#NoToPlastic Community Clean-UpsBe part of the solution! Join other wildlife enthusiasts to help our local wildlife by cleaning up important habitats in Oakland.Meet at the Lower Entrance to Oakland Zoo (in front of the Zimmer Auditorium) at 9:45am; shuttle departs at 10:00am sharp for cleanup site.Location of cleanup will be a different ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free
Investigating Space: From the Earth To Mars: Steps Toward the First Human Journey to the Red Planet  The first human mission to Mars will be humanity’s greatest adventure in space exploration this century. As with all expeditions, its success depends on planning. The first steps are already underway, as we achieve longer spaceflight missions, plan for our return to the Moon, and work in extreme environments on Earth viewed as ...
 The James Webb Space TelescopeOur guest speaker for the evening is Dr. Thomas P. Greene, NASA  AmesThe James Webb Space Telescope is the most complex and powerful astronomical space observatory ever built. It just launched on Christmas Day and is now unfolding itself before arriving in its final orbit in the Sun ...
Where: Cost: Free
Free Telescope ViewingsJoin Chabot astronomers on the Observatory Deck for a free telescope viewing! Weather permitting, this is a chance to explore stars, planets and more through Chabot’s historic telescopes. Chabot’s three large historic telescopes offer a unique way to experience the awe and wonder of the Universe. Our observatory deck offers ...
Why study asteroids? The scientific interest in asteroids is due largely to their status as the remnant debris from the inner solar system formation process. The probability of an asteroid striking the Earth and causing serious damage is very remote but the devastating consequences of such an impact suggests we ...
Where: Cost: Free
Sunday, 01/16/22
Morning Hike at La Honda Open Space Preserve - FULLJoin Peninsula Open Space Trust for a beautiful hike at Lower La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve where you’ll experience the area’s sweeping views and gorgeous rolling grasslands! The preserve is over 6,100 acres, of which POST has contributed 5,200 acres. You will be guided by POST ambassadors on the ...
Where: Redwood CityCost: Free
Afternoon Hike at Rancho Cañada del Oro - FULLJoin Peninsula Open Space Trust for an excursion where you’ll explore the Mayfair Ranch - Longwall Canyon trails of Rancho Cañada del Oro! You will be guided by POST Ambassadors who will share with you the history of the preserve, the region, and the importance of conservation in the area. The ...
Where: Morgan HillCost: Free
Tuesday, 01/18/22
Another Bite at the Apple: First Apple-1 Computer to Be Brought Back to LifeWhat happened to the very first computer Apple produced? Inventor Steve Wozniak presented the Apple-1 - Serial Number One - to educator Liza Loop. It’s one of the rarest and most important objects of the computing revolution. Join us as vintage computing expert Corey Cohen attempts to bring to life that ...
Understanding how neural circuits coordinate to drive behavior and decision making is a fundamental challenge in neuroscience. Unfortunately, finding a stable link between the brain and behavior has been difficult--even when behavior is consistent, neural activity can appear highly variable. In this talk, I will discuss ways that my lab ...
Professor Daniel Snow investigates the measurement and surprising occurrence of Fusarium mycotoxins in our food and water. Fusarium is a large group of filamentous fungi widely distributed in soil and plants. Most are harmless, but some produce metabolites that are biologically active and even toxic. Fusarium fungi are ubiquitous in ...
Two Talks: Popping the Science Bubble - LivestreamSharing is Caring: how gene exchange from viruses to insects lead to protection from predatorsâ€Your genes do not only come from your parents. Surprisingly, a large portion of an animal’s genome can come from foreign origins - usually, bacteria or viruses. Usually this foreign DNA is “junkâ€, but scientists are ...
SETI Talks: AI - Augmenting humanity for good - LivestreamArtificial Intelligence (AI) is probably one of the most revolutionary developments in human history, and the world is already witnessing its transformative capabilities. Like most great inventions by humans (e.g., nuclear energy), it has two sides, a side that could be used maliciously and a positive one that powers cutting-edge ...
Where: Cost: Free
Another Bite at the Apple: First Apple-1 Computer to Be Brought Back to LifeWhat happened to the very first computer Apple produced? Inventor Steve Wozniak presented the Apple-1 - Serial Number One - to educator Liza Loop. It’s one of the rarest and most important objects of the computing revolution. Join us as vintage computing expert Corey Cohen attempts to bring to life that ...
Where: Cost: Free
When Earth Breathed Deeply - LivestreamOxygen levels in the atmosphere have increased by many orders of magnitude throughout Earth’s history, profoundly affecting biologic and chemical cycles at the surface of the Earth. In this lecture, Bucholz will explore how shifts in atmospheric oxygen concentrations went even deeper, altering Earth’s inner workings.Speaker: Claire Bucholz, CaltechRegister at ...
Where: Cost: Free
What Seals Can Teach Us About Risk and Reward in the Open OceanMarine mammals undertake some of the most extraordinary migrations on the planet to eat and avoid being eaten. They make behavioral decisions based on the ecology of their prey and predators, all while keeping within the confines of their physiological limits. By attaching electronic instruments to seals, Assistant Professor Roxanne ...
Where: Santa ClaraCost:
Drawing Birds with John Muir Laws & SFBBO - LivestreamLearn to draw birds with with the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory and acclaimed artist, author, educator, and scientist John Muir Laws! In celebration of SFBBO's 40th anniversary, we're learning to draw 3 species SFBBO scientists have worked with extensively over the years: the Snowy Plover, Least Tern, and White-crowned ...
