This event features free activities at the Visitor Center. Visitors will enjoy over 25 educational exhibits, a free trout pond for young anglers, a fly fishing demonstration pond with tips from the pros, live steelhead display, art for kids to do, and a chance to try your hand at archery!On hand with ...
Where: GeyservilleCost: Free
A visit to the Mono Recesses and a satisfying walk over the Mono DivideJoin us for our popular series of free public lectures on a broad array of topics related to plants and natural history. Named in honor of its founder, the Wayne Roderick Lecture Series takes place in the Visitor Center of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden. These illustrated presentations are enjoyable for ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Neotropical Raptors and the Solitary Eagle ProjectEscape the gloom of winter and imagine yourself in the neotropical forests of Central America during this special presentation at the EcoCenter. Join us for a lecture and slideshow with Ryan Philips, the founder and Executive Director of the Belize Raptor Research Institute.Nearly half of Belize is protected through parks, ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: Free
Low Tide WalkSome years we find only a few perfect Saturdays when the moon and sun allign to let us play a good low tide. 2013 is different. We have LOTS of chances! But beware, it looks like 2014 will have very few opportunities, so make this the year to explore tide ...
Where: Redwood CityCost: $20 General, $10 Members
San Mateo County Astronomical Society Star PartyThe City of San Carlos Department of Parks and Recreation and the San Mateo County Astronomical Society have open Star Parties. These events are held in Crestview Park, San Carlos California. Dates and Sunset times are below. Note that inclement weather (clouds, excessive wind and showers) will cause the event ...
Where: San CarlosCost: Free
Sunday, 02/10/13
Oliver Salt Works HikeHidden among the salt ponds is one of the East Bay's most intriguing historical sites. The Don Edwards Refuge and the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project are sponsoring this hike to the old Oliver Salt Works within the Eden Landing Ecological Reserve. We'll be walking into an area of the reserve not yet open to ...
Winter birding in the Marin Headlands offers birds from near and far. Explore the trail around Rodeo Lagoon with docent Jane Haley to discover which birds spend the winter in our mild climate.Meet at the Marin Headlands Visitor Center. Bring binoculars, field guides.For ages 8 and up; no pets.Limited to ...
Where: Marin HeadlandsCost: Free
Marine Science Sunday- Love is in the Air: Marine Mammal Parents and PupsIn preparation for Valentine's Day, this month we celebrate love under the sea with Love is in the Air: Marine Mammal Parents and Pups in a fun, educational way for both kids and adults. We recommend teaming our free classroom program (offered at 12pm and again at 2pm) with a ...
Where: SausalitoCost: FREE
Darwin Day: Science Denial, from Climate Change to EvolutionMinda Berbeco, our speaker for Kol Hadash's Darwin Day program has a PhD in Biology from Tufts University. An expert on climate change and terrestrial systems, she has taught, written, and presented talks on how the biological world will change with global warming, and how science deniers are impacting the national ...
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. Younger Lagoon is excellent for bird watching and seeing animals that call the reserve's intact coastal dunes home, such as: bobcats, foxes, seabirds, raptors, and ...
The disposal of spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste in a deep geologic repository is a challenge which has stymied the United States and many other nations since the dawn of the commercial nuclear power industry a half-century ago. The scientific community has consistently endorsed deep geologic repositories ever since ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Stanford Women in SpaceThe term "astronaut" derives from the Greek words meaning "space sailor," and refers to all who have been launched as crew-members aboard NASA spacecraft bound for orbit and beyond. In the 50-year history of the NASA space program, only 45 of the 525 astronauts have been women. Seven of these ...
Will Allen - son of a sharecropper, former professional basketball player and ex-corporate sales leader - is now CEO of Growing Power, a farm and community food center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He began by teaching people to apply old-fashioned farming principles to vacant city lots and abandoned commercial buildings and ...
Al Gore: Former Vice President & Author of 'The Future: The Six Drivers of Global Change'Former Vice president Al Gore provides an in-depth assessment of the six critical drivers of global change. Bringing together his extensive global policy and environmental knowledge, Gore identifies these emerging forces that are reshaping our world. From digital communications to advancements in energy systems, agriculture, and transportation, hear more about ...
Surface exploration of small solar system bodies: challenges and prospectsIn recent years, space agencies worldwide have shown an increasing interest in the exploration of small solar system bodies. Of special importance is direct access to their surfaces, as it allows precise characterization of soil properties and surface physics, and, in turn, holds the potential to lead to a much ...
Memories, Lost & Found: Engaging Families, Caregivers & Those with Memory LossRita Ghatak will begin the lecture by discussing the difficulties of cognitive impairment including a brief definition of dementia, common clinical features, as well as the concerns and stress experienced by caregivers and families. She will focus on memory, psycho-social and economic burdens, and the importance of memory and engagement ...
Mariano-Florentino Cuéllar of Stanford University takes up complex and timely questions at the intersection of law and society. Who has the power to design federal agencies, and who sets priorities when deciding on the most urgent security problems facing our country? What are the implications for U.S. science policy? Cuéllar explores ...
End of the Line is an award-winning documentary that takes a close look at the impact of our global love affair with fish as food, examining the decline of fisheries around the world and potential consumer- and policy-driven solutions to reverse the losses. After our screening of the film, a ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $5 General, Free for Members
Combating Cyber Attacks: Using a 288-core serverTilera processors provide a standard Linux platform, which can process very high throughput network traffic. With cyber attacks becoming more frequent, organized and costly in the damage they inflict on governments, businesses, and critical infrastructure, there is a significant need for hardware and software that can process live network traffic ...
Craig Lewis, Executive Director of Clean Coalition, will discuss why local energy generation is more reliable, more affordable and supports local economies - and how we can accelerate the transition to local energy systems.Join Acterra for a series of exciting conversations focused on different solutions to protecting our climate by ...
