2023 Grand Finale at Lawrence Hall of ScienceLooking to celebrate the New Year with your kids but don’t want to stay up past their bedtime? Our annual family-friendly New Year’s Eve celebration is back! You bring the holiday cheer, and we’ll bring the magic of confetti cannons, with several launches throughout the day. Register ahead of time ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free with general museum admission
Monday, 01/01/24
First Day HikesCalifornia State Parks are hosting First Day Hikes at several state park locations around the Bay Area. Locations include:Angel IslandBig Basin RedwoodsMurray RanchCastle RockHenry Cowell RedwoodsMontara State BeachMt. TamalpaisNatural Bridges State BeachPachecoPescadero State BeachPigeon Point Light StationSan Luis ReservoirSeacliff State BeachForest of Nisene MarksWilder RanchThe hikes are free, but there ...
Where: Cost: Free
Thursday, 01/04/24
What to Expect in 2024The new year has begun, and it's time for your favorite hosts - Franck Marchis and Beth Johnson - to run down some of the space science to look forward to in 2024! We will talk about launches, missions, celestial events (including a certain solar eclipse), and even SETI Institute's ...
Where: Cost: Free
After Dark: See for YourselfReset and refresh your perspective at Exploratorium After Dark! What does your reflection look like in a mechanical mirror lit by only one candle? What’s underneath the Bay, exactly? We have (almost) all the answers, and more. And don’t miss our special exhibition Glow, which will reveal the art and ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $19.95 General, Free for members
Bhutan: The Happiest Kingdom on Earth - LivestreamOur presenter will be Chubzang Tangbi, owner and head guide for Langur Eco Travels. Bhutan is the only country to enshrine “Gross National Happiness†into its constitution. It’s roughly the size of Maryland but it boasts nearly 600 species of birds. Join us for Chubzang’s presentation in which he’ll discuss ...
Where: Cost: Free
Friday, 01/05/24
Solids, Liquids, and Gases Science Show - First SessionCelebrate the end of our Winter Weeks season with a live, interactive experience! Explore the properties of the three states of matter - solids, liquids, and gasses - in this phase-changing, mind-bending science show. You’ll hear lots of â€oohs†and â€ahhs†as you witness dazzling experiments with liquid nitrogen, dry ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free with general museum admission
Solids, Liquids, and Gases Science Show - Second SessionCelebrate the end of our Winter Weeks season with a live, interactive experience! Explore the properties of the three states of matter - solids, liquids, and gasses - in this phase-changing, mind-bending science show. You’ll hear lots of â€oohs†and â€ahhs†as you witness dazzling experiments with liquid nitrogen, dry ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free with general museum admission
First Friday: Close EncountersAre we alone in the universe? Or could there be other forms of life out there, waiting far away in the vast expanse of space? Hear from researchers, astrobiologists and astronomers on the possibility of extraterrestrial life and distant exoplanets that could sustain it. Show off your best out-of-this-world attire by wearing your best alien-themed costume ...
Where: OaklandCost: $15 General, $10 Kids/Seniors, $5 Members
The show is a celebration of mathematics and the performing arts intended for the general public. The show will feature some of today’s greatest mathematical performers including the music of The Klein Four, the poetry of Harry Baker, the theatrics of Colin Adams, the magic of Art Benjamin, the rope ...
Where: San FransiscoCost: $45 - $60
Saturday, 01/06/24
The Physics Show (three performances)The Physics Show is a fun science show for kids and their families. These will be the exact same shows that were presented in September, 2023 What is The Physics Show?Links to purchase tickets:Saturday January6, 2024 at 10:00 amSaturday January 6, 2024 at 1:00 pmSaturday January 6, 2024 at 3:30 pmSunday ...
Where: Los Altos HillsCost: $6
Nike Missile Site Veteran Open HouseVeterans of the Nike program come to the site to share their stories with visitors and give guided tours of SF88 between the hours of 12pm - 3pm The SF-88 Nike Missile Site is the most fully restored Nike missile site in the country. During the tense years of the Cold War, from ...
Where: Mill ValleyCost: Free
He/She/They: How We Talk About Gender and Why It MattersOne of the most controversial topics today is the issue of gender and the related matters of identity, language and law.Schuyler Bailar's story of becoming the first openly transgender athlete to compete on an NCAA Division 1 team in any sport appeared everywhere from "60 Minutes" to "The Ellen Show" ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $5 General, Free for members in person,Free onlin
Saturday Cinema: The Art + Science of Luminous AnimationsCelebrate the Exploratorium’s winter exhibition Glow: Discover the Art of Light with radiant animations, both meditative and kinetic. Five short films capture the holiday spirit, the translucent elements of nature, the radiance of winter’s starry skies and ancestral stories, and the science of salt crystals shaped like jeweled snowflakes.These films ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free with admission
Starry Nights Star PartyThe San Jose Astronomical Association (SJAA), working with the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority (OSA), is glad to co-host a public star party at Rancho Canada del Oro (RCDO) Open Space Preserve. This site, just 30 minutes south of downtown San Jose, features dark skies. It's dark enough to ...
