Pint of Science Festival - San Francisco

Ever wanted to learn science without the difficult jargon? How about talking to a scientist over a beer? Because we could all agree that learning science is more fun with a cold pint in your hand.

Ancient Earth as an extrasolar planet

Astronomers have found over a thousand planets orbiting stars that aren't our sun. The ultimate quest is to detect life on these far-away worlds. But how are we going to do it? Because the ancient Earth was so different compared to today, studying it reveals a great deal about how to search for life elsewhere. In this talk, Dr. Som will discuss his own research in atmospheric geology – unraveling properties of the ancient air using rocks – through the lens of Astrobiology.

Speaker: Sanjoy Som, NASA

The Science of Magic

Real magic fools the brain and the mind, with science exploiting the gap between what we know about the world and how we feel it works. The subjective experience of perception and attention is an illusion, with our brains filling in the gaps. For magic to work, the hand doesn't need to be quicker than the eye, just quicker than our ability to interpret what we're perceiving. Learn how neuroscience and magic intersect to blur the boundaries between the probable and the impossible.

Speaker: Luigi Anzivino, ExplOratorium