGO in the next few years, if not this fall. Maximizing the scientific return from such a discovery will require identifying a coincident electromagnetic counterpart. One possible ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
After Dark: Let's Have a BallCelebrate the new year with a round of bubbly-and a plethora of spherical phenomena. Don goofy goggles to play your favorite schoolyard games with altered sight, and see what happens once you take them off. Peer at circular denizens of the biosphere, such as rotating colonies of Volvox, a genus ...
You're never too old to learn new tricks, so why not learn a few? Back by popular demand, NightLife is serving up a host of how-to workshops, demos, and more!
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 General, $12 Members
Birds & Botany Hike the forests, meadows and hills around Pine Flat and up Redhill with ACR Volunteer Patrick Woodworth & ACR Resource Ecologist Dave Self. We'll be watching (and listening) for birds on the hike out. After lunch, we'll botanize as we consider the seasonal interplay between bird foods, habitat history and current activity ...
Where: HealdsburgCost: Free
42nd Annual Santa Cruz Fungus FairLearn about the hundreds of beautiful and fascinating species of mushrooms found in the Santa Cruz/Monterey and Bay Area. Find fungi on display in a re-created woodland habitat. This unique Santa Cruz tradition features three days of fantastic fun, informative speakers and demonstrations, with fungal activities for the whole family. ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: $5
'Of Mice and Plants' and 'Secretive inhabitant of the beach and dunes: Snowy Plovers on the West Coast'Native mice on sand dunes consume the seeds of plants. Recent research at Point Reyes National Seashore has shown that invasive European beachgrass provides shelter that allows mice to consume large quantities of fruits of the endangered plant, Tidestrom's lupine. The recent large-scale restoration at Abbotts Lagoon, which has removed ...
Where: Point Reyes StationCost: Free
Our Fantastic MoonThe full moon is the second brightest object in the sky. This talk will be initiated with a historical overview of the role played by the moon in Indian, Mesopotamian, and Meso-american cultures. It will be proceed with a discussion of few curious facts about the geometry of its orbital ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
Green Friday: 'Racing to Zero'At the January Green Friday Racing To Zero will be shown. Racing To Zero is a documentary film 55 minutes long shown at the Mill Valley Film Festival in October, 2014 that portrays the existing programs and plans of San Francisco's high "let's end waste" goals. Racing To Zero is ...
Steve Gottlieb has been an active observer and catalogue junkie for over 25 years and member of SFAA since 1981. He's written a number of deep-sky observing articles for Sky & Telescope, Astronomy, Deep Sky Magazine as well as the SFAA bulletin. His 600 favorite deep-sky objects are featured in ...
Where: Los Altos HillsCost: Free ($3 Parking)
Saturday, 01/09/16
42nd Annual Santa Cruz Fungus FairLearn about the hundreds of beautiful and fascinating species of mushrooms found in the Santa Cruz/Monterey and Bay Area. Find fungi on display in a re-created woodland habitat. This unique Santa Cruz tradition features three days of fantastic fun, informative speakers and demonstrations, with fungal activities for the whole family. ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: $10 General, $5 Students & 62+
Family Program: Succulents for Little Green ThumbsChildren of all ages, together with their parent/guardian, will explore amazing succulents, discover where and how they grow, and pot-up their plants to take home. The program features a mini-tour of the Arid House and Desert collections.
Where: BerkeleyCost: $15 Child/$12 Adult General, $12/$8 Member
Little Explorers Workshop: Tails and WorkshopsMake take-home projects and do activities with our menagerie of animals, including rabbits, turtles, and birds. Young children develop an appreciation of living things and spark their curiosity with a new animal theme each week.
Where: BerkeleyCost: $65-80
Low Tide WalkJoin us for a series of coastal adventures. We will be taking advantage of the multiple low tides this season with a sequence of Low Tide Walks. We will return to a few of our favorite stomps as well as venturing to some new spots. When the tide is low ...
Where: Half Moon BayCost: $20
Oceans Aglow: Family Night Hike & CampfireJoin NatureBridge Golden Gate as we discover one of the most amazing natural phenomenon, bioluminescence. We will hike out to Rodeo Beach and explore the sands for twinkling plankton. Where did they come from? Why are they blinking? Are they here all the time? We will try and answer all these and other ...
