Background Radiation Across WavelengthsThe FIRAS instrument aboard the COBE satellite provided exquisite measurements of the spectrum of average background radiation at microwave wavelengths. Going beyond the microwave, studying the monopole of cosmic background radiation across the whole electromagnetic spectrum provides detailed information about all sources of radiation in the Universe. However, the astronomical ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Edge of darkness: The splashback radius as a physical halo boundary The radii and masses of dark matter halos are an essential input for models of galaxy formation, and for the interpretation of numerous observations. These radii are typically defined through an arbitrary overdensity threshold, largely because the density profiles of halos are thought not to have a well-defined edge. In ...
IndieBio, an SOSV accelerator, is the world’s leading seed-stage biotech accelerator. At IndieBio, we are devoted to building startups dedicated to solving humanity’s most pressing problems with life itself. Our 4-month program includes $250K funding, lab space, and mentorship to foster the next generation of biotech entrepreneurs.Come see the culmination of IndieBio's ...
Dwarf galaxies and dark matter in the Milky Way In the past fifteen years, dozens of tidal streams of stars pulled from dwarf galaxies and globular clusters have been discovered in the Milky Way’s stellar halo. Recently, it has been discovered that as the dwarf galaxies fall into our galaxy they perturb the stars in the disk, causing wavelike ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Medieval Matters: Investigating Medieval History with ScienceWhat can ice samples tell us about medieval economic collapse and about the possible consequences of climate change in today’s world? How do scientists and historians work together to enrich each other’s work? As chair of the Initiative for the Science of Human Past at Harvard, Michael McCormick contends with ...
Where: Cost: Free
Bat Mist Netting at Muir WoodsCome join us at Muir Woods to learn about bat ecology and our exciting bat monitoring and inventorying program! We will have a brief discussion about bats, demonstrate acoustic monitoring, setup mist nets, and take a close up look at the bats as they are safely caught and released! Event will ...
Where: Mill ValleyCost: Free
Are Red Dwarf Planets Habitable?Most of the news about exoplanets this past year has revolved around the discovery of “Earth-sized†planets in the “habitable zone†of "red dwarf" stars. This is partly due to the fact that such planets are more easily found, partly because most stars are red dwarfs (cooler and smaller than ...
In the Monterey Bay region, a place celebrated for its deep history and culture of commercial fishing, the fishing industry is struggling to survive. Fluctuations in the health of fish stocks, complicated and expensive regulations, weakened infrastructure, and competition with foreign imports have taken a toll on the local fishing ...
'Climate change effects on thermal tolerance plasticity in the eelgrass sea hare, Phyllaplysia taylori'Speaker: Richelle Tanner, Graduate Student, San Francisco State Univ.Editor's Note: The original lecture schedule for today, "Examining the Natural and Anthropogenic Drivers Affecting Host-Parasite Interactions in Marine Systems" by Dr. Katrina Lohan, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, has been replaced with this one.
Where: TiburonCost: Free
Better Imaging through ChemistryBiological specimens offer very little in the way of intrinsic contrast that reveals their inner workings in a microscope. Therefore, for hundreds of years chemists have come to the rescue by developing contrast agents that highlight specific features of interest, even down to the molecular level. This is no truer ...
Globally, energy systems are experiencing rapid changes and the landscape of energy no longer favors coal. In 2013, the World Bank pledged to stop loaning money for new coal energy projects, unless no financially feasible alternatives exist. However, in Kosovo a proposed coal-fired power plant has been under discussion for ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
The HayWired earthquake scenarioSince 2003, the Berkeley Seismological Laboratory has been hosting a public lecture series in honor of Professor Andrew Lawson on earthquakes and earthquake science. This year the lecture will be a panel discussion with the lead authors of the HayWired scenario. The audience will learn about the likely impacts from ...
