Quantum computing is a rapidly advancing field that is poised to take on complex problems that elude even the most powerful supercomputers. In this talk, I will discuss the following:    •   What is quantum computing and how can it be applied?    •   My journey from Symbolic Systems into ...
The James Webb Space Telescope was launched on Dec. 25, 2021, and commissioning was completed in early July 2022. With its 6.5 m golden eye, and cameras and spectrometers covering 0.6 to 28 µm, Webb is already producing magnificent images of galaxies, active galactic nuclei, star-forming regions, and planets. Scientists ...
Globular clusters are beautiful and ancient structures that have been providing insight into the structure of our galaxy and the evolution of stars for more than 100 years. I will describe the role that binary stars play in their fascinating internal dynamics and examples of how binaries are revealed in ...
Jeffrey Gordon received his A.B. from Oberlin College and his M.D. from the University of Chicago. He completed his clinical training in internal medicine and gastroenterology at Washington University and was a post-doctoral fellow in the Laboratory of Biochemistry at NIH’s National Cancer Institute. He has spent his entire career ...
Overturning the Paradigm: What systems approaches tell us about glycosylation and non-coding RNA - CANCELEDGlycans offer cells a rich coding space, integrating information from the genome, transcriptome and proteome that reflects both cell status and the function of cells within an organism. Their position at the outer edge of cellular space makes them ideal partners for immune cell recognition and targets for pathogens including ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Narrowing the search for axion dark matterThe quantum chromodynamics axion and axion-like particles are some of the most sought-after beyond the Standard Model particles at present because of their possible connections with the strong-CP problem, dark matter, and ultraviolet physics such as Grand Unification and String Theory. Laboratory searches are underway around the world to search ...
Jay Apt is a Professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business and in the CMU Department of Engineering and Public Policy. He is the Co-Director (with Granger Morgan) of the Carnegie Mellon Electricity Industry Center and Director of the RenewElec (renewable electricity) project. He has authored over 80 ...
Where: Cost: Free
Tuesday, 11/15/22
Lessons from scale for large language models and quantitative reasoningLarge language models trained on diverse training data have shown impressive results on many tasks involving natural language -- in many cases matching or exceeding human performance. Some measures of progress exhibit remarkably robust power-law improvement over many orders of magnitude in dataset, model and compute scale, while other capabilities remain difficult to extrapolate. ...
With funding from the National Science Foundation the IceCube project at the South Pole melted eighty-six holes over 1.5 miles deep in the Antarctic icecap to construct an enormous astronomical observatory. The experiment discovered a flux of neutrinos reaching us from the cosmos, with energies more than a million times ...
Dimitar Bojantchev will share his path from amateur to informed collector, and onward to professional contributor to science. He is a leading taxonomist of macrofungi in California and the Western United States with an emphasis on the largest genera of Cortinarius and Russula.Dimitar has regularly served as a lead identifier ...
Where: Cost: Free
ACS San Francisco Bay Chapter 2021 Grant Recipients Present their Cetacean Research - LivestreamIn December 2021, through the generous support of individual donors like you, the American Cetacean Society San Francisco Bay Chapter was thrilled to award cetacean research grants to three emerging marine biologists doing critical research in support of our mission: to protect whales, dolphins, porpoises, and their habitats through public ...
Morning Hike at La Honda Open Space PreserveJoin 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 a POST Ambassador on ...
An uneducated seamstress with boundless curiosity. A mother octopus with a baffling shell. When the lady and the octopus met, they reshaped marine biology, proving that females of both species were far more capable than they’d been given credit for. Nineteenth-century inventor and explorer Jeanne Villepreux-Power charted her own course ...
Where: Cost: Free
Dive Into The Marine Mammal Center - LivestreamAre you new to The Marine Mammal Center? Do you want to learn more about how we care for seals, sea lions and otters? Are you intrigued by our work on climate change, ocean trash and whale conservation? If you want to know more about The Marine Mammal Center and ...
Where: Cost: Free
Silicon Valley Talks: Technology and JournalismWhen Samuel Morse sent the first official telegram from the Supreme Court Chamber, he demonstrated this new media technology with the message, "What hath God wrought?" Journalists today, nearly 180 years later, might well ask the same question about technology's impact on their profession, and on the news business generally. ...
Light at Night: A Glowing Hazard - LivestreamThe Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter, and the Sierra Club Bay Alive Campaign invite you to our symposium on dark sky and bird-friendly building and lighting design.The use of LED lighting technology is causing an unintended, yet pervasive and harmful effect: the over-lighting of ...