Where: SausalitoCost: $12/person
The Physics of Time TravelIs time travel science fiction or a plausible reality? Written about for centuries and theorized by the most celebrated scientists, the quantum mechanics of time travel are still a hot topic in modern physics. Using popular movies as a framework, Professor Wharton will outline several distinct categories of consistent time ...
Where: OaklandCost: $15
Sunday, 01/10/16
Teddy Bear With Friends: Baboons!It's tea time at Oakland Zoo and you are cordially invited! Bring an adult, bring your stuffie, and learn all about Baboons. Enjoy a morning of snacks, activities, books and play while making and delivering an enrichment gift straight to the zoo's Baboons. When the fun is done, your child ...
Where: OaklandCost:
42nd Annual Santa Cruz Fungus FairLearn about the hundreds of beautiful and fascinating species of mushrooms found in the Santa Cruz/Monterey and Bay Area. Find fungi on display in a re-created woodland habitat. This unique Santa Cruz tradition features three days of fantastic fun, informative speakers and demonstrations, with fungal activities for the whole family. ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: $10 General, $5 Students & 62+
This month we celebrate the animals that are the champions of the cold: Animals of the Arctic. 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 on for more info... Program Summary FREE Classroom Programs: Animals of ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
21st Century Digital Technologies meet Pharaonic Information SystemsThe 134 giant sandstone columns of the Great Hypostyle Hall are a virtual petrified forest, each of them blanketed with thousands of hieroglyphic texts and hundreds of elaborately carved scenes representing kings and gods. This dazzling array of ancient information technology has long daunted visitors and even scholars attempting to ...
Silicon photonics has emerged as a compelling platform technology for photonic integrated circuits, with applications ranging from optical interconnects to optical routers and signal processors. High-speed modulators and transceivers have been successfully commercialized. However, silicon photonics is inefficient in switching optical signals. The refractive index change of free-carrier plasma, or ...
The construction of new nuclear plants in the U.S. and OECD countries has slowed substantially due to the low cost of natural gas, incentives for deployment of wind and solar, and especially due to the high cost of nuclear power plant construction and safety concerns after Fukushima. The fleet is aging and significant retirements are ...
7:00-7:25: Anna Davidson(UC Davis/ Plant Sciences) on "It's Alive!"A brief history and overview of Bioart...Read more7:25-7:50: Hideo Mabuchi(Stanford/ Applied Physics) on "Creative Process in Applied Science and Art"Scientific research follows a process similar to that of artistic exploration...Read more7:50-8:10: BREAK. Before or after the break, anyone in the ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Tuesday, 01/12/16
Life in the Universe - the Breakthrough InitiativesOn July 20, 2015, the 46th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, the Breakthrough Prize Foundation announced in London, UK a new initiative to study life in the universe. The announcement was made by Silicon Valley billionaire Yuri Milner and physicist Steven Hawking. The Breakthrough Initiatives currently consist of ...
At the Eastern gateway to our Bay, where California's two great rivers mingle with tides, wildlife-rich marshes, farms, and water supplies for millions hang in the balance. Also at stake: six endangered fish species, as well as homes, highways, pipelines and power lines.Award-winning nature-interpreter Mike Moran, supervising naturalist at the ...
Where: AlbanyCost: Free
The Seven Deadly Sins Committed by FungiTom Volk is a Professor of Biology at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. He teaches courses on Mycology, Medical Mycology, Plant-Microbe Interactions, Food & Industrial Mycology, Advanced Mycology, Organismal Biology and Latin & Greek for Scientists. His website, Tom Volk's Fungi has a popular "Fungus of the Month" feature, and ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Wednesday, 01/13/16
SFMS Workshop in Microscopy TechniquesSFMS will be presenting a hands-on workshop in basic specimen preparation (by Peter Werner), Kohler illumination and alignment using a mirror and external lamp, and, if time allows, a demo of making and installing darkfield and Rheinberg filters (by Peter Werner). Peter Werner will also lead a tour of the ...
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 educated ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $73.50 - $268.50
Michael Shermer: Skeptic: Viewing the World with a Rational EyeFor fifteen years, Michael Shermer has written a column for Scientific American magazine that synthesizes scientific concepts and theory for a general audience. His trademark combination of deep scientific understanding and an entertaining writing style has thrilled his huge and devoted audience for years. Now, in SKEPTIC: Viewing the World ...