Join us to celebrate the release of the Nature in the City map, third edition.In recent years, our understanding of how nature weaves itself into the urban fabric has evolved, enabling us to create a clearer representation of our city. This event officially launches the third edition of the Nature ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free, RSVP required
Using Natural Language Processing & Machine Learning to improve customer care at UberCOTA stands for Customer Obsession Ticket Assistant, a tool that uses machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) techniques to help agents deliver better customer support. Leveraging our Michelangelo machine learning-as-a-service platform on top of our customer support platform, COTA enables quick and efficient issue resolution for more than 90 ...
Where: Cost: Free
Hazards and Rewards of Near-Earth AsteroidsNear-Earth asteroids are a population of small bodies whose orbits around the Sun cross or come near our planet’s orbit.  They turn out to be unusual physical environments: rubble piles, with shapes and spins determined by effects like the pressure of the Sun’s radiation.  Near-Earth asteroids are also accessible targets ...
Where: Los Altos HillsCost: Free ($3 parking)
Nerd Nite SF #95: Parallel Worlds, Elderly Sex, Psychometrics!“It Came from a Parallel World!â€In 1957, the drunken prankster physicist Hugh Everett found good evidence for parallel universes buried in the mathematics of quantum physics. Learn the real science behind this bizarre idea - and the real history of how Everett’s idea was developed in the 1950s, almost immediately ...
The Stanford campus has become a key test bed for one of the world’s most vexing energy challenges: How to manipulate people’s demand for electricity so it rises when the sun is shining and the wind is blowing and falls when they’re not. A global race is on to maximize ...
Artificial Intelligence owes its current successes to the extraordinary improvement in computer hardware (in my lifetime, computing has become a trillion times cheaper!). At the same time, the Internet has made available vast amounts of data for these program to handle.The benefits of AI will be profound. But so will ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: Free
Introduction to greenhouse gas (GHG) management for oil & gas productionIntroduction to greenhouse gas (GHG) management for oil & gas productionCalifornia climate legislation and regulation: cap-and-trade, direct source control, community health nexusIndustry’s response: reporting, research, technology developmentSpekaers: Kathleen Kozawa, California Air Resources Board; Adam Pacsi, ChevronÂ
 Join NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientists and engineers and get a sneak peek of the upcoming InSight Mars mission, the first to focus on examining the deep interior of Mars. Launching in May 2018, this lander will be the very first interplanetary launch from the West Coast. The Exploratorium will host the InSight ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: 17.95 advance, 19.95 door, AD members free
SpaceQuest NightLifeGet trippy as NightLife travels far out with art, performances, and ideas inspired by the future of life in space. -----> Choreographer Katerina Wong presents Speck, a dance performance about humans, space exploration, and the connections between them, using sounds from the Voyager Golden Record and other NASA missions.----->Â Explore the ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 General, $12 Members
Across the Pacific Coast, Western Snowy Plovers (Charadrius nivosus nivosus) face many hurdles to population recovery, including habitat loss, increasing predator populations, and human disturbance. Within the South SF Bay, Snowy Plovers breed and forage in former salt production ponds, where they face significant challenges to recovery in a changing ...
What Are We Protecting Mars From - And Why Do We Bother?Mars, the small, cold fourth rock from the Sun, is being given serious consideration by 21st century explorers. Entrepreneur Elon Musk has ambitious plans to send humans to the Red Planet within seven years (and bring them back again); NASA has flown both rovers and landers; and NASA, the European ...
Where: Menlo ParkCost: Free
An Evening with Rebecca Skloot and Members of the Henrietta Lacks FamilyHenrietta Lacks was an African American woman whose tumor cells were preserved for research in the early 1950s. These cells became the first lab-grown human cells that were naturally "immortal", not dying after a number of divisions. Thereafter, they were used for a large variety of experiments, becoming one of ...
Join other wildflower photographers (amateur and professional) on a meandering monthly excursion around the Modini Mayacamas to document wildflowers of the season. After our field time, each of us will add a few of our best images to an album that Friends of the Modini Mayacamas and ACR will use ...
Celebrate the start of spring with a bird walk in the garden, where we'll be on the lookout for migrating hummingbirds, vireos, and flycatchers.
