Rapidly changing ocean conditions are resulting in changes in marine species and across entire ecosystems that, in turn, affect communities and individuals who rely on these resources for their livelihoods, culture, and sustenance. Marine social science, an emerging field that embraces diverse methods to understand human??"ocean relationships, is increasingly called ...
Photonic research has a distinguished legacy beginning with the invention of the semiconductor laser diode 63 years ago that has enabled countless applications entrenched into modern society. Today we still mostly rely on Gaussian modes emitted from semiconductor lasers with often the objective of reducing the number of lasing modes. ...
Fungus Fair at Presidio Tunnel TopsJoin us outside the Field Station at Presidio Tunnel Tops for the Parks Conservancy Fungus Fair to explore the weird and wonderful world of fungus! Learn the process of how mushrooms grow, how to identify them in the wild, and what ecologists have been learning about fungus in the park. ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
First Saturday: Free Tour of the Santa Cruz ArboretumAround the World in 60-90 Minutes!On the first Saturday of each month, the Arboretum offers a docent or staff-led tour of the Arboretum.Sometimes you will see New Zealand, South Africa, California, and Australia. Sometimes you might see combinations of several gardens or the developing World Conifer Collection or Rare Fruit ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free with admission, and for members
Sunday, 02/02/25
Native Seed Ball WorkshopLet's make native wildflower seed balls! Seed balls (or "seed bombs") are an easy and fun way to distribute seeds. We'll use native wildflowers such as California poppies because they support a variety of local pollinators such as bumblebees and butterflies.First we'll do a short walk around the Butterfly Garden, ...
Where: AlvisoCost: 0
Hidden Brain: An Evening with Shankar VedantamAre there parts of our minds that are hidden from us? This question launched the Hidden Brain podcast ten years ago. Since then, the program has helped millions of listeners accomplish their goals, improve their relationships, and develop a deeper understanding of their emotions.Now, host and creator Shankar Vedantam brings ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $58.50 - $78.50 (including fees).
Nina Beguš will present artificial humanities, an interdisciplinary framework using the humanities to thoughtfully approach the development of AI. We will focus on both fictional and historical representations of AI - from Eliza Doolittle to Eliza the chatbot - and reflect on recent product developments in AI and language while ...
White Dwards as Probes of Convective Overshoot and Evolved Exoplanetary SystemsWhite dwards are the stellar remnants left behind by the majority of stars. In 30 - 50% of the population, material such as asteroids, comets, moons, and even planets from their disrupted planetary systems can be identified by metal absorption lines detected in the white dwarf atmosphere. These stellar remnants ...
This presentation will trace the remarkable journey of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) from its invention in 1985 by G. Binnig, C. F. Quate, and Ch. Gerber at Stanford University - during my time as a graduate student under Prof. Quate - to its current role as a critical tool in ...
Most sporting activities involve a ball. In comparison to the impacting device (bat, club, racket, paddle, etc) the ball is consumable and tends to receive relatively little attention. Yet the ball is complex, inelastic, highly non-linear, and is an integral part of determining equipment performance. This presentation will consider mechanisms ...
Continuous approximation modelling is a logistical paradigm with origins at UC Berkeley in which detailed operational data is replaced by statistical summaries to analyze large-scale routing and distribution problems. This presentation introduces some new applications of computational geometry and geometric probability theory to study modern problems in last-mile delivery, districting, ...
More than a century ago, Albert Einstein presented his general theory of gravitation. One of the predictions of this theory is that not only particles and objects with mass, but also the quanta of light, photons, are tied to the curvature of space-time, and thus to gravity. There must be ...
There is a large body of work from the learning sciences providing us with insights into how people learn; and from Discipline Based Education Research (DBER) we know what discipline-specific difficulties students face. However, it is quite surprising that relatively little of this understanding has made its way into ...
Fracturing on small planetary bodies is controlled by low gravity, which differs from what is observed on Earth and other large planets. Studying the tectonics of small bodies is crucial for understanding the planetary evolution of recent and past lithospheres, from large to small, rocky to non-rocky bodies in the ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Rethinking Clark Kerr: The Uses of the University in the Age of Generative AISpeaker: Gerald Chan, a scientist and legendary venture capitalist, has started over a dozen companies with intellectual property spun out from universities. Currently working at the intersection of AI and medicine, he is pushing the frontiers of population health. As a philanthropist and thought leader in higher education, his work ...
Extreme thinness can reduce the weight of electronics, which dramatically reduces discomfort when wearing. Furthermore, it also improves their mechanical robustness to bending because applied strain is determined by the material's softness and device thickness. In the simplified model, the film thickness is inversely proportional to the strain value, such ...
X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES) is a powerful technique for electronic structure determination. Recent developments in extreme ultraviolet (XUV) light sources using the laser-based technique of high-harmonic generation have enabled core-level spectroscopy to be performed on femtosecond to attosecond timescales. We have extended the scope of tabletop XUV spectroscopy ...
How can stories help us create hopeful climate futures? What storytelling strategies might open pathways to imagine what lies beyond the dystopian and post-apocalyptic narratives so prevalent in popular culture? If we are not only to survive but to thrive over the next century, we need to reframe the stories ...
Human beings are remarkable for the many ways we can impact the world. We move through and interact with the world directly, or with the help of tools, using our brains and our muscles to control those tools. Robots can be thought of as tools, often with computers instead of ...
Join us for this talk to learn about scientific achievements that might give you and your loved ones access to transformational treatment options today or in the near future.Maybe you've heard about CRISPR gene editing or stem cell therapy in the headlines - now you can find out what these ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $22 General in person, $5 online, free students
Chemical synthesis is responsible for significant emissions of carbon dioxide worldwide. These emissions arise not only due to the energy requirements of chemical synthesis, but since hydrocarbon feedstocks can be overoxidized or used as hydrogen sources. Using renewable electricity to drive chemical synthesis may provide a route to overcoming these ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Identifying energy poverty in the built environment using large datasetsBroadly, energy poverty is defined as insufficient energy access. One often missed sign of energy poverty is an inability to maintain a safe and comfortable indoor temperature. Using residential electricity consumption datasets in multiple regions, we determine the outdoor temperatures at which households start using their heating and cooling systems. ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Deep Learning and Deep Sequencing for mRNA DesignTwo decades past the human genome project, genomics is at an inflection point from an era of discovery to an era of engineering. My research journey has paralleled this transition from uncovering fundamental mechanisms of gene regulation to developing new therapeutic applications. I’ll describe how our lab combines machine learning ...
Interactions among organisms are catalysts for biological innovation; this is especially true for symbiotic relationships between marine bacteria and their animal hosts.? From the glowing symbioses of anglerfish to gooey lesions on sharks and the intricate partnerships between bacteria and coral reefs, my research unravels the diverse and fascinating microbial ...
