Bird Language at Lake Merritt!Have you ever wondered what bird is singing in your backyard and what it is saying? Through quiet observation, mapping, and group discussions led by trained naturalists, you will learn to decipher the different calls of bird language and behavior. Once you begin to recognize territorial calls, alarm calls, and ...
SkeptiCal is the Northern California conference of science and skepticism, a day-long event with speakers, panels, and discussions on a wide array of subjects.Speakers include:Carolyn Porco: A decade Exploring SaturnHenry Gilbert: Homo erectus: An Inconvenient Transitional TruthSteve Silberman: Everything you know about autism history is wrongIndre Viskontas: Brain Myths: Lessons ...
Where: OaklandCost: See weblink
Wildflower HikeJoin Peter Warner and ACR Resource Ecologist Dave Self for a day of discovering the splendid diversity and ecology of land plants: mosses, ferns, trees, shrubs, and those photogenic wildflowers. Your guide will be Peter Warner, botanical and ecological consultant, teacher, and plant nerd emeritus. Peter leads botanical field trips throughout California, ...
Experience the birds of summer in the Marin Headlands by joining volunteer Jane Haley for an easy walk along Rodeo Lagoon. Bring field guides and binoculars. Meet at the Marin Headlands Visitor Center. For ages 8 and up; no pets allowed.
Native to California, the burrowing owl is not a typical owl-it doesn't build its nest in trees, and it isn't nocturnal. These owls make their nests in old rodent burrows. Once common throughout California, the population has made a steep decline due to habitat loss. (They are fond of open ...
In a project area encompassing nearly 100 m2on the right (north) bank of the Nile River west of Abu Hamed, Sudan, the Bioarchaeology of Nubia Expedition has documented sites ranging back to the Early Stone Age (>250,000 years ago) with more intensive use in the Middle Stone Age. The focus ...
Esther Perel (Mating In Captivity: Unlocking Erotic Intelligence) is recognized as one of the most insightful and provocative voices on personal and professional relationships and the complex science behind human interaction. The daughter of concentration camp survivors, she is a practicing psychotherapist and organizational consultant to Fortune 500 companies who ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $27 - $37
Monday, 05/16/16
Knowing What and Knowing That We Are SeeingDr. Colin Blakemore's lecture will focus on the transformation and compression of information by eye movements and retinal processing, as well as the many examples of contradiction between what is on the retina and what we see.Wells Fargo Room (C420)
Learning from the Hawaiian bobtail squid: How cilia pump, filter, and mix fluid on a microscaleCilia are microscopic, hair-like structures on the cell surface that can propel the extracellular fluid environment. I am interested in understanding how cilia populations coordinate their beat pattern and how this collective activity generates particular flow patterns and transport functions. Here, I present a case study in the Hawaiian bobtail ...
Where: Moss LandingCost: Free
Uncovering End-User Adoption and Use Characteristics for Solar Home Systems in Sub-Saharan AfricaSolar photovoltaic (PV) products have emerged as a leading potential solution to Sub-Saharan Africa's long-term electrification and development problems. But despite apparent successes in the adoption of solar PV technology in the region – sales have soared to well over 10 million household-sized or smaller units in just the last ...
Superconductivity is perhaps the most spectacular macroscopic quantum phenomenon. A "persistent current" in a ring of superconducting wire will continue to flow forever – a laboratory realization of perpetual motion. A voltage across a junction between two superconductors produces an oscillating current with a frequency that is determined exactly by the voltage and the ...
Sean Carroll, the award-wining author of The Particle at the End of the Universe, explains the difference between how the world works at the quantum, the cosmic and the human levels-and how each connects to the other.Carroll examines the principles that have guided the scientific revolution from Darwin and Einstein ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: $20 General, $12 Member, $8 Student
Tuesday, 05/17/16
Charon: Pluto's Fascinating moon from New HorizonsCharon is Pluto's large companion, and last summer it went from a distant point of light to a full-fledged world in human understanding. Join us as we discuss the interesting fractured geology of Charon. Dr. Ross Beyer, member of the New Horizons team and a Research Scientist at the SETI ...
Where: Mountain ViewCost: Free
Nursery Series: Vegetative Plant PropagationCome learn the secrets of cloning plants by cutting off branches and encouraging them to root! Meghan Steinharter (Fort Funston and Oceana Nurseries Manager) and Robin Binaoro (Marin Headlands Nursery Assistant) will discuss the science behind clonal propagation: what's going on inside the plant and how rooting hormones work. There ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Donations encouraged
Cognitive Computing: to the Singularity and BeyondWhat do we need to understand in order to develop the human/machine interface of the future? What's happening in computing when Artificial Intelligence doesn't seem artificial anymore? Will the smartphone be smarter than we are?In order to understand the profound changes taking place in the world of Cognitive Computing, NFIC ...
