Join our resident astronomers on Facebook Live every Saturday evening live from Chabot’s Observation deck!Each week, our astronomers will guide us through spectacular night sky viewing through Nellie, Chabot‘s most powerful telescope. Weather permitting we will be able to view objects live through the telescopes and our astronomers will be ...
Speaker: Rowan Martindale, Univ. of Texas, AustinSee weblink for Zoom information
Where: Cost: Free
'Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding' - LivestreamLeakey Foundation grantee Daniel Lieberman discusses his latest book, Exercised: Why Something We Never Evolved to Do Is Healthy and Rewarding.If exercise is healthy (so good for you!), why do many people dislike or avoid it? If we are born to walk and run, why do most of us take it ...
Where: Cost: Free
Thursday, 01/07/21
Trees and Fungi - LivestreamDavid Humphries will be presenting on the perennial and annual fungi found on and around trees whilst undertaking tree inspections. He will be looking at the macro identification of these species and at the structural issues arising from the presence of such fungi as well as the habitat potential.See weblink ...
Where: Cost: Free
Unlocking Innovation: Harnessing the Power of Software Developers - LivestreamFrom banking and retail to insurance and finance, every industry is turning digital, and every company needs the best software to win the hearts and minds of customers. Companies have to get this right to survive. But how do they make this transition? By using the creativity of code to ...
In this lecture, we’ll trace the history of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory from the time it was started by amateur and academic rocket enthusiasts to becoming a research center for the US Army’s missile development program, to helping launch the United States’ first satellite and becoming NASA’s key center for ...
Foraging for fungi? Discover some fun facts about the beautiful, diverse, and curious fungi kingdom, including mushrooms, yeasts, and molds. Wonder at the beauty of microscopic fungi and learn more about the form and function of fungal spores. This program features:The Art of Mushroom and Myxomycete Photography with Alison K. PollackGet ...
This year, get more in touch with the natural world. Get a head start on your resolution by learning about just a few of the 213 new species described by Academy researchers in the past year. Featuring Dr. Shannon Bennett on why it’s important to continue to add to the ...
 What is the Universe made of? In modern cosmology only 4% of the universe is deeply understood, while the other 96%, Dark Energy and Dark Matter, remains a mystery. The Vera Rubin Observatory, currently under construction, will observe billions of galaxies, billions of stars in our own galaxy the Milky ...
Where: Cost: Free
Birds of Bair Island - LivestreamJoin Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) for an entertaining and educational webinar about the migrating ducks and birds of Bair Island!Local Naturalist Jeff Caplan is back with a new class to teach us how to ID and connect to birds and their habitat for your next visit to Bair Island, ...
Where: Cost: Free
Saturday, 01/09/21
Virtual King TidesEach year, the King Tides come to the Palo Alto Baylands (and much of the California Coast!). Join us virtually over Zoom in a fun, interactive learning experience which will teach you about what a King Tides is, and why they are so exciting. This program will be offered twice ...
Join our resident astronomers on Facebook Live every Saturday evening live from Chabot’s Observation deck!Each week, our astronomers will guide us through spectacular night sky viewing through Nellie, Chabot‘s most powerful telescope. Weather permitting we will be able to view objects live through the telescopes and our astronomers will be ...
Where: Cost: Free
Monday, 01/11/21
How do astronomers model gravity? - LivestreamNewton's simple formulation of gravity perfectly describes our solar system. However, at galaxy-size scales, understanding the subtler effects of gravity is best accomplished through computer simulations. I'll describe the state-of-the-art simulations that model gravity and the historical work in the field, along with some novelties astronomers uncovered along the way.Speaker: ...
The only way humanity can achieve sustainability is by Closing the Carbon Cycle. Closing the carbon cycle is achieved when CO2 harvested from the atmosphere is The only way humanity can achieve sustainability is by Closing the Carbon Cycle. Closing the carbon cycle is achieved when CO2 harvested from the ...