Where: Cost: Free
January LASER Event - LivestreamThis evening will feature three presentations:- Josh Bongard (University of Vermont) on evolutionary robotics and evolutionary computation- Jessica Angel (Media Artist) on blockchain art- Eran Kahana (Stanford Law School) on "The Metaverse and its Potential Impact on Agency for Artificial Intelligence Entities"Register at weblink to receive Zoom information
Where: Cost: Free
The Science of SmellIn 2010, Harold McGee, world-renowned authority on the chemistry of foods and cooking, began work on a book about the flavors of food and drink. A decade later, he published a book about food and drink--but also about outer space, pets, people, laptops, petrochemicals, perfumes, and more. In this virtual ...
Join us as long-time members of SFAA share their experiences with the founding of our  organization, focused on bringing astronomy to a wide amateur audience. Members and the public enjoyed star parties, lectures and telescope making, then at the Wallace Telescope Makers Workshop. The very first lecture was held at ...
Where: Cost: Free
The Future of Conversational AI - LivestreamIn the last 2 years, we are seeing rapid development of conversational AI technology. Current chatbots can speak coherently and meaningfully, almost matching human performance. Are we close to cracking Turing Test? What are the other challenges we face today? In this talk, I will review the state-of-the-art dialog systems, ...
Climate change and social justice are two intersecting crises that will define the coming decades on Earth. According to Prof. Dan Kammen, addressing both challenges together makes each campaign more effective, both for meeting and setting new domestic climate and social justice targets, and as part of a coherent pro-justice, ...
Another Bite at the Apple: First Apple-1 Computer to Be Brought Back to LifeWhat happened to the very first computer Apple produced? Inventor Steve Wozniak presented the Apple-1 - Serial Number One - to educator Liza Loop. It’s one of the rarest and most important objects of the computing revolution. Join us as vintage computing expert Corey Cohen attempts to bring to life that ...
Nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas and ozone destroying agent, is produced and consumed by microbial processes in seawater. While production in surface waters is attributed mostly to nitrification, which is considered an obligately aerobic process, there are no known consumption processes that occur under oxygenated conditions. Nevertheless, we are ...
Where: Cost: Free
Birth of a large volcanic edifice offshore Mayotte via lithosphere-scale dyke intrusion - LivestreamVolcanic eruptions shape Earth’s surface and provide a window into deep Earth processes. How the primary asthenospheric melts form, pond and ascend through the lithosphere is, however, still poorly understood. Since 10 May 2018, magmatic activity has occurred offshore eastern Mayotte (North Mozambique channel), associated with large surface displacements, very-low-frequency ...
Where: Cost: Free
Climate Conversations: Ocean Carbon Dioxide Removal - LivestreamTo combat climate change, in addition to reducing emissions, we will also need to remove greenhouse gases from the atmosphere. Ocean CDR (ocean carbon dioxide removal) is a set of strategies to sequester carbon dioxide in ocean waters. Speakers will discuss social acceptance, environmental governance, and other issues around ocean ...
Where: Cost: Free
COVID Outbreaks and Outrages - LivestreamIn her new documentary In the Same Breath, director Nanfu Wang recounts the origin and spread of the novel coronavirus from the earliest days of the outbreak in Wuhan to its rampage across the United States. In a deeply personal approach, Wang, who was born in China and now lives ...
As we kick-off our "Year of The Leaf", the UC Botanical Garden is pleased to host Dr. Douglas Daly, Curator of Amazonian Botany and Director of the Institute for Systematic Botany at The New York Botanical Garden, to take us into the world of leaf architecture, the place of leaves ...
Please join us as the Ig Nobel forces of improbable research and The Conversation combine for a dangerously smart and rational discussion.Have you wondered why cats are so nimble, malleable, flexible and agile? How do cats fit in cups and vases? Why do felines grab our attention and love (well, ...
The epic saga of Big Basin began in the late 1800s when the surrounding communities saw their once "inexhaustible" redwood forests vanishing. Expanding railways demanded timber as they crisscrossed the nation, but the more redwoods that fell to the woodman's axe, the greater the effects on the local climate. California's ...
Where: Cost: Free
After Dark: Discover Wonder - CANCELEDSpark your curiosity at After Dark! As the sun sets, we’ll hit the rainbow lights, turn the music up, and open our doors, inviting you to take your imagination out to play. Be ready to bring fresh eyes to old favorites and uncover phenomenal new experiences.Cell Phone Miniscope 6:00 - ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $19.95 General, Free for members
NightlifeCalling all creatures of the night: explore the nocturnal side of the Academy at NightLife and see what's revealed. With live DJs, outdoor bars, ambiance lighting, and nearly 40,000 live animals (including familiar faces like Claude the albino alligator), the night is sure to be wild.Step inside the iconic Shake ...
On the open grasslands and hillsides of the South Bay Area lives an elusive little bird that likes to live part of its life underground - the Burrowing Owl!Join Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST), Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center (WERC), and Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority (OSA) as we ...
You can have a beautiful native plant garden that attracts amazing birds, butterflies and other wildlife. Learn about the benefits of local, native plants and some of the wonderful birds that are drawn to this place and to these plants. Noreen Weeden and Eddie Bartley will discuss what migrating and ...
