Free Entrance Days in National ParksHere's an opportunity for a free visit to one of our country's 100 national parks which usually charge entrance fees! You can visit Death Valley, Joshua Tree, Yosemite, Pinnacles, Muir Woods, or another favorite national park at no charge on September 29 (National Public Lands Day).
Where: Cost: Free
Edible and Medicinal Plants of Sonoma CountyJoin Tellur Fenner, well-known Bay Area clinical herbalist and educator, at this two-day weekend workshop as we explore the trails of Pepperwood while learning about the many amazing and functional plants which grow here. This interdisciplinary program will engage students on all levels through a combination of classroom lecture, field ...
Where: Santa RosaCost: $35
Golden Gate Raptor Observatory Hawk Talk and Banding DemoCome to Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands and get an up-close view of the fall raptor migration with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory (GGRO), a cooperative program of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and National Park Service.A GGRO docent gives an hour-long talk about hawk monitoring and identification ...
Join MSI and our friends at Elkhorn Slough Safari to learn first-hand about one of California's most spectacular estuaries. Nationally recognized and protected as an Estuarine Research Reserve, Elkhorn Slough is naturally bountiful as a migratory bird flyway, otter and seal habitat - and home to thousands of other plant ...
Where: Redwood CityCost: $45 Adults, $35 Under 12, $10 discount for members
'Whiskey is for Drinking; Water is for Fighting Over.' – Mark TwainThe City of LA was fast outgrowing it's water supply in the late 1800s. The Owen's Valley looked like the most likely source for the precious resource. Tension grew between ranchers, farmers and developers. Lies and subterfuge were at hand. William Mulholland's aqueduct was the spark that ignited the CA ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Trekking the ModelJoin a ranger guided tour of the Bay Model, a 1.5 acre hydraulic model of San Francisco Bay and Delta. Discover the stories of the two major operations that took place at this location between 1942 – 2000.
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Mad Science: Kitchen ChemistryCooking is all about chemistry! Students will be introduced to the virtual laboratory we call a kitchen in a novel and practical application of science! Dinnertime will never be the same….This program is limited to the first 30 students.
Where: San JoseCost: Free
The Secret Life of Slugs and Snails: Life In The Very Slow LaneSeattle-based author David George Gordon invites us to "step into a world that, until now, you've only stepped on." During his presentation, he'll share his insights about our local slugs and snails, their curious behaviors and the niches they fill in the natural world. He'll also explain how to forge ...
Join Steffen Bartschat on this strenuous five-mile sunset hike to the top of a nearby ridge, where we will watch the full moon rise followed by a Pacific sunset.Along the way we will make several stops to learn about our stealthiest visitor-the mountain lion. Topics include its range and activities, ...
Watch the setting sun and greet the rising moon at this wild edge of the continent.The half-mile trail is steep in places. Dress warmly and bring a flashlight. Meet park staff and docents at the Point Bonita Lighthouse trailhead.Limited to 50 people. Program fills quickly; make required reservation by calling ...
Where: Marin HeadlandsCost: Free
Family Moonlight HikeEnjoy a beautiful outing under the moon and stars on the paved Martin Murphy Trail (2-mile loop) with Docent Jennifer Snedeker. Watch for wildlife, identify overhead constellations, and discover some secrets of this historic and ecological area. Meet at the Bear Ranch entrance at the end of San Martin Ave. ...
Edible and Medicinal Plants of Sonoma CountyJoin Tellur Fenner, well-known Bay Area clinical herbalist and educator, at this two-day weekend workshop as we explore the trails of Pepperwood while learning about the many amazing and functional plants which grow here. This interdisciplinary program will engage students on all levels through a combination of classroom lecture, field ...
Where: Santa RosaCost: $35
Golden Gate Raptor Observatory Hawk Talk and Banding DemoCome to Hawk Hill in the Marin Headlands and get an up-close view of the fall raptor migration with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory (GGRO), a cooperative program of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy and National Park Service.A GGRO docent gives an hour-long talk about hawk monitoring and identification ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
2012: Maya Calendar RevealedDecember 21, 2012. This date, identified by the Maya more than 1,400 years ago, has in recent years become the source of great curiosity and debate. Some believe it will bring catastrophic events -- others, an era of enlightenment. But what did the ancient Maya themselves believe? 2012: The Beginning ...