Mary Nichols is the former Chair of the California Air Resources Board, where she occupied the attorney seat. She has served on the Board under Governor Edmund G. Brown, Jr. (1975 - 82 and 2010 - 18), Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (2007 - 2010) and Governor Gavin Newsom (2019 - present). She ...
California King Tides Project: January 11-12The California King Tides Project is asking the public to safely photograph the highest high tides of the year, arriving January 11-12. Photographing the impact of these tides on beaches, wetlands, roads, harbors, and homes helps California plan for future sea level rise. Anyone with a smartphone can participate. Find ...
A Non-credit Short Course with Andrew Fraknoi Spend eight weeks getting off this planet to think about the possibility of intelligent life among the stars.When a Silicon Valley billionaire recently gave $100 million to UC Berkeley to step up the search for evidence of extra-terrestrials, the experimental search for messages or ...
Several oceanic and atmospheric mechanisms have been put forward to describe the response of the tropical Pacific to global warming. Still uncertainties persist in their interaction and relative importance, with projections varying substantially across climate models. Adding to this complexity is the time-scale dependance of specific processes, wherein the wind-driven ...
Where: Cost: Free
California King Tides Project: January 11-12The California King Tides Project is asking the public to safely photograph the highest high tides of the year, arriving January 11-12. Photographing the impact of these tides on beaches, wetlands, roads, harbors, and homes helps California plan for future sea level rise. Anyone with a smartphone can participate. Find ...
Where: Cost: free
Wednesday, 01/13/21
Bay Visions 2021: “The Power of Plants Will Protect the Bay' - LivestreamBay Visions 2021, a FREE virtual symposium that will provide an inspiring look at adaption, regeneration, and the powerful role plants play in mitigating the challenges facing San Francisco Bay.Speakers include Karina Nielsen, Professor and Director, Estuary & Ocean Science Center, San Francisco State University; Dr. Katharyn Boyer, biology professor ...
Where: Cost: Free
Grey Matters: What the History of Vaccines Can Tell Us About the Future - LivestreamIn record time, the world has three COVID-19 vaccines but our resumption of normal life hangs on the success of making and distributing hundreds of millions of doses. Will people take them? There are also serious equity issues as to who has access to vaccine. Asking Americans to place their ...
Where: Cost: Free
Thursday, 01/14/21
'Pandemic19': Behind the Scenes with Frontline Doctors - LivestreamLearn about the making of a timely new documentary that reveals a side of the coronavirus pandemic often unseen by most people.Pandemic19Â is a short documentary film that captures the story of three doctors in the United States fighting COVID-19 from pre-to-post surge, told through their own reflective, humanizing voices, while ...
Winter rains bring the return of the Garden's resident newts for their epic migration to our Japanese Pool for mating season! Learn about the fascinating adaptations and lives of these native animals with Dr. Paul Licht, UC Botanical Garden Director Emeritus. He will share his wealth of knowledge about the ...
Learn about some of the common species, wildlife injuries, and ailments they see at Wild Care, a wildlife rehabilitation center situated on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. From Bald Eagles to Ruby-throated Hummingbirds, learn why wildlife rehabilitation is important and how you can reduce your impact on our wild neighbors. This program will ...
Where: Cost: Free
Talking about chronic illness, care, and Covid - LivestreamJoin Academy-Award Nominated Filmmaker Jennifer Brea and anthropologist and writer Megan Moodie for an evening of conversation and reflection on chronic illness, the global crisis of care, and Covid-19.As the numbers of the chronically ill grow rapidly worldwide due to what is being called “long Covid,†there is much to ...
Where: Cost: Free
What You Need to Know about the COVID Vaccines - LivestreamWith two vaccines approved for emergency use in the U.S., the next major hurdle in the fight against the pandemic will be getting people immunized. In the U.S. alone, distributing vaccines to over 300 million people will present an unprecedented logistical challenge. The accelerated pace of vaccines development has given ...