The transition to sustainable energy systems presents a fundamental paradox: developing nations are expected to achieve both rapid modernization and environmental sustainability in a fraction of the time that developed nations took to industrialize. This talk examines this temporal disconnect through the lens of coal-powered electricity, comparing the centuries-long industrialization ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Transforming Pacific salmon recovery from genes to ecosystemsFor millennia, Pacific salmon have been integral to the health of coastal ecosystems and human communities from California to Alaska. Salmon are ecological and cultural keystone species, connecting marine and freshwater food webs and supporting thriving fisheries. Yet, wild salmon have declined precipitously due to a combination of factors including ...
Sci-Fi movies often depict hibernation as the secret to long-duration human spaceflight. (Note: Even with ideal starship acceleration and deceleration - AND with the benefit of relativistic effects - the nearest exoplanet is 3.6 YEARS away!) Of course, the boundary between science fiction and science fantasy is hazy. Advances in ...
Where: San RafaelCost: Free
Thursday, 02/06/25
Innovation-Driven Environment of Silicon Valley - LivestreamThis webinar in collaboration with Movetia will discuss two trending topics on the US West Coast that are shaping the future of workplace: Artificial Intelligence and Entrepreneurship.Register at weblink to receive connection information
Unistellar Citizen Science Q&A (Part 5) - LivestreamJoin Dr. Franck Marchis, Chief Science Officer and co-founder at Unistellar and director of Citizen Science at SETI Institute, and Dr. Lauren Sgro, Outreach Manager at the SETI Institute, for a conversation on citizen science with the Unistellar network in partnership with the SETI Institute. We will review the 2024 ...
Where: Cost: Free
A Ruthless Criticism of AI and CapitalismRecently, the science fiction author Ted Chiang observed that “most of our fears or anxieties about technology are best understood as fears or anxiety about how capitalism will use technology against us.”The sudden boom of interest in artificial intelligence - driven by torrents of cash and threats to transform society ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Do look back: Glacial history of Thwaites and Pine Island Glaciers in the Amundsen Sea, AntarcticaEarth’s glaciers are currently retreating to positions not yet observed by humans and thereby contributing considerably to global sea-level rise. Recent results of paleo-studies in the Amundsen Sea, West Antarctica, undertaken mainly by the International Thwaites Glacier Collaboration (ITGC), demonstrate a possible range of ice-sheet dynamical behavior not captured by ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Human evolution in comparative perspectiveIn the early 1970s, Milford Wolpoff suggested that a trait then considered unique to hominins - ‘culture’ - likely changed how speciation occurs in hominins compared to how it does in other taxa. Although culture (socially transmitted behaviour or information), technology, and other ‘uniquely human’ traits are now known to ...
The future of our energy systems depends on cutting-edge innovations in Grid Infrastructure Technology (Grid Infra Tech), essential for integrating renewable energy and supporting a sustainable, resilient grid. This seminar will explore the evolving innovation landscape in Grid Infra Tech, with a special focus on the critical subsectors where transformative ...
Whereas incremental innovation in RF and microwave instrumentation is continuously happening and even accelerating, radical innovation remains a rare event. I will highlight 2 radical innovation examples from my career: X-parameters and Vector Component Analyzers. Both innovations are dealing with the characterization of active high-frequency devices and components and are ...
What Teachers Want to Know about Climate Change - LivestreamDo teachers feel knowledgeable when it comes to teaching about climate change? How many hours a week (or year?!) are devoted to climate science in our nation’s schools? Is climate change even part of the national science curriculum? CFI Education Director Bertha Vazquez knows, and the answers will surprise you. In ...
Where: Cost: Free
Make Your Own Job: How the Entrepreneurial Work Ethic Exhausted AmericaHow Americans think about work changed profoundly over the course of the twentieth century. Thrift and persistence came to seem old-fashioned. Successful workers were increasingly expected to show initiative and enthusiasm for change??"not just to do their jobs reliably but to create new opportunities for themselves and for others. Our ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
NightLife: Black ThursdayCelebrate Black joy with a vibrant night of creativity, community, and experience.
Where: San FranciscoCost: Varies
After Dark: Wondrous FungusExplore the fungi kingdom and get to know mushrooms, yeasts, and other incredible organisms.Ages 18+
Where: San FranciscoCost: $22.95, free for members
Distant Early Warning: The Arctic Under Siege exhibit openingIn 2007, a Russian submarine planted a flag under the North Pole, beginning what has become known as a New Cold War. Part of the security narrative is driven by the idea that once the ice melts, natural resources like oil and new shipping routes will become part of a ...
First Friday Nights at CuriOdysseyCelebrate Lunar New Year with us at CuriOdyssey. Enjoy a festive evening filled with delicious bites from local favorites - Dumpling King and Kabob Trolley. Feel the rhythm at our lively dance party, marvel at an exhilarating Lion Dance performance, and embrace the spirit of the season by crafting your ...
Where: San MateoCost: $27.95 General, $23.95 Seniors, Students, Child
First Friday: AFROFUTURISMThis First Friday, celebrate Black History Month and Black Futures at the Chabot Space and Science Center. Tinker with hands-on robotics designed by youth engineers at the Hidden Genius Project, try your hand at coding with Black Girls Code, and discover the groundbreaking achievements Black scientists and engineers have been ...
Where: OaklandCost: $10 General, $5 kids/seniors, free for members
Astro 101: Sights of the Cosmos, Intro to Astronomy - LivestreamDuring 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 something about how we see them through our telescopes and what we can deduce about them ...
The Sun, our nearest star, is more than just a blazing ball of fire. Its atmosphere, hotter than its already scorching surface, presents a puzzle that has intrigued scientists for years. How does the Sun’s magnetic field drive the heating of its 10,000-degree chromosphere and million-degree corona? This enigma holds ...
Extracellular DNA (eDNA) in the environment degrades rapidly unless adsorbed onto minerals, which enhances its stability. Currently there are vast amounts of DNA molecules preserved in our sediments. This mineral-bound DNA, although widely used to study past ecosystems, also poses significant implications for bacterial gene acquisition. By utilizing interfacial geochemistry, ...
Where: Cost:
Foothills Family Nature WalkEnvironmental Volunteers’ Family Nature Walks program is designed to help community members get to know our local open space areas. Small groups will be guided by a knowledgeable environmental educator during an exploration of a local open space. These small groups will be introduced to fun nature-based activities, and a ...
Head to Natural Bridges State Beach for the 38th Annual Migration Festival. Many organizations from the community will be there with family-friendly, hands-on activities and booths highlighting the migration of whales, butterflies, birds and the many creatures that travel to and through this fascinating area. Celebrate migration of all kinds ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free
CuriOdyssey Weekend Workshop: Stop MotionFan of Coraline or other stop-motion movies? We will take a look back at some of the earliest animation techniques. At the end, participants will put it all together to make their very own stop-motion movie.Ages 5 to 10 years old
Where: San MateoCost: $45-$55
City Public Star PartyCome join the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers for free public stargazing of the Moon, planets, globular clusters and more!The event will take place in Tunnel Tops National Park, parking is located adjacent to Picnic Place (210 Lincoln Blvd for GPS) with the telescopes setup in the East Meadow.Dress warmly as conditions ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Jazz Under the StarsJazz Under the Stars is a FREE monthly public stargazing event! Occurring on the Saturday nearest the 1st quarter moon, join us for a night of smooth jazz, bright stars, and a lot of fun! We play our jazz from CSM's own KCSM 91.1. Founded in 1964, KCSM has grown to ...