Global WarmingDr. Rohde is lead scientist at Berkeley Earth, which analyzed land-surface temperature records going back 250 years, about 100 years further than previous studies. The analysis shows that global warming is real, and that the best explanation of the temperature increase is a combination of volcanoes and human greenhouse gas ...
Where: Rohnert ParkCost: Free
High Performance Software Design at DreamWorks AnimationThe artists who create movies at DreamWorks Animation are always pushing the limits of technology in their efforts to create more immersive experiences. This requires software developers to create tools that can extract the maximum performance from the available hardware. New tools are under development that are extensively multithreaded to ...
Social media has changed the landscape of American politics. Candidates are using more sophisticated social media strategies and voters are communicating more actively among themselves. By one measure, between April and August this year almost 600,000 videos mentioning Obama or Romney had been posted on YouTube, quadruple the number posted ...
Access to affordable and reliable energy has been a cornerstone of the world's increasing prosperity and economic growth since the beginning of the industrial revolution. Our use of energy in the twenty-first century must also be sustainable. This talk will provide a techno-economic snapshot of the current energy landscape and ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Antimatter, Anti-Atoms, and the Big BangAntimatter has long fascinated scientists, science fiction writers and laymen. The Big Bang should have produced equal amounts of matter and antimatter, and one of the grand challenges in science is to explain why there is very little antimatter in the universe. Antimatter electrons, called positrons, were first discovered in ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 standard, MEMBERS FREE, $7 students
Explore the evening magic of Muir Woods, learning about the secret nightlife of an old-growth redwood forest.This special walk begins one hour before sunset and will conclude with the dark of night!We'll listen for owls, look for bats, and use our senses to guide us along the trails.This is an ...
Where: Mill ValleyCost: Free
New Initiatives for Clean WaterTwo talks on new efforts to reduce pollution. Environmental Working Group staff scientist Rebecca Sutton demonstrates EWG's cool new database and tool telling you which cleaning products are safe for the environment -- and for you!Longtime creek activist Josh Bradt, now with the San Francisco Estuary Partnership, shows slides and ...
Where: AlbanyCost: Free
Visualization and the Joy of RevelationFernanda Viégas and Martin Wattenberg explore the joy of revelation: the special electricity of seeing a city from the air, of hearing a secret, of watching a lover undress. Using data visualization, a technology developed by computer scientists to extract insights from raw numbers they show what happens when technology ...
Dr. Dragutin Petkovic, Professor of Computer Science at SFSU, will present the results of his research investigating the events that created the well known "Sputnik moment" in the USA, which was credited with the ambitious launch of initiatives that spurred the development of the US space program, the race to ...
Humanity is faced with an array of environmental problems that threaten a collapse of civilization. They include climate disruption, loss of biodiversity (and thus ecosystem services), land-use change and resulting degradation, global toxification, ocean acidification, decay of the epidemiological environment, serious resource depletion, and resource wars (which could go nuclear). ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Intelligence and the Brain: Recent Advances in Understanding How the Brain WorksHow the brain creates intelligence is viewed by many as the greatest scientific quest of all time. We are living at the time when rapid progress is being made and a comprehensive theory of brain function is emerging. In this talk, Jeff Hawkins presents the big picture of what we ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Oceans Aglow: Family Nighthike & CampfireJoin us for a night hike to Rodeo Beach in search of bioluminscent plankton twinkling in the sand. Afterwards, gather 'round the campfire for quality time with friends and family as you sing songs and roast s'mores by moonlight.*Pre-registration required
Where: SausalitoCost: $12 per person
San Francisco Math Teachers' Circle October GatheringThis month's speaker is Emily McCullough:Emily McCullough is an East Bay native. She grew up in Oakland and Albany, an avid student and competitive athlete. She has always loved learning and playing sports and continues to seek out both. She was an undergraduate math major and credential student at San Francisco State University ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free with RSVP
The Ethics and Practice of Loving CareIra Byock, MD, is Chair, Palliative Medicine, at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Director of Palliative Medicine, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center, and Professor, the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth in the Departments of Medicine, Anesthesiology, and Community and Family Medicine. Involved in hospice and palliative care since 1978, ...