Future Trends in Health Care TechnologyIn an increasingly connected world, Dr. Chow discusses future technologies and services that can help the healthcare consumer and those with chronic disease manage their healthcare needs outside the traditional hospital setting.Dr. Yan Chow, with Sylvia Paull
Makers, Hackers and the Personal Computer Revolution Things are changing in the field of product development. Bottom-up, open-sourced and crowd-funded efforts are creating a Cambrian-type efflorescence of software and hardware products. People are creating and patronizing institutions like hackerspaces, open-source hardware manufacturers and open machine shops. This maker movementappears to be a logical extension of the open-source ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
The Interaction between Longevity and Aging Genes in HumansDr. Nir Barzilai is the director of the Institute for Aging Research, the director of the Nathan Shock Center of Excellence in the Basic Biology of Aging and the Ingeborg and Ira Leon Rennert Chair of Aging Research. Dr. Barzilai, an endocrinologist, discovered the first "longevity gene" in humans. His ...
Lucy and Selam are famous skeletons that belong to Australopithecus afarensis, a direct ancestor of humans that lived between 4 and 3 million years ago. When the Lucy skeleton was discovered in 1974, it helped establish that this creature was an upright walking species pushing the then accepted date for ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $12 General, $10 Members
Saturn V: The First 700 SecondsAs we witnessed each launch of the Apollo program, we would forever remember the countdown, ignition sequence, images of the Saturn V rocket engines billowing out vast, fast and furious hot gas...and then lift off.We'll never forget those sheets of ice breaking off the exterior and raining down on the ...
Where: Santa RosaCost: Free
Skeptalk: The Twisted Logic of the War on TerrorFrom George W. Bush declaring war on a tactic (terror) in 2001, to current airport-screening measures that actually compromise the security of passengers, the hallmark of the United States' eleven-year war on terror has not been sound reasoning.So asserts Richard E. Wackrow, author of the recent book Who's Winning the War on Terror. Wackrow will look at ...
The Joys & Struggles of Relationships: A Conversation with Relationship ExpertsA panel of 3 professionals: Susan Owicki, MFT; Howard Scott Warshaw, MFT and Carol Zimbelman, LCSW will discuss topics such as why we choose the mates we do, pre-marital issues and predictors of a succesful relationship and how to deal with conflict in relationships.
Go behind the scenes at Long Marine Lab. Learn about the work of scientists and their studies of dolphins, seals, sea lions, and whales. Tour is best suited for adults and children over 10 years of age. Space limited. Reservations required: (831) 459-3800.
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free with admission
NanotechnologySpeaker: Dr. Sukru Burc Eryilmaz, Stanford
Where: Palo AltoCost: Free
My Furry Valentine: Sex in the Animal KingdomZookeeper and Naturalist Patrick Schlemmer shows pictures and describes the bewildering array of strange and shocking mating habits found in the animal world. You will laugh, you will blush, you will cringe!
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Friday, 02/15/13
Neural reuse and componentiality in the functional structure of the brainIn this talk I will outline evidence suggesting that individual regions of the brain are used and reused to support multiple cognitive functions across diverse task categories; that each part of the brain is a member of multiple functional coalitions; and that the brain's functional components are not the stable ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Natl Biotech Ed Conference (NBEC)Registration for the National Biotech Education Conference (NBEC) is now open!The National Biotechnology Education Conference is designed to bring together education leaders in biotech education for the development and dissemination of best practices. The program is for educators who are motivated to expand their current programs and to inspire educators ...
Astronomy Program at Old Ranch ParkMt. Diablo Astronomical Society presents astronomy activities for the public.See stars, nebula, galaxies, clusters, the moon and Jupiter through member telescopes. Bring kids, dress warmly. Astronomy program is weather dependent.
Where: San RamonCost: Free
Houge Park Start PartyMeet with members of San Jose Astronomical Society for a Star Party, weather permitting.
Where: San JoseCost: Free
Night School: Animal AmoreHow do the birds and the bees explain the birds and the bees? Join us for the East Bay's premiere place for mingling under the stars in an atmosphere of love... animal style! Music, drinks, live shows and beautiful views every third Friday.21 and over.
Where: OaklandCost: $12 General, $5 Members
Saturday, 02/16/13
Take a Liking to Some LichenEnjoy an invigorating 2.5 mile loop hike over the Stile Ranch/Fortini Trails with a park docent. Learn about the life cycle of lichen, those colorful patches found on rocks and trees trunks. Along the way enjoy sweeping views of the surrounding foothills. Meet at the Fortini Trail entrance parking lot, ...
Where: AmadenCost: Free
Headlands Helping Hands: The Great Backyard Bird CountIt is time for the annual Great Backyard Bird Count, and we need you and your families help! During this event you will become ornithologists, a fancy word for bird scientist, and learn how to identify Marin county frequent flyers. Then aid us in counting birds during a hike around ...
Where: SausalitoCost: FREE
California geology from the ground up, part one: from the delta south Join us for our popular series of free public lectures on a broad array of topics related to plants and natural history. Named in honor of its founder, the Wayne Roderick Lecture Series takes place in the Visitor Center of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden. These illustrated presentations are enjoyable for ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Invention ExperienceThey did it again! NASA 's newest Centennial Challenge, Night Rover and the I.S.I.S Project have joined forces with us to offer an epic, hands-on day of exploration and creationthat will have the Center jumping. In the spirit of the NASA Night Rover Challenge, Invention Experience invites students to invent, ...