Where: Cost: Free
Implicit Neural Representation Networks Fitting Signals, Derivatives & Integrals - LivestreamImplicitly defined, continuous, differentiable signal representations parameterized by neural networks have emerged as a powerful paradigm, offering many possible benefits over conventional representations and new capabilities in neural rendering and view synthesis. However, conventional network architectures for such implicit neural representations are incapable of modeling signals at scale with fine ...
Where: Cost: Free
Virtual Telescope ViewingJoin our resident astronomers on Facebook Live and YouTube 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 available ...
Where: Cost: Free
Friday, 01/21/22
Another Bite at the Apple: First Apple-1 Computer to Be Brought Back to LifeWhat happened to the very first computer Apple produced? Inventor Steve Wozniak presented the Apple-1 - Serial Number One - to educator Liza Loop. It’s one of the rarest and most important objects of the computing revolution. Join us as vintage computing expert Corey Cohen attempts to bring to life that ...
The simplest analogy for the earthquake cycle is a spring-slider driven at a constant velocity - stress builds up in the spring as it is stretched and then released once the slider moves and the system has caught up with the loading condition. However, the Earth does not entirely subscribe ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free
The Road from Semiconductors to Metals: Engineering Topological States in Nanographene - LivestreamOur group has recently demonstrated the rational design and experimental realization of graphene nanoribbon (GNR) superlattices that host a 1D array of symmetry-protected topological states, thus generating otherwise inaccessible electronic structure. This new class of materials can be thought of as an extended form of poly-acetylene wherein highly ...
Where: Cost: Free
Free Telescope ViewingsJoin Chabot astronomers on the Observatory Deck for a free telescope viewing! Weather permitting, this is a chance to explore stars, planets and more through Chabot’s historic telescopes. Chabot’s three large historic telescopes offer a unique way to experience the awe and wonder of the Universe. Our observatory deck offers ...
In this informative, engaging virtual art exhibit, experience the photography of Chris Stevens-Yu with commentary from the photographer himself. Learn about what makes the Baylands Nature Preserve and other Northern California open spaces special for photography.Register at weblink to receive Zoom information.
Where: Cost: Free
Free Telescope ViewingsJoin Chabot astronomers on the Observatory Deck for a free telescope viewing! Weather permitting, this is a chance to explore stars, planets and more through Chabot’s historic telescopes. Chabot’s three large historic telescopes offer a unique way to experience the awe and wonder of the Universe. Our observatory deck offers ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free
Sunday, 01/23/22
50th Anniversary Golden Jubilee Revival Fungus Fair - CANCELEDThe public is invited to this family friendly event to celebrate the diversity and ecology of fungi found in every part of our environment, from urban garden to mountain forest.Tickets go on sale December 1, 2021. Advance Tickets sold on Eventbrite and will be available at the door. Early bird ...
Where: OrindaCost:
Afternoon Walk at Pillar Point Bluff - FullJoin Peninsula Open Space Trust for an afternoon walk at Pillar Point Bluff just north of Half Moon Bay! You will be guided by a POST representative who will share details about the area’s interesting natural history, from the coastal scrub habitat to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve that hosts tide ...
Where: Moss BeachCost: Free
Monday, 01/24/22
Athermal Phonon Sensor R&D for Low-Mass Dark Matter Detectors - LivestreamIn the direct detection of dark matter with masses down to O(keV), the energies im- parted in the detector become vanishingly small. Many novel ideas have been proposed for instrumenting athermal phonon sensors on Fermi-degenerate materials [1], polar crys- tals [2-4], and CVD diamond [5], requiring detector energy thresholds of ...
Where: Cost: Free
Florilegia: From Historic Voyages to the Present-day Revival - LivestreamA florilegium is a collection of botanical illustrations depicting the plants of a notable location. This online lecture by botanical artist Catherine Watters will take you on a journey from 16th century voyages of exploration to gather and document plants from far corners of the world, to contemporary collections illustrating ...
Where: Cost: $10 General, $5 for Members
How do we know anything at all about space? - LivestreamNo one has ever travelled beyond our cosmic back yard, so all we really have to go off is the tiny drizzles of light that hit our telescope.The Andromeda Galaxy weighs 800 billion times the mass of the sun. The Galaxy M51 is 26 million light years from earth. The ...
One surprising barrier to improving our habits is the English language. Our vocabulary for behavior change is impoverished. And frankly, I don’t know why. On one hand, we have common words (like reward and habit) that are ambiguous. On the other hand, we lack English words for important behavior-related concepts ...
Where: Cost: Free
Continuous Single-Shot Detection of Quasiparticle TrappingSuperconducting quantum circuits are plagued by nonequilibrium populations of quasiparticle excitations. These quasiparticles can cause relaxation and spurious excitation of qubit states, producing errors in a quantum algorithm, and can cause correlated errors that are particularly difficult to address with error correction. To mitigate the effects of these quasiparticles, we ...
How does diversity intertwine along a pathway as a researcher, teacher, public intellectual, presidential advisor, husband, and father (along with 11D supergravity)?This will be recounted by our speaker, Jim Gates, Brown University
Where: Cost: Free
Fertile grounds for agricultural resilience: Harnessing multiple interactions in agroecosystemsDr. Aidee Guzman is interested in agroecological approaches that could harness biodiversity and ecosystem functioning for improved agricultural resilience. She is currently an NSF and UC Chancellor's Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Irvine. Previously, she completed her PhD in the Department of Environmental ...