Where: Cost: Free
Corporations and Climate Risk in the Real World: The Case of PG&E - LivestreamEvery year, much of the western United States is ravaged by ever more severe wildfires, caused in part by local decisions and in part by the local impacts of global climate change. Many of the most destructive wildfires in recent years have been caused by electric utilities, showing the urgency ...
All multicellular life hosts diverse microbial communities that are integral to biological function; these microorganisms drive metabolism, stress resistance, and acclimatization at organismal and ecosystem scales. For modern reef-building corals, their success hinges upon interactions with associated photosynthetic endosymbiotic algae. However, increasing sea surface temperatures cause a breakdown in the ...
Where: Cost: Free
Using satellites to monitor environmental change with National Geographic eEvery ten days, a constellation of satellites works together to take a high-resolution picture of each location on earth. Most of this data is and will be used for defense and intelligence purposes, but we can also use this data for environmental purposes.In this talk with Caleb Kruse, he will ...
Kim Anno(California College of the Arts) on "Spectacle of Nature and Iconic Western texts: Oedius Rex and Dante’s Purgatorio"Rearranging iconic Western texts to reconfigure new meaning...Read more Kokichi Sugihara(Meiji University, Japan) on "How to Make Impossible Objects"The “impossible object†initially meant an imaginary 3D structure which occurs in our ...
The guest speaker will be Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian addressing 13 ways that environmentalists can advocate effectively for good policy.“13 Tips†is a lively, interactive presentation that Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian has presented to leadership groups, nonprofits, and community activists for many years. “Having served as an ...
Black holes are undoubtedly some of the most mysterious objects in the known universe. This mystery seems to sit poorly with some, often earning them descriptions in the media such as “gargantuan monstersâ€, “gravitational terrorsâ€, and even “one-way passages to doomâ€! In this talk, I aim to shed some light ...
It is now clear that most normal galaxies have a big black hole, with between a million and ten billion suns in mass, in their nucleus. However, in addition to being the monstrous cosmic maws of popular characterization, these black holes can interact strongly and subtly with their environment. They ...
On which worlds and under what conditions can life begin? The new “urability†framework (places and conditions under which life can originate) is a new addition to Astrobiology, joining the term “habitability†(worlds where life as we know it can survive). Applying urability to exoplanet models will inform a key ...
Our November speaker will be Dr. Klara Scharnagl, Tucker Curator of Lichenology at the UC Berkeley Herbarium. She's going to talk about symbiosis and ecology of these specialized fungi.
Coastal Walk at Pillar Point BluffJoin 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
Machine Learning for Policymakers: Decoding AI Technology Development, Responsibility, and Policy - LivestreamCountries around the world are establishing strategies, initiatives, and policies to guide the development and use of machine learning, which is the foundation for modern artificial intelligence (AI). What is essential to understand about machine learning technology and how can it be developed and used responsibly?  CHM and Google AI ...
Where: Cost: Free
Searching for Earth-like exoplanets among stellar noise: advancing EPRV instrument capabilitiesThe study and characterization of nearby terrestrial worlds continues to be a key research area within astronomy. Extremely precise radial velocity (EPRV) measurements are critical for this work providing mass, density, and orbital information that are crucial to characterize rocky worlds. However, the path to reaching the radial velocity precision ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
2022 Ogawa-Yamanaka Stem Cell Prize Ceremony - LivestreamGladstone Institutes will honor the 2022 Ogawa-Yamanaka Stem Cell Prize winner, Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte.He will be presented with the award and will give a scientific lecture based on his recent work. Izpisua Belmonte is a celebrated scientist known for his regenerative medicine and aging research, as well as his work ...
Where: Cost: Free
Science at Cal - The Road to Vehicle Electrification - LivestreamThis August, California announced groundbreaking plans to phase out the production of traditional gas-powered cars by 2035. Reports show that, with the right policies, it is technically and economically feasible. But state and local leaders have just over a decade to transition how Californians drive and fuel their vehicles. At ...
Where: Cost: Free
Two talks at Hopkins Marine StationEconomic Impacts of Environmental Shocks in Small-Scale FisheriesDr. Villaseñor-Derbez studies coupled human-ocean systems. He draws from his training in oceanography, ecology, and environmental economics and combines geo-spatial, econometric, and machine learning methods to study how humans and the marine environment respond to policy and environmental change.Innovative, Interdisciplinary Tools to Study ...