Just as chemistry dominated the 19th century, and physics the 20th century, many predict that the 21st century will be "the century of biology." Indeed, the last few decades have brought dramatic increases in our understanding of the complex blueprints of living cells, discoveries that were enabled by foundational technologies ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Natl Biotech Ed Conference (NBEC)Registration for the National Biotech Education Conference (NBEC) is now open!The National Biotechnology Education Conference is designed to bring together education leaders in biotech education for the development and dissemination of best practices. The program is for educators who are motivated to expand their current programs and to inspire educators ...
Where: Santa ClaraCost: $100
Does Social Networking have Side Effects?When we talk about social networks, we're almost always talking about online networks: Facebook, Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, weblogs. Constantly changing and ever-increasing online media offer us unique ways to connect, collaborate, and express our interests and creativity. Yet, questions have been raised about the widespread use of social networks, ...
A Science Sunday favorite, Milton Love returns to the Seymour Marine Discovery Center with a talk showcasing his new book, "A Guide to the Rockfishes, Thornyheads, and Scorpionfishes of the Northeast Pacific."
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free with admission
The Visioneers: How a Group of Elite Scientists Pursued Space Colonies, Nanotechnologies, and a Limitless Future "In The Visioneers, Patrick McCray introduces us to a host of innovators who pushed back against the language of limits. Their techno-enthusiast ventures, unfolding in the closing decades of the twentieth century, combined technical skill, bold speculation, and public-relations savvy. By tracing their inspirations, missteps, and unconventional networks, McCray offers ...
Where: San JoseCost: $10 General, $5 Members
Tuesday, 02/19/13
Golden Gate Playdate: Rainbow Rocks at Rodeo BeachSomewhere over the Golden Gate Bridge and below Hawk Hill, there is a place where you and your young adventurer can discover what makes the rocks at the Marin Headlands so unique. Join us for guided hands-on field activities designed to engage your preschooler's sense of wonder and imagination through ...
Where: SausalitoCost: $15/per child per session, 1 adult admission free
Building A Biomedical Research CommonsThe advent of massive, democratically available data about our bodies and health is going to wreak havoc on the research enterprise. Exactly what kind of havoc is yet to be determined.Many of the biggest impacts of technology have been driven by monopolies and their network effects. And when we choose ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Stanford's Annual Darwin Day Symposium and Celebration ReturnsStanford's Annual Darwin Day Symposium and Celebration ReturnsTuesday, February 19, 2013: Symposium: 3:00 - 6:00 pmDarwin's Birthday Party: 6:00 - 7:00 pmStanford Old Union, 3rd floorHear talks by Stanford faculty and graduate students on all things Darwin: 3:00 Welcome3:05 Jessica Riskin, Professor of History Darwin Between the Machines, on Darwin's ...
Skeptics in the StudioNorth Bay Skeptics are: humanists, atheists, freethinkers, agnostics and undeclared, who embrace modern skepticism. We celebrate the scientific method, and the application of logic and evidence to all claims. As in the tradition of many Skeptical groups world wide, we like to gather for lively discussion on current topics and ...
Citizenville: How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent GovernmentBy integrating democratic government with cutting-edge American innovation, the lieutenant governor of California charts a bright future for open-source America.Citizenville is the story of how ordinary citizens can use new digital tools to dissolve political gridlock and transform American democracy. As social networking and smart phones have changed the way ...
Where: Mountain ViewCost: Free
Astronomy Program @ Pittsburg LibraryMt. Diablo Astronomical Society presents astronomy activities for the public.See stars, nebula, galaxies, clusters, the moon and Jupiter through member telescopes. Bring kids, dress warmly. Astronomy program is weather dependent.
Where: PittsburgCost: Free
How the Tides Work for YouRacers, cruisers, and recreational boaters will see and learn how the waters move on San Francisco Bay. Cash only. Reservations a must, email jimtantillo@comcast.net or phone 408-263-7877.
Where: SausalitoCost: $15
How to Catch a Moon of Pluto (and what to do with it when it's caught) Our recent discoveries of two small moons orbiting Pluto raise interesting new questions about how the dwarf planet formed. We now know that a total of four outer moons circle around a central "double-planet" comprising Pluto and its large, nearby moon Charon. NASA's New Horizons spacecraft will arrive at Pluto ...
User Experience, Artificial Intelligence, and RelevanceArtificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are playing larger roles in products that we use everyday. In this talk, we'll look at key examples at how AI supports and improves user experience, highlighting how quantitative methods impact qualitative experience.Speaker: Aria Haghighi, PrismaticRoom 510
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Just For the Smell of It, Mushroom Common ScentsWalt Sturgeon presents a non-technical look at wild mushrooms from an olfactory perspective. His talk will include: 1) Using scents to clinch an identification, 2) How to properly check for a mushroom's odor, 3) Sniffing subjectivity and the power of suggestion, and 4) Scent and memory. This program should be ...
Chris Anderson's book THE LONG TAIL chronicled how the Web revolutionized and democratized distribution. His new book MAKERS shows how the same thing is happening to manufacturing, with even wider consequences, and this time the leading revolutionaries are the young of the world. Anderson himself left his job as editor ...
Michael Minear, Chief Information Officer at the UC Davis Medical Center, is a national leader in health-care information technology. He has an extensive record of leading transformations of large, complex organizations in the use of modern information technology.As a member of the executive leadership team of UC Davis Health System, ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
The Future of Transportation in the East BayRenee Rivera joined the East Bay Bicycle Coalition (EBBC) in 2011 as executive director, after many years as a volunteer, board member, and most recently acting executive director at the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. Renee has a background in non-profit financial management and administration, and worked for many years at ...