The Mary Rose, built in 1511, was the flagship of King Henry VIII. She sank in 1545 while en route to confront the French fleet in battle. The ship lay undersea for 440 years before being raised in 1985. The restored Mary Rose is being constantly treated to preserve the ...
Exploring the Dark Side of the Universe In this talk Dr. Fassnacht will show how the powerful combination of sensitive, high-resolution imaging with gravitational lensing can provide direct observational tests of galaxy formation scenarios under the cold dark matter paradigm as well as interesting constraints on cosmology. In particular, he will discuss the following two subjects. (1) ...
This talk will present and critique a body of work evolving across several years of research at the intersection of computer science and participatory culture - namely Citizen Science. I will re-examine the emerging technologies and algorithmic approaches as well as the cultural practices surrounding sensor legibility, scaffolding strategies, motivation, ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
History of MarinshipJoin Ranger Bill as he facilitates an in-depth discussion on the history of the Marinship Shipyard at the Bay Model built by the Bechtel Corporation at the request of President Franklin Roosevelt in March of 1942. Learn about the 93 ships built here during WWII.
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Function and dynamics of eukaryotic microbial communitiesPresented by Dr. Scott Fay, UC BerkeleyThe RTC Seminar Series brings leading local, national, and international scientists to a public forum at RTC to speak about the latest advances in science. The Series is open to the RTC community and the public. All seminars are held in the Bay Conference Center ...
Where: TiburonCost: FREE
End-User Programming and Intelligent Tutoring SystemsMillions of end users today have access to programmable environments such as spreadsheets and smartphones, but lack the programming expertise to write even small scripts. These users can effectively communicate their intent using examples and natural language. Our methodology involves designing a domain-specific language (DSL), developing a synthesis algorithm for ...
Intelligence and Machines: Creating Intelligent Machines by Modeling the BrainAre intelligent machines possible? If they are, what will they be like? In this talk, Jeff Hawkins frames these questions by reviewing some of the efforts to build intelligent machines. He posits that machine intelligence is only possible by first understanding how the brain works and then building systems that ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
A Whole-Cell Computational Model Predicts Phenotype from Genotype Understanding how complex phenotypes arise from individual molecules and their interactions is a primary challenge in biology that computational approaches are poised to tackle. We report a whole-cell computational model of the life cycle of the human pathogen Mycoplasma genitalium that includes all of its molecular components and their interactions. ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Supernovae Reveal an Accelerating UniverseIn 1929 Edwin Hubble discovered that our Universe is expanding. Eighty years later, the Space Telescope that bears his name is being used to study an even more surprising phenomenon: that the expansion is speeding up. The origin of this effect is not known, but is broadly attributed to a ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Energy Upgrade California Program Homeowner WorkshopThe purpose of this workshop is to introduce home performance and provide information on the Energy Upgrade California Program to homeowners, as well as to familiarize them with the Energy Upgrade California web portal.
Twitter cofounder Biz Stone has been named Nerd of the Year by GQ and anointed one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by TIME. Having gotten millions tweeting – from teens to heads of state – Stone is onto his next venture. His new company, The Obvious ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $25-30 General, $20-25 Members, $15 Students
Natural history museums often evoke the musty whiff of the Victorian era of expeditions, trophy hunting and display, but any recent trip to a museum will show visitors an updated view of the world. However, the real revolution has occurred behind the scenes in biodiversity informatics that marries natural history ...
Community Development as 'Preventive Medicine': Reducing Health Care Costs and Improving Population HealthMalo André Hutson is a nationally recognized scholar in the areas of community and economic development, urban policy and politics, and urban health. As an Assistant Professor in the Department of City and Regional Planning at the University of California at Berkeley, Dr. Hutson's research is concerned with how neighborhood, ...
Since Fall 2002, the Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering has hosted the Silicon Valley Leaders Symposium (SVLS). The Symposium hosts industry and technology leaders to talk about business and technology trends. It also features prominent leaders who discuss broader societal and political issues that shape our life and society.Speaker: ...