What is the BAS SkeptiCamp? A SkeptiCamp is an informal in-person, free conference where you can learn about science/skepticism, meet fellow skeptics, and enjoy the company of friends old and new. To quote our friends at the Manchester Skeptic Society, “you don’t need to be a published author, famous podcaster or professional ...
Where: Mountain ViewCost: Free
SEA Adventures Mammalian Reproduction LectureThis month’s guest lecturers: Maddie McNelis is a current PhD Candidate at UCSC studying parental care in wildlife in the department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Biological Anthropology from UC Berkeley.Mia Reynolds is a Master’s student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at UC Santa Cruz. ...
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 ...
Speaker: Brad Balukjian, California Academy of Sciences
Where: Rohnert ParkCost: Free
What in the Galaxy is Scattering Cosmic Rays?Cosmic rays with energies << TeV affect galaxy evolution on all scales, from ionizing protoplanetary disks and molecular clouds to driving galactic outflows that alter the gas phase hundreds of kiloparsecs from the galactic disk. All models of cosmic-ray physics on "marco" scales (> pc) are sensitive to the assumed ...
The question of fluctuation and population growth at the local level and how that influences global properties has been studied extensively in physical, biological and social sciences. In liquids and colloidal solutions, fluctuations are ubiquitous. In quantum material interplay of fluctuation and phase transitions is an important topic of research.In ...
Most queueing models assume that each job runs on a single server. But this one-server-per-job model is not a good representation of today’s compute jobs, particularly Machine Learning jobs. A typical data center job today occupies multiple cores concurrently, often thousands of cores. We refer to a job that ...
Speaker: Selmann Chettih, Columbia UniversityRoom: Auditorium
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Nucleic acid-driven self-assemblies: from viral RNA sensors to transcription factorsMy laboratory focuses on the molecular mechanisms of self vs. non-self discrimination by the immune system. Our research has uncovered several protein polymerization processes - distinct from phase separation - that are triggered by nucleic acids in various immune functions. Our earlier work centered on the molecular mechanisms of a ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
What are quantum computers good for?Quantum computers - computers which exploit quantum mechanics - are poised to reshape the landscape of computation. But understanding when ‘quantum’ can help speed up algorithmic tasks is tricky, particularly for those tasks which have the greatest potential for real-world impact. In this talk, I will survey my work in ...
Most magnetic materials, phenomena and devices are well described in terms of the magnetic dipoles arising from the spin of their constituent electrons. There is mounting evidence, however, of intriguing magnetic behaviors that can’t be explained in terms of electron spin dipole moments; these behaviors are often attributed to “hidden ...
Award-winning investigative journalist Charles Piller joins us in San Francisco for an in-depth look at what he says is a world of fraud, corruption, deceit, and greed that have set back important work on treating Alzheimer’s disease.Nearly seven million Americans live with Alzheimer’s, a tragedy that is projected to grow ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $25 General in person, $10 online, member discount
Tuesday, 02/11/25
Radical pairing: an enabling platform for practical metal-free grid scale energy storage To achieve Net Zero by 2050, the power sector will need to be decarbonised fully over the next decade. This is critical not just as a direct means of reducing emissions, but of ensuring a smooth transition in other related sectors including heavy industry, heating, and chemical production. To ...
In this talk, Fletcher will discuss how energy flexibility can help reduce Scope 2 emissions of wastewater treatment facilities. Using a facility from the Bay Area as a case study, he investigates three load shifting mechanisms: a raw wastewater storage tank, a low-pressure biogas holder, and a Li-ion battery. Simulating ...
The development of tandem mass spectrometers equipped with collision cells has enabled online interference removal for ICP-MS, with special attention paid to beta decay systems used for geochronology (e.g., Rb-Sr, Lu-Hf). Looking toward the future, novel applications of LA-MC-ICP-MS/MS will expand many fields that utilize high precision isotope geochemistry, including ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Bill Gates and Partick Collison, In Conversation - LivestreamJoin us for an extraordinary CHM Live event as we welcome Bill Gates to discuss his deeply personal new memoir, Source Code, in conversation with Patrick Collison, cofounder and CEO of Stripe.The business triumphs of Bill Gates are widely known: the twenty-year-old who dropped out of Harvard to start a ...
The detection of high energy astrophysical neutrinos is an important step toward understanding the most energetic cosmic accelerators. IceCube, an observatory at the South Pole, has observed the first astrophysical neutrinos and identified potential sources. However, the best sensitivity at the highest energies comes from detectors that look for coherent radio Cherenkov emission from neutrino ...
The Internet of Things (IoT) is envisioned to open up exciting new opportunities to gather and use data - from insights about our environment and food supply, to monitoring our health, and beyond. However, most current IoT deployments are rather uninspiring: nobody cares about a new smart toaster, for example. ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Ultrafast Quantum Photonics: Beating Decoherence with LightUltrafast optical pulses - femtoseconds to picoseconds in duration - are gaining interest for quantum processing due to their potential to encode information in brief time-bins, especially in scenarios with rapid decoherence.The development of two essential components for optical quantum technologies are discussed: an optical Kerr effect switch in single-mode ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
'Legion 44'You are invited to a screening of Legion 44, a documentary film about the rise of Carbon Dioxide Removal (CDR).Join film director Leila Conners and Stanford Energy Club, Stanford Founders Club, and the Bay Area sustainability community in an opportunity to learn and engage with the innovators and thought leaders ...
Peru has the second highest bird diversity of all countries on the globe, with 1877 species of bird reported there. The topography of Peru is very complex, resulting in a delightful variety of habitats and bird species. Jenn will cover birding in the Peruvian jungle and mountain highlands, an area ...
Join us for a conversation with Yoav Shoham, a leading AI expert who has received multiple awards for his significant contributions to the field. Shoham is the founder of several successful AI companies, the most recent being AI21 Labs. He is also a professor emeritus of computer science at Stanford ...
As a newly appointed engineer in Todd Martz’s lab at Scripps Institution of Oceanography, I have been working with Dr. Martz as well as Andrew Dickson and Ralph Keeling on modernizing how we make the highest quality marine inorganic CO2 system measurements with the intention of renovating the presently used ...
Love and poison are in the water! The peaceful waters of the Japanese Pool - a haven for amphibian mating season - also house a deadly surprise: the cute newts that live there have a powerful neurotoxin in their skin. Thankfully, the only way to be poisoned by a newt ...
The legislative history of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the most significant climate and clean energy legislation in U.S. history, has been widely covered by the political press. Since President Biden signed the bill into law - and particularly since Donald Trump won re-election in November - reporters have continued ...
