Bio-techno NightLife

Like technology, biodiversity is all around us and constantly evolving. This week, NightLife focuses a tech-savvy lens on the ways that technological advances allow us to study, engage with, and share biodiversity as we see it.

Get the scoop on the current (10th anniversary!) issue of Scientific American MINDexploring "The Future of the Human Brain."

Check out a Q&A with Dr. Karunesh Ganguly of UCSF on how emerging technologies are opening up new frontiers in mental health and cognitive enhancement.

Ever wonder what types of trees grew in your backyard 100 years ago? Or what native insects might have buzzed along Market Street before it was a modern day thoroughfare? Join Shaping SF to learn about the ways San Francisco's dynamic history and anthropological footprint is being digitized.

Mingle with Nerds for Nature and artist Walter Kitundu, who creates instruments that are modeled after structures in the natural world.

Learn about the Four Ways of Seeing Local Biodiversity during a panel discussion presented by The Seed Fund with Melissa Nelson, John Hafernik, Amber Hasselbring, Alex Shepard and Elizabeth Babcock.

In the planetarium, catch a special edition of Earth Update and discover how biodiversity found throughout the Bay Area has evolved over time and what we can do to protect our natural habitat by being eco-savvy neighbors.

In a single night, star-gaze on the Academy's Living Roof and see how this botanical gem has become a unique ecological corridor in the heart of Golden Gate Park, then take a stroll through a four-story rainforest to see the creatures and plants that inhabit tropical ecosystems around the globe-all with a cocktail in hand.

Don't forget to download the Academy's iNaturalist app, where you can snap and share outdoor observations from your smartphone, wherever you are.

Plus, celebrate the launch of the SF Plant Finder app with SF Department of the Environment, Nature in the City, Mission Blue Nursery, Madrono, Bay Natives, Nature's Acres Nursery, SF City Planning Department, Recreation and Park Department, SF Public Utilities Commission, SF Deparment of Public Works, California Native Plant Society, Literacy for Environmental Justice, Candlestick Point Native Plant Nursery, Presidio Trust and Native Plant Nursery, Sutro Stewards Native Plant Nursery, and The Watershed Native Plant Nursery. Learn about how to enhance our urban ecology through plant recommendations that fit SF's habitat.