Where: Kansas CityCost: Free
January LASER EventRichard Halpern (Cultural Historian, NY University, Retired) on "What is Tragedy good for?"Christian Kohler (Lawrence Berkeley Labs) on "Environmental Building Technologies"
NOTE: SCHEDULE CHANGE TO 6:30 STARTThe history of eugenics is often characterized as a cautionary tale of life in the bad old days, when assumptions about genetic determinism provided a respectable veneer of “pseudoscience†that enabled barely submerged racism, xenophobia, and blatant discrimination against those with disabilities to take root ...
Where: Cost: Free
After Dark Online: VaccinesThe coronavirus vaccine has arrived - and along with it, a lot of questions. How do we know it's effective? How do we know it's safe? Who will get it, and when? Tonight, we’ll be joined by UCSF Chair of the Department of Medicine Dr. Bob Wachter and UCSF Chair ...
Where: Cost: Free
NightSchool: Arctic Life - LivestreamArctic explorers join us from the northern polar regions to talk about life found there - from microorganisms that live in sea ice to belugas and wolverines - and why biodiversity research and conservation in this region have never been more critical.EVENT HIGHLIGHTSIñupiaq Inuit wildlife and conservation biologist Victoria Buschman ...
Where: Cost: Free
Friday, 01/15/21
'Human Nature': Talk with Jennifer Doudna, Adam Bolt, and Walter Isaacson - LivestreamScience holds the potential to shape our planet and every living thing in it. One of the greatest science stories of a generation culminated in 2020 with Nobel Prizes awarded for the groundbreaking achievement of two women whose discovery of a revolutionary tool called CRISPR allows us to edit genetic ...
Lack of awareness or the refusal to acknowledge racial-cultural dynamics within teams perpetuates systemic inequities, corrodes psychological well-being, and limits personal and scientific breakthroughs.In this webinar, Aziza Platt will help you understand the impact of systemic iniquity at both a personal and societal level and provide tools to assess racial-cultural ...
Where: Cost: Free
Galactic Archaeology - LivestreamThe goal of Galactic Archeology is to reveal how galaxies are built by looking at the current visible evidence and inferring the past. This requires knowledge of some of the most difficult aspects of Astronomy: determining ages, distances for individual stars. Using the APOGEE survey and augmenting with the GAIA ...
Where: Cost: Free
Galactic Archaeology: Uncovering the construction of the Milky Way - LivestreamThe goal of Galactic Archeology is to reveal how galaxies are built by looking at the current visible evidence and inferring the past. This requires knowledge of some of the most difficult aspects of Astronomy: determining ages, distances for individual stars. Using the APOGEE survey and augmenting with the GAIA ...
Join our resident astronomers on Facebook Live every Saturday evening live from Chabot’s Observation deck!Each week, our astronomers will guide us through spectacular night sky viewing through Nellie, Chabot‘s most powerful telescope. Weather permitting we will be able to view objects live through the telescopes and our astronomers will be ...
Join our resident caterpillar lady Sal Levinson and butterfly guy Sarab Seth for an illustrated slideshow of butterflies found in the Garden at this time of year. We'll learn about their life cycle, host plants, and focus on rearing butterflies! Our fun Zoom event is suitable for all ages and ...
Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Virtual Bioblitz LaunchBe part of this special edition of MLK Jr. Day of Service and discover how you can become a community scientist and contribute to parks and beyond!Come learn more about how community science is a movement to empower everyone to participate in building better knowledge to care for the world ...
Where: Cost: Free
Tuesday, 01/19/21
This Moment in Climate with Michael Mann and Leah Stokes - LivestreamClimate change was a leading issue for more voters in 2020 than any other election year. With a promising new pro-science, pro-climate action administration coming in 2021, there are more pathways - and far greater political will - than ever before to transition to a clean energy economy.Now, the question ...
In the effort to identify the cause of the lower atmospheric concentration of CO2 during ice ages, the potential impact of the Southern Ocean, the circumpolar ocean around Antarctica, has long been recognized. I will describe an increasing body of nitrogen isotope evidence - from the organic matter bound within ...