The polar ice sheets are losing mass and contributing to sea level rise. In Greenland the reason for this is relatively straightforward: the air is getting warmer, melting the ice from above. In Antarctica, the ice is melting from below, from ocean heat delivery to the underside of floating ice ...
The Nature of AdolescenceHumans have a multi-year life stage that begins with pubertal onset and ends with a shift into full adulthood. This period is rife with behavioral and emotional vulnerabilities that include rejection, injury, and the onset of lasting mental health problems. To illuminate the evolution of this life stage, my research ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Architecting Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computers for Today and TomorrowQuantum computers represent a new computing paradigm and have the potential to serve as a disruptive tool for scientific discovery and practical applications. However, they face the fundamental challenges of errors and decoherence. Quantum error correction (QEC) and fault-tolerant quantum computation (FTQC) are therefore crucial for realizing the promise of ...
If an extraterrestrial civilization existed with technology similar to ours, would they be able to detect Earth and evidence of humanity? If so, what signals would they detect, and from how far away? Researchers used a theoretical, modeling-based method, and this study is the first to analyze multiple types of ...
Where: Cost: Free
Human-AI Systems for Accessible Visual CommunicationCommunication dictates our ability to learn, connect, and act in the world. Visual media such as images, videos, and presentations are now central to communication across education, work, and personal life. While such media is engaging and informative, current interfaces make it difficult for millions of people with disabilities or ...
How does the brain generate internal representations of emotions? Driven by this fundamental question, Amit has developed innovative approaches to uncover how neural circuits encode and regulate affective states. By combining cutting-edge experimental tools with advanced computational modeling, Amit provided the first causal demonstration of line attractor dynamics encoding an affective ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
After Dark: SexplorationsSlip into something comfortable and learn about all the ways the natural world gets it on.Ages 18+
Where: San FranciscoCost: $22.95
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 ...
While some people choose to learn about evolution through coursework, a large number of people could be interested in the subject if brought to them wrapped in another subject in which they are already engaged. In this talk, Prof. Noor introduces evolutionary concepts, thinking, and approaches framed using depictions from ...
Where: Cost: Free
Bay Area Wildlife Guide - LivestreamJeff Miller will discuss his book Bay Area Wildlife: An Irreverent Guide, a quirky and entertaining wildlife guide to the greater San Francisco Bay Area, which invites readers to connect with and conserve local species. Featuring over 100 native creatures, from mammals to invertebrates, this informative primer is a treasure ...
Where: Cost: Free
Friday, 02/14/25
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 Canada 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 ...
This month, we’ll be joined by two Steward Observatory postdocs: Aldana Grichener will be teaching us how to make gold out of neutrons and Haowen Zhang will tell us about black holes near and far!.Celestial Alchemy: Turning Neutrons into Gold Speaker: Aldana GrichenerToo Many Black Holes Near and Far!!!Speaker: Haowen ...
Incorporating species’ ability to adaptively respond to climate change is critical for robustly predicting population persistence and identifying mitigation strategies. In this seminar, I will present two case studies on the physiological impacts of climate change on marine species in highly dynamic environments, where organisms may already be adapted to ...
Halide perovskites are exciting new semiconductors that show a great promise in low cost and high-performance optoelectronics devices. However, the poor stability is limiting their practical use. In this talk, I will present a molecular approach to the synthesis of a new family of hybrid material - Organic Semiconductor-incorporated Perovskite ...
This Valentine’s Day, immerse yourself in an evening of thought-provoking conversation and imagination with Ahmed Best - award-winning actor, writer, producer, educator, and a true visionary of our shared future. From his groundbreaking role as the world’s first major CGI character actor in Star Wars to his work as a ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $30.95 General, Free for members
Saturday, 02/15/25
Dream Garden: New AI-Powered Immersive Exhibit at The Tech InteractiveDream Garden is a first-of-its-kind, AI-powered immersive exhibit that transforms your ideas and movements into a vibrant, surreal ecosystem. Designed to spark curiosity and inspire wonder, this playful experience invites visitors of all ages and abilities to step into a dream-like world and explore the creative possibilities of AI. After ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free with admission
Robo Lab at CuriOdysseyDo you have an interest in building and design? Come check out our Robo Lab! Over four hours, participants will get to tour our exhibits workshop and see how the engineering process plays out. You will design your own circuits as an introduction to electricity, then build and test your ...
Where: San MateoCost: $130-$150
Career-Ready with AI, genAI & AgentsThe past two years have seen rapid advances in AI technologies. This has brought about a tectonic shift in the perception of AI. Be it a startup or a traditional business, adoption is only increasing. Students and industry executives alike are keen on pivoting to AI and GenAI. Join the American ...
Where: Santa ClaraCost: $33.85 General, Free for ASEI members
Valentine’s Day at The Crucible: Pour Your Heart OutCelebrate Valentine’s Day with an unforgettable evening of art, creativity, and molten magic at The Crucible! This one-of-a-kind event offers a perfect mix of hands-on artistry and community connection, whether you’re with a partner, friends, or flying solo.Live Iron Pour (Outside, All Night)Step outside to witness the mesmerizing process of ...
For the past 15 years my lab has been exploring the biology of big cats from local pumas to African lions in Kenya and South Africa. Despite a size range of 1 to 250 kilograms, in terms of attitude, cats from our domestic pets to hunting prides all act just ...
Analogies of the Higgs Field Local artist Ned Kahn will show videos and discuss the analogies between his kinetic sculptures and some of the insights of Quantum Field Theory.
The nature of dark matter remains one of the most pressing questions in physics, driving searches across a vast range of scales - from microscopic interactions of individual particles to macroscopic gravitational effects on the cosmos. In this talk, I will explore two exciting avenues for probing dark matter: direct ...
As wildfires grow more frequent and devastating, they expose vulnerabilities in infrastructure, governance, and community preparedness. Tackling this escalating threat demands interdisciplinary solutions that address not just the immediate risks but also the broader systemic changes driving extreme weather events.This UC Berkeley Social Science Matrix on Point discussion will feature ...
Christina Agapakis (UCLA) on "AI as feminist technology: biology, computation, and new paradigms for engineering" Tina Rivers Ryan (Artforum Magazine) on "Media Art and/as Contemporary Art" Jason Eshraghian (UC Santa Cruz) on "Larger Language Models on Smaller Budgets"On Zoom: Click here to register or here.
Delivery and loss of volatile elements and compounds (such as water, carbon, nitrogen and the noble gases) during Earth’s accretion set the stage for the rest of our planet's history. Volatiles were gained through delivery by accreting solids and magma ocean ingassing during the lifetime of the solar nebula, and lost from the Earth ...
Classical and quantum light sources play a fundamental role in science and technology from laser fusion, to communication, manufacturing, defense, sensing, medicine, or quantum computing. Fundamental challenges have prevented the “scaling” of light sources. For example, efficiently scaling the power of lasers has always come at the cost of single ...