Where: Morgan HillCost: Free
Sunday, 01/07/24
Point Reyes National Seashore Fungus FairJoin us for the 17th annual Point Reyes National Seashore Fungus Fair. Attend free lectures in the Bear Valley Visitor Center Auditorium. Learn about fungi and their role in the many Point Reyes habitats, from grasslands to redwoods. See the remarkable colors and shapes of wild mushrooms collected in the ...
Where: Point Reyes StationCost: Free
The Physics Show (three performances)The Physics Show is a fun science show for kids and their families. These will be the exact same shows that were presented in September, 2023 What is The Physics Show?Links to purchase tickets:Saturday January6, 2024 at 10:00 amSaturday January 6, 2024 at 1:00 pmSaturday January 6, 2024 at 3:30 pmSunday ...
It’s there for us year round, lighting our days and providing energy for our lives, so maybe it’s time to give it a closer look. Join SJAA for amazing and detailed views of the Sun, and be assured that we’ll be using special telescopes that will keep your eyeballs perfectly ...
Dr. John Concato, from the Office of Medical Policy in FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, will discuss “FDA Guidance on Real-World Evidence.†His presentation will describe the main components of FDA’s Real-World Evidence Program, focusing on guidance development. Dr. Concato will also summarize the historical context leading to ...
Large language models, on their own, have important limitations. I will discuss the trend of "augmenting" language models in various ways to overcome those limitations. Specifically, I will focus on two kinds of augmentation: retrieval augmented generation (RAG) and associated approaches; and vision-augmented language models enhanced to see (LENS).Speaker: Douwe ...
In this talk, Keith Bowen, Ph.D, who is Director of the Learning Design Challenge in the Stanford Accelerator for Learning, shares research into a new program using technology in the education and training of humanitarian responders in the U.S. and the Middle East. For immersive learning, the program uses Virtual ...
Venture Capital investor Mike Lin shares his entrepreneurial journey from Stanford (BS '03, MS '06), to Apple, to startup founder, to venture investing. He'll dive into his venture capital investment thesis centered on demand-side decarbonization, integrative design, and anti-fragility.Attend in person or online (see weblink)
 Sci-Fi movies often depict hibernation as the secret to long-duration human spaceflight. (Note: Even with ideal starship acceleration and deceleration, the nearest exoplanet is 3.6 years away!) Of course, the boundary between science fiction and science fantasy is hazy. Advances in anesthesia may facilitate hibernation. Physiologically, however, general anesthesia is ...
Tow a plankton net in a body of sea water and chances are it will catch copepods. Ubiquitous, abundant, diverse, and prey to many organisms, their importance in marine ecosystems is not in question. Because of their small size and their vast 3-dimensional habitats, copepods are poor models for physiological ...
Coastal Walk at Pillar Point BluffJoin Peninsula Open Space Trust for a beautiful walk at Pillar Point Bluff just north of Half Moon Bay! You will be guided by POST ambassadors who will share details about the area’s interesting natural history, from the coastal scrub habitat to the Fitzgerald Marine Preserve which hosts tide pools ...
The functions of biomolecules are often based in their ability to convert between multiple conformations. Recent advances in deep learning for predicting and designing single structures of proteins mean that the next frontier lies in how well we can characterize, model, and predict protein dynamics. I will talk about two ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
A Royal Walk with the King Tide Along the EmbarcaderoJoin Exploratorium and Port of San Francisco staff on the San Francisco waterfront to observe, photograph, and discuss the king tides. “King tide†is a popular, non-scientific term used to describe exceptionally high tides.Come find out what causes the tides, why we have higher tides at this time of year, ...
As climate change impacts escalate, donors, international organizations, and state actors are implementing adaptation projects that seek to make landscapes and livelihoods more resilient. These projects typically last 5 years, at which time these actors withdraw, and local communities are left to sustain adaptation interventions. However, to date, few studies ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
After Dark: King TidesGive yourself the royal treatment at tonight’s After Dark. Learn about king tides - the non-scientific term for the highest tides of the year - with Exploratorium scientists and researchers. This season, two out of three king tides will take place on January 11 and 12. Are the king tides ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $19.95 General, Free for members
Measuring Our Chances: Risk Prediction in This World and its BettersStanford Data Science is pleased to host our Winter Distinguished Lecture on January 11th, 2024. Our speaker is Dr. Cynthia Dwork, the Gordon McKay Professor of Computer Science at the Harvard University John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Affiliated Faculty at Harvard Law School.
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Fungi Fundamentals - Mushrooms of the Bay AreaThe unique ecosystem of the Bay Area's coastal redwoods provides an ideal setting for mushrooms to flourish. Join us for a cap-tivating online event as we explore and uncover more about the fungal landscape.In collaboration with the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History (SCMNH), we invite you to a special ...
A November 2023 episode of Science Friday, an NPR show beloved by many, including myself, included a short episode dedicated to the environmental problems caused by wild horses on the landscape of the western United States. In this episode, the host presented the view of Yvette Running Horse Collin rejecting ...
50th Anniversary Santa Cruz Fungus FairCome to Santa Cruz and explore the facinating world of Fungi. Learn interesting and fun facts about the hundreds of beautiful and fascinating species of mushrooms found in the Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay Area. Fungi will be beautifully displayed in a re-created woodland habitat. This unique Santa Cruz tradition features ...