Where: Cost: Free
NOVA 'Secrets in Our DNA' Screening & Panel Discussion - LivestreamSome 30 million Americans have sent their DNA to be analyzed by companies like 23andMe and AncestryDNA, hoping to obtain clues to family origins and forecasts of their future health. Some users have found family members and discovered lurking genetic risks. But what happens once the sample is in the ...
Where: Cost: Free
Two Talks: Popping the Science Bubble Effect of Moisture Content and Fuel type on EmissionsSpeaker: Priya Garg, UC BerkeleySweat It Out - What can molecules in sweat tell us about our health?Speaker: Mallika Bariya, UC BerkeleySee weblink for Zoom or Facebook links.
Where: Cost: Free
COVID-19 Mutations & YOU - LivestreamSanta Cruz Works will conduct a Town Hall wherein a distinguished panel of experts will answer all of your questions about the new COVID-19 mutation. You learn what UCSC and our community leaders are doing to test and combat the virus.Register at weblink to receive connection information.
Where: Cost: Free
An Evening Cruise into the Virgo Cluster - LivestreamIn 2020, we took a cruise to the center of the Milky Way. In 2021, we leave the comfort of our home galaxy and head to the Times Square of the Universe - the Virgo Cluster. Along the way, we will visit a whole zoo of different galaxies, the biggest ...
California has an extremely diverse 'mycoflora', with over 4,000 species of macro fungi documented. Modern taxonomical tools have shown that this is just the tip of the iceberg. This talk will highlight some of the recent discoveries, and how you can help move mycology forward.Speaker: Noah Siegel
Where: Cost: Free
Wednesday, 01/20/21
A Healthy Society Series: Communicating Science (in a Science-Skeptical World) - LivestreamAs a driver of global health, prosperity and planetary sustainability, science pervades all realms of human activity. The COVID pandemic of the past year and the prospect of its eventual resolution have put science (and scientists) at the forefront of an international cultural conversation. Yet communicating facts and credible research ...
Where: Cost: Free
Full-Spectrum Science: LASERS! - LivestreamJoin Exploratorium scientist Ron Hipschman for colorful explorations of the physical world - in this case, lasers! Find out what's special about laser light, how it's made, and how it's used in everything from Blu-ray to eye surgery to fusion energy research.See weblink for YouTube and Facebook Live links.
Small molecule transformations, such as CO2 or N2 reduction, in biology and solar fuels chemistry require multi-electron and multi-proton reaction sequences. The goal of synthetically realizing these reaction types provides a rich landscape for exploring new ideas in the design, synthesis, and characterization of inorganic and organometallic molecules. This talk ...
Where: Cost: Free
Efficiently Protecting Software Innovations on a Global Scale - LivestreamTo be competitive, software companies often employ designers and developers in different locations and countries to implement and update different versions of software. With this increasing workforce in other countries, software company competition can also stem from other countries, and can provide different flavors of a software product to different ...
The Arecibo Telescope may have tragically collapsed last year, but it doesn’t mean the end of the era of giants in astronomy. Giant ground-based telescopes currently being built will get their first light this decade. The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) and the Giant Magellan Telescope ...
Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are mysterious events that were discovered only in the last decade by astronomers. They last a few milliseconds at most but are extremely bright sources of radio waves. They are so bright that we can spot them from distant galaxies. Although we are not fully certain ...
Computer vision systems are now capable of surpassing the performance of human experts in fields like radiology and dermatology. Can they also help us discern real videos from deepfakes - videos manipulated by artificial intelligence? This presentation will provide an overview of the state-of-the-art machine-learning models for detecting deepfakes. It will also present evidence ...
Selection bias occurs when the method by which a statistical sample is obtained prevents the sample from accurately representing the population about which one wishes to draw inferences. As straightforward as the issue may seem, selection bias is among the most pernicious perils of statistical inference. In this lecture, Dr. ...
Insects are the most abundant and diverse group of animals, and have co-evolved with plants over hundreds of millions of years. Insects living on plants face a variety of mechanical problems, which has far-reaching ecological and evolutionary consequences.In this talk, Dr Walter Federle, University of Cambridge, will show the important ...