Where: StanfordCost: $60 General, $50 Member, $30 Student
Being Human: Our Symbolic NatureJoin scientist Terrence Deacon for an evening exploring our unique capacity for symbolic thought and the role it played in the co-evolution of the human brain and language.Being Human mixes short talks from great minds with fun hands-on experiments, drinks, conversation, and storytelling. Each month we'll explore different aspects of ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $10
Space - Looking up to the StarsOur Universe are full of stars in differnt patterns. Learn what these patterns mean and are they really the same patterns on different parts of our solar system.Editor's Note: We originally listed this for an incorrect date.
Emmy award-winning cameraman Bob Poole is on a mission to help elephants in Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park. One of the world's leading wildlife cinematographers, Poole grew up in East Africa with his sister, Joyce, now a renowned elephant researcher. His unique upbringing gave him an appreciation and curiosity for the ...
NASA's New Horizons spacecraft passed through the Pluto system on July 14, 2015 sending back our first closeup views of that distant, mysterious world and its retinue of moons. The spacecraft executed its observing sequence flawlessly, and the images are still being slowly downlinked back to Earth. The images have ...
Building upon the success of the 2009-2010 Around the Americas expedition, Captain Schrader and crew will once again create a dynamic floating science and exploration lab aboard the 64' S/V Ocean Watch as it circumnavigates the Americas from March 2017-December 2018. We are outfitting the vessel for this expedition to ...
Where: Moss LandingCost:
Genome-Informed Trait Based Modeling of Microbial Communities in Soil and Subsurface SystemsThe biogeochemical functioning of ecosystems is shaped in part by genomic information stored in the microbiome. Cultivation-independent approaches allow us to extract this information through reconstruction of thousands of genomes from a microbial population. Analysis of these genomes, in turn, gives an indication of the organisms present and their functional ...
PARC is excited to welcome Sophie Vandebroek and Sepideh Nasiri as we host a 'fireside chat' to discuss the professional trajectory for women in STEM. This successful and dynamic duo will talk about the professional climate and culture for women working within STEM fields. They will discuss unique opportunities and challenges and how organizations ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: Free
Author Talk and Reading at San Rafael Public Library for The Year of the MiteDo you raise chickens? Have you been thinking about it? You probably want to come to this talk.All it took was a few baby chicks and a carpeted floor, and soon, Jane Ishka, a San Francisco Bay Area homesteader, literally felt her skin crawling. She-and her house, her car, and all ...
Where: San RafaelCost: Free
The Annihilation of Nature: A Clarion Call for Engagement and ActionRenowned biologists Paul and Anne Ehrlich will lead an engaging discussion of humanity's influence on earth's natural resources, the animal kingdom, and the quality of life on our planet. Dr. Paul and Anne Ehrlich hold esteemed faculty positions at Stanford University and have received world recognition for their profound advocacy ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: $10 General, Free for members
Humanity achieved the first reading of its own genetic heritage in the year 2000. That first genome cost $300 million. Today the price is approaching $1,000, initiating an era of personal genomics. We take you on a brief odyssey into the human genome, how it evolved, how genomes differ between ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $8 Member, $7 Students
Nerd Nite SF #72: Submarines, Protein Movies, and Affordable SF Housing!This month we're dealing in the UNBELIEVABLE: wonderful weirdos of the ocean, molecular movies made with lasers, and–the farthest of the fetched–affordable housing in San Francisco. So, take a deep breath and a big sip of your drink as our expert presenters, bartenders, deejay, librarians, and the Grilled Cheese Guy ...
The Rangeland Monitoring Network provides tools, data, and people that assist ranchers, researchers, and conservation planners and partners in collecting data that expands our knowledge of the ecological function of California rangelands and ranching practices.Speaker: Dr. Libby Porzig, Point Blue Soncervations Science
Where: Point Reyes StationCost: Free
Boutique Fuel Markets and Security-Environment-Economic Trade-offsSince the emergence of boutique fuel regulations 25 years ago, U.S. gasoline markets have been segmented based on fuel content regulations, which make these markets less resilient to supply shocks because neighboring markets do not have regulation-compliant fuels to export to those experiencing a shock. Hurricanes have knocked out refineries ...