Please join the Silicon Valley Archives in celebrating the opening of this exhibit.Centering upon a set of paintings by the Austrian artist and evolutionist Gabriel von Max (1840-1915), The Apes & Us explores a century of representations of primates in relation to humans. Come tour the cultural fascination with apes that began ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
In Town Star Party - CANCELEDCome join San Jose Astronomical Association (SJAA) for an evening of stargazing.Event details:Events are held at the parking lot of our headquarters, Houge Park San Jose. The event duration is 2 hours. SJAA volunteers will share night sky views from their telescopes.Please refrain from bringing your own telescopes (Binoculars are ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
Saturday, 01/13/24
Morning Hike at Skyline Ridge Open Space PreserveJoin POST for this guided hike at Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve! A POST Representative will share a few words about POST’s decades of conservation success before hiking groups leave to explore a moderate to strenuous 4.5 mile hike with 800 feet of elevation gain.Register at weblink
Where: Los AltosCost: Free
50th Anniversary Santa Cruz Fungus FairCome to Santa Cruz and explore the facinating world of Fungi. Learn interesting and fun facts about the hundreds of beautiful and fascinating species of mushrooms found in the Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay Area. Fungi will be beautifully displayed in a re-created woodland habitat. This unique Santa Cruz tradition features ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Varies, see weblink
Family Nature Adventures: WeatherJoin us every 2nd Saturday for Nature Adventures where we’ll take a deep look into a different aspect of the surrounding redwood forest. Your adventure includes a hands-on workshop, access to scientific tools and instruments, a simple snack, and a short exploration work in the forest. We’ll explore themes like ...
Where: OaklandCost: $25 Adult, $15 Youth
King Tides WalkJoin the EV in a fun, interactive learning experience which will teach you about what King Tides are and why they are exciting! The event will include a brief hands-on science talk about the tides, and then a gentle walk through the Baylands. Be prepared for some wet trails!Register at ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: Free
Saturday Cinema: The Art + Science of Luminous AnimationsCelebrate the Exploratorium’s winter exhibition Glow: Discover the Art of Light with radiant animations, both meditative and kinetic. Five short films capture the holiday spirit, the translucent elements of nature, the radiance of winter’s starry skies and ancestral stories, and the science of salt crystals shaped like jeweled snowflakes.These films ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free with admission
Sunday, 01/14/24
50th Anniversary Santa Cruz Fungus FairCome to Santa Cruz and explore the facinating world of Fungi. Learn interesting and fun facts about the hundreds of beautiful and fascinating species of mushrooms found in the Santa Cruz and Monterey Bay Area. Fungi will be beautifully displayed in a re-created woodland habitat. This unique Santa Cruz tradition features ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Varies, see weblink
King Tides WalkJoin the EV in a fun, interactive learning experience which will teach you about what King Tides are and why they are exciting! The event will include a brief hands-on science talk about the tides, and then a gentle walk through the Baylands. Be prepared for some wet trails!Participation is ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: Free
Monday, 01/15/24
Tomales Bay winter shorebird countAudubon Canyon Ranch will once again be conducting our regular series of six winter shorebird counts on Tomales Bay and we encourage experienced birders to join us.Since 1989, we have monitored seasonal populations of shorebirds on Tomales Bay with the help of volunteer field observers. Three bay-wide counts are completed ...
Despite their significant hype, machine learning (ML) models have struggled to solve one of the biggest challenges in modern biophysical chemistry: structure-based drug design. The task of designing a molecule that binds to a particular biomolecular target is extremely challenging for ML for two fundamental reasons: (1) the amount of ...
Jeff Horwitz will discuss his research and reporting that led to his book Broken Code: Inside Facebook and the Fight to Expose its Harmful Secrets. Broken Code expands on “The Facebook Files,†his blockbuster, award-winning series for The Wall Street Journal, and lays out not just the architecture of Facebook’s failures, but what the ...
Since this is a hastily arranged “in-house†colloquium, I plan to make it partially pedagogic concerning a body of thought that has developed in condensed matter theory over the past half century, but which has only much more recently come to be satisfactorily understood.  I will plan to spend roughly ...
When we look at the drivers of effective innovation, we see two complementary themes emerging: First, new technologies or methods that open the way to new solutions, and second, new insights or experiences that yield a better understanding of the problem. With a design thinking approach, we begin by building ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Astronomy on Tap Tucson #94: Pulsars and Poetry - LivestreamThe Discovery of Pulsars: a Guide to Unidentified Blinking ObjectsSpeaker: Maria Mutz, University of ArizonaSpace Travel by Words: Poetry About Up There, Down Here, and In BetweenSpeaker: Fuda Nguyen, University of ArizonaOn tap this month, we have physics graduate student Maria Mutz talking about pulsars and other unidentified blinking objects, ...
In this presentation, J.R. Blair will explore scientific name changes of fungi in the past few decades. Starting with a primer on taxonomic hierarchy (Domains, Kingdoms, Phyla, etc.), the Binomial System of Nomenclature, and species concepts, he will discuss the reasons that species names are changed and why higher level ...
