How are the venomous personal attacks on climate scientists impacting their work? Is the scrutiny causing them to be even more cautious than they are by nature? A chilling effect? What needs to be done to make scientists better public communicators? Is Bjorn Lomborg's partial revision of his skeptical views ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $12 Members, Free Students
Computer simulations of convection and magnetic field generation in planetsDr. Glatzmeier will describe his studies of fluid flows and the magnetic fields they generate in the electrically conducting interiors of terrestrial planets, like the Earth, of giant planets, like Jupiter, and of satellites, like Europa, that orbit around giant planets. Dr. Glatzmeier develops computer models that solve a set ...
From Point to Pixel: Digitising Colour, Texture Shape and SizeThe advent of image and laser based systems have increased the profile of photometric and geometric (colour, texture, shape and size) data capture, particularly in the 21st century. Whilst the application of techniques like laser scanning and photogrammetry to cultural heritage are well documented, their relationship to each other and ...
Expedition Spotlight: Assassin Spiders from Around the WorldJoin arachnologist Hannah Wood as she talks about her field expeditions to Madagascar and other remote places in the world. They may be small, but assassin spiders are among the most dangerous spiders on the planet - if you're another spider, that is. A classic example of convergent evolution, Wood's ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free with admission
When a Billion Chinese Jump: Why Japan and the world are concerned about China's environmental crisisChina's environmental challenges differ from anything experienced by other countries during a similar stage of development. Drawing on more than 200 interviews with senior politicians, scientists, businessmen and individuals the length and breadth of the country, Watts considers four questions: "How environmental destruction became the new 'China threat?', "Why history ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Elements of ProgrammingThis talk is an introduction to the book Elements of Programming published by Addison Wesley in 2009. The book presents practical programming as a mathematical discipline, where every programming construct has its place.Check out the book's website http://www.elementsofprogramming.com, which has links to several suppliers including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Borders, ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
How the West Can Accommodate High Penetrations of Wind and Solar PowerWhat happens when you put lots of wind and solar power onto the power system? Do you need more storage? Do you need more reserves? When does the system 'break'? What actions can be taken to integrate wind and solar power into the power system without large cost increases to ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Solving America's Health Care Challenges through 21st Century Solutions Following passage of health insurance reform, a fundamental challenge – and opportunity – facing our nation today is how to advance the medical delivery system into the 21st century. As CEO of the largest medical group in the nation, Pearl is responsible for the health care of over 3 million ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $12 Members, $7 Students
Permaculture in Today's Home - Self Sufficiency and Closed Loop Systems Permaculture is an approach to creating holistic systems that feed, house, and otherwise sustain humans. Instead of just building separate systems with different functions, we build relationships that enhance life. In our homes, a Permaculture approach is looking at the whole system and integrating home site systems together using existing ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: $10 Members Adv, $15 General & at door
What Technology WantsMost of us have a love/hate relationship with new inventions, such as the "crackberry," for example. Kelly declares this conflict as inherent to all technology. But he also argues that technology is not anti-nature, but rather the "seventh kingdom" of life; it now shares with life certain biases, urges, needs ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $8 Members, $7 Students
Exploring the TeV Energy States at the Large Hardon ColliderProf. Jeffrey Richman of the Univ. of Calif. at Santa Barbara will give a Physics/Applied Physics colloquium entitled, "Exploring the TeV Energy States at the Large Hadron Collider."
How Stars Are MadeOn a clear night, the sky is filled with countless stars. These objects must be the natural outcome of processes that occur all the time, throughout our Galaxy and others. Indeed, images taken with radio and infrared telescopes show us new stars forming relatively nearby. The progenitor objects are large ...
Where: AlbanyCost: Free
Ecology and Spirituality: Can Wonks Alone Save the World?Ernest (Chick) Callenbach will discuss the role in the struggle for a sustainable future of such imponderables as our relations to the universe and our biotic and social communities. Are our attitudes and emotions more important than policy analyses? Callenbach is the author of the classic Ecotopia and its prequel, ...
Special Space Shuttle Discovery Launch ProgramPostponed: New launch date and time TBDOn Nov. 3, 2010, the space shuttle Discovery will launch from the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:53 p.m. PDT. The STS-135 mission will deliver and install the Permanent Multipurpose Module, the Express Logistics Carrier 4 and provide critical spare components to ...
