We Are in the Midst of an Extinction Event - CANCELEDThe scientist, broadcaster, Trinity College, Dublin Professor, and winner of the prestigious Boyle Medal for scientific research, Luke O'Neill, is a passionate and radical advocate for imaginative and immediate measures to mitigate the current climate crisis. The title of his talk suggests the most likely outcome of our continued procrastination.Editor's ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15
Monday, 11/11/19
Mercury Transit viewing from the Foothill ObservatoryOn Monday, November 11, the Foothill College Astronomy Department and the Peninsula Astronomical Society will be viewing the transit of Mercury. Join us at the Foothill Observatory (by parking lot 4) from sunrise at 6:44 a.m., when Mercury will already be in front of the sun, until the end of ...
Where: Los Altos HillsCost: Free ($3 parking)
Mercury Transit Across The SunNow here's something you don't see every day. In fact, you won't see it again until 2032!This Monday morning, Mercury will temporarily move between the Earth and the Sun. This event is like a tiny solar eclipse, where Mercury will block part of the Sun from our perspective, and we ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
Increased Hubble tension with a new measurement of the Hubble constant using strong lensingThe recent tension between early- and late-Universe measurements of the Hubble constant highlights the necessity for independent and precise probes such as the time-delay cosmography. The measured time-delays between the lensed images of a background quasar depend on the absolute physical scales in the lens configuration. Thus, they allow measurement ...
Metastable phases have been a feature of materials technology for centuries, with hardening of steels by martensitic transformation being a conspicuous example that contributed greatly to the development of human civilization. More recently, there has been increasing interest in metastable phases for a broad range of applications including in opto-electronic ...
In developing the 20th century grid, George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla did not design an architecture for distributed or renewable resources. To decarbonize the grid--and to electrify transportation and heating--requires exactly that: a remaking of the grid to accommodate these resources. While doing so will require some new technology solutions, ...
Most plants die when they dry out, but resurrection plants are an exception to this rule. Resurrection plants can lose almost all their water and then come back to life when they are watered again. We call these plants “desiccation tolerant,†because they can survive near-complete desiccation (drying). In fact, ...
Two KIPAC Tea TalksDirect Detection of Black Hole-Driven Turbulence in the Centers of Galaxy Clusters Speaker: Yuan Li, UC BerkeleyThe Extremes of the Blazar SequenceBlazars are among the most luminous, persistent, sources in our Universe. With powerful relativistic jets closely pointed to our line of sight, they are detected at high redshifts (up ...
San Francisco’s Energy DestinyFrom a changing climate to the PG&E bankruptcy, San Francisco is facing a new energy landscape and the city’s elected leaders are considering a shift to public power to stabilize costs, ensure reliability, increase local oversight and expand the city’s use of renewable energy. But can this approach work? What ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $10 General, Free for members
Measuring the Hubble constant from time-delays of strongly lensed quasars The recent tension between early- and late-Universe measurements of the Hubble constant highlights the necessity for independent and precise probes such as the time-delay cosmography. The measured time-delays between the lensed images of a background quasar depend on the absolute physical scales in the lens configuration. Thus, the time-delays allow ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Black Holes in Physics and AstrophysicsProfessors Roger Blandford and Eva Silverstein of the Stanford University Physics Department will each give an Applied Physics/Physics colloquium
Growing interest in offshore geologic carbon sequestration (GCS) motivates evaluation of the consequences of subsea CO2 well blowouts. We have simulated a hypothetical major CO2 well blowout in shallow water of the Texas Gulf Coast. We use a coupled reservoir-well model (T2Well) to simulate the subsea blowout flow rate for ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Sun Country: How to make solar power really shineRaffi Garabedian - the Chief Technology Officer at First Solar, one of the largest solar power companies in the country - will discuss how solar can help the United States lead the global clean-energy transformation.
Where: StanfordCost: Free
E360: California's Energy TransitionThis quarter Stanford Energy Club is continuing E360, our quarterly panel discussion series featuring energy experts in academia, industry, policy, and finance to talk about solutions to the energy challenge. This quarter’s E360 topic is California's Energy Transition: Energy Policy's Role in Achieving 100% Decarbonization, a discussion on current developments ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
A Debate on Breaking Up Big TechResolved: The U.S. Federal Government should invoke antitrust legislation to break up big technology corporations such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook.Over the last two decades, the valuation and market share of America's largest technology companies has increased massively. Now, some of these companies are under investigation for abusing their customers' ...