How will planet Earth feed more people in the next century while increasing sustainability? One solution comes from tiny plants called micro-algae, with their high nutrients, vitamins and food value. Chuck Greene is a world leader in looking at this solution, and will talk about its need and its promiseCan ...
The talk will explore Eigen Decomposition, PCA, Kernel PCA, Eigen Faces, t-SNE, UMAP, Manifold Learning, a taxonomy of dimensionality reduction techniques, and discuss how the speaker used them for some of his research experiments.Speaker: Vishnu Pendyala, San Jose State UniversityRegister at weblink
Where: Cost: Free
Secrets of Award Winning Astrophotography - LivestreamAndy Campbell discusses all things Astro and awards, providing valuable insights into entering the highly competitive world of Astrophotography competitions. During the presentation, Andy delves deep into the world of astrophotography and explores tips and techniques that have led to award-winning entries. An experienced judge, Andy also highlights the judging ...
Measurement is a concept that is so ubiquitous in any experimental science, as it is the only avenue through which we can understand the world, and beyond. In the last two decades, technological advances have allowed us to construct ever more precise sensors, to the point that we are now ...
Where: Cost: Free
Muscle Stem Cells Get a New Look: Dynamic Cellular Projections as Sensors of the Stem Cell NicheMechanisms whereby quiescent stem cells sense tissue injury and transition to an activated state are largely unknown. Quiescent skeletal muscle stem cells (MuSCs) have elaborate, heterogeneous projections that rapidly retract in response to muscle injury; the cytoskeletal changes associated with retraction in turn promote downstream MuSC activation events. MuSC projections ...
Over 90% of global water use occurs in agricultural production, which is subject to two pervasive distortions: (i) incomplete property rights for farmers accessing water and (ii) subsidies, taxes, and tariffs affecting agricultural output. This paper combines a rich collection of global geospatial data with a dynamic spatial equilibrium model ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Thursday, 01/18/24
Easy Walk at WavecrestJoin Peninsula Open Space Trust for a very easy 2-mile walk at Wavecrest Open Space in Half Moon Bay! We’ll walk through groves of trees and fields where we’ll have a great chance to spot a variety of birds, especially raptors! We’ll also walk along the coastal bluffs where we ...
Where: Half Moon BayCost: Free
Unraveling Sleep in AgingThe seminar will focus on how sleep loss affects the brain, how it may contribute to neurodegenerative disease and the underlying mechanistic changes that are occurring.Speaker: Christine M Walsh, PhD, Associate Professor, Sleep in Aging and Neurodegenerative Disease Program, Memory & Aging Center, UCSF Department of Neurology, Weill Institute for ...
In this talk we will delve into the intricate world of cybersecurity within smart grid systems, focusing on both defensive and offensive methodologies. The smart grid, integral to modern power systems, faces unique challenges due to its complex network architecture and the integration of renewable energy sources. As these grids ...
Insurgent cartographies are an expression of knowing the world from the standpoint of place. This talk delves into the concept of insurgency and its expressions as a modality of cartography and cultural production, exploring the task for enacting fugitive-anti-colonial pedagogies oriented towards liberatory geographies. This study begins through geo-historical analysis ...
Climate activists have pressured financial institutions to accelerate global decarbonization by aligning portfolios with Paris Agreement transition pathways and targets. SFI traces the progression from IPCC scenarios to corporate target setting via the Science-Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) and financial institutions’ portfolio alignment methods. We identify four critical weaknesses: flawed GHG ...
Where: Cost: Free
After Dark: See for YourselfGlow up your January with a night at the Exploratorium! Sip a cocktail and wander our galleries, where you can play with over 650 interactive exhibits. And don’t miss the final weeks of our seasonal exhibition Glow, inviting you to see, touch, and play with light in thrilling and unexpected ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $19.95 General, Free for members
Astronomy on Tap Santa Cruz: Voyage of Invisible Radio WondersStrap in for a ride with the Solar Wind as we explore the subtle ways in which human activities have sculpted some of the most energetic structures in our Solar System besides the Sun: Earth’s & Jupiter’s radiation belts. Beyond Jupiter, we’ll discover how surfing and volcanoes cross paths to ...
If you still think of sparrows as LBJs (little brown jobs); skulky little drab guys, hard to identify, and generally unexciting…prepare to have your world rocked! The two Eds will take you on a journey through the world of sparrows to reveal the subtle beauty of their plumage and their songs. Along the way, ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Peninsula Gem & Geology SocietyJoint General Meeting with the Sequoia Gem and Mineral Society. Paul Rose will give an in-person presentation on the Quartzite Show and upcoming Tucson Show.
Where: Redwood CityCost: Free
Friday, 01/19/24
King Tide Bair Island Walking TourLearn about this beautiful protected space, and join us for a walking tour of Bair Island during the King Tide! Led by docent Vicki Martell, this hike will take you through ~1.5 miles of paved trails. Bair Island is part of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge.King ...
Electric energy will replace gasoline and gas to attain our targeted CO2 emissions in the coming years, demanding an increase in transmission capability. Similarly, traffic on telecommunications networks grows with the rise in online services. As more activities depend on electricity supply and the availability of telecommunications networks, we need ...