The ocean accounts for only 0.02 percent of the Earth's total mass. It has long been speculated that the Earth's interior may host a significant amount of water. Previous experimental and theoretical estimates of the water content in the Earth’s mantle span a wide range, from 1 ocean mass to ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
FACILITATING SECURITY AND TRUST AMONG MULTIPLE PARTIES THROUGH BLOCKCHAIN TECHNIQUES - LivestreamA blockchain consists of a list of blocks that are linked based on cryptography hash and maintained by distributed network nodes, so that the information recorded in these blocks is non-repudiated. After its first conceptualization by Nakamoto in 2008, blockchain has attracted broad attention and been considered as a promising ...
In electronic devices like field-effect transistors, applied electric fields, up to hundreds of gigahertz in frequency, control electron motion. Recently, it has been demonstrated that the electric fields of ultra-intense laser pulses, i.e. electric fields in the tera- to petahertz (THz to PHz) regime, can similarly control electric currents around ...
Where: Cost: Free
Two talks: chinese American Chemical Society - POSTPONEDPlease register and join us for the inaugural program of the new Northern California Chapter of the Chinese American Chemical Society (CACS) • CACS overview and awards • Talks from awardees Profs. Zhenan Bao and Peidong Yang • Great networking & light refreshmentsSkin-inspired Organic ElectronicsSpeaker: Zhenan BaoArtificial PhotosynthesisPeidong YangRegister at ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Lincoln Family Science Night Family Science Night is back - put on your N95 mask and join us for an evening of chemistry fun at Lincoln Elementary School in Richmond. Bryan Balazs will kick things off with his colorful chemistry show, to be followed by hands-on activities all around the cafeteria. You can help ...
Turn up the radiance this winter! Visible light inspires us across cultures, reveals nature’s beauty, and contains clues about the history of space and time. Tonight, join us for the opening of Glow: Discover the Art of Light, a collection of luminous sculptures big and small that invite you to ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $19.95 General, Free for members
Speaker:John Mola, former USGS Research Ecologist, Assistant Professor, Colorado State University  Learn About:The basics of bumble bee biology and the history of species decline and conservation. How forests may be important, but often overlooked, places of conservation and restoration for bumble bees.How genetic data can be used to inform species recovery and ...
Wilson's and Red-necked Phalaropes are tiny but charismatic shorebirds that rely on saline lakes like Mono Lake and Owens Lake as their most critical gas stations on their epic migration to South America. Saline lakes are threatened worldwide by water diversion and climate change, and presumably phalaropes are threatened along ...
Calling 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: $18.75
On the Cosmic Dimension of Human StoriesOne of the 10 most radical discoveries in human history is that of cosmogenesis, the narrative of how the expanding universe is evolving into stars, galaxies, life, and human consciousness. It is certain that over time this discovery will have a major impact on humanity, but it is still too ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $10 suggested donation
Panel of Remediaiton and Permaculture Experts: Fungi for BioremediationBioremediation refers to cost-effective and environment-friendly method for converting the toxic, recalcitrant pollutants into environmentally benign products through the action of various biological treatments. Fungi play a major role in bioremediation owing to their robust morphology and diverse metabolic capacity.Attend in person or online.
Where: Santa RosaCost: Free
NightSchool: Aquarium Without Walls - LivestreamBeyond caring for our animals and maintaining exhibits, the Steinhart Aquarium’s skilled team of biologists also somehow find the time to conduct impactful conservation work worldwide. Come hang out with Academy biologists, who will share stories about the diverse field work they do outside of the four walls of the ...
Where: Cost: Free
Earthquake Science of the Bay Area and How to Prepare- LivestreamAre you prepared for the next big earthquake? We always hear “the big one’s coming†but what does that really mean? We asked Earthquake Geologist and Science Communicator Bryan Castillo to inform us about earthquake science so we can be prepared and stay calm, cool, and collected in the face ...
Join us for a talk by Hannah Polleck, Staff Engineer at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, who will describe her work with the largest camera ever constructed: the 3 Gigapixel CCD camera designed for the Vera Rubin Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST).Pollek will give an overview of the Vera Rubin Observatory as a whole, with ...
Where: Los AltosCost: Free
Why Birds Flock - LivestreamYou may have heard the old saying that birds of a feather flock together. But have you ever stopped to wonder why? Join Jessica Griffiths for a fascinating look at bird flocks and flocking behavior. Why do some species of birds form flocks, while others do not? Why do geese ...