Where: BerkeleyCost: $20 General, $18 Members
57th Annual Wildflower ShowFor over half a century this Wildflower Show has been one of the largest on the Northern and Western Hemispheres with over 600 species and varieties of wildflowers. This is truly an event that generations of families can remember.The Museum partners with the Monterey Bay Chapter of the California Native ...
Where: Pacific GroveCost: Free - $8.95 (see website)
Modeling Subhalos and Satellites in Milky Way-like SystemsHigh-resolution hydrodynamic zoom-in simulations of Milky Way-mass halos offer exquisite resolution and provide insights into the small-scale challenges associated with cold dark matter. However, these simulations are computationally expensive, so studying a diverse sample of simulated Milky Way analogs is currently infeasible. We present a machine learning model trained on ...
Where: Menlo ParkCost: Free
Understanding Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) in the most massive cosmic laboratories Supermassive Black Holes (SMBHs) lurk in the centers of all massive galaxies, a fraction of these SMBHs are actively accreting and this can result in powerful outbursts which have important consequences for galaxy formation and evolution. However, the conditions under which a SMBH becomes active and the manner in which ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Optogenetic and Chemogenetic Tools for Mapping Molecular and Cellular CircuitsThe first part of the talk will describe optogenetic tools we have developed for labeling and manipulating functional circuits in the brain (e.g., FLARE and related tools). The second part of the talk will describe chemogenetic tools we have developed for mapping molecular interactions in living cells (e.g., ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
AI Download with SVAI We’re teaming up with Silicon Valley Artificial Intelligence (SVAI) for their second annual AI Download. Learn more about AI from the perspectives of engineers, researchers, scientists, startup founders and many others. Intended to be a broad survey of AI activity happening across the Bay Area, this event will highlight academic ...
CalDay 2018Come to UC Berkeley's annual campus-wide open house. There are hundreds of lectures, exhibits, demonstrations, and activities for all ages. Check the weblink for a full schedule.
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Low Tide WalkMSI takes to the tidepools for a treasure hunt of nature's beautiful intertidal secrets. We'll spend our time taking advantage of the low tide to reach the outer edges of Pillar Point, and take in spectacular views as we slowly retreat to shore. Will we find crabs, sea stars, eels ...
Where: Half Moon BayCost: $20
57th Annual Wildflower ShowFor over half a century this Wildflower Show has been one of the largest on the Northern and Western Hemispheres with over 600 species and varieties of wildflowers. This is truly an event that generations of families can remember.The Museum partners with the Monterey Bay Chapter of the California Native ...
Where: Pacific GroveCost: Free - $8.95 (see website)
Guided Nature WalkExperience the beauty and rich natural history of this 535-acre preserve. Our guided nature walks are on Saturdays throughout fall and spring. Participants are divided into small groups and paired with a trained Bouverie volunteer to explore the mixed evergreen forest, flower-carpeted oak woodland and rugged chaparral. Guided Nature Walks begin ...
Where: Glen EllenCost: $20 suggested donation
Wildflower Walk at Fort FunstonWildflowers! To know them is to love them. It’s springtime, and all throughout California the wildflowers are beginning to bloom, including in your very own Golden Gate National Parks. We invite you to come and enjoy the huge variety of both native and exotics on display and prepare to be ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
WWII in the Shadow of Mt. TamWWII saw the establishment of a bustling wartime shipyard called Marinship in Sausalito. Innovations, ingenuity, and inspiration all played a part in the day-to-day routine. Join Ranger Joanne on a 2-mile walking tour of the area surrounding the Bay Model to experience what life in the shipyards was like from ...
Meet Dr. Leslea Hlusko, Dr. Lisa White, and other local science heroes and learn how to prepare the young women in your life for a STEM future… now! This event also features Oakland science celebrity CaT Bobino, host of "In The Know Science Show." This event is part of the Berkeley ...
Where: BerkeleyCost:
Sailing Ships of SF BayIn commemoration of the building of the Matthew Turner, the first Brigantine ship to be built in CA in 100 years. This ship has a permanent home on our Bay Model pier. We will cover some of the interesting early sailing vessels that made their way in and around the ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
A Universe of Universes?Many scientists now think that there might be more than a single universe. Our universe may be just one example in a far larger “multiverse,†but an unusually complex one that is conducive to the existence of life. Come learn about the relevant lines of reasoning and their profound implications.Speaker: ...