Where: Cost: Free
Using Physics as a Microscope to Dissect Transcriptional Dynamics in DevelopmentOver the last few decades we have largely identified the repressors and activators that shape gene expression patterns in developing embryos and that, in turn, dictate cellular fates. Yet, despite amassing this great reservoir of knowledge, we are still incapable of predicting how the number, placement and affinity of binding ...
As AI becomes more integrated into physical autonomy, it presents a dual spectrum of opportunities and risks. In this talk, I will introduce our efforts in deploying trustworthy intelligent autonomy at a large scale for vital civil usage such as self-driving cars, assistant robots, and first responders to emergencies. During ...
Join us to learn about eco-grief, how to navigate it, and create action. We will provide food and a presentation from our PoCSC alum, Paradyse Oakley, who will present their data and research on eco-grief. We will also provide healing spaces that include painting, creative writing, journaling, and more. All ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free with admission
Postcards from the MoonThe talk introduces the viewer to the evolution of the Moon's face and its varied geology so a telescopic observer can be friends with the Moon and understand what they are seeing.Speaker: Robert ReevesAttend in person or online (see weblink)
Where: LivermoreCost: Free
Saturday, 01/20/24
Morning Hike at Rancho Cañada del OroJoin 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
The Physics Show (three performances - SOLD OUT)The Physics Show is a fun science show for kids and their families. These will be the exact same shows that were presented in September, 2023 What is The Physics Show?Links to purchase tickets:Saturday January6, 2024 at 10:00 amSaturday January 6, 2024 at 1:00 pmSaturday January 6, 2024 at 3:30 pmSunday ...
Where: Los Altos HillsCost: $6
Fungus Among Us at SanbornJoin us for a hike to learn about the fantastic world of fungi! Are they a plant? Which ones are poisonous What happens to it after the mushroom dies? Learn more about one of the oldest living terrestrial beings on our planet!Ages 7 - 12, with registered adultRegister at weblink
Where: SaratogaCost: Free
Saturday Cinema: The Art + Science of Luminous AnimationsCelebrate the Exploratorium’s winter exhibition Glow: Discover the Art of Light with radiant animations, both meditative and kinetic. Five short films capture the holiday spirit, the translucent elements of nature, the radiance of winter’s starry skies and ancestral stories, and the science of salt crystals shaped like jeweled snowflakes.These films ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free with admission
TEDx Berkeley: Butterfly EffectA butterfly flaps its wings. The air ripples, and time flows. Months later, a typhoon starts brewing above the ocean.In its popular understanding, the butterfly effect broadly speaks to the ways in which small changes can have drastically larger consequences downstream. Meteorologist Edward Lorenz identified this phenomenon as he struggled ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: $75 General, $30 Students
City Public Star Party - CANCELEDCome join the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers for free public stargazing of the Moon, planets, globular clusters and more!SFAA members with telescopes are encouraged to attend and share their views of the stars with the general public.Dress warmly.Rain, heavy fog and overcast skies cancel. Check the SFAA website for a ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Jazz Under the Stars - CANCELEDJazz Under the Stars is a FREE monthly public stargazing event! Occurring on the Saturday nearest the 1st quarter moon (check our Events Page), join us in building 36 on the 4th floor observatory for a night of smooth jazz, bright stars, and a lot of fun! We play our jazz ...
Where: San MateoCost: Free
Sunday, 01/21/24
The Physics Show (three performances - SOLD OUT)The Physics Show is a fun science show for kids and their families. These will be the exact same shows that were presented in September, 2023 What is The Physics Show?Links to purchase tickets:Saturday January6, 2024 at 10:00 amSaturday January 6, 2024 at 1:00 pmSaturday January 6, 2024 at 3:30 pmSunday ...
Where: Los Altos HillsCost: $6
Living with Lions in the North BayCome and discover the fascinating world of mountain lions with Living with Lions Education Coordinator Liz Martins and Marin County Parks ranger Alec.The presentation will cover how to coexist with these majestic creatures, their impact on the environment, and the crucial role they play in balancing the ecosystem. There will ...
Where: NovatoCost: Free
What is ChatGPT?Join the Castro Valley Library for an introduction to Generative Artificial Intelligence models like ChatGPT, Bard and Claude.You’ll learn:How they workTheir best usesWays to evaluate their outputTheir shortcomings and potential risksThis workshop is designed for adults and teens who are new to Generative AI.
Where: Castro ValleyCost: free
Monday, 01/22/24
COP28 Debrief: Attendees reflect on Dubai outcomes - LivestreamFor the first time at a United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP), countries have agreed on the need to “transition away from fossil fuels in energy systems.â€Chris Field, Director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, will discuss this and other COP28 outcomes with Jonathan Pershing, former Special Envoy ...
Effective ocean conservation and management relies on an in-depth understanding of the health of marine ecosystems. Dr. Kendall-Bar's interdisciplinary approach combines engineering, visualization, and computation to study ocean resilience in terms of the extreme physiology and behavior of marine animals, establishing eco-physiological baselines to track over time in the face ...