Vivas Kumar is CEO and founder of Mitra Chem, which is the first lithium-ion battery materials manufacturer focused on shortening the lab-to-production timeline by over 90%, addressing the largest barrier to innovation: R&D and scale-up speed. Vivas received his MBA for Stanford University.Livestream here.
Where: Cost: Free
Breaking the Standard Model (of Embryonic Development) - LivestreamOver the last few decades, we have witnessed a revolution in the study of living matter. However, we have yet to reach a predictive understanding of such matter that is on par with the successes seen in physics for inanimate matter. In this talk, I will show how we take ...
Long Now continues our dialog with the acclaimed writer Kim Stanley Robinson around COP26 and his most recent book The Ministry for the Future. Tickets for the in-person talk in San Francisco & RSVP for the livestream will be released to Long Now Members first, about one month before the ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: TBA General, Free for members and online
The next several decades pose enormous challenges, and opportunities, for the global oil and gas industry. While oil and gas will continue to be used for decades to come, it is now recognized that enormous quantities of CO2 have to be stored in subsurface geologic formations to reach global decarbonization ...
Death to DAMA? Designing and assessing model independent tests of DAMA's modulation signal - LivestreamParticulate dark matter is a long hypothesized solution to various astrophysical observations seemingly at odds with a completely luminous universe. Despite the success of dark matter in explaining these observations, to date physicists have been unable to conclusively observe its interactions with Standard Model matter directly.This talk will focus on ...
Digitized data and computational methods have revolutionized the way we understand ourselves, society, and our place in society. On the one hand, this moment has revived calls for a social physics: a social science that can identify the underlying laws that govern social interaction and behavior. On the other hand, ...
Without phytoplankton, single-celled organisms that live in the water, life as we know it would not exist. Join our speakers to explore the histories of these fascinating organisms that cause beautiful, blue luminescent oceans or deadly red tides. Learn about the current state of phytoplankton in Monterey Bay and around ...
Where: Cost: Donation Suggested, Free for members
Whale Conservation on the US West Coast: Decreasing the Risk of Deadly Ship Strikes - LivestreamPoint Blue Conservation Science has been conducting research to decrease ship strikes along the US West Coast. In this talk, Cotton Rockwood, Senior Marine Ecologist with the California Current Group at Point Blue, will provide an update on their work to estimate whale mortality in the West Coast exclusive economic ...
Where: Cost: $10 Donation Requested
Wednesday, 01/26/22
January LASER Event - LivestreamPattie Maes (MIT) on "Cognitive Enhancement"Sarah Friend (Cryptoartist) on "Systems as Fictions"Amelia Winger-Bearskin (Media Artist, University of Florida) on "Visual Storytelling with Bleeding-edge Technologies"See weblink for connection information
Where: Cost: Free
Science on Tap - Improving Groundwater Supply and Quality in California: Challenges and Opportunities Due to increased fresh water demand, shifts in land use, and climate change, California is increasingly dependent on groundwater, particularly in times of drought when surface water resources are scarce. This has led to aquifer overdraft, contributing to land subsidence, loss of storage capacity, and decreases in water quality. Managed ...
Phylicia Cicilio and Steve Colt will discuss the history and challenges of carbon reduction efforts and renewable energy deployment in Alaska.Register at weblink
From creating a Zen garden on Mars to conducting sound experiments in the massive wind tunnel at NASA Ames, artist-adventurer Charles Lindsay’s work questions our understanding of time and consciousness. Lindsay is the founder of the SETI Institute’s Artist in Residence program and is now a visiting professor at Kyoto ...
Where: Cost: Free
Can ag-tech support organic farming? A political economy perspective - LivestreamIn this UC Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology Research Affiliate Lecture, Professor Julie Guthman (Community Studies) will share a presentation on ag-tech and organic farming. Attendees will have time to meet, greet, and visit before the presentation.See weblink for Zoom information
Celebrate the myriad applications of mycelium in a night dedicated to the fascinating world of fungi. Full event details coming soon!
Where: San FranciscoCost: $19 - $16.75
After Dark: Glow ClosingVisible light inspires us across cultures, reveals nature’s beauty, and contains clues to the history of space and time. Join us for the final After Dark before the lights dim on Glow - a collection of ten luminous sculptures big and small inviting you to connect to, reflect on, and interact ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $19.95 General, Free for members
For nearly five years, NBC News technology correspondent Jacob Ward has reported on the unanticipated consequences of science and technology on our lives. His new book, The Loop: How Technology is Creating a World Without Choices and How to Fight Back, builds on this work by exploring the ways artificial ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $25 In Person, $5 Online
Londa Schiebinger is the John L. Hinds Professor of History of Science at Stanford University and a member of the American Academy of Arts. She is currently Director of the EU/US Gendered Innovations in Science, Health & Medicine, Engineering, and Environment Project. From 2004-2010, Schiebinger served as the Director of ...