Hurricane Sandy and other recent extreme weather events underscore the importance of preparing for climate variability and change. But understanding the on-the-ground implications of climate change can be challenging, especially since we can't precisely predict the future of our climate. Join Beth Rodehorst of ICF International and Joe LaClair of ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $10 General, Free for Members
SCIENCE!!! The Technology of Cleantech: Batteries and Fuel CellsEver wonder how batteries and fuel cells actually work? Join BERC, CLEE and BCLT for lunch as we explore the science of clean technology.• Speakers: Gao Liu, Electrochemical Technologies Group, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; Heather Buckley, Arnold Group, U.C. Berkeley Department of Chemistry• Moderator: Alex Luce, Graduate Researcher, Materials Science ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Special Seminar in Paleobiology and GeobiologyShuzhong Shen is Director of the State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology & Stratigraphy at the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. An expert on the taxonomy and evolution of Carboniferous and Permian (360-250 million years ago) brachiopods, he has conducted field research in China, Russia, Japan ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
History of the DeltaLearn about the history of the delta - from the early 1800s up to 2012 - from framing, discovery of gold, railroad building, and levee building to the present time with Ranger Bill. 1,000 miles in scope, 60-80 man made islands, and a population that exceeds 500,000! Historical. Educational. Informative.
Toward Highly Dynamic Locomotion : Actuation, structure and control of the MIT cheetah robotRobot designers are increasingly searching for ideas from biology. The talk will introduce such bio-inspired robots that embody the hypothesized principles from the insights obtained by animal studies. Through these examples, the intricate processes of design principle extraction will be discussed. Current research in the MIT biomimetics lab is centered ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
JavaScript anticensorship proxies Censorship is an everyday reality for many of the world's Internet users. Users turn to circumvention systems like Tor; censors respond by blacklisting the addresses of those systems. This talk will cover the use of "flash proxies" to evade such blacklisting. Flash proxies-which despite the name, do not use Adobe ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Tracking and Curbing the Next PandemicProfessor Meyers will discuss global pandemics, why influenza remains a major threat, and how mathematical modeling has been combined with high performance computing to improve disease surveillance, forecasting and intervention.Speaker: Lauren Meyers Room T175
The increasing exposure of society to natural hazards has made the forecasting of extreme events a pressing scientific concern. No aspect of this problem has been more vexing than earthquake prediction. The century-long failure to identify observable precursory signals diagnostic of impending events has led to an alternative approach, pioneered ...
With Bay Area population forecast to increase to 8 or 9 million people, the region is grappling with where current and future residents will live and work. In San Francisco population density is rising in the trendy South of Market and Mission Bay areas, where housing is close to social ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $65 General, $45 Members
Boating Clean and Green The Boating Clean and Green Campaign is an education and outreach program that promotes environmentally sound boating practices to marine business and boaters in California. The program is conducted by the California Department of Boating and Waterways and the California Coastal Commission. The Campaign conducts boater education throughout the state ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Digital GovernmentLieutenant Governor and former San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom discusses how ordinary citizens can use new digital tools to dissolve political gridlock and transform American democracy. In his first book, Citizenville: How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government, Newsom argues that, just as the post office and ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $25 General, $20 Members, $15 Students
No Bones About It: The Diversity of Gelatinous Invertebrates in the Deep SeaLiving in the ocean just a couple miles offshore from San Francisco are creatures more alien than any science fiction movie. Most of these are so fragile that they haven't been observed until recently, when submarine vehicles have begun to explore, film, and collect them. Dr. Steve Haddock from the ...
Award-winning wildlife photographer Suzi Eszterhas, one of the few women in her field, specializes in traveling around the world to photograph species including penguins, lions, gorillas, grizzlies, and sea otters. Hear Eszterhas share memorable anecdotes and technical expertise from her time in the field-how she journeyed to Antarctica to capture ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $5 donation General, members free
A veteran environmental leader, Mr. Pope worked for the Sierra Club for more than thirty years. In that time he has served as Political Director, Conservation Director, Executive Director, and Chairman. He stepped down as Chairman in 2012 to become a Senior Strategic Advisor and established Inside Straight Strategies, a ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: $10 General, Free for UCB Students
Friday, 02/22/13
Adventures of a Vatican Astronomer No scientist is a Spock-like android; a scientist's work is as intuitive, and just as full of human foibles, as a painting, a symphony, or a prayer. But most of us don't have the opportunity (or training) to reflect on the human dimensions of our work. Br. Guy Consolmagno does; ...
What is a memristor? Why did it take 37 years to make one? Why did HP's memristor generate so much excitement? How does the memristor retain its memory even after the power is switched off? What is the difference between a non-volatile memristor and a locally-active memristor? How smart are ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Autoimmune dry eye - Molecular mechanisms and novel therapiesOne of the most debilitating forms of dry eye or keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS)) results from autoimmune-mediated destruction of the lacrimal gland. Despite powerful immunosuppressive and immunomodulatory therapy, KCS associated with autoimmune disease can provoke corneal opacification and even blindness through a process known as squamous metaplasia. Little is known about ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
The Golden ShoreAward-winning journalist David Helvarg will discuss his latest book, The Golden Shore: California's Love Affair with the Sea. Joined by National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence Sylvia Earle, who will introduce the program, Helvarg will examine the spirit of the Californian coast, its mythic place in American culture and how the Pacific defines ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free with admission
Public Star Viewing NightsJoin Sonoma State University's Physics and Astronomy department for a star party.Topic: Jupiter and the Winter Circle
Where: Rohnert ParkCost: Free
Saturday, 02/23/13
Healthy Trails Hike, MontalvoJoin a Park Interpreter for a 2.0-mile hike in the scenic redwoods of Villa Montalvo. We will hike to Lookout Point, where on a clear day you can see out to the San Francisco Bay. Please bring hiking shoes, water, snacks, and sun/rain protection. (408) 918-7774
Where: SaratogaCost: Free
California geology from the ground up, part two: north of the bay, including the SierraJoin us for our popular series of free public lectures on a broad array of topics related to plants and natural history. Named in honor of its founder, the Wayne Roderick Lecture Series takes place in the Visitor Center of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden. These illustrated presentations are enjoyable for ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Marvelous MushroomsHave fun with fungi! Become a mushroom expert as you explore the Museum and see how mushrooms can be more than just delicious food! Create mushroom crafts, talk to experts, and engage in some hands-on activities about decomposers, as the Museum celebrates all things mushroom. It's also Sandy the Whale's ...