Findings from a working empirical study of oil and gas industry efforts to influence U.S. environmental regulatory outcomes related to hydraulic fracturing through (i) a content analysis of 589 congressional hearings related to hydraulic fracturing from 1997-2015; and (ii) an evaluation of efforts by the American Legislative Exchange Council to ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Is an Electric Vehicle Right for You?Are you considering leasing or buying an electric vehicle (EV) and want real information versus a sales pitch? Come hear from a panel of local, long-time EV drivers and experts on their experiences. Get your questions answered on the difference between all-electric and plug in hybrid EVs; EV charging (home, ...
Where: StanfordCost: $10
After Dark: Alzheimers and SiliconAutonomy on Endless Trial: The Promise and Perils of Predictive Testing for Alzheimer's DiseaseIn the Balance: Bringing Science to Justice with David Faigman7:00 p.m.Fisher Bay Observatory GalleryLearn how science is used-and misused-in legal decision-making with host David Faigman. Hear compelling discussions with special guests, and share your own insights on ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 General, $10 Members
Popup Aquarium at Jack London SquareEver wonder what critters lurk beneath the surface of the waters around Jack London Square in Oakland, CA? Here is your chance to see them. We will have a table top displayfor you to see, touch and get comfortable with organisms from the docks that may include sponges, sea squirts, ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free
Is Your Car Killing Your Lawn?Noah Diffenbaugh and other scientists have shed further light on why Californians should care about the weather up in the land of Santa Claus. A conversation on the connection between dirty fuels, white sea ice, brown lawns and what we can expect in the future now that we realize El ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $12 Members, $7 Students
Minimally Invasive Aesthetic and Functional Jaw Surgery - State of the ArtTraditionally patients with an imbalanced facial appearance, dental and orthodontic problems, and sleep and breathing disturbances, need to undergo orthognathic "jaw" surgery. It has recently been shown that facial growth can be stimulated and orthodontic treatment be accelerated by minimally invasive procedures possibly avoiding the need for jaw surgery. In ...
Black Oystercatchers are among the most charismatic and easily identifiable residents of our rocky intertidal coastline. But with less than 20,000 individuals left worldwide, their future is uncertain. Audubon chapter members from Mendocino to Monterey (including Golden Gate Audubon! see our blog about this) are taking part in population surveys ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Sonoma County Mycological Association MeetingCome identify mushrooms (and bring your mushrooms for identification), and hear a guest speaker. This month's speaker is Christian Schwarz.
Where: Santa RosaCost: Free
Everything Matters: SiliconCome be in your elements with Exploratorium host and scientific raconteur Ron Hipshman. Follow tales of intrigue and invention, join in dynamic demonstrations, and uncover fascinating connections between individual elements and our collective human experience.Part of "After Dark" (6:00 PM - 10:00 PM)
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 General, $10 Members
Beginning in 2003, the Garden Conservancy formed a partnership with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and the NPS to rehabilitate the Historic Gardens of Alcatraz. Join Shelagh Fritz (Project Manager of the Gardens), to learn about the preservation process of a cultural landscapes: through the planning stages, preparation of ...
California's drought discussions have been dominated by media attention and public discourse about the supply of water while the impact on soil resources has been largely ignored. Hear Stephen Andrews (UC Berkeley Professor specializing in soils) discuss climate change and drought through a soils lens, and learn how soil depletion ...
Genetics and the social sciences have a troubled history. However, within the last decade, techniques have been developed for the measurement and utilization of individual genetic profiles. The advent of these techniques, as well as the increasing salience of genetic information across many areas of society, offers an opportunity for ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Predicting Biodiversity for Ecosystem Services PaymentsIn addition to the growing number of ecosystem services represented in portfolios of natural capital, biodiversity continues to be difficult to estimate and value across space. Here, we develop empirically based models for quantifying biodiversity across space for guiding investments in ecosystems services and safeguarding biodiversity. We use Costa Rica ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Friday@Maker Faire Bay AreaCome celebrate Maker Media's 11th anniversary in the Bay Area, showcasing creative and resourceful people in the areas of science and technology, engineering, food, and arts and crafts.Special advance preview on Friday. Requires separate ticket from weekend tickets.
Where: San MateoCost: see website
Is Earth Approaching a Tipping Point?Zika virus. The migrant crisis. Climate change. ISIS. Food scarcity. Drinking water contamination. What we read in the news almost every day seems like a string of unrelated crises, but they're not. In fact, they are intimately intertwined. We're on the brink of a societally dangerous tipping point and at ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free with admission
How the Ohlone Lived with NatureThe Ohlone Indians were inhabitants of this land long ago. They used many native plants to survive. Learn about these Native Americans and how the lived at Tule Ponds.