Chemical Recycling of Mechanically Robust Polyacetals Synthesized by Living Cationic Ring-Opening PolymerizationChemical recycling of polymers to monomer (CRM) is one of the most attractive methods to retain value in polymer materials during the recycling process. Polymers with low to moderate ceiling temperatures (Tc) are often employed in applications where recycling by depolymerization is desired. Polyacetals are a promising class of chemically ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
The Future of Mental Health AppsThe digital mental health space was overgrowing even before the COVID-19 but, stress and anxiety brought by the pandemic have increased the demand for virtual mental health services, including mental health apps.According to recent research, more than 11% of the global population, nearly 800 million people, live with a mental ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Free Telescope ViewingsJoin Chabot astronomers on the Observatory Deck for a free telescope viewing! Weather permitting, this is a chance to explore stars, planets and more through Chabot’s historic telescopes. Chabot’s three large historic telescopes offer a unique way to experience the awe and wonder of the Universe. Our observatory deck offers ...
Join us as we investigate the world of long-distance animal travels. Whales, birds, insects, and more will be the focus of our deeper look at these natural phenomena. Learn about the many amazing migrators that visit Monterey County every year and celebrate another birthday for Sandy the Whale! Marine Life Studies ...
Where: Cost: Free
Urban Hikes: Visitacion Valley and Little HollywoodFrom a Greenway to sites of industry, architecture, and agriculture, the neighborhoods on our City's southeastern border are alive with history and growth!RSVP required: shaping@foundsf.org to obtain specific location information.
Where: Cost: Free
Free Telescope ViewingsJoin Chabot astronomers on the Observatory Deck for a free telescope viewing! Weather permitting, this is a chance to explore stars, planets and more through Chabot’s historic telescopes. Chabot’s three large historic telescopes offer a unique way to experience the awe and wonder of the Universe. Our observatory deck offers ...
What does research in computational biology look like, specifically at the intersection of deep learning and genomics? In this talk, we'll walk through an example research project to illustrate how comp-bio research can be driven by the knowns and unknowns of biology and how we can leverage deep learning to ...
Speaker: Johannes Eichstaedt, Stanford University, will now speak on March 7, 2022.See weblink to register
Where: Cost: Free
Ask the Experts: Omicron Update - LivestreamIn late 2020, scientists reported the emergence of a new variant of SARS-CoV-2: Omicron.Today, Omicron accounts for about 98 percent of all COVID-19 cases in the United States. And many places throughout the country are seeing a record number of both cases and hospitalizations.Recommendations continue to shift on how to ...
Where: Cost: Free
Many-body ground state problem and near-term quantum computer - LivestreamIt is well-known that solving the ground state of locally interacting quantum many-body systems can be computationally challenging in two spatial dimensions and higher. There are approaches to solve this problem using a quantum computer, but the quantum computers available these days are still noisy and small, posing a significant challenge ...
The power of quantum information lies in its capacity to be non-local, encoded in correlations among entangled particles. Yet our ability to produce, understand, and exploit such correlations is hampered by the fact that the interactions between particles are ordinarily local. To circumvent this limitation in the laboratory, we let ...
Where: Cost: Free
The future of our forests in a rapidly changing worldDr. Joan Dudney is a postdoctoral fellow based at the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis. She recently completed a David H. Smith Postdoctoral Fellowship at UC Davis and received her Ph.D. from the Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management at UC Berkeley in May 2019. Her research is ...
The lithium ion battery is solidifying its role as the technology platform that underpins the new energy system. Fake solutions like hydrogen are falling by the wayside as they are becoming better understood as less efficient than batteries in competitive use cases or suffer significant contamination by legacy oil and gas ...
Where: Cost: Free
From Dinosaurs to Nuclear Waste - an adventure in physics - LivestreamMy research in 1985 on the death of the dinosaurs led directly to my current work disposing of nuclear waste. After I retired from academic research, my daughter and I founded a company, Deep Isolation Inc, that offers an inexpensive method safely to disposal of high level nuclear waste. We ...
 Many of us are captivated by the behavior of wild animals: a pride of lions fighting off a clan of hyenas, a honeybee dancing to communicate the location of food, the crazy acrobatic courtship displays of male lance-tailed manakins. What is it like to be a biologist who studies the ...
The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM; 55.8 Ma) is one of the best-studied hyperthermal events. Proxy data indicate large changes in temperature and hydroclimate during the PETM, but the data are sparse and not evenly distributed across Earth, which makes it challenging to infer spatial patterns of change. Here, we use ...
Using unique longitudinal administrative data of close to 6 million workers’ records, we examine how residential mobility within a high-cost housing market may have impacted the effect of Seattle's $15 minimum wage ordinance on low-wage workers. Specifically, we document residential patterns of low-wage Seattle workers and their impacts on commute ...
Digitized data and computational methods have revolutionized the way we understand ourselves, society, and our place in society. On the one hand, this moment has revived calls for a social physics: a social science that can identify the underlying laws that govern social interaction and behavior. On the other hand, ...
Aerosols pose the number one environmental health risk according to WHO. They can be emitted directly into the atmosphere (primary) or formed through atmospheric chemistry processes (secondary). While there is ample observational evidence that the majority of ambient organic aerosol is secondary, we do not yet sufficiently understand the pathways ...
No introduction is needed for Dr. Tom Seeley. Famed Cornell University professor is a Rock Star in apiculture. Understanding Honey Bee behavior is his life work.In this talk, we will look at the zig-zag path of investigation that Karl von Frisch blazed as he deciphered the famous waggle dance of ...
The Universe is magnetic. From stars to galaxies to intergalactic space, magnetic fields thread the cosmos. Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, hosts a magnetic field that helps to shape the interstellar medium: the “stuff between the stars†out of which new stars are born. Join us on a tour ...