Large language models, on their own, have important limitations. I will discuss the trend of "augmenting" language models in various ways to overcome those limitations. Specifically, I will focus on two kinds of augmentation: retrieval augmented generation (RAG) and associated approaches; and vision-augmented language models enhanced to see (LENS).Speaker: Douwe ...
Dr. Robert Sapolsky is John A. and Cynthia Fry Gunn Professor and professor of biology, neurology and neurological sciences, and of neurosurgery at Stanford University. He is the recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant.†He is also a research associate at the Institute of Primate Research operated by the ...
Where: Cost: Free
Maximizing the Value of Water Infrastructure InvestmentsSignificant public spending is required to repair aging water infrastructure and prepare water systems for future changes in supply, demand, and storage driven by climate change. But recent landmark spending bills in the United States represent only a fraction of the American Society of Civil Engineers estimated $2.5 trillion infrastructure ...
Population growth increases urbanization, impacting surface albedos and altering surface energy balances, including the reduction of urban evaporative cooling, thus forming surface urban heat islands (SUHIs). Neighborhoods with higher vegetative densities, therefore, tend to have lower temperatures than those with sparse vegetation. In the United States, racially and ethnically segregated ...
As the most common construction material and second only to water in terms of use by mankind, concrete cannot simply be replaced with another material at a large scale. In terms of global usage, 14B cubic meters of concrete were produced in 2020 using 4.2B tonnes of cement. Concrete provides ...
Supermassive Black Holes from AU to Megaparsec: Fundamentally New Physics in Accretion DisksSupermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies present unsolved theoretical challenges for our understanding of high-energy astrophysics, gravity and gravitational waves, star and galaxy formation, and space plasma physics. For decades, our models have struggled to understand how such “monster†black holes could form and exist at all. But ...
In order to achieve ambitious decarbonization targets, the electric sector is undergoing a massive expansion or renewable energy, storage, and transmission infrastructure. Modeling methods to identify the least-cost resource mix are well-established. However, spatial modeling and planning methods are still emerging. There is a need to identify high-resolution portfolios of ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
LLM + Graph Database for Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG)LLMs are often like the know-it-all at a bar - they can quickly and confidently produce realistic sounding answers to just about any question - even if the answers are complete fabrications. But an LLM can be grounded in reality by combining it with a Knowledge Graph in order to ...
The Cosmic Neutrino Background (CNB) is a relic of the pre-CMB era which encodes a trove of information about the early Universe and the neutrino sector dating back to when the Universe was less than a second old. In this talk, I will argue that the Earth can significantly alter ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Who Will Build the Ark?Benjamin Kunkel is a co-editor of the New Left Review essay collection Who Will Build the Ark? Debates on Climate Strategy (2023, Verso). Ark lays out various takes on what is needed to restructure societies and economies in the face of climate change. Kunkel will discuss the contours of these ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Getting Ready for California’s New Electrical Grid: A Conversation with KALWCalifornia’s electrical grid is getting cleaner every day. Yet most people in the Bay Area still burn fossil fuels to heat their homes and get hot water for their showers - a major contributor to smog and other harmful pollution. But not for long - clean air officials say we ...
Dr. Jen Gunter, called "the world's most famous and outspoken gynecologist†by The Guardian, returns to The Commonwealth Club in San Francisco to apply her myth-busting, no-nonsense approach to discussing menstruation.Why do people menstruate? The endometrium’s (the uterine lining’s) fascinating connection to the immune system. The impact of stress, vaccines, ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $25 General, $15 Members in person, $10/Free web
Embodied Economies: How our Economic Stories Shape the WorldEconomic policy can seem abstract and distant, but it manifests the physical world - affecting us all. Our economic stories shape our systems, and they in turn shape us. What myths continue to constrain us, and how might new stories emerge to scaffold the future? This talk will explore concepts ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: TBA
Wonderfest: The Psychology of ConfidenceHow confident should we be? Overconfidence leads people to delude themselves with wishful thinking, take too many risks, pursue impossible goals, and waste their time on doomed ventures. Underconfidence dissuades people from taking risks that would pay off, and scares them away from trying things they would enjoy. Pschological studies ...
Where: NovatoCost: Free
Wednesday, 01/24/24
Plasmonic Nanoparticle-Based BiodiagnosticsPlasmonics deals with understanding and manipulating the interaction between light and matter at a scale that is significantly smaller than the wavelength of light (e.g., metal nanoparticles), and chemical nanoplasmonics is mainly about the study and use of nanoscale chemistry for advancing plasmonics and the use of plasmonics to address ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Removing Legal Barriers to Transmission + Unlocking Targeted ElectrificationRemoving Legal Barriers to Transmission in California and Beyond for a Clean Electricity GridSpeakers: Michael Mastrandrea and Michael WaraRemoval of barriers to electric transmission deployment is essential to fully realizing the benefits of recent federal climate legislation and meeting California’s clean electricity goals. Transmission also plays a critical role in ...
Kim Stanley Robinson(link is external) is the award-winning author of 22 novels and numerous short stories exploring themes of ecological sustainability, economic and social justice, global politics, and big science. In recent years, Robinson has written extensively on the climate crisis in 2312, New York City 2140, and 2020’s powerful ...