We are moving towards a future where intelligence is embedded into everything around us, operating autonomously for years on harvested energy. However, realizing this vision faces fundamental challenges in overcoming physics bottlenecks of miniaturized sensing, scaling intelligence across large deployments, and doing so in a sustainable way. In this talk, ...
Electrons are indistinguishable particles - you cannot tell one electron from another by the color of its hair, or the shape of its ears, or the way it laughs. A basic tenet of quantum mechanics is that all elementary particles are either bosons or fermions, distinguished by their quantum statistics. ...
In this talk I review the phenomenological picture of tunneling defects in low-temperature glasses. Despite the successes of this model, it has been very difficult to verify its microscopic foundations. Leveraging the power of a novel Monte Carlo method, we have prepared in silico glasses annealed in a manner ...
We are members of the genus Homo, distinguished from other primates as bipedal great apes. So far, we have found fossil evidence for several other members of our genus, i.e., several other humans. How does a fossil gain entry into this exclusive club? How many members are there? What do ...
Ecuador, a country with roughly the same area as the state of Colorado is one of the most biodiverse countries in the world and is home to countless species yet to be discovered, particularly fungi. The fragility of these ecosystems and looming threats of destruction mean the clock is ...
Biotransformation plays a crucial role in understanding the environmental fate ofanthropogenic chemicals in both engineered and natural environments. While efforts have been made tostudy the contaminants persistence across environmental compartments, identifying the molecular insights of these reactions (e.g., microorganisms and enzymes) remains challenging. In this seminar, I will showcase how ...
The idea that dolphins communicate with a complex form of language has been entrenched in our culture since the days of the TV show “Flipper.” I will discuss how this idea originated, and its continuing impact, bygiving a brief history of the study of dolphin communication. I will then discuss ...
As the tenth anniversary of the Paris Agreement approaches, climate targets - for reducing emissions, expanding clean energy, phasing out fossil fuels, and more - are as central to climate policy as ever. Yet targets are useful only to the extent that they drive action. This talk will examine how ...
A discussion on the challenges presented by the energy transition and ExxonMobil's research to develop technical solutions to reduce emissions while meeting growing global energy demand.Speaker Nick Clausi, ExxonMobile
Many peoples’ perception of Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is tied to activities associated with the Manhattan Project that occurred from 1943 to 1945. Those perceptions have been reinforced by the recent movie Oppenheimer. Although led by scientists, that project was a large-scale, multidisciplinary engineering effort. Today, approximately half of ...
Where: Cost: Free
In the Footsteps of Galileo - LivestreamIn this 90-minute workshop classroom and informal educators will experience activities recreating the observations Galileo used to promote the heliocentric model of the solar system.When Copernicus set out a heliocentric model for the solar system, there was scant evidence in support of the idea. It took the observations of Tycho, ...
Every day, 10,000 people in the United States turn 65 - a statistic that underscores one of the most significant demographic shifts in history. But the story of longevity is not just about aging, it's about learning new ways of living, working, and thriving across all life stages. From doctor's ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $22 General in person, $5 online
The possibility of a future in astronomy, or any STEM ?eld, seems daunting for students with blindness/visual impairments (B/VI). Three-dimensional (3-D) printing, however, holds promise for students with blindness/visual impairments (B/VI) in addressing astronomy content, concept development, and providing access to information normally displayed visually. To help bolster astronomy and ...
The Sun, Moon, planets, and stars have accompanied sky watchers over millennia. The Pleiades star cluster, observable from every continent except Antarctica, is tied to Indigenous worldviews, astronomy, calendaring, traditional weaving, weather prediction, and agriculture. For the original peoples of Polynesia, Mesoamerica, and the Andes, the Pleiades cluster continues to ...
Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) are not only transforming industries such as autonomous vehicles and healthcare - they are also revolutionizing science. In astronomy, early applications of ML focused on using algorithms to process datasets too large to be inspected manually by scientists. These efforts were significantly bolstered ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Thursday, 02/20/25
SETI Live: Looking for Lunar Anomalies Using Automated Methods - LivestreamOver the past decade, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has captured thousands of high-resolution images of the Moon's surface??"far more than humans can manually review. To tackle this challenge, scientists have developed an automated system that quickly identifies scientifically significant images from the LRO data, making it the first anomaly ...
Where: Cost: Free
Lunch Break Science - LivestreamLunch Break Science is a dynamic live web series featuring fascinating short talks, engaging interviews, and lively Q&A with Leakey Foundation scientists. Each episode digs deeper into the latest human origins discoveries, with topics like Neanderthals, chimpanzee behavior, and more! Even better, you can interact with researchers during the show ...
State of Secure Communications in 2025Have you ever wondered why cybersecurity professionals recommend messaging apps like Signal or use terms like “zero-knowledge encryption” and “privacy by design”? Join the UC Berkeley Cybersecurity Clinic and Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity as we demystify these topics and talk about the state of secure communications in 2025 for organizations ...
Back-propagating Ruptures in Fast and Slow EarthquakesBack-propagating ruptures, characterized by a secondary front reversing into previously ruptured regions - such as boomerang earthquakes and rapid tremor reversals - have been recently documented due to advances in seismological techniques. While rupture complexity is often attributed to fault heterogeneity, its underlying physics remains unclear. I will present two ...
Understanding how a large number of neurons connect to create higher functions holds central importance in neuroscience and is key to bridging artificial intelligence and natural intelligence. Extracting such a functional synaptic connectivity map from biological neuronal networks is, therefore, one of the most widely pursued yet daunting tasks.In this ...
As power grids integrate renewable energy sources and grow in complexity, efficiently solving AC Optimal Power Flow (AC-OPF) is essential for grid stability, operational efficiency, and market participation. This talk presents two complementary approaches to accelerate AC-OPF solutions while ensuring accuracy and reliability. First, we introduce two novel deep learning ...
What’s the secret sauce that makes geostationary satellites a critical resource in commercial communications and defense applications? Let’s explore the the critical role of satellites in geostationary orbit, with an emphasis on the importance of the payload in mission success. Covering foundational topics like systems engineering, satellite orbits, and the ...
Where: Rohnert ParkCost: Free
Countering the Next Phase of American Anti-Vaccine ActivismAnti-vaccine activism has been present throughout American history, but the movement gained considerable momentum in the twenty-first century based on false claims that vaccines cause autism in the 2000s and “health freedom” protests against childhood immunization mandates in schools in the 2010s. Anti-vaccine disinformation may have hit a new peak ...
For its February seminar, the Stanford Sustainable Finance Initiative (SFI) is delighted to host Adrien Bilal, Assistant Professor of Economics at Stanford University as he discusses: The Macroeconomic Impact of Climate Change: Global vs. Local Temperature*. This paper estimates that the macroeconomic damages from climate change are six times larger than previously ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Exploring Lunar Eclipses' - Prepare for the Lunar Eclipse on Mar 13/14 - LivestreamThis 90-minute workshop will help prepare you to engage your audiences and/or students in the wonder of the total lunar eclipse visible across North America the night of March 13-14.Unlike a total solar eclipse, a total lunar eclipse is observable over an entire hemisphere. As long as you can see ...