Where: Pacific GroveCost: Free with admission
How the Tides Work for YouRacers, cruisers, and recreational boaters will see and learn how the waters move on San Francisco Bay. Cash only. Reservations a must, email jimtantillo@comcast.net or phone 408-263-7877.
Where: SausalitoCost: $15
Run of the SalmonYears later and many millions of dollars invested, the endangered Chinook population is not recovering in ways hoped. What have scientists recently discovered? Is it something in the water? Find out more and feel free to share information with Ranger Linda.
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Elephant Seals of Point ReyesJoin a Sanctuary naturalist and a Park Service docent at the Kenneth C. Patrick Visitor Ctr, Drakes Beach, Point Reyes National Seashore. Hop the Park Shuttle, walk to the seal haul-out overlook. Explore the northern elephant seal's life cycle during prime time for elephant seal romance!Advance Tickets Required; Space is ...
Where: Point Reyes StationCost: $10 Adults, $ 5 for 16 and under
'Elemental: Three Stories, Three Continents, One Commitment to Change'Elemental tells the story of three individuals united by their deep connection with nature and driven to confront some of the most pressing ecological challenges of our time. The film follows Rajendra Singh, an Indian government official gone rogue, on a 40-day pilgrimage down India's once-pristine Ganges River, now polluted ...
Special event for SciSchmooze readers! Come meet editors Herb and Bob and explore the wonders of the Elephant Seal breeding grounds at Año Nuevo State Reserve. Only 18 tickets available. No refunds. Here's how this will work: Since Año Nuevo does not handle group reservations, we have pre-purchased tickets for you. You ...
Where: PescaderoCost: $7 per person (+$1.24 service fee)
Calling all Citizen Scientists! – California Phenology ProjectBecome a scientist and contribute to a project studying the timing of plant life cycles throughout the seasons. Are plants responding to climate variability? Come learn about projects being set up in the South Bay and how you can participate. We will begin with an indoor presentation followed by practicing ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
Evolution Today: Curent State of Knowledge and ControversiesJoin us to celebrate Darwin Day! Charles Darwin was born on February 12 but we will be celebrating his birthday February 24. This will be a grand celebration featuring three renown speakers and a potluck banquet! Our featured speakers are:George Smoot, Nobel Laureat, Lawrence Berkeley National LabPeter Hess, National Center ...
Go behind the scenes at Long Marine Lab. Learn about the work of scientists and their studies of dolphins, seals, sea lions, and whales. Tour is best suited for adults and children over 10 years of age. Space limited. Reservations required: (831) 459-3800.
Designed by Durban, South Africa-based entrepreneur Sarah Collins of Natural Balance and poverty activist Moshy Mathe, the Wonderbag is aimed at societies where fuel is expensive or time-consuming to gather. The Wonderbag is a non-electric, heat-retention cooker that allows food that has been brought to a boil on a stove ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
STEM teacher and Researcher (STAR) Program Dr. Rebar, joining us via Skype video, and Ms. Seimer, joining us in-person, will present a lively overview of the teacher-researcher experiences possible in the STAR program. STAR is a 9-week summer research internship for aspiring science and mathematics teachers. Undergraduate, Masters, Credential or Baccalaureate students who want to be ...
Harsh environment sensors can be used to perform real-time, in-situ combustion monitoring leading to designs of power and propulsion systems (e.g. automotive engines, industrial gas turbines and aircraft engines) with increased efficiencies, fuel flexibility and reduced CO2 emissions.In addition, new milestones in space exploration can be realized through the development ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Meeting Conservation: Science , Policy and Community approaches to Biodiversity ConservationDr. Scott Loarie, Stanford University, is co-Director of iNaturalist.org: a natural history citizen-science social network to crowd-source data on climate impacts to biodiversity. He will be giving an informal presentation on his conservation work, the role of iNaturalist in promoting citizen science, and broadly about promoting public outreach in conservation work.Room ...
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.The new suspension bridge is now open to the public.Limited to 50 ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Nerd Nite East Bay #5: Microbiome, Machining and Mars CuriosityGrab a drink and join us for a journey from the very small and close to the very far and vast. Jessica Richman shares a bit about the microbial cells found in you that out number your own cells 10-to-1 (and may have genes that out number your own genes ...
H2 Meets the ESUHow quantitative genetics can be used to assess the evolutionary significance of phenotypic traits that diagnose the endangered San Francisco Garter Snake, Thamnophis sirtalis tetrataenia
Where: Rohnert ParkCost: Free
Microtechnology for Interfacing with the Nervous SystemThe brain has always been attractive to engineers. Neurons and their connections, like tiny circuit elements, process and transmit information in a dramatic way that is intimately curious to researchers in the computer science and engineering fields. Science has made great strides in the past few decades toward uncovering the ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Star Formation through Radio Eyes: Probing Magnetic Fields with CARMAHow do stars form? How can we use radio waves to probe the origins of stars within their cold, dusty natal clouds? And how do magnetic fields affect the star-formation process? Come and find out how I use CARMA, a millimeter-wave radio telescope in the Eastern Sierras, to find answers ...
As Big Data proliferates, search engines must get smarter at delivering the results you want. Harry Shum, VP for search product development at Microsoft, will describe the Bing Dialog Model, the system that drives www.bing.com. The model does more than simply navigate users to a landing page; it relies on ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Golden Gate Playdate: Trails & TracksGallop, bound, and waddle as you learn to move like your favorite animals! Join us for a hike into the hills of the Marin Headlands where your curious preschooler will engage their senses searching for evidence of animals in their habitats. Together, you and your preschooler will touch and feel ...