Health behaviors account for the most significant influence on overall health outcomes and healthcare costs, far outpacing genetic effects or the influence of access to medical care. As we move from an era of “reactive†medicine that is hospital and clinic-based toward more holistic and proactive care focused on the ...
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
Post-aquaculture estuarine restoration and eelgrass recovery in Drakes Estero, California - LivestreamBetween August 2016 and May 2017 the National Park Service (NPS) removed 95 wooden oyster racks and associated mariculture debris from Drakes Estero, a shallow estuary within Point Reyes National Seashore, Marin County, California. A total of 3.8 million lbs. of debris was removed from the estero, with the majority ...
This Old Zero-Emission House: Climate Retrofits on a Limited Budget - LivestreamIs your old home running up your utility bills? By making small, affordable changes you can transform your old home into a healthy and efficient home. Join Sean Armstrong as he provides attendees with best practices for improving old homes. He will explain product and price options for replacing stoves, ...
The presentation describes how the biology and physiology of this mammal superbly adapts it to its way of life. It explains their ecological and habitat requirements and how this fits in with the changing face of the British countryside. Finally, it explores the extensive superstition and mythology which has surrounded ...
Where: Cost: Free
The physics of timekeeping: from Stonehenge to atomic clocks - LivestreamThe need to tell the time connects you to over five thousand years of human history. From the first solstice markers at Newgrange to quartz crystal oscillating in your watch today.Join Chad Orzel as he discusses time from orbital motion and axial tilt to the quantum mechanics and relativity theory ...
We are in the midst of a revolution in computing and data. In the past 50 years we have moved from electrical analog models to massively parallel computer systems. The fastest computers in the world when landmark papers such as Freeze and Harlan were written are much slower than the ...
Earth-based radar observations in 2006 - 2020 enabled the first measurement of the spin precession rate and moment of inertia of Venus. The observations also showed that the spin period of the solid planet changes by tens of minutes. The length-of-day variations are due to variations in atmospheric angular momentum ...
Cloud computing while mostly a research topic only a few years, now is part of every company’s strategy. Cloud computing touches a wide range of scientific and technical topics like Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science and Cyber Security. In this talk, I will give an overview of the Cloud ...
Where: Cost: Free
Herding Cats: Organizing Skepticism Online - LivestreamHerding Cats: In conversation with Susan Gerbic - A romp through the last 24 months - Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia, the grief vampire investigations: Operation Lemon Meringue and Operation Onion Ring. Gerbic’s mission is to keep the community active and growing with SkeptiCamps, interviews, and a social trivia group that ...
Earth’s magnetic field does more than just help us to navigate. It is also used by animals for orientation and migration, and it protects life on Earth from charged particles that stream in from the sun and from deep space. This field is believed to be powered by a gigantic ...
Where: Cost: Free
Space Fest 2022 - 'Operation Moonglow' - LivestreamOn July 20th, 1969, over half the world’s population witnessed Neil Armstrong’s first step on the Moon. While often remembered as a scientific and technological feat, the ambitions of the Apollo program aimed far beyond the Moon. Through spaceflight, America sought to win hearts and minds, foster alliances, and shape ...
Ring in the Year of the Tiger with a NightLife Lunar New Year celebration to remember! Live drumming and breathtaking martial arts will get your blood pumping as the evening kicks off with a stunning traditional lion dance performance by Chinatown’s own Jing Mo Athletic Association. Join Kristina Cho, author ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $17.75 - $15.25
After Dark: See for YourselfSpark your curiosity at After Dark! As the sun sets, we’ll hit the rainbow lights, turn the music up, and open our doors, inviting you to take your imagination out to play. Fuel up with a cocktail and prepare to roam free through six spacious outdoor and indoor spaces. Be ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $19.95 General, Free for members
Beneath the soil is a vast underground network of mycorrhizal fungi that’s unseen by humans, but crucial to thriving forests. From nutrient exchanges and complex warning systems, learn more about the fascinating relationship between trees and the fungi that support them.See weblink for links to YouTube and Facebook to attend.
This talk will cover research being conducted in the Schimpf Lab, which focuses on solution-phase syntheses of inorganic solid-state materials. The talk will contain two parts: colloidal semiconductor nanocrystals and cluster-based coordination assemblies. In the first part, I will discuss the use of colloidal synthesis to access metastable phases of ...
Regulating Thermal Radiation With Metal-Insulator Phase TransitionAs a textbook example of strongly correlated electron material, vanadium dioxide (VO2) features a metal-insulator transition (MIT) when temperature drops below 67oC. The physics of the MIT has challenged physicists for decades, while the potential of the MIT has inspired researchers for a wide range of applications. We ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Virtual Star Party - Space Fest - LivestreamThe future of space is as bright as the stars! From the JWST to LUCY to DART to VERITAS, there are more missions than ever before working to study our universe. Join the Bell Museum planetarium team as we explore the future of astronomy and share live views of the ...
Where: Cost: Free
First Friday: Winter SkiesHave a stellar night of after-hours fun as we relaunch our fan-favorite First Friday series. Get the inside scoop on everyone’s favorite dwarf planet, Pluto and winter’s constellations. Then, gaze into the depths of the cosmos with a virtual reality installation, live Sky Tonight Zeiss Planetarium Show, Telescope Viewing! For ...