Songbirds communicate with one another for many reasons - to find and attract a mate, to defend their territory, or even to band together to ward off a predator. However, levels of human-generated noise, also known as anthropogenic noise, and encroachment into bird habitats continue to rise year after year. ...
Greetings beloved nerds, and welcome to the 2025 Season of Nerd Nite SF! Get ready for your monthly dose of nerdy delight starting with our inaugural show! Seek refuge from the chaos of 2025 with fun, funny, inspiring talks about the art of a classic Nawlins dish, the future of ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $10 Advance, $15 at door
The Universe Through a Wine GlassDr. Frank Qu of Stanford University will introduce the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and explain how measurements of its tiny variations have enabled scientists to determine the age, geometry, and size of the universe. Dr. Qu will also discuss how distortions in the CMB, caused by intervening large-scale structures, provide ...
Where: Los AltosCost: Free
'Try It and See' Film PresentationAre you interested in mushrooms for dying fabric? BAMS is hosting an exclusive presentation of this beautiful film, which showcases the early work of two well known Mendocino mycologists, the pioneering mushroom dyer Miriam Rice, and her watercolor artist partner, Dorothy Beebee, as they explore, document, illustrate and publish groundbreaking ...
Effective water treatment is essential for producing safe drinking water, particularly for removing organic contaminants and naturally occurring dissolved organic matter (DOM), which can react during disinfection to form harmful byproducts. Understanding the underlying chemical processes involved in water treatment is greatly enhanced by the application of advanced analytical tools. ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
The Science and Policy of Energy and Climate Justice - LivestreamClimate change disproportionally impacts low-income and vulnerable communities around the world, the people and places least responsible for the problem. Berkeley professor Daniel Kammen will discuss the science and policies that address the root causes of climate change - and the social, racial, and environmental injustices entangled with it - ...
Situated in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, straddling an active plate boundary and influenced by hemisphere-scale climatic and oceanic processes, Aotearoa New Zealand is well placed to provide past perspectives and future constraints on Southern Hemisphere climate and carbon cycling. I will present ongoing work using sediment records obtained from fjords, ...
Catalysis Achievements and Needs for the Refinery of the FutureAs we wish to gradually transform our society in a more sustainable and circular one, it is important to revisit our main chemical production complexes, thereby aiming to build the so-called refinery of the future. This requires a.o. new needs from a chemistry and chemical engineering point of view, including ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Astro 101: From the Big Bang to BiosignaturesThis event is one of several different introductions to astronomy offered by SJAA. During this hour, you'll take a tour through our universe's 13.8 billion years of evolution, touch on some of the highlights of discovery that led to our understanding of that long history, and get a glimpse of ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
Mushrooms + Culture of GreeceTake a visual journey into the diverse and lush natural world of Greece. Ancient forests, traditional land-based living still exists, providing a rich culture weaved within nature itself. Connections to fungi are ever-present and they’re only gaining attention. Take a look into the relationships the locals have with certain species ...
Where: SebastopolCost: Free
In Town Star PartyCome 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, 02/22/25
AI Enhanced Project ManagementWelcome to our immersive AI technology workshop series. During these sessions you will be introduced to new and established AI tools that will help you create and manipulate content in new and powerful ways. Each session is led by an industry expert who will guide you through the material and ...
Where: Santa ClaraCost: $95
Stewardship Saturday: A Walk through the Marshes with Cafe OhloneThis free program for high school students features rotating events along our 600-mile range exploring various realms of conservation.Join Cafe Ohlone co-founders and chefs Vincent Medina and Louis Trevino and The Marine Mammal Center as we take a walk through the marshes, build our own miniature tule boats, and taste ...
Where: FremontCost: Free
Science Saturday: Fabulous FungiJoin us for our Free Science Saturday event, where we will explore the fabulous world of Fungi and Mushrooms. Learn about native mushrooms and fungi local to the central coast and the vital role they play in our ecosystem. This engaging day will feature collection displays, insightful facts, and activities ...
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!Register at weblinkAges 4 - 12
Where: SaratogaCost: Free
Foothills Family Nature WalkEnvironmental Volunteers’ Family Nature Walks program is designed to help community members get to know our local open space areas. Small groups will be guided by a knowledgeable environmental educator during an exploration of a local open space. These small groups will be introduced to fun nature-based activities, and a ...
The U.S. Navy’s Zeppelins were the largest, most expensive, most technologically sophisticated aircraft of their day. Intended to patrol the Pacific to prevent a surprise attack by Japan in the days before radar, Zeppelins were also poised to become the dominant form of long distance transportation. In fact, Moffett Field was built ...
Where: San CarlosCost: Free with admission, free for members
CuriOdyssey Weekend Workshop: Dissection LabBiologists can learn as much from the insides of animals as they do the outside. This workshop will explore the internal anatomy of squids, eggs, flowers, and learn about the importance of x-rays.Ages 5 to 10 years old
Where: San MateoCost: $45-$55
Radical Then, Critical Now: Interdisciplinary Strategies in Environmental ConservationJoin us at the Hay Barn for our annual public natural history symposium: Radical Then, Critical Now: Interdisciplinary Strategies in Environmental Conservation. The event features: UCSC speakers, including Distinguished faculty Dr. Karen Holl and Dr. Gary Griggs; participatory art with Norris Center Art + Science graduate fellows; live music; and a ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: $10 donation suggested, free for students
Bair Island Walking TourJoin Peninsula Open Space Trust for a walking tour at the Bair Island Unit of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge! You’ll be guided by POST ambassadors who will share the history of this beautiful protected space, information about the species that live there, and what you ...
Where: Redwood CityCost: Free
Counter Culture Labs Tour we're giving a lab tour to the public! Come check out your community biology laboratory anytime Saturday, February 22 from 3-4PM for a tour by Anthony, our outreach facilitator and workshop instructor. RSVP only.
Where: OaklandCost: Free
Starry Nights Star PartyJoin the San Jose Astronomical Association (SJAA) and Santa Clara County Open Space Authority (OSA) for an unforgettable night of exploring the night sky. Our knowledgeable docents, members of SJAA, will be your guides to providing valuable insights into the wonders of our universe. The viewing site, Rancho Canada del ...
The Dragonfly mission to Titan is under construction and scheduled to launch in July 2028. Titan is the largest Moon of Saturn and has a rich organic chemistry with lakes of liquid methane and ethane on its surface. The goals of the Dragonfly include the search for signs of life ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free
Sunday, 02/23/25
Twilight Tales at the RefugeJoin us for an evening at the refuge in Alviso to hear tales of rails, tales of tails, and tales of gold, silver, and … garbage. You’ll learn why the refuge was created and why it is so important to all of us. Then as the sun sets, you’ll go ...
The humanities provide useful frameworks for understanding cultural production and the human experience, in all its complexity and uncertainty. As a result, humanities theories and methods have an important role to play in our decisions about how to integrate machines into our lives and how machines are designed. We will ...