Gene therapy is currently undergoing clinical trials to evaluate its effectiveness at treating sickle cell disease. In this talk, Dr. Suchi Pandey will review how gene therapy is currently being used to treat sickle cell disease, the different kinds of gene therapy options being evaluated, and the potential impact to ...
7:00-7:25: Danielle Wright(North American Sustainable Refrigeration Council) on "Natural Refrigerants: The #1 Climate Solution Hiding in Your Supermarket"Most of us have little idea of the environmental impact of keeping our food cold...Read more7:25-7:50: Charles Lindsay(SETI AIR) on "Inter-species Communication" or "Art for a Post-Earth Humanity"Abstract forthcoming...Read more7:50-8:10: BREAK. ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Wednesday, 11/13/19
Rocket science for conservationIn spite of numerous technological advancements over the past few decades, reliable, global wildlife tracking remains an elusive goal. Current tracking systems rely on some combination of terrestrial infrastructure with limited coverage (e.g. cell towers), satellites that require bulky and expensive radios to communicate with (e.g. Argos), or physically trapping ...
Dr. Seema Lakdawala is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. She received her Ph.D. in Biological Sciences at the University of California, San Diego and completed her postdoctoral research at the National Institutes of Health. Her lab focuses on emergence ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Blue carbon storage in restored, invaded, and historic marshesBlue carbon is a term used to describe organic carbon stored in coastal wetland ecosystems. In this talk, I will present results from three different projects on blue carbon. First I will discuss the fate of blue carbon in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta of California (the Delta) from its formation ...
Where: TiburonCost: Free
Jupyter Meets the Earth: an Open, Collaborative Approach for Earth Data ScienceToday’s scientific challenges require combining theory, simulations and data at an unprecedented scale and complexity. While this is beyond the skills of any individual scientist, an open and collaborative approach can give us both the extensible tools and the interdisciplinary teams we need. I have spent my career building such ...
Tom will walk through the architecture of the Simulation Platform that leverages a Big Data approach to simulate analytic models that are instrumental in the detection and deflection of potentialSpeaker: Thomas Doran, PayPal
The Baylands are the tidal wetlands along the shore of San Francisco Bay, which provide a rich habitat for wildlife and can help to protect our shorelines from sea level rise and other climatic threats. As the Bay Area gears up for climate change, how can we engage and include ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free, RSVP required
How Medicine (Mis)treats CancerWe have lost the war on cancer. We spend $150 billion each year treating it, yet a patient with cancer is as likely to die of it today as one was fifty years ago. Why has so little progress been made in diagnosing and treating cancer over the past few ...
Central Asia and Siberia have for a long time played a very limited role in discussions of modern human origins. These areas were seen as peripheral to our story, which was thought to have mostly unfolded in Africa, Europe, and Eastern Asia. This story, however, is starting to change.Over the ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 General, $12 Members & Seniors
Meet the Neighbors: Planetary Systems Orbiting Nearby StarsThe NASA Kepler mission revealed that our Galaxy is teeming with planetary systems and that Earth-sized planets are common. However, most of the planets detected by Kepler orbit stars too faint to permit detailed study. The NASA Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS,) launched in 2018, is finding hundreds of small ...
What Happens When a Massive Star Fails (Sort of) to Explode?There are observational and theoretical reasons to suspect that up to 10s of percent of massive stars that undergo core-collapse at the end of their lives fail to explode in a canonical energetic supernova explosion. In this talk I will describe what transpires in such nominally failed supernovae and its ...
Since Fall 2002, the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering has hosted the Silicon Valley Leaders Symposium (SVLS). The Symposium hosts industry and technology leaders to talk about business and technology trends. It also features prominent leaders who discuss broader societal and political issues that shape our life and society.Speaker: ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
San Francisco's New Hazards and Climate Resilience PlanThe City and County of San Francisco is wrapping up a new cross-departmental effort to improve the city’s readiness for disasters such as earthquakes and to bolster its overall resilience in the face of long-term climate change. Learn from the plan’s leaders about how this new initiative will make the ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $10 General, Free for members
Silicon Valley Engineering Council (SVEC) Open House - Modern Robot PsychologyCan you diagnose and fix your car? Can you reboot your router? We get along with technology better when we have some operational understanding of how it works. As we an approach an age when robots and other artificially intelligent agents surround us, we must expand our mental models of ...
Where: MilpitasCost: Free
'Dispatches from the Gulf'Nine years after Deepwater Horizon spill see scientists working together to understand environmental impact on humans, wildlife & ecosystems. Watch scientists investigate the impact of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill on local communities, watermen and the Gulf of Mexico’s ecosystem. Today, a global team of scientists is working together ...