Where: OaklandCost: $15 General, $10 kids/seniors, $5 members
Space Fest 2022 - Spectacular Spacecraft, Extraordinary Missions - LivestreamCruise through the solar system with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. We’ll explore groundbreaking space missions to destinations such as Saturn’s exotic moon Titan, our neighboring planet Venus, and the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, the source of NASA’s first asteroid sample, which is aboard a spacecraft making its way back to ...
The EV is joined by guest Speaker Nat Goodby for an informative and exciting look at the Bats of North America. Learn about the diversity of bats (in California and globally), why bats are amazing and important, threats to bats and conservation needs, and an overview of the North American ...
Where: Cost: Free
Sunday, 02/06/22
Space Fest 2022 - Moon, Mars, and Beyond! - LivestreamCome along with our crew of regional NASA Solar System Ambassadors on an exciting tour of current and future NASA space exploration missions, including Artemis and Mars Perseverance. Our journey will include a hands-on activity that the whole family will enjoy as well as plenty of time for Q&A. Register ...
Two Condensed Matter Physics Talks - LivestreamSuperexchange-induced valley splitting in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenidesBreaking time-reversal symmetry via an external magnetic field or supporting magnetic substrate has been demonstrated to lift the degeneracy of the band gaps at the inequivalent K and K’ valleys in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), a phenomenon known as valley splitting. However, ...
Astrophysical shock waves are among the most powerful particle accelerators in the Universe. Generated by violent interactions of supersonic plasma flows with the interstellar or intergalactic medium, shocks are inferred to amplify magnetic fields and accelerate electrons and protons to highly relativistic speeds. However, the exact mechanisms that allow these ...
Where: Cost: Free
The Revolution Underway in United States Industrial Policy - LivestreamUnited States industrial policy is undergoing a revolutionary change, with important implications for innovation. The historic understanding of the purpose of federal industrial policy is to support the federal government responsibility to maintain employment, stability, and growth. But today federal industrial policy is being defined by a new set of ...
Recreational mathematics involves mathematical puzzles and games, often appealing to children and untrained adults, inspiring their further study of the subject. Can a similar analogy be drawn in biology? Without making any claims of usefulness, we will explore a wide range of puzzles in living systems including: Can single cells be ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Tequiologies: Indigenous Solutions Against Climate Catastrophe - LivestreamIt is a myth of the West’s choosing: perpetual economic growth, advancing through a digestive system of sorts, one that uses technology as one of its core components. In its churn, ecosystems became goods; people, mere consumers. The myth turned the world into a place increasingly inhospitable to human life. ...
Where: Cost: Free
Tuesday, 02/08/22
February Bird WalkWhile winter birds are still abundant in the Garden, this month we will be looking for the earliest of our spring migrants with our guide, Chris Carmichael, PhD. Masks are required during this walk. We suggest bringing binoculars if you have them, and layers in case it ...
The fast growth of portable power sources for transportation and grid-scale stationary storage presents great opportunities for new battery chemistries. The invention of lithium ion batteries has been recognized with Nobel Prize in 2019. How to increase energy density, reduce cost, speed up charging, extend life, enhance safety and reuse/recycle ...
Bat diversity around the world includes remarkable adaptations, including species that are highly specialized to drink nectar and pollinate flowers. Worldwide, bats pollinate about 500 different plant species, some of which are commercially important, such as durian in southeast Asia, columnar cacti that produce pitaya fruits in Mexico, and, of course, ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free
Wednesday, 02/09/22
Targeting the Immune Exoproteome - LivestreamDr. Aaron Ring, Yale University, will present his lab’s efforts to engineer cytokine pathways for cancer immunotherapy and novel approaches in systems immunology to profile functional autoantibody responses.Register at weblink to attend.
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
Spatial and Temporal Variability in Processes Regulating Estuarine Fouling Communities - LivestreamEstuarine invertebrates experience high interannual variability in abiotic conditions. Additionally, estuaries are hotspots for biological invasions, and increased stress-tolerance among introduced species could change invertebrate species interactions. Using sessile invertebrates, I investigated how processes influencing communities change spatially and temporally in Tomales Bay, CA. Over the summers of 2018 - ...
At the beginning of the 20th century Einstein changed the way we think about Time. Now, early in the 21st century, the measurement of Time is being revolutionized by the ability to cool a gas of atoms to temperatures millions of times lower than any naturally occurring temperature in the ...
Where: Cost: Free
Artificial Intelligence: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - LivestreamArtificial Intelligence (AI) is a remarkable technology that has profoundly impacted our lives. It now beats humans at some of their own games. How did we get here? In this lecture, Abu-Mostafa will describe the scientific journey of AI since the 1980s, as well as Caltech's foundational role in its ...
The more we learn about other worlds, the better we understand our own. Astronomers today ask: what makes a world habitable? What creates and sustains an environment friendly to life? NASA has several new missions ready to address this topic, from the Parker Solar Probe, studying our Sun’s wind; to new ...
Where: Cost: Free
Thursday, 02/10/22
Cold Air Rises: Profound Effects of Vapor Buoyancy on Earth's Climate - Livestream The molar mass of water vapor is less than that of dry air, making humid air lighter than dry air at the same temperature and pressure. This effect is known as vapor buoyancy and has been considered negligibly small in large-scale climate dynamics. Here we use theory, reanalysis data, and ...
Where: Cost: Free
Distribution System Planning: DERs and the Smart Grid - LivestreamAndy Eiden and Angela Long will discuss Portland General Electric's (PGE) efforts to address Oregon's aggressive electricity decarbonization legislation. They will discuss PGE's distribution resource planning and distributed energy resources forecasting methods.Register at weblink to attend online.
The International System of Units (the SI), the modern metric system, has recently undergone its most revolutionary change since its origins during the French Revolution. The nature of this revolution is that all of the base units of the SI are now defined by fixing values of natural constants. Our ...
Looking for a hot night out on the town? Slip into something comfortable and take an intimate look at sex - you know, the transfer of genetic information through sperm and eggs, which has resulted in evolution and specialization among species over time. From the lengths we’ll go to for ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $19.95 General, Free for members
NightlifeCalling all creatures of the night: explore the nocturnal side of the Academy at NightLife and see what's revealed. With live DJs, outdoor bars, ambiance lighting, and nearly 40,000 live animals (including familiar faces like Claude the albino alligator), the night is sure to be wild.Step inside the iconic Shake ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $17.75 - $15.25
Where is the Wild After Wildfire? - LivestreamForests that have experienced fire are vibrant, dazzling, full of life, and rapidly regenerating. Wildflowers and thousands of tree seedlings are bursting from the earth; the air is full of birdsong. The flowers attract insects, which attract birds and smaller mammals, which in turn attract the raptors and larger mammals. ...
Everyone has experienced the call. “This is Alex from the credit card company. We have a refund we want to give you that has to be deposited directly into your bank account. What is your bank account number?†or words to that effect. Or maybe “Alex†(or “Vickiâ€, or “Joshâ€) ...
Where: Cost: Free
Virtual Telescope Viewing - CanceledJoin our resident astronomers on Facebook Live and YouTube 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 available ...
Despite their high theoretical specific energy of 2,600 Wh kg-1, the commercialization of Li-S devices is hindered by irreversible capacity loss from the dissolution of polysulfide intermediates in the electrolyte solution. We report novel strategies to design reactive sites for polysulfide adsorption in metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) to improve capacity retention ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
VIPER - A Next Great Leap in Mapping Water on the Moon - LivestreamNASA is sending a mobile robot to the surface of the South Pole of the Moon to get a close-up view of the location and concentration of ice and other resources. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, is the first resource-mapping mission on another celestial body. VIPER will ...
Where: Cost: Free
Saturday, 02/12/22
Turtle Observer Program on Mt. Tam Marin Water is enlisting the help of community scientists to protect the western pond turtle by monitoring habitat conditions, recording their behavior, and educating the public during the spring when they are most visible. The Turtle Observer program is great for individuals, small groups or whole families. Kids typically make ...
A Child's Botanical Valentine Tea - LivestreamOur annual Botanical Valentine's Day Tea Family Program tradition returns as an at-home tea party and Zoom program. Enjoy a celebration of herbs and flowers as we use all of our senses to explore these fragrant edibles (kit included) and talk about their many uses. Finish the fun by making ...
Where: Cost: $25 General, $20 Members
Afternoon Hike at Mindego Hill - FULLJoin Peninsula Open Space Trust for a beautiful 5-mile hike from the Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve to the top of the POST-protected Mindego Hill. You will be guided by POST ambassadors who will share details about how we protected this beautiful property featuring panoramic views of redwood ridges and ...
As the oil and gas industry comes under increasing pressure to decarbonize, companies are responding in several ways. A common denominator underlying most of them―reducing emissions from core operations, exploiting existing oil and gas assets for decarbonization purposes, launching new low-carbon business lines―is the technology and broader forms of innovation ...
Like many areas of AI, present-day NLP is data-driven. As a result, the available benchmark datasets are the primary factor in shaping the field itself. This has wide-ranging consequences for research, technology, and increasingly for society. How do we conceptualize different tasks, and which tasks receive the most attention from ...
Where: Cost: Free
Quantum Nanophotonics Hardware: From Nanofabrication to Quantum Circuit Mapping - LivestreamPhotonic systems are the leading candidates for deterministic quantum sources, quantum repeaters, and other key devices for quantum information processing. Scalability of this technology depends on the stability, homogeneity and coherence properties of quantum emitters. Here, color centers in wide band gap materials offer favorable properties for applications in quantum ...
The theory describing dark matter remains completely unknown, and requires new search ideas to resolve its identity. It turns out that stars and planets can be ideal playgrounds to discover dark matter. In this talk, I will review a range of dark matter searches using celestial objects, including neutron stars, ...
Where: Cost: Free
Bridging the process-pattern divide in ecology and evolution - LivestreamDr. James T. Stroud is an evolutionary ecologist that explores the processes responsible for the generation and maintenance of large-scale patterns of biological diversity, primarily using lizards as a model system. Specifically, his research focuses on bridging this process-pattern divide by studying how ecological and microevolutionary processes - those able ...
Where: Cost: Free
Energy, Engineering, Education, and Everything - LivestreamDrawing on Dr. Swisher's two decades of teaching clean energy and climate solutions at Stanford and state universities, we'll explore new models for teaching and learning with a mission to avert climate change and achieve sustainability, which are also the charge of Stanford's new School.Speaker: Joel Swisher, Western Washington UniversitySee ...
Slugs & Steins : What is the Dark Matter? - LivestreamFour fifths of the matter in the universe is made of something completely different from the "ordinary matter" we know and love. I will explain why this "dark matter" is an unavoidable ingredient to explain the universe as we observe it, and I will describe what the fundamental, particle nature ...