Where: Cost: Free
Vision 2022: Climate & Clean Air Zoomposium #3Over the past several months, SPUR and Move LA have convened a series of panels laying the foundation for a statewide ballot measure that would generate the funding necessary to accelerate the deployment of climate change-abating transportation, infrastructure and other technologies. In October, we heard from elected officials, environmental luminaries ...
 Journalist Annie Jacobsen is well known for her best sellers The Pentagon's Brain, Area 51 and Operation Paperclip. In her latest book, First Platoon, she investigates "warfare, good and evil in the age of biometrics, the technology that would allow the government to identify anyone, anywhere, at any time." Come ...
Humans rely on the sensations of itch, touch, and pain for a broad range of essential behaviors. For example, acute pain acts as a warning signal that alerts us to noxious mechanical, chemical, and thermal stimuli, which are potentially tissue damaging. Likewise, itch sensations trigger reflexes that may protect us ...
The latest climate science supports what millions of people and animals are experiencing daily: the impacts of climate change are hitting harder and faster than expected, posing grave threats to human health and planetary health. We are already pushing against multiple global tipping points that could unleash abrupt and irreversible damage ...
For this special After Dark, we invite you to view the acclaimed documentary Human Nature in advance and join us for a live conversation with executive producers Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner, bioethics expert Alta Charo, and staff biologist Dr. Jennifer Frazier.Human Nature is a provocative exploration of the biggest ...
NightSchool dedicates a night to Lepidoptera, the order of insects that include the very recognizable, (often) colorful, scale-winged moths and butterflies.EVENT HIGHLIGHTSExplore specimens from the vaults of the Academy’s vast entomology collection with collection manager Chris Grinter. He’ll show you a wide range of audience favorites, from extinct species to ...
Speaker: Alexis Cartwright-Taylor, University of Edinburgh, School of GeoSciencesSee weblink for connection information
Where: Cost: Free
Saturday, 01/23/21
Mushrooms of the Garden - LivestreamBotanical gardens are obviously known for their plants, but with plants come fungi. In fact, the diversity of plants and fungi are coupled through their many ecological interactions. The UC Botanical Garden is a great place to showcase the fungal side of life, particularly during the rainy season when mushrooms ...
Join our resident astronomers on Facebook Live every Saturday evening live from Chabot’s Observation deck!Each week, our astronomers will guide us through spectacular night sky viewing through Nellie, Chabot‘s most powerful telescope. Weather permitting we will be able to view objects live through the telescopes and our astronomers will be ...
Where: Cost: Free
Monday, 01/25/21
AI at the exascale - LivestreamIt is no coincidence that the rise of AI as a valuable tool for science has come at an interesting time for computing, where the end of Moore’s Law has meant that energy constraints are increasingly driving hardware innovation. AI is playing a growing role in shaping computing architecture, even ...
Where: Cost: Free
Weird New Worlds - LivestreamWith literally thousands of exoplanet candidates discovered to date, we now know of a few relatively Earthlike worlds -- and many many more planets very different from those in our own solar system! Beth will discuss what we know already about these worlds and what we will be learning in ...
With all of the concern around disinformation online, what can be done about it? One proposal is to improve digital literacy, but what does this mean and how should we do it? In this talk we'll discuss research showing how different kinds of people encounter, process and detect (or not) ...
Where: Cost: Free
Magnetic Textures in Quantum Materials - LivestreamQuantum materials are rapidly emerging as the basis for possible novel computation devices. However, fully understanding the interplay between magnetic and electronic excitations are preventing us from realizing their full potential. In my talk I will show how realizing the microscopic magnetic textures in quantum materials is crucial to the ...
What is the Universe made of? In modern cosmology only 4% of the universe is deeply understood, while the other 96%, Dark Energy and Dark Matter, remains a mystery. The Vera Rubin Observatory, currently under construction, will observe billions of galaxies, billions of stars in our own galaxy the Milky ...
For decades, the world’s governments have struggled to move from talk to action on climate. Many now hope that growing public concern will lead to greater policy ambition, but the most widely promoted strategy to address the climate crisis - the use of market-based programs - hasn’t been working and ...
Where: Cost: Free
From the Black Hole Conundrum to the Structure of Quantum Gravity - LivestreamHaving a complete quantum theory of gravity has long been a major goal of theoretical physics. This is because a naive merger of quantum mechanics and general relativity---though it works in certain limited regimes---suffers from major theoretical problems. A particularly acute one arises when one considers the quantum mechanics of ...
Speaker: Nikki Seymour, StanfordSee weblink for Zoom information
Where: Cost: Free
'The Planets - Mars' NOVA Virtual Movie Night and discussionJoin your TeamSETI friends for Movie Night, featuring an episode of NOVA's docuseries The Planets about Mars. Seth Shostak, senior astronomer at the SETI Institute, will host the viewing, and Dr. Lori Fenton, a planetary scientist who studies climate change on Mars, will join us as a special guest to ...
What About Climate Change and the Impact on Ocean Life? - LivestreamWhat is the evidence of climate change?What impact do we see on ocean life?What adaptations might we expect from human and marine mammals alike?Join us as we explore these crucial questions with three experts in the field in a panel discussion moderated by ACS San Francisco Bay Chapter Board Member ...
Utilizing Amazon's scale, speed and innovation, the Sustainability organization includes teams executing the work of The Climate Pledge; Sustainable Operations (renewable energy and energy efficiency, buildings); Sustainability Science and Innovation; Social Responsibility and responsible supply chain management; Circular Economy; Sustainable Products, packaging and shopping; Sustainability Technology; Sustainable Transportation; and social ...
The development of genome-resolved metagenomics has provided a robust method to recover complete or near-complete genome information for entire communities of bacteria, archaea, and viruses from the environment. In this seminar, Alexander Jaffe will demonstrate how this technique can be applied to illuminate the biology of Candidate Phyla Radiation (CPR) ...
Where: Cost: Free
The Alignment Problem: Machine Learning and Human Values - LivestreamWith the incredible growth of machine learning (ML) over recent years has come an increasing concern about whether ML systems’ objectives truly capture their human designers’ intent: the so-called “alignment problem.†Over the last five years, these questions of both ethics and safety have moved from the margins of the ...
Where: Cost: Free
Preview to Mars Perseverence Landing - LivestreamBriefing on the upcoming Perseverence Rover landing on Mars, which will occur on February 18.Speakers:Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters Lori Glaze, director, Planetary Science Division, NASA Headquarters Matt Wallace, Mars 2020 deputy project manager, JPL Allen Chen, Mars 2020 entry, descent, and landing lead, JPL Ken ...
How do scientists go from OMG to PhD? How do they turn their passion for science into their profession? What advice do they have for future scientists?If you are a 5th-12th grade student, undergraduate, teacher or parent, join us to ask these questions and more in a Q&A session with ...
Where: Cost: Free
Marine turtle conservation in Peru - LivestreamI will be talking about sea turtle conservation in peru, some of the challenges and also opportunities we have identified over the past decade. Our experience had been for a long time working with fishing communities, and it has been a learning process. Collaborations down the road had been crucial ...
Nowhere are the consequences of a warming climate more pronounced and observable than in the polar regions of our planet. Frozen Obsession follows the 18-day, 2,000-mile Northwest Passage Project expedition through the extreme and stunningly beautiful Canadian Arctic Archipelago aboard the Swedish research icebreaker Oden, in search of clues to ...
Intermittent piped water supply is common throughout urban India, but continuous, fully pressurized supply (“24Ã-7 waterâ€) is the Government of India service norm. Employing a matched-cohort research design, we compare eight wards with intermittent water supply and eight wards that were upgraded to continuous supply in a demonstration project in ...
While the coronavirus pandemic has kept many of us sequestered from one another, it has also allowed us time to experience our cities in a new way. A slower pace for many has opened up space to sit with and observe our immediate surroundings and our natural environment. To celebrate ...