Where: FremontCost: Free
Tri-Valley Stargazers Astronomy Club monthly meetingThis month's main presentation will be at least a four ring circus! Four (or more) club members will give brief talks about a range of topics. Don Dossa will provide insights about imaging of Jupiter, Steve Adachi will show how to tune up a German Equatorial mount, Chuck Grant will ...
Cancer physician Siddhartha Mukherjee is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Emperor of All Maladies, a profoundly humane biography of cancer - from its first documented appearances thousands of years ago through the epic battles in the twentieth century to cure, control and conquer it, to a radical new ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $57 - $27 General, Members -10%
Saturday, 05/21/16
Solar Energy Training: Free Workshop on How to Install Rooftop PV SystemsJoin others who are interested in helping save the environment one rooftop at a time. This workshop is offered by SunWork, a nonprofit that installs rooftop PV systems on small-energy-footprint homes. You'll learn the basics of rooftop solar energy and gain insights on how to install rooftop photovoltaic (PV) energy ...
Where: Redwood CityCost: free
Maker Faire Bay AreaCome celebrate Maker Media's 11th anniversary in the Bay Area, showcasing creative and resourceful people in the areas of science and technology, engineering, food, and arts and crafts.
Where: San MateoCost: see website
Sandia Science and Technology Community ShowcaseSandia National Laboratories invites you to enjoy a day of science and technology in Livermore. Hear national security experts talk about elements of the perfect heist and the frontiers of cybersecurity in the digital age. Learn how high performance computing is being used to improve the efficiency of car engines, ...
Where: LivermoreCost: Free
Wingding Family Fest Bring your friends and family, and join us for a day of discovery and adventure in a beautiful outdoor setting at the 5th annual Wingding Family Fest. You'll enjoy visiting with live animals, hands on science, arts & crafts, guided walks, birding, and more at this great 'outdoor science fair' ...
Where: Los AltosCost: FREE
Marinship Walking TourWalk back in time on this guided tour of Sausalito's historic Marinship. The Bay Model and surrounding area was a major WWII shipyard, which had a significant role in winning the war and influencing social changes in Marin County. Come and learn about the history, the extraordinary Marinship workers, and ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
MyShake – Building a smartphone seismic networkIf everyone's smartphone can turn into a seismometer, then we will have a really dense global seismic network to monitor earthquakes! Sounds great! But you may have a lot of questions in your mind!How can a smartphone detect earthquakes? What magnitude of the earthquake can a smartphone detect? How can a smartphone ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
bay.org and the Bay Modelbay.org has teamed up with the Army Corps of Engineers and the Bay Model Visitor Center to create the Bay Model Alliance, a not-for-profit organization that benefits the Bay Model and its educational programs by bringing the Bay, its animals, and their habitats to you! Join us at the Bay Model ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Celebrate the World Ocean!At Aquarium of the Bay we celebrate World Oceans Day through an entire week of activities and crafts, and we're bringing some of these engaging activities to the Bay Model! Join a naturalist to help dissect the pellet, or bolus, of a juvenile black-footed albatross chick to see what these ...
Let family walks become a shared time of nature learning. We'll begin by helping kids create their personal bird watching field guides, and then head out onto the trails to find those birds. A limited number of binoculars are available to borrow. Recommended for children ages 5-10. RESERVATIONS REQUIRED. Register ...
Where: FremontCost: Free
Navigating the BayNavigating the Bay is a great way to relax and have some fun. It can be exciting and challenging but it requires knowledge and skill to do it safely. Each bay has its own disposition and personality. In commemoration of "World Ocean Day", let's find out how the different bays ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Oceans of Carbon Understanding the Oceans' Changing Chemistry along the West CoastThe NOAA research ship Ronald H. Brown will dock at the Exploratorium May 21 and 22-the midway point of a month-long expedition to study the Pacific Ocean's changing chemistry and its impact on marine organisms. Join three of the ship's scientists to hear about the increasing acidity of ocean water, ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free with admission
Twilight Marsh WalkExperience the salt marsh at twilight on an easy stroll along Tidelands (1 1/3 mile) Trail. At the setting of the sun we will observe the beginning of nature's night shift. Come discover the sights, sounds, and smells of the refuge as night descends. Not suitable for young children. RESERVATIONS ...
Where: FremontCost: Free
The Beautiful Shapes of Planetary Nebulae and Theories About Their FormationPlanetary nebulae are formed when a small-to-medium mass star dies and puffs its outer atmosphere into space. Their many varied shapes are beautiful, ranging from bubbles, to rings, to bipolar lobes. Some have high velocity jets. In this talk I will discuss three planetary nebulae: NGC 6751, NGC 7026, and ...
