Black holes, neutron stars and the birth of gravitational wave astronomy - CANCELEDGravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of space-time produced by catastrophic astrophysical events, are arguably the most elusive prediction of Einstein’s theory of General Relativity, so feeble that Einstein himself thought their detection would be impossible. One hundred years later, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) and its sister project ...
Where: Menlo ParkCost: Free
Extreme Weather Events and Global Warming: The New Normal? Join us for a talk with Dr. Noah Diffenbaugh, Kara J Foundation Professor and Kimmelman Family Senior Fellow at Stanford University. He studies the climate system, including the processes by which climate change could impact agriculture, water resources, and human health.
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Preventing Wildfire in the Oakland HillsThe Bay Area recently experienced a rash of devastating fires. For many, these were a reminder of the deadly 1991 Oakland hills firestorm that destroyed thousands of homes. What did Oakland learn from that event, and what are East Bay cities doing now to prevent and prepare for wildfire? This ...
National Engineers Week: AviationLaunch a journey in innovation and prepare for National Engineers Week!This year’s exploration into the Engineering Design Process will explore the challenge of spaceflight as participants learn the science of rocketry and built a water-powered rocket able to meet a challenging altitude goal!Programs are designed for Grades 4-8 and participants will ...
Part of the Sustainability Leadership Speaker SeriesThis series explores the connections between great leadership and the actual achievement of sustainability and wellbeing for everyone, across generations.Speaker: Lisa Dreier, World
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Quantum Computing for the CuriousA modern-day 'space-race' is unfolding to build the world's first quantum computer - a device that leverages delicate quantum phenomena to offer computing power far beyond what could ever be achieved with a conventional computer. As exciting as it is to be in the midst of a second computing revolution, ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: Free
Why Need to Protect Half the Planet and Where to Start?New research indicates current global conservation targets, which call for preserving 17 percent of land and 10 percent of oceans, are far too low. Instead, targets should be closer to 50 percent for land and 30 percent for oceans. This will protect the diversity of life on Earth and ensure human ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $8 Members, Free for students
Beer Week NightLifeCelebrate SF Beer Week with a froth-filled evening of brews. Sip your way through a pop-up beer hall with dozens of local breweries slinging crowd favorites and limited releases.-----> Black Sands Brewery makes their NightLife debut alongside NightLife vets Anchor Brewing, Pacific Brewing Lab, Calicraft, and Drake’s Brewing. Triple Voodoo will sling ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 General, $12 Members
The Science of Cannabis: The Neuroscience of Cannabis - SOLD OUTHow does Cannabis affect our brain, mind, and behavior? The subjective experiences, therapeutic uses, and potential for abuse associated with Cannabis are related to the plant’s complex botanical chemistry and the impact of this chemistry on body and psyche.Speaker: David Presti, UC Berkeley
Common Loons are a charismatic species that faces many reproductive challenges. While 50 years ago they bred in northern California, today northern Washington is the southwestern edge of their North American breeding range. The Poleschooks started out photographing Washington state loons in 1996, and their work turned into a large-scale ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $5 General, Free for members
Nerd Nite East Bay is hosting a special Beer Edition at The Good Hop for SF Beer Week 2018! There will be two speakers: Liam O'Donoghue of East Bay Yesterday Podcast presenting "History of East Bay Beer," and Phillip Emerson, head brewer of Almanac Beer Company presenting "The Chemistry of ...
7:00-7:25: Audrey Shafer(Stanford Univ/ Medicine) on "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein: The First 200 Years "Why is this novel, known as the first science fiction text, so generative...Read more7:25-7:50: Qifeng Chen(Intel Labs) on "Photographic Image Synthesis with Cascaded Refinement Networks".An A.I. approach to synthesizing photographic images...Read more7:50-8:10: BREAK. Before ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Our Brain’s Development in a Technological World The brain is composed of about 100 billion unconnected neurons when we are born. As we grow, our early experiences - hearing caregivers’ voices during infancy, solving simple puzzles, reading books before bedtime- determine the neurological connections and pathways that are formed. Neuroscientists believe the majority of essential brain development ...
Avoiding California’s Next Water CrisisAre the Sierra Nevada headwaters drought resilient and what have we learned from the 2011-15 drought? Learn about sustainable water supply and actions that the state can take to adapt and provide a secure water future. Roger Bales, UC Merced and Adjunct Professor at UC Berkeley has been active in ...
Where: LivermoreCost: $32 - $40 Adults, $12 Students
After Dark: Everything Matters: CobaltFrom ceramic bowls to cell phones, cobalt plays an important commercial role across the globe. Follow cobalt’s history with ceramic artist Forrest Lesch-Middelton, and learn how its uses impact us both individually and as a whole. He’ll share his unique making process with cobalt blue, as well as his efforts ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $17.95 advance, $19.95 at the door
How do plants work? If it’s been way too long since that high school biology class, come take a step back with Annette Russell (Presidio Nursery Manager). We will learn the basic processes that plants go through in life, how they have adapted to the changing earth environment over time, ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Donations encouraged
Field Botany FridayJoin us to explore the Modini Mayacamas Preserves each season in search of botanical beauty and interest. We’ll learn some plant ecology and ethnobotany from ACR Education Specialist Dave Self and others in the group. Depending on the season, we’ll look for late flowers and seeds; nuts and fall colors, ...
What if scientific discovery could mimic the fountain of youth? At this event, University of Bern alumni and Stanford Professor of Neurology Tony Wyss-Coray will present his groundbreaking research on neurodegeneration and how scientific innovation could change the way humans age.In his remarkable 2014 study, Wyss-Coray found that transferring blood from young ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $10 General, Free Swiss Alumni
Exploring the Solar System with Gamma RaysLawrence Livermore National Laboratory built the gamma-ray spectrometer that flew on NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft to the planet Mercury. We are presently building two new gamma-ray instruments to visit an exotic metal asteroid called 16-Psyche, and to visit the moons of Mars (Phobos and Deimos). Gamma-rays represent the highest-energy region of ...
Where: LivermoreCost: Free
Saturday, 02/17/18
History and Habitat in Pine FlatJoin ACR Education Specialist Dave Self to learn about the rich history of Pine Flat and human influences on the landscape. We will discuss Wappo uses and the early Fur Trade, ranching and the Mercury Boom and Bust of the 1870’s, as well as recent protection. You’ll also learn a ...
Where: GeyservilleCost: $20 suggested donation
SWOOP - Drone Racing & Raptors in Flight (Second Weekend of 2 Weekend Event)CuriOdyssey’s extraordinary exhibition, SWOOP - A Celebration of Flight, opens on the evening of February 9 and runs for two weekends, February 10-11 and February 17-19, 2018. This unique avian and aeronautical festival will thrill curious kids and families with exciting indoor drone races and nature’s aerial experts, live raptors, ...
Where: San MateoCost: $9.50-12.50
Salt Marsh WalkTake a walk with docent Gregg Aronson around the wetlands of the wildlife refuge and learn about their history. See examples of salt collection ponds and learn what is being done to convert them back to their original, natural salt marsh state. Hear how wildlife is affected by the two types of habitat, and why it ...
Counter Culture Labs is proud to be hosting the American Society for Microbiology Agar Art Contest.Come and learn how to make colorful and unique living art. Design your own art piece using our colorful bacteria and then submit your piece for a chance to win.We will be hosting several workshops, ...
Where: OaklandCost: $20
Family Bird WalkLet 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
Why Can't I Eat Grass?Join us to learn why certain animals like farm animals can subsist entirely on plant matter, while other animals thrive on a diet of meat and plants. We'll explore how all digestive systems are different and how they help the animal obtain nutrients from different types of food.Speaker: Erin Dekleva, ...
Viruses are infectious agents that exist in the twilight zone between the living and the non-living. Despite their tiny genomes and diminutive nature, viruses hold the power of life and death. They also contain remarkable molecular tools, some of which researchers have learned to harness to understand and control the ...
Where: AlamedaCost: Free
Science Fiction Turned FactScience fiction has predicted many things. Some have come true (think touch screens, submarines, bionic limbs), others, not so much - or at least, not yet.If you’ve ever wondered where your flying car or rocket belt is, or why you don’t yet have a robot servant, find out at the ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free
Sunday, 02/18/18
SWOOP - Drone Racing & Raptors in Flight (Second Weekend of 2 Weekend Event)CuriOdyssey’s extraordinary exhibition, SWOOP - A Celebration of Flight, opens on the evening of February 9 and runs for two weekends, February 10-11 and February 17-19, 2018. This unique avian and aeronautical festival will thrill curious kids and families with exciting indoor drone races and nature’s aerial experts, live raptors, ...
Most people will never meet a sea pig despite how common they are. These sea cucumbers inhabit the deep ocean bottom. With translucent bodies, and an appetite for decomposing things, sea pigs are often referred to as living vacuum cleaners. In recent years, the amount of food (carbon) reaching the ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free
Monday, 02/19/18
SWOOP - Drone Racing & Raptors in Flight (Second Weekend of 2 Weekend Event)CuriOdyssey’s extraordinary exhibition, SWOOP - A Celebration of Flight, opens on the evening of February 9 and runs for two weekends, February 10-11 and February 17-19, 2018. This unique avian and aeronautical festival will thrill curious kids and families with exciting indoor drone races and nature’s aerial experts, live raptors, ...
Where: San MateoCost: $9.50-12.50
THINGS ONE CAN LEARN BY PUTTING A QUADCOPTER IN A VACCUUM CHAMBERQuadcopters (also known as “dronesâ€) do not fly in vacuum. This is obvious enough that experimenting on one in a vacuum chamber would seem rather uninteresting, but there is one question that Eric J Ayars will address by such an experiment: the mechanism for yaw control. Quadcopters control yaw (rotation ...
A photography talk with Mandy Barker, an international award-winning photographer whose work involving marine plastic debris has received global recognition. The motivation for her science-based photographic works is to raise awareness about plastic pollution in the world's oceans whilst highlighting the harmful effects on marine life and ultimately ourselves. She ...