Where: Cost: Free
Friday, 11/18/22
Berkeley Lab Virtual Public TourIn response to COVID-related social conditions, Berkeley Lab is offering virtual tours of its facilities to the public. These are pre-scheduled, live, interactive, one-hour long presentations by Lab staff and scientists. Participants will learn about the Lab's fascinating history, ground-breaking discoveries, and contributions to COVID-19-related research. Join a Zoom Webinar ...
Speaker:Eric Breard, University of OregonSourav Kumar, UC Berkeley, the speaker originally scheduled for today, has been rescheduled for March 10, 2023.
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free
A Path to Detecting Self-Interacting Dark Matter using Astrophysical Sub-StructureDark matter self interactions can leave distinctive signatures on the properties of satellite galaxies around Milky Way-like hosts. By analyzing a number of Milky Way dwarf galaxies, we were able to place new constraints on models of self-interacting dark matter which interact via a Yukawa potential. The results push the theory ...
The celebration will gather and honor this extraordinary scientist who pioneered the modern search for intelligent life in the universe, and his passion for research, education, and helping others. The program will include remarks and remembrances by members of Frank’s family, close friends, and colleagues. Without Frank’s ingenuity and talents, ...
This event provides a different introduction to astronomy than our Intro to the Night Sky talks. During this hour, you'll gain an appreciation for the size and scale of the cosmos and our place within it. You'll see many examples of the beautiful objects visible in the night sky, learn ...
Pulling Back the Dusty Curtain on Luminous Infrared GalaxiesLuminous Infrared Galaxies are some of the brightest and most active galaxies in the Universe. The enormous amounts of infrared light given off by these systems is driven by huge bouts of star formation and by gas accretion onto supermassive black holes. In the nearby Universe, the process driving the ...
In collaboration with Dr. Gretchen LeBuhn and her lab at San Francisco State University, One Tam is continuing our efforts to monitor and understand more about Mt. Tamalpais’ wild bees and other pollinators. Building on the initial 2017 survey of Mt. Tam’s wild bees, we’ll be expanding monitoring to the Golden Gate ...
Join POST and Santa Clara County Parks for an educational experience like no other: Raptor Fest! This incredible event will highlight very important species of raptors, who play an integral role in the health of our ecosystems!This free educational event will feature presentations and a chance to visit local wildlife ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
Fall Friends & Family Day at Bouverie PreserveTake a walk with your friends and family through Bouverie Preserve and stop to explore with our nature enthusiasts who will be at different locations ready to share some of the wonders of nature with you. Staff and volunteers stationed throughout will share what they know about the creek, wildlife, ...
Where: Glen EllenCost: $20 Donation recommended/$15 for members
Investigating Space: Supersonic FlightNASA’s Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) program aims to re-ignite and re-launch supersonic air travel for the 21st Century. Get all the latest news about how NASA is working to transform air travel in this century.
Where: OaklandCost: Free with admission
FREE Ohlone Nature Walk at Alum Rock ParkFREE Ohlone Nature Walk at Alum Rock ParkJoin YSI for a beautiful walk in the park while learning about the plants and animals that were important for the Ohlone Native Americans' survival! This event is outdoors. Masks are recommended. YSI is following all state and county COVID-19 protocols.Register at weblinkAges ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
Fort Point Candlelight TourThe Candlelight Tour of Fort Point is a popular guided program that allows visitors to experience the fort in a new light. This evening tour will maze through the shadows of the historic structure by candlelight and visitors will see the glimmering lights of the Golden Gate Bridge towering up ...
The first planet outside our own solar system was discovered almost thirty years ago in an extremely unlikely place, orbiting a pulsar, and the first exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star was discovered nearly 26 years ago. In the time since, we’ve detected over 5000 planets and over 75% of these ...
Where: Cost: Free
Starry Nights Star PartyThe San Jose Astronomical Association (SJAA) is proud to work with the Open Space Authority (OSA) to co-host a public star party at Rancho Canada del Oro (RCDO). This site is just 30 minutes south of downtown San Jose and features dark skies. It's dark enough to see the band ...
“Managed recharge†is an increasingly popular strategy among water managers to replenish underground aquifers and increase the amount of water stored underground. The stored water may be available for use in dry years when surface water supplies (like rivers and lakes) may be low. If done correctly, it also offers ...