Everything you eat comes from somewhere and in many cases, since California is the biggest producer of agriculture in the United States, that somewhere isn’t so far away. From livestock to grapes, come learn some of the science involved in growing the world’s food. And don’t forget to taste the ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: 19.95 door, General members $14.95 AD members free
Brain & Body NightLifeFeed your brain and body this week as NightLife explores the fascinating science of human health and wellness from the inside out. Full event details coming soon!
In this presentation, Dr. Javier Navarro will tell us about his work in revealing the hidden powers of insects and other critters. We will hear about a coffee addict, a wood-degrading machine, and litter decomposers. All have something in common: their intimate associations with microbes to thrive in their unique ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
How AI & Robotics will Shape the Future of RetailWe're really excited to welcome our panelists traveling to the SF Bay Area especially for this event. They are joining us from Pennsylvania, Texas and Arizona and they are leaders in the field of Robotics and Retail.Panel: Sarjoun Skaff, Bossa Nova Robotics; Georges Mirza, Consultant; Joe Zoghzoghy, Bastian Solutions; Elie ...
Where: Menlo ParkCost: $10 - $30
Friday, 11/15/19
Three KIPAC Tea TalksM87: from the event horizon to the parsec-scale jetSpeaker: Koushik Chatterjee, University of AmsterdamThe Milky Way's stellar mass black hole populationSpeaker: Kareem El-Badry, UC BerkeleySynthetic Observations of the Milky Way's CGM with FOGGIESpeaker: Yong Zheng, UC Berkeley
Modulation of Precursor Reactivity for Colloidal Synthesis of WSe2 Nanocrystals and HeterostructuresTransition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) can host a variety of phases, each with a unique electronic structure, allowing access to a compositionally and electronically diverse set of 2D materials. Among these materials, the metastable 1T′ phase of WSe2 has recently gained attention due to its potential application as a quantum spin ...
Chemical engineering deals with production and processing of materials and chemicals. Polymers are macromolecules that have thousands of small molecules joined together by covalent bonds. Polymer reaction engineering is about industrial production of polymers. Polymers are chain molecules and their materials properties are determined to a large extent by their ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Cosmochemical constraints on the earliest evolution of the Solar SystemCosmochemistry, the study of chemical and isotopic signatures of meteorites, can provide direct constraints on the origin and evolution of the Solar System. As a discipline, it therefore, represents an important complement to fields like astronomy and astrophysics. Here I will review recent developments in cosmochemistry, and discuss several important ...
Where: LivermoreCost: Free
Saturday, 11/16/19
Hayward Fault Walking TourOver the last million years, the natural beauty of Fremont has been shaped by the Hayward Fault. Instructors will be leading these 'ground breaking' tours and exposing the science and beauty of the Hayward Fault. This fault is one of several active faults in the world actually creeping at 5 ...
Experience 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 and flower-carpeted oak woodland. Guided Nature Walks are no more ...
Where: Glen EllenCost: $20 suggested donation
UC Berkeley’s Chemapalooza UC Berkeley's chapter of Alpha Chi Sigma, a professional chemistry fraternity is holding its second annual Chemapalooza event, a one day chemistry festival for guests in K-12, college, and beyond! The event will be held at Berkeley's College of Chemistry and will include a variety of presentations for attendees of ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
The Intriguing World of Insects: Lecture and Guided Tour Whether we see them or not, insects have a constant presence in our lives. From pollinating the fruits and vegetables we eat and helping cure diseases through DNA research, to pests we find in our homes and gardens, there is no escaping the intimate relationships insects share with fellow earthlings. ...
Where: MillbraeCost: Free
Trekking the ModelJoin a Ranger or docent on a guided tour of the Bay Model, a 1.5-acre hydraulic model of the 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
Seaweed Soiree! an adult evening of seaweed, science, and artLearn about the secret lives of seaweeds and kelp forests from Dr. Karina Nielsen, Director of Estuary Ocean Science Center and Professor of Biology at San Francisco State University. Enjoy the fine art photography and research of artist and author Josie Iselin, whose work on marine algae explores the space ...
Giant planets can be as large as 13 times the mass of Jupiter, while the lowest mass stars are about 80 times the mass of Jupiter. In between are objects called “brown dwarfsâ€, too massive to be called planets, but not massive enough to burn hydrogen and shine like stars. ...