Where: SausalitoCost: $15/per child per session, 1 adult admission free
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
Role of NFC in the future of Digital WalletWith digitization of wallet, Near Field Communication (NFC) is fast becoming another ubiquitous interface for mobile devices. Sunil will discuss applications for NFC, details of the radio interface, status of the standardization process for inter operability as seen by the NFC Forum SIG and the future course NFC is projected ...
Where: Mountain ViewCost: $10 General, Free for members advance, $5 at door
Bryant Austin on WhalesIn his talks Bryant Austin offers insight into three major areas of his work. It begins with the journey to follow the inspiration given to him by two whales, and the external and personal challenges he had to overcome to document and share these creatures on their scale.With the challenges he faced ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Curiosity on MarsMt. Diablo Astronomical Society monthly meetings begin with a short "What's Up" presented by one of our members followed by a speaker. This month's speaker is – Dr. Chris McKay, NASA – "Curiosity on Mars"There is no fee for visitors but we appreciate a donation for light snacks and beverages.
Carl Haber is an experimental physicist. He received his Ph.D. in Physics from Columbia University and is a Senior Scientist in the Physics Division of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory at the University of California. Most of his research interest involves the development of instrumentation and methods for detecting and measuring ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Environmental Genomics of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Testing and Generating HypothesesSpeaker: Dr. Andrew Whitehead, UC Davis The RTC Seminar Series brings leading local, national, and international scientists to a public forum at RTC to speak about the latest advances in science, and provides an opportunity for graduate students to present research in progress. The Series is open to the public. ...
Where: TiburonCost: Free
Teaching in Hunter-Gatherer InfancyCultural anthropologists Margaret Mead, David Lancy, and Barbara Rogoff indicate that teaching does not exist or is rare in small-scale cultures. By contrast, recent research by cognitive scientists Gyorgy Gergely and Gergely Csibra indicate that one type of teaching, called natural pedagogy, is a human universal, part of human nature, ...
When we designed Blue Waters, the most powerful petascale supercomputer for the NSF community, the single most pressing concern about its success was that "GPUs are too hard to program." The rise of GPU computing has significantly boosted the pace of progress in numeric methods, algorithm design and programming techniques ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
'Dive!' Film Screening at Albany High SchoolFood Shift, a local non-profit organization, will be hosting a film screening of the documentary film "Dive!". The film will be followed by a discussion of the film and a Q&A lead by the Food Shift team. 40% of all food produced in the United States is wasted. This means ...
Where: AlbanyCost: $5 suggested donation
Science and Reason with Skeptics in the Pub, West BaySkeptics in the Pub, West BayFiddlers Green, MillbraeIf ye value critical thinking, and if ye scorn the film-flam man, and if ye drink, drink with us, your friends. If ye shun the brewer's art, at least help us lay waste to bangers & mash!Skeptics in the Pub is a monthly ...
Circadian rhythm (sr-kd-n): A daily cycle of biological activity based on a 24-hour period and influenced by regular variations in the environment, such as the alternation of night and day. Circadian rhythms include sleeping and waking in animals, flower closing and opening in plants, and tissue growth and differentiation in ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free
The Brilliance of SleepScientists have long wondered why we power down our brains and enter into a sleeping state then spending countless hours in light dreamless slumber. Professor Matt Walker in the Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory within the Department of Psychology at U.C. Berkeley and his team have found compelling evidence for the ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $22/27 General, $20/25 Members
The third lecture in the Implementing Health Care Reform in California Lecture Series will be presented by Kent Lieginger, PharmD, senior vice president, managed care and customer operations at Genentech.With 25 years in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries, Kent Lieginger has held a variety of leadership roles in managed care, ...
Dark Energy and the Runaway UniverseWe expected that the attractive force of gravity would slow down the rate at which the universe is expanding. But observations of very distant exploding stars (supernovae) show that the expansion rate is actually speeding up. Filippenko, a member of teams that revealed the accelerating expansion of the universe, will ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $8 Members, $7 Student
This week, we celebrate Human Odyssey, a dramatic new addition to the Academy's Tusher African Hall. Hear from a trio of Academy scientists who conduct fieldwork in Africa. Paleoanthropologist Zeray Alemseged will discuss studying human evolution in Ethiopia's Great East African Rift, known as the "cradle of mankind," and the ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $12 General, $10 Members
Forensic Sculpture: A Chronicle of History and UseGloria Nusse will be talking about her forensic art. Gloria Nusse is a scientific and forensic artist who has worked for well known scientific, cultural and historical agencies and institutions. Her forensic artwork has aided with the identification of several individuals.
The movie "The Impossible", currently showing in theaters, portrays the destruction of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunamiRecent tsunami disasters in the Pacific Ocean testify to their destructive power -- are similar events likely in the Pacific Northwest?Geographic research is helping to understand the risk, assisting planners with developing effective emergency ...
Energy storages are expected to play a significant role in increasing grid penetration of intermittent renewable resources. In this presentation, I will show that -, based on various hourly simulations,- storage design and dispatch plays a significant role in our ability to transition to a grid that can accommodate very ...
Dr. Kriek is an assistant professor in the Astronomy Department of the University of California at Berkeley. Her research focuses on the origin and evolution of galaxies, using spectroscopy and deep multi-wavelength surveys. Prior to this, She was a Clay Fellow at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, a Russell Fellow ...