Where: Mill ValleyCost: Free
Jazz Under the StarsCome peer through our telescopes and see craters on the Moon, the visible planets, star clusters, and more while we listen to CSM's very own KCSM Jazz 91 FM. Dress warmly. Free parking in Marie Curie Lot 5. Directions are available on the Maps, Directions & Parking page.
Where: San MateoCost: Free
Earth Day 2018 at the Golden Gate National ParksThe Parks Conservancy - dedicated to fostering a nature-loving community in the Bay Area - is joining forces with the National Park Service, the Presidio Trust, and our local park partners to offer a celebratory day of service opportunities. Signup for a commemorative activity or one of our regular drop-in ...
Where: Cost: Free
Sunday, 04/22/18
Earth DayJoin Sausalito Woman's Club in helping make Sausalito shine. There will be various locations throughout town where you can get supplies to help clean. Visit ww.EarthDay94965.com for starting locations & to register. Volunteers will be treated to a pizza party at noon at the Bay Model. Local environmental groups will ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
57th Annual Wildflower ShowFor over half a century this Wildflower Show has been one of the largest on the Northern and Western Hemispheres with over 600 species and varieties of wildflowers. This is truly an event that generations of families can remember.The Museum partners with the Monterey Bay Chapter of the California Native ...
Where: Pacific GroveCost: Free - $8.95 (see website)
Berkeley Earth DayBerkeley Earth Day brings the Bay Area environmental community together to celebrate our vision for a sustainable future. Get inspired and connect with eco-minded comrades and learn how you can further reduce your impact on the planet and have fun doing it! This event features dozens of vendors sharing their ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Marine Science Sunday: Magnificent MigrationsThis month we celebrate the animals that love to travel! Marine mammals are famous for their epic migrations along the California coast. Docent-led tours will take you around the hospital showcasing some of the patients we are caring for and how our veterinarians are getting them better. Classroom presentations through ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Restore and Create: Earth Day Celebration at Stinson BeachThe 14th Annual Earth Day Celebration at Stinson Beach combines care for the environment with arts activities for all ages. Participants can help with beach cleanup or creek restoration, and join with over a dozen collaborating artists engaging the public in sculpture-making with natural materials, making music, dancing, and more. ...
Where: Stinson BeachCost: Free
Full-Spectrum Science with Ron Hipschman: MirrorsWhy do you see yourself in reverse when you look at yourself in a mirror? Why are you not upside down? Exploratorium scientist Ron Hipschman reveals the physics behind different types of mirrors and reflects on fascinating aspects of their construction and applications.Presentations at 1:00 and 3:00
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free with admission
taste of science: Discovery of another worldLearn about your micro neighbors!Have you ever wonder what happen around you in the small micro-world? Put on your explorer's outfit, build with us your fancy accessories (to take home afterwards!)Â and go out in a park scout about plants, insects, water, and more with our experts!Here is how our journey ...
Where: Redwood CityCost: $7
taste of science: Life on EarthThe Coevolution of Earth and LifeWe tend to think of earth influencing the history of life - volcanic eruptions causing extinctions, for example - but the reverse is also true: the evolution of life has fundamentally altered the composition and function of our planet. Major events in the evolution of ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $5
taste of science: Un-consciousness and Bacterial VirusesThe wonderful world of bacterial virusesThere are more bacterial viruses (also known as "bacteriophages" or just "phages") on the planet than bacteria, animals, plants, fungi, and other eukaryotes combined. While phages only infect bacteria, those infections can ultimately impact other parts of the ecosystem, including humans! This talk will discuss ...
Where: BerkeleyCost:
San Francisco City Star PartyCome join us for our monthly San Francisco City Star Party. SFAA members provide telescopes for your viewing pleasure. Be sure to check the SFAA website for the latest updates…bad weather or overcast skies will cancel!