The History of the Decline and Fall of Little hFor over four decades, the dimensionless Hubble constant (or little h) has been a constant presence in distances, times, masses, and luminosities for cosmologists and extragalactic astrophysicists, baffling the uninitiated to no end about the interpretation of these values. But one theorist dared to submit a paper to Publications of ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Think Like an EngineerIn science, we research, explore and analyze in order to understand our environment. In design, we create our environment, and then research and analyze to justify our creation. While the skill sets in science and mathematics are core competencies for engineering, in practice these activities are often derivatives of the ...
Free Bay Currents talk: Climate, Fire, and the Future of our ForestsThe earth is warming -- but what do we know about how that may affect California's varied plants and animals, including humans? Learn about recent findings, including what is known so far of impacts of the recent North Bay fires, from Dr. David Ackerly, UC Berkeley Professor of Integrative Biology. ...
Black holes are some of the most exotic and extreme objects in the universe. Though they sound like the stuff of science fiction, they are real and much more common than you might think. Every galaxy has a black hole lurking at its center! Black holes are not actually black, ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Wonderfest: Mission: MarsThe first human mission to Mars will be the greatest adventure of the 21st-century. As with all expeditions, its success will depend on planning. The first steps are already under way: achieving longer spaceflight missions, planning for deep space journeys beyond the Moon, and exploring extreme terrestrial environments as Mars ...
The fields of stem cells, immunotherapy, gene therapy and regenerative medicine are poised to change the face of healthcare. Immunotherapy is giving terminal cancer patients a second chance at life, gene therapy can cure rare diseases, and living stem cells and other cell and cultured tissue therapies are beginning to ...
Residential electricity prices do not generally respond to wholesale prices and thus are disconnected from the marginal cost of generation. This study examines a field experiment in Texas that includes both pricing and informational interventions to encourage energy conservation during summer peak load days when the marginal cost of generation ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Why Is the Information Revolution So Scary?Does the truth matter anymore? For the past several years - but especially since the 2016 US presidential election - Russian hackers, the mainstream media, social media platforms, conspiracy theorists, Twitter bots, U.S. intelligence agencies, and unscrupulous businesses have all been blamed for polluting our information sources with fake news ...
Where: BerkeleyCost:
Three lectures at the Estuary & Ocean Science CenterDive Patterns Behavior of White Sharks Chacharodon carchariasSpeaker: Bianca BahmanSpatial Planning for Saint George's Caye using Participatory GISSpeaker: Salma Abdel-Raheem (Hines lab)Spatial Patterns in the Aragonite Saturation Horizon for the North Central California ShelfSpeaker: Ryan Anderson
Drawing from her forthcoming edited collection, Sustainability: Approaches to Environmental Justice and Social Power and her current project Environmental Justice in a Moment of Danger, Sze asks how do we “situate sustainability?†How does the ways in which sustainability is conceived and researched matter now, in the most anti-environmental Federal ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Town Hall Meeting Seminar: Measure Z, Monterey County (dramatization)The vast Salinas River Groundwater Basin flows Northwest following the Salinas River where it empties into Monterey Bay. This area was made famous by author John Steinbeck in his novel East of Eden. Besides providing drinking water it irrigates the rich agricultural region of the Salinas Valley (“Americas Salad Bowlâ€). ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Cloudy Days for Solar?When the United States slapped 30 percent tariffs on imported solar panels, headlines heralded bad times ahead for clean energy in this country. But the stock prices of solar installers increased, because the hit could have been worse. Solar entrepreneur and advocate Jigar Shah said it was “good news.†But ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $12 Members, $7 Students
Michael Aw is a wildlife photographer, explorer and conservationist. He has authored 35 books of the ocean. His accolades include winning more than 65 international photographic awards and he was named as one of the world’s most influential nature photographers by Outdoor Photography. Michael Aw’s essays and pictures have been ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Big Astronomy Begins: Searching for Exoplanets with AITo uncover the mysteries of the universe, astronomers are becoming greedy, making more observations than they can possibly analyze manually. Large photometric surveys from space telescopes like Kepler and the future TESS are no exception and today modern astronomers use artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms to help them reveal the existence of exoplanets hidden ...
Where: Menlo ParkCost:
Nerd Nite SF #93: Lost Venues, Folkpocalypse, and Hybrid Instruments!“Bring The Noise, Bring Defunct: A Personal History of SF’s Deceased Music Venues†by Dan StrachotaYou’ve heard it once, you’ve heard it a million times: The San Francisco music scene is dead! All the cool venues are getting shut down! Everything used to be so much better here! Is it ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $8
Wonderfest: Mission: MarsThe first human mission to Mars will be the greatest adventure of the 21st-century. As with all expeditions, its success will depend on planning. The first steps are already under way: achieving longer spaceflight missions, planning for deep space journeys beyond the Moon, and exploring extreme terrestrial environments as Mars ...
Where: Castro ValleyCost: Free
Writing Applications that are Easier to Defend than AttackConventional wisdom says that the attacker has an enduring economic advantage over the defender. After all, the good guy needs to fix all the vulnerabilities, while the attacker only needs to exploit one of them. Conventional wisdom is right if we keep developing software the way we always have. Fortunately, ...