Where: San MateoCost: Free
Saturday, 03/02/13
3rd Annual San Francisco Bay Area STEM Career FairScience, Engineering and Mathematics Link Inc (SEM Link) will host its 3rd Annual San Francisco Bay Area Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Career Fair and Exhibition. This event will provide K-12 students with an opportunity to explore careers and meet and interact with professionals in these fields. This event is free and open to the public; however pre-registration ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free
Brain Awareness DaySponsored in part by The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives. Join the global celebration with the Society for Neuroscience and 2,800 partners in 82. Free It's Mindboggling! puzzle seriesbooklets for kids while supplies last. Stop by the Galaxy Explorer demo stations to explore brain anatomy, the powerful senses and mind-bending ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free with admission
Meet the Animals at the Randall MuseumOn Saturdays a special selection of the Randall Museum's animal ambassadors venture from their cages, pens, and perches to greet museum visitors up-close! Kids and their families can meet rodents and amphibians, check out a Great Horned Owl, and maybe even touch a tortoise! The Randall Museum is home ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
History of the DeltaLearn about the history of the delta - from the early 1800s up to 2012 - from framing, discovery of gold, railroad building, and levee building to the present time with Ranger Bill. 1,000 miles in scope, 60-80 man made islands, and a population that exceeds 500,000! Historical. Educational. Informative.
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Biological design and build automation platforms at JBEI and TeselaGenThe capacity to iterate through the biological design-build-test engineering cycle more quickly than the competition is mission critical for academics and biotechnology companies to be the first to publish or bring product to market. At the Joint BioEnergy Institute (jbei.org), we are developing several cloud-based software tools that accelerate the ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: free
Ocean's Aglow: Family Night Hike & CampfireJoin us for a night hike to Rodeo Beach in search of bioluminescent plankton twinkling in the sand. Gather 'round the campfire with friends and family, sing songs, and roast s'mores by moonlight.All ages are welcome. Baby carriers are suggested for children 4 and under.
San Mateo County Astronomical Society Star PartyThe City of San Carlos Department of Parks and Recreation and the San Mateo County Astronomical Society have open Star Parties. These events are held in Crestview Park, San Carlos California. Dates and Sunset times are below. Note that inclement weather (clouds, excessive wind and showers) will cause the event ...
Where: San CarlosCost: Free
Sunday, 03/03/13
Free Day of ScienceFirst Sundays are FREE! OMCA is free all day the first Sunday of every month. Tour the building with members of the Museum's Council on Architecture at 1 pm and enjoy a Docent-led tour of the Gallery of California Art at 2 pm. Grab lunch or a snack at Blue ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free
Free Sunday at the California Academy of SciencesThe Academy is free to everyone on selected Sundays throughout the year. Admission is on a first-come, first served basis, and early arrival is recommended due to the likelihood of high demand. Please note that final entry to the museum on free days is 4:00 pm.
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Monday, 03/04/13
Nuclear Weapons Reduction What Physicists Do series at Sonoma State.Speaker: Dr. Jay Davis, Hertz Foundation
One third of the world's carbon emissions are emitted by industry. Most industrial emissions relate to producing materials. Steel, cement, plastic, paper and aluminium are the most important contributors. The industries that make materials are energy-intensive, so they have always been motivated to be efficient and have now reached a ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
The Mysteries of Sleep One of the great remaining scientific mysteries is the question, why do we sleep? Walker will discuss the importance of sleep and describe how a night of sleep remodels our brains, enhances memory, inspires creative insights and rebalances our next-day emotional reactivity.Speaker: Matt Walker, Principal Investigator, UC Berkeley Sleep and ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: $15 General, $10 Members, $5 Students
The signs of disruption to our climate are all around us. California has seen longer, hotter dry seasons leading to severe wildfires. Rising sea levels are threatening infrastructure and property along the State's coast, and a declining snow pack is causing concern for hydropower, water supply and tourism. Nationally, extended ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $8.50
Of CAVEs and Curiosity: Imaging and Imagination in Collaborative ResearchIn the KeckCAVES visualization facility at UC Davis, one can walk into a snowflake or fly over a landslide. Images from around space and time flicker into existence as researchers interact with their data in three dimensions. Among the sights to be seen are ancient microbes, chaotic attractors, and the ...
On the road to extragalactic transient discoveriesSurveys for radio pulsars serve as excellent historical records of the Galactic and extragalactic radio sky on sub-second time scales. Isolated radio impulses, such as those theorized to occur as signposts for evaporating black holes, coalescing neutron stars, and other violent phenomena, might be detectable in pulsar survey data. Lorimer ...
Where: Mountain ViewCost: Free
Detecting Genomic Insertions and Deletions in the Cloud with MapReduce and CloudbreakThe detection of genomic structural variations remains one of the the most difficult challenges in analyzing high-throughput sequencing data. Considering multiple mappings of all reads, rather than only uniquely mapped discordant fragments, can improve the performance of read-pair based detection methods. However, the computational requirements for creating, storing, and processing ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
On Behavioral ProgrammingThe talk starts from a dream/vision paper I published in 2008, whose title "Can Programming be Liberated, Period?", is a play on that of John Backus' famous Turing Award Lecture (and paper). I will propose that --- or rather ask whether --- programming can be made a lot closer to ...
Solar Manufacturing from Wafer to EncapsulationCome learn about how solar cells are made and hear about the latest developments in solar cell technologies!Topics of discussion will include: the physical manufacturing process, the future of solar manufacturing & solar scalability, encapsulation, and process/quality management.Speakers: Professor Dan Kammen, Class of 1935 Distinguished Professor of Energy in the ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
'Watershed' - Tiburon International Film Festival Whiskey is for drinking, water is for fighting is a well-worn saying when it comes to water politics, but in the Colorado River Basin, where the most dammed, dibbed, and diverted river in the world struggles to flow, some think fighting may be the only way left to reclaim this ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
'Over Troubled Waters' - Tiburon International Film FestivalThe Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, the largest estuary on the west coast of the Americas, is a national treasure being squandered by greed. In this visually rich documentary, Ed Begley, Jr. narrates the story of the battle being fought by the people of the Delta to protect the region they love ...