Drought, Atmospheric Rivers and Floods, Oh My! - LivestreamJoin us for an exciting online event. We'll delve into the fascinating world of weather. From droughts to atmospheric rivers and floods, this event has it all!Learn why California is experiencing more rainfall after years of extreme drought. Discover how we are adapting to our changing climate.Speakers: Christine Shields, National ...
Where: Cost: Free
Fantastic Fungi with Deep LookWhat organisms are neither animals nor plants and belong in a kingdom all their own? Mushrooms! Discover the fascinating world of fungi in this special event in collaboration with KQED's Deep Look wildlife series. You'll meet naturalists and scientists, a psychedelics innovator and renowned Bay Area mushroom chefs.We'll also screen ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: In Person: $20 / Livestream: Free.
Insanely Great: The Apple MAC at 40In January 1984, Steve Jobs unveiled the Apple Macintosh, an "insanely great" computer "for the rest of us" that changed the world - and Apple itself. Exemplifying a (counter) culture of changemakers, the Mac brought the graphical user interface to the masses and launched new connections for computing and creativity. ...
Where: Mountain ViewCost:
Virtual Skeptics in the PubThis is a casual night of socializing with fellow skeptics. If needed, we will have a number of breakout rooms for quieter conversations.Please join us! This is a free event brought to you by Bay Area Skeptics. All are welcome.Zoom. Join HERE. Passcode: 1023
Where: Cost: Free
Thursday, 01/25/24
Connecting Turbulence to Ecology at Multiple ScalesThe last 10-15 years of physical oceanographic research makes clear that a particular class of turbulent currents - thin, elongated fronts and filaments or swirling vortices 10 m - 1 km in horizontal scale - can dominate material fluxes on timescales of hours-to-days.  However, the aggregate impacts of these oceanic ‘weather’ ...
Now, there is intense, if uneven, pressure for prosecutors to indict police officers in the wake of high-profile killings of Black, Latinx and Indigenous people. However, there is as yet no centralized public database that tracks how prosecutors respond to alleged racially-biased misconduct of their law enforcement colleagues at scale. ...
Earth’s Moon is widely accepted to have been created 4.5 billion years ago through a giant impact between Earth and a hypothetical planet known as Theia. Yet, direct evidence for Theia's existence has remained elusive--until now. Here, we demonstrate that the mantle remnants of Theia explain fundamentally important features of ...
Bipedal locomotion, while captivating in its resemblance to human movement, presents a significant challenge within the field of robotics. The inherent multi-dimensionality and dynamic complexity of bipedal robots have posed substantial obstacles to traditional control methods, often limiting their real-world applications. This talk will delve into the complexity of bipedal ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Science on Tap: Cetaceans & Tales of WhalesWe’re going to have a whale of a time with our first Science on Tap of 2024! Just in time for whale migration season, join us for an in-depth look at whales and cetaceans with drinks from Peter B’s Brewpub and our panel of experts to discover the secret world ...
Where: Pacific GroveCost: $20 General adv. , $15 Members, Free for Students
Ancient human footprints at White Sands National Park and their implications for the peopling of the Americas.How old are the footprints? How do we know?What is the role of USGS scientist in this discovery?What's the link between these footprints & climate change?Speakers: Kathleen Springer and Jeff Pigati, USGS Geoscience & ...
Where: Cost: Free
Finding Aliens on Earth - LivestreamFinding life outside of Earth is one of the most interesting topics of Planetary Science. Is life possible on other planets? If so, on which ones? What would it be like, and what would they use as an energy source?Speaker: Miguel à Fernández, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, SpainWatch on YouTube ...
Where: Cost: Free
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 60,000 live animals (including familiar faces like Claude, our alligator with albinism), the night is sure to be wild.Step inside the iconic ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Varies
Searching for Trolls under the Electron Bridge Plants draw energy for all their chemical reactions from sunlight. Why can't we? In theory, this can be done by building a molecular bridge: Attach a molecule that absorbs light and gives the energy to electrons to a molecule that accepts the electrons and uses them to catalyze the desired ...
Coloring the Universe with Rubin Observatory - OnlineVera C. Rubin Observatory has developed a series of FREE online astronomy investigations using authentic data that provide rich and interactive experiences for students, from advanced middle school through college, covering topics commonly taught in introductory astronomy classes or units.This webinar, hosted by the ASP, will unpack how to access ...
Have a whale of a time with the PG Museum as we celebrate the birthday of beloved community icon Sandy the gray whale! Get ready for some major merrymaking and learn about whales and other animals that migrate.
Where: Pacific GroveCost: Free
Salamander Search at SanbornSanborn is famous for its amphibians; you just need to do some extra searching to find them! Join us for a fun day of looking under rocks, logs, and other unique hiding spots that Sanborn’s Salamanders call home!Ages 4 - 12, with registered adultRegister at weblink
Where: SaratogaCost: $25 per person
Stewardship Saturday: Icing Out IceplantsHelp protect our beaches with The Marine Mammal Center and Sonoma County Parks! Through this event you will learn about the impact of the iceplant along our coastal ecosystems and support in removing this plant from a section of Bodega Bay. We hope that by the end of this event ...