Clean energy transitions in many jurisdictions involve dramatic increases in shares of variable wind and solar power in their electricity grids, supplemented by clean firm power to provide reliability. To plan a resilient, clean energy future, we will need to account for natural resource constraints as we develop and deploy ...
The interplay between attractive and repulsive Coulomb interactions can stabilize a wide variety of quantum multiparticle composites and rich quantum phases. Analogous to atoms, ions and molecules formed by electrons and nuclei, electrons and holes in semiconductors can produce multiparticle states - excitons, trions, biexcitons, and mesoscopic droplets - but ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope: A quest to explore the restless, high-energy UniverseProf. Peter Michelson from Stanford University, will discuss the development of the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, an international observatory led by NASA, and its many discoveries during the past 16 years of operation.Speaker: Peter Michelshon, Princeton University
Dr. Wong studies the developmental mechanisms that shape the structure, function and circuitry of the retina. Her research has identified activity-dependent and independent mechanisms working in concert to assemble the stereotypic wiring patterns of retinal circuits.Speaker: Rachel Wong, University of WashingtonRoom: Auditorium
Long-duration energy storage (LDES) is a key resource in enabling zero-emissions electricity grids but its role within different types of grids is not well understood. In this work, we find that a) LDES is particularly valuable in majority wind-powered regions and regions with diminishing hydropower generation, b) seasonal operation of ...
The nature of dark matter remains one of the most pressing questions in physics, driving searches across a vast range of scales - from microscopic interactions of individual particles to macroscopic gravitational effects on the cosmos. In this talk, I will explore two exciting avenues for probing dark matter: direct ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
AI and the Future of Citizenship: Preparing for a Digital DemocracyAs artificial intelligence becomes an ever-present force in our lives, it’s clear that this technology is not going away. And as it continues to transform education, governance and civic engagement, one crucial aspect remains largely unexplored: how to develop informed, engaged citizens for a democracy shaped by artificial intelligence.This event ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 General in person, $5 online
This workshop combines the best of two engaging sessions, offering a comprehensive and hands-on experience in building advanced AI applications and AI agents. We will use the state-of-the-art Large Language Models (LLMs) and Vision Language Models(VLMs) to explain the process. Participants will explore practical techniques to leverage these powerful models ...
Black Holes: Discovering the InvisibleBlack holes are among the most extreme objects in the universe. They push the boundaries of our knowledge, holding many unsolved mysteries. This talk will explore black holes from “small” to enormous, including how to detect these invisible marvels. In the process, we will probe the ...
Lithium (Li)-morphology and solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) are among the most significant performance regulators in Li-metal batteries (LMBs). While both Li-morphology and SEI composition play key roles in the cyclability of LMBs, less is understood about the individual contributions of each factor to overall Li reversibility, particularly at a practical ...
Where: Cost: Free
Bystander T cell activation: an immunologic double-edged swordMemory CD8 T cells are conventionally called to arms by TCR recognition of cognate antigen; however, inflammation alone can elicit T cell cytotoxicity in the absence of cognate antigen. The consequences of this phenomenon, termed bystander activation, can range from beneficial (pathogen clearance) to deleterious (autoimmune pathology), yet the mechanisms ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Nucleic Acid Chemical BiologyI will present our efforts to design and develop molecular probes that can selective label nucleic acids in vitro and inside cells. These probes allow RNA secondary structure mapping, profiling single-stranded DNA for active transcription annotation, mapping RNA-RNA interactions inside cells, and covalent targeting of nucleic acids. I will also ...
Throughout the Mediterranean Sea, scores of ancient marine concrete monuments, once components of artificial harbors constructed by Roman builders as part of their vast imperial maritime infrastructure, have survived for two millennia and counting. Modern marine concrete usually survives in the sea for little more than 50 years and sometimes ...
In their new book, “Data Grab,” Ulises A. Mejias and Nick Couldry argue that the role of data in society must be understood not only as a development of capitalism, but also as the start of a new phase in human history that rivals in importance the emergence of historic ...
The Matter Compiler is a modular, AI-driven, fully autonomous real-time digital manufacturing platform capable of designing and fabricating complex 3D micromachines using arbitrarily extensible material and process libraries. It pioneers a revolutionary approach to building advanced devices beyond the constraints of semiconductor fabs - ushering in the era of MEMS ...
Fueled by advances in microelectronics, software, and large optics fabrication, a new type of sky survey will begin in 2025. With 1000 deep images per night, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) will cover the entire southern sky to 24th magnitude every 3 nights ...
Metallic nanoparticles, used since antiquity to impart intense, vibrant color into materials, known in the 19th century as “Faraday’s colloid” and in the 21st as the optical readout of COVID antigen tests, are a central tool in the nanoscale manipulation of light. When excited by light, metallic nanoparticles undergo a ...
The Western Snowy Plover is a threatened shorebird that breeds along the west coast of the U.S. Because of this status, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has set goals to restore plover numbers throughout the region. In addition, the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project has established goals to ...
NASA’s 4th New Frontiers Mission is the Titan Dragonfly relocatable lander. This coaxial quadrotor vehicle will be launched on a rocket to Titan in 2028. Following a gravity assisted Earth flyby and an approximate 6-year transit, Dragonfly will enter the Titan atmosphere around 2034 with the goal of exploring Titan’s ...
Where: Mountain ViewCost: Free
James Web Space Telescope: Revealing the Invisible Universe - LivestreamThe universe is filled with beauty beyond even our wildest imaginations. Sophisticated observatories such as the James Webb Space Telescope help us peer into that sublime reality, and it is to the great fortune of humanity that these science instruments produce data that captures the essence of the natural beauty ...
We invite you to explore the art of sustainable cuisine through our upcoming lecture, "The Business of Ocean Sustainability." This presentation will trace the journey of how Passionfish pioneered sustainable practices in the restaurant industry, from our humble beginnings to becoming a beacon of environmental stewardship. Discover how our commitment ...
Where: Pacific GroveCost: Free
K Allado-McDowell on Neural MediaIn this lecture, K Allado-McDowell presents a framework for understanding generative AI through the concept of neural media. Drawing on histories of design, technology, and culture, Allado-McDowell reveals how previous media regimes shaped culture and subjectivity, and how neural media like AI now shape our perception, self-conception, and knowledge of ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $25 General
An Evening with Amy Tan: The Backyard Bird Chronicles - LivestreamJoin POST for a special evening with New York Times bestselling author Amy Tan, known for her iconic novel The Joy Luck Club. Amy will share insights from her latest work, The Backyard Bird Chronicles, a heartfelt exploration of her connection to nature through birdwatching. Through this intimate look at ...
Where: Mountain ViewCost: Free
Nicaragua Humpback Whales - What Do We Know About Them? - LivestreamFormal research on Nicaragua humpback whales has been ongoing since 2016 uncovering intriguing information and discoveries for this important breeding area. Join us as Joëlle De Weerdt presents the latest research advancements drawing from the results of her PhD thesis as well as giving us new, exciting perspectives in what ...