Experience the wildlife and natural beauty that make Younger Lagoon an exceptional local treasure on this docent-led tour to the lagoon and its beach habitat. Learn about the ongoing research and habitat restoration work that help this vital ecosystem thrive. Tour includes a short hike and is best suited for ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free with admission
Educator's Open HouseLearn about our various K-12 classes in astronomy, earth, life and physical sciences. Meet Chabot's dynamic educational staff as you visit each of the instructional labs and classrooms.
Where: OaklandCost: Free
Insect Discovery LabDiscover the world of insects with Insect Discovery Lab. See some live animals and learn about them at the same time. Children and families welcome.
Dr. Richard Dasher, Director of the US-Asia Technology Management Center in Stanford's School of Engineering, provides an overview of new technologies and approaches coming from Asia that aim to improve the efficiency and environmental sustainability of vehicle design, fuels, and overall transportation system architectures, and that promote more efficient ways ...
Presidio Teachers' Night is an annual event to provide a forum for educational exchange and support learning outside of the classroom. Teachers from the Bay Area are invited to attend this free event which includes a reception, special presentation, educational materials, and an opportunity to meet representatives from about 50 ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Cafe InquiryMeet up with rationalists, skeptics, and freethinkers south of San Francisco.Cafe Inquiry is a social event hosted by the Center for Inquiry|San Francisco. We'll meet at Café Borrone http://www.cafeborrone.com/ between Kepler's Books and the British Banker's Club!
Sharktoberfest returns to NightLife, celebrating two perennial favorites again this year: sharks and beer! Taste your way through the beer garden in African Hall, featuring brews from local favorites like 21st Amendment Brewery, Almanac Beer Co., Anchor Brewing, Drake's Brewing, Lagunitas Brewing Company, Pacific Brewing Laboratory, Speakeasy Ales & Lagers, ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $12 General, $10 Members
Artist Reception for Jane Kim: The Art of ConservationOpening Reception for artist and science illustrator Jane Kim. She is the founder of INK-DWELL, a studio which creates art to inspire love, appreciation, and protection of the natural world. As an artist and science illustrator Jane is driven by her passion to merge modern art with wildlife biology and ...
Fewer than 1,100 Hawaiian monk seals survive in American waters today. Scientists predict that this critically endangered species could become extinct within 50 years. When the chance to house and study a two-day old abandoned pup arose, eminent wildlife biologist Terrie Williams took the seal in. The boisterous KP2, or ...
In 2007, Dr. Amstrup's research team at the U.S. Geological Survey projected that we could lose two-thirds of the world's polar bears by mid century and may lose all of them by the end of this century. More recently, he and his colleagues showed that preventing the extinction of polar ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 General, $12 Members
Fish and other marine life in the ocean are suffering due to pressures from fishing, habitat loss, declining water quality and climate change. Join Sylvia Earle, oceanographer, author, and National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence to learn about the complex threats facing marine life today, and how special protections may offer solutions ...
Dr. Fred Luskin teaches a variety of classes on happiness at Stanford. He's part of a movement that looked at psychology in the mid-1990's and saw science based on what's wrong with people: misery, anger, frustration, and depression. His focus is not on what's gone wrong, but instead on what ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Science In ActionThe Science in Action program, sponsored by the Northern California Chapter of American Vacuum Society [NCCAVS], provides an opportunity for students ages 6 through 12, to understand about the air surrounding us. Using a different student for each demonstration and experiment provides hands-on participation. From seeing a partially expanded and ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
The Causal Effect of Environmental Catastrophe on Long-Run Economic GrowthDo natural disasters have a causal effect on economic development? Reconstructing every country's physical exposure to the universe of tropical cyclones during 1950-2008, we exploit year-to-year variation in cyclone strikes to identify the effect of disasters on long-run growth. The data reject long-standing hypotheses that disasters stimulate growth via "creative ...
Heinrich Spiecker M.S '71 is director of the Institute for Forest Growth at the University of Freiburg, Germany, where he is also a professor. He has conducted extensive forest management research in Germany and internationally on issues such as changes in forest productivity; growing valuable broadleaved trees; and options for ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Houge Park Start PartyMeet with members of San Jose Astronomical Society for a Star Party, weather permitting.
As the tools for exploring the physical properties of space systems have evolved, we have discovered an unprecedented array of information that connects us deeply to our Universe. We live in a time when scientists have discovered nearly 780 extrasolar planets; when it has become routine to determine the ...