Where: Bodega BayCost: Free
Lunar Landing Sites, Past and FutureAs we look back on the discoveries of the Apollo program, now more than fifty years ago, and stand on the verge of a new generation of lunar exploration through the Artemis Program, it is appropriate to reflect upon the sites chosen for lunar exploration. In this talk, we will ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free
Is Anybody Out There? What’s New in the Search for Extraterrestrial CivilizationsWhat is the possibility of other intelligent life in the universe? Can we detect radio, infrared, or optical signals from other civilizations? Current and future SETI projects may provide an answer. Dan Werthimer will describe the rationale for past and future searches and will show how new technologies are revolutionizing ...
Dr. Smith is currently a Conservation Research Fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium:Â I am a community ecologist studying how species interactions shape the structure, functioning, and stability of nearshore marine ecosystems. I focus on temperate rocky reefs and am particularly interested in combining theory with observational and experimental approaches to ...
Where: Rohnert ParkCost: Free
Drivers of plankton communities and foodweb structure in a changing oceanZooplankton are essential components of marine pelagic ecosystems: as trophic intermediaries they play a key role in energy transfer up the food web, they mediate biogeochemical cycling and organic export, and their month-to-year life cycles and close species links to the physical environment make them important sentinels of climate change. ...
A large and growing share of the American public turns to social media for news. On these platforms, reports about crime increasingly come directly from law enforcement agencies, raising questions about content curation. We gathered all posts from almost 14,000 Facebook pages maintained by US law enforcement agencies, focusing on ...
Lake Tahoe is one of the longest studied lakes in North America. Yet, the processes that control its motions, health and clarity are still not fully understood. These processes are a complex interaction of physical, biological and biogeochemical processes, all of which are subject to large-scale changes associated with climate ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Shot noise in a strange metalStrange metal behavior has been observed in materials ranging from high-temperature superconductors to heavy fermion metals. In conventional metals, current is carried by quasiparticles; although it has been suggested that quasiparticles are absent in strange metals, direct experimental evidence is challenging to acquire. We measure shot noise to probe the ...
Muon colliders offer a unique path to multi-TeV, high-luminosity lepton collisions. Muon collisions with a center-of-mass energy of 10 TeV or above would offer significant discovery potential where the constituent collision energies exceed those of the LHC program by an order of magnitude.  Significant progress on the fundamental R&D and ...
Unprecedented development of renewable energy projects and infrastructure is expected across the U.S. to meet decarbonization goals by mid-century. How do Tribal Nations fit into this energy landscape? Tribal lands hold an estimated 6.5% of the utility-scale solar potential in the contiguous United States. Siting principles that support a just ...
Speaker: Jonas Cremer, Stanford UniversityAuditorium
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Flying robots: exploring hybrid locomotion and physical interactionAutonomous flying robots have become widespread in recent years, yet their capability to interact with the environment remains limited. Moving in multiple fluids is one of the great challenges of mobile robotics, and carries great potential for application in biological and environmental studies. In particular, hybrid locomotion provides the means ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
The Many Frontiers of High Magnetic Field ResearchMagnetic fields represent a remarkably flexible research tool that has opened up new frontiers of research in physics, engineering, chemistry, geochemistry, environmental sciences, biology, and biomedicine. The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory (the National MagLab) in the United States exists to provide uniquely powerful magnetic fields to thousands of researchers ...
The United States is strategically disadvantaged in building its critical mineral supply, in particular in the upstream and downstream portion. In this presentation, I will report findings on a year-long conversation with government officials, academics, and international industry experts on the status of the US critical mineral supply chain, in ...
The development of classical electromagnetism and quantum electrodynamics are highpoints of nineteenth and twentieth century physics, respectively. Recent, remarkable discoveries, involving neutron stars and black holes, are taking electrodynamics into unfamiliar and “extremeâ€Â territory, requiring new theoretical approaches. Examples include 100 GT (10^15 Gauss) magnetic fields surrounding neutron stars (and ...
I will discuss how vertebrate skin colours and skin appendages (scales, feathers, hairs, ...) are patterned through Turing and mechanical instabilities. First, I will show that Reaction-diffusion (RD) models are particularly effective for understanding skin colour patterning at the macroscopic scale, without the need to parametrise the profusion of variables ...
Brainstem trauma or neurodegenerative diseases can often result in the inability to move or speak, despite intact cognition. The inability to communicate often results in severely decreased quality of life for individuals living with these conditions. Our recent work has shown that brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), can employ neural signals to ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Innovative Patient-Centered Care for CancerThe current system of cancer care is not built to optimize for patients, according to our speakers. Clinical trials optimize for sponsor outcomes. Hospitals and clinics optimize for payer reimbursement. Translational research optimizes for publication impact. Electronic health records are optimized for billing efficiency.Join us in-person as Mark Laabs (cancer ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $10 Members in person, $5/free online
Wonderfest: The Psychology of Confidence - RESCHEDULEDHow confident should we be? Overconfidence leads people to delude themselves with wishful thinking, take too many risks, pursue impossible goals, and waste their time on doomed ventures. Underconfidence dissuades people from taking risks that would pay off, and scares them away from trying things they would enjoy. Pschological studies ...