Black Holes: Discovering the InvisibleBlack holes are among the most extreme objects in the universe. They push the boundaries of our knowledge, holding many unsolved mysteries. This talk will explore black holes from “small” to enormous, including how to detect these invisible marvels. In the process, we will probe the ...
Where: NovatoCost: Free
Wednesday, 02/26/25
Impact of Environmental Disasters on Drinking Water InfrastructureThe frequency and intensity of environmental disasters, both natural (e.g. wildfires and hurricanes) and human caused (i.e. chemical spills), is increasing and public drinking water systems operating in impacted communities are at risk. Since 2017, widespread organic compound contamination has been found in at least 20 wildfire impacted water systems. ...
Tandem PV is a startup commercializing a new solar technology (perovskite-silicon tandem panels). In this seminar, CTO and co-founder Colin Bailie will discuss his journey to date from technology to startup and hopefully soon to product. Starting from a graduate student at Stanford working on the seminal demonstrations of the ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
The AI We Deserve: A Boston Review DiscussionGenerative AI tools, released by a handful of powerful tech companies, are remaking the economy, society, and human life as we know it. Must their vision be our common destiny?In Boston Review’s recent issue AI Futures, technology writer Evgeny Morozov explores a radically different way of thinking about artificial intelligence ...
Marine natural products chemistry is the field of studying compounds from marine organisms. The biosynthetic potential of our natural world to make unique chemistry scaffolds and exotic compounds exceeds what most chemists consider in medicinal chemistry or drug discovery. These unique compounds often exhibit biological properties that have the potential ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free
New Luddites vs. Biopiracy and AI“New Luddites” Camila Morena and Jim Thomas join us fresh from the latest conference on biotech at Asilomar. Up close and deep in the international negotiations on biodiversity, climate change, and synthetic biology, both of them have seen how the proponents of AI are working to inject their techno-fantasies into ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Thursday, 02/27/25
Elevated and Dangerous: Health Implication of High Nitrate in Central Valley Well Water - LivestreamJoin us as we discuss the upward trend in nitrate levels in Central Valley groundwater, its link to dairy manure, and its subsequent health concerns. The California Water Resources Control Board recently released a draft of new dairy manure management regulations with the intent of better addressing rising nitrate levels. ...
Fossils, footprints, and the evolution of human locomotionBipedal locomotion is considered one of the defining features that “makes us human”. Hypotheses about the evolution of human bipedalism date back at least as far as Aristotle, and questions about locomotion remain fundamental to the study of human evolutionary biology. Over the past century, paleontological discoveries have shed light ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Fire Safe Sonoma Speaker Series - LivestreamErika Lutz, Prescribed Fire Information Coordinator for Audubon Canyon Ranch’s Fire Forward program and Devyn Friedfel, Pepperwood‘s Fire & Stewardship Manager will share more about their roles while providing valuable knowledge on prescribed burning basics and its role in keeping ecosystems healthy. Register HERE for their presentation.
Where: Cost: Free
SETI Live: Space is the Case - LivestreamDuring his time as an Artist in Residence (AIR) at the SETI Institute, visual artist, psychiatrist, and psychoanalyst Martin Wilner invited prominent SETI Institute scientists to participate in his ongoing project, The Case Histories. Interested in exploring how scientists relate to the possibility of encountering an alien life form, Wilner ...
Where: Cost: Free
Rules, Regulations, and Randomness: From Biological to Social SystemsAcross both biological and social systems, rules and regulations play a crucial role in ensuring robustness and resistance to fluctuations across diverse environments. The expansion of rule systems over time is particularly relevant in contemporary political discourse, where some argue that society is over-regulated and that bureaucratic structures should be ...
Join us for an insightful discussion with Tom Steyer, former Presidential candidate and a leading advocate for climate action, as he breaks down the potential progress to be made in 2025 and the critical role the private sector must play in driving real change.Attend in person or online
Meet NASA's Mars rovers and orbiters, interact with the Mars Relay Network, and play with 700+ interactive exhibits that will upend your perception of the universe.
Where: San FranciscoCost: $22.95
DeepSeek AI: What You Need to Know & Why It Matters - LivestreamJoin us for an insightful conversation about the disruptive AI reasoning model R1 by DeepSeek. Developed by the Chinese AI company founded in 2023, DeepSeek has quickly risen to prominence with its open-source large language model (LLM) that rivals top-tier international models. We'll explore the origins of DeepSeek, its advanced ...
Where: Cost: Free
Firewise Landscaping PanelJoin us for an informative session featuring experts from the UC Master Gardeners, Monterey County Firewise, and the local fire department. These specialists will discuss effective fire-wise landscaping techniques tailored for our unique environment. Learn how to create defensible spaces around your area, select fire-resistant plants, and implement practices that ...
Where: Pacific GroveCost: $15 General, $10 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 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
Friday, 02/28/25
Signal (re)processing: How disease states shape signal transduction in CD8+ T cellsPersistent antigen signaling is known to drive CD8+ T cell exhaustion (TEX) in cancer and chronic infection, but which downstream kinase cascades control this process are unknown. We found that activation of protein kinase C (PKC) triggers degradation of PKC theta while sparing PKC eta, leading to terminal TEX cells. In chronic ...
In this talk, Brent Pease will discuss how darkness during the day affected wildlife and highlight the power of the public in large-scale research. Dr. Pease played a key role in the Eclipse Soundscapes project as a facilitator, organizing and engaging almost 100 volunteers to participate as Data Collectors during ...
Mt. Tamalpais Turtle Observers TrainingSaturday, March 19:00 - 10:30 over zoom1:00 - 3:00 field visit Western pond turtles are the only species of freshwater turtle in California and they are important indicators of the health of our lakes. By becoming a Turtle Observer you can turn your interests into action by contributing to conservation efforts ...
Where: FairfaxCost: Free
First Saturday: Free Tour of the Santa Cruz ArboretumAround the World in 60-90 Minutes!On the first Saturday of each month, the Arboretum offers a docent or staff-led tour of the Arboretum.Sometimes you will see New Zealand, South Africa, California, and Australia. Sometimes you might see combinations of several gardens or the developing World Conifer Collection or Rare Fruit ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free with admission, and for members
Frontiers in AI: Language, Inference, and InnovationUC Santa Cruz Silicon Valley Graduuate Student Assembly Presents an afternoon with Nathan Lambert, Alessio Fanelli, and Dylan Patel.Held in the Event CenterRegister at weblink
Where: Santa ClaraCost: Free
Sunday, 03/02/25
Morning Hike at Lower La Honda CreekJoin 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 ...
The second Trump administration hit the ground running with a flurry of Executive Orders, the scope of which raises questions of legality and constitutionality. Can the presidency unilaterally eviscerate USAID activities if the programs had been created and funded by Congress? Doesn't that violate the principle of separation of powers? ...
Where: Mountain ViewCost: $10 donation suggested if in person for lunch
Solar ObservingIt’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 ...