Reading the news is a lousy way to learn about global warming. Why? Because news outlets focus on what is novel, so they rarely discuss the big picture that has been causing climate scientists to lose sleep for decades. This presentation provides the big picture. It will arm you with ...
Where: NovatoCost: Free
Monday, 04/23/18
Probing Dark Energy with Galaxy ClustersGalaxy cluster surveys have been recognized as one of the most powerful probes of dark energy, but their constraining power is limited by the accuracy of mass calibration. I will present my research on using simulations to improve mass calibration methods, including galaxy dynamics, weak gravitational lensing, clustering, and X-ray ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Climate change and extinctions: lessons from the marine fossil recordThe oceans are being transformed as temperature, pH, and oxygen content all change at rates unprecedented in the recent geological past. That rapid pace of environmental change may place marine organisms at risk of extinction, but predicting vulnerability to climate change stressors remains a challenge. Although rates of change far ...
The Energy System is transforming, based in large part on the introduction of renewable energy integration into the electricity grid. Â However, this is only a start of the transition as we strive towards sustainability. The other sectors, transport, heat/cooling are not as amenable to renewable energy technologies and electrification of ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Overinformativeness? Rationally Redundant ReferenceReferring is one of the most basic and prevalent uses of language. How do speakers choose from the wealth of referring expressions at their disposal?Rational theories of language use have come under attack for decades for not being able to account for the seemingly irrational overinformativeness ubiquitous in referring expressions. ...
This colloquium will be given by Professor Tadashi Takayanagi of Kyoto University.
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Magnetoelectricity in 2D materialsMagnetoelectricity, the generation of magnetic moments by electric fields and vice versa, is a phenomenon discovered more than a century ago. It has gained renewed recent interests because of the discovery of new magnetoelectric materials, the notion of band topology effects in magnetoelectricity and its promise for electrical control of ...
SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets. Since its founding, SpaceX has reinvigorated the US space launch industry, delivering cargo to and from the International Space ...
THE QUANTUM AND THE COSMOS: THE QUEST FOR THE ORIGIN OF ORDINARY AND DARK MATTERStefano Profumo will explain why modern cosmology is a scientific theory, and introduce the two key ingredients that this scientific theory is based upon: dark matter and dark energy. Stefano will argue that it is far more interesting to think about what the dark matter is, as this is the ...
Where: Rohnert ParkCost: Free
Advanced LIGO: Speculations about the Future of Gravitational Wave DetectorsWhat might the future of the LIGO detectors look like? Although the interferometers are not yet at design sensitivity, Advanced LIGO has already detected gravitational waves from merging black holes and from merging neutron stars. And the future looks bright - many improvements are now underway as we push the ...
Widespread adoption of electric vehicles is needed to reduce air pollution and avoid the most severe consequences of climate change. As electric cars have become increasingly available, trucks and buses represent the next frontier for electrification. Heavy-duty vehicles comprise a small fraction of vehicles on the road but disproportionately contribute ...
Large-scale GPU-Accelerated Data Visualization with MapDGPU-powered in-memory databases and analytics platforms are the logical successor to CPU in-memory systems, largely due to recent increases in the onboard memory available on GPUs. With sufficient memory, GPUs possess numerous advantages over CPUs, including much greater compute and memory bandwidth, as well as a native graphics pipeline for ...
Where: Santa ClaraCost: Free
taste of science: A trip to a scientist’s denVisit to the Dean Felsher Cancer Research LabThe Felsher lab is working on figuring out the mechanisms by which tumors come back or spread to other parts of the body. They study models of liver, lung, kidney cancers, and lymphoma.They notably focus on developing new innovative therapies to prevent cancer ...
Where: StanfordCost: $7
taste of science: A Brief History of Your Mind and Building Sandcastles for SexA History of Your Mind in 17 MinutesToday, you may have read some emails, bought groceries, or used public transportation. But once upon a time, you were a baby. Babies can’t read, reason about money, or interpret a bus schedule. How did you get so smart?Speaker: Mariel Goddu, UC BerkeleyWill ...