Remote island regions face many challenges when establishing reliable Internet connections and introducing technology into schools and communities. This talk draws from Professor Hosman's in-the-field experiences with technology-for-development projects, focusing on the PISCES Project, a multi-partnered, education-focused technology project in Micronesia. Using solar powered long-distance wireless connections and an all-in-one ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Can We Computerize an Elephant?The talk shows how techniques from computer science and software engineering can be applied beneficially to research in the life sciences. We discuss the idea of comprehensive and realistic modeling of biological systems, where we try to understand and analyze an entire system in detail, utilizing in the modeling effort ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Harbor porpoises re-occupy San Francisco Bay - POSTPONEDInstead of the harbor porpoises discussion, RTC will hold two graduate lead discussions on:1. Sublethal effects of the cyanobacteria Microcystis aeruginosa on the copepod Pseudodiaptomus forbesi, Rita duMais, Kimmerer Lab2. The impacts of eelgrass restoration on aquatic invertebrate communities, Cassie Pinnell, Boyer LabThe RTC Seminar Series brings leading local, national, and international scientists to a ...
Genetic Adaptations to New Environments in Human PopulationsThe history of human evolution and dispersal was associated with remarkable environmental changes over time and space, which resulted in major challenges to homeostatic systems. Professor Di Rienzo's group has developed approaches for detecting the impact of selective pressures associated with environmental factors and they have applied them to genome-wide ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Ingress: a massibely multiplayer geo game from Google Ingress is a massively multiplayer geo game that was recently launched by Google's Niantic Labs. Players move through the real world using an Android device and the Ingress app to discover and tap sources of a mysterious energy. Players acquire objects to aid in their quest, deploy tech to capture ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Astronomy from the Stratosphere: NASA's SOFIA MissionWhy would NASA buy a used passenger airliner, cut a 10' x 10' hole in the fuselage, add a roll-back door, and install a 17-ton telescope inside? In his lecture, open to the public, Dr. Backman will introduce you to the engineering marvel and international scientific facility called SOFIA -- ...
Clarence Hamilton Kennedy was an entomologist, an artist, and the first person to carry out a comprehensive census of dragonflies in the western United States. In 1914 and 1915, he travelled throughout California and Nevada, compiling lists of species that he encountered at specific sites along with notes on environmental ...
Extreme Climate Events and Human HealthExtreme events are a hot topic for both climate scientists and public health professionals. Why? There is good evidence that the frequency and strength of some disasters--such as storms, floods, landslides, extreme heat, drought, and wildfires--will be affected as climate change progresses. Low-income groups and low-income countries are likely to ...
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. Younger Lagoon is excellent for bird watching and seeing animals that call the reserve's intact coastal dunes home, such as: bobcats, foxes, seabirds, raptors, and ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free with admission
For Goodness SnakesThis one-of-a-kind educational experience will introduce you to the fascinating world of reptiles. Come enjoy the opportunity to hold and interact with their docile animals.
Speaker: Dr. Danny Shechtman, Professor, MSE, Technion, Haifa and MSE, ISU, Ames, 2011 Nobel Laureate in ChemistryRoom 101/102
Where: StanfordCost: Free
NASAScience4Girls and Their FamiliesThe Sun is our closest star! Join us and find out how NASA is helping us learn about our Sun, what it can teach us about other stars, and the many ways it affects our life on Earth.
The effects of the Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami and Canterbury Earthquake Sequence are discussed with respect to their impact on regional and international economics, national practices for security and recovery, and worldwide energy policy. The lecture explains why these events require a fundamental re-thinking of the way we evaluate the ...
STEM Symposium - Computer Science: Classroom to CareerThe purpose of the STEM Symposium is to develop partnerships, mentorships, networks, and STEM-education opportunities for regional STEM-related educators and business personnel. Co-sponsorsed by Oracle, we plan to offer dinner and hear from leaders in Computer Science education: K-12 educators, Oracle Academy, CSTA, and MESA with a focus on Computer ...
Where: Redwood CityCost: Free
Cafe InquiryMeet up with rationalists, skeptics, and freethinkers south of San FranciscoCafe 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! Look for the black balloon.For more information or if you have questions please ...
See Bay Area robots in action, from functional helpers to those working in the arts. Check out the work of local robot design studio BeatBots; robotic performance art group Survival Research Labs; camera control bot-makers Bot and Dolly; and Robot Garden's robot hackerspace. The managing director of nonprofit Silicon Valley ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $12 General, $10 Members
Photovoltaic Technologies & The Solar Efficiency RaceThe Solar industry is engaged in an intense technology race to produce the most efficient solar cells. This solar efficiency race has intensified as a response to the declining price of crystalline silicon modules and panels from China. More efficient solar cells justify a higher panel price. How does this ...
Where: San JoseCost: $6.50
Teaming up for Cures: Progress and promise of stem cellsLight snacks will be provided and a cash bar will be available.Come learn how your state stem cell agency is fueling the development of new therapies for debilitating diseases and conditions like blindness, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.California's stem cell agency, the ...
On Thursday March 7th, Stewart Brand and Isabella Kirkland will discuss their combined efforts to keep recently extinct species from completely fading away. Kirkland has created a series of paintings featuring endangered and extinct species (on display at the David Brower Center in Berkeley – where the talk will be held) and Brand is working with molecular and conservation biologists ...
Po Bronson on the science of winning and losing / Top DogWhat are the differences between a winning and losing performance? Why are we able to rise to the challenge one day, but wilt from it the next? Can we in fact become better competitors? In Top Dog Po Bronson and Ashley Merryman tackle a subject we all face every day-in ...
Elton Sherwin, Senior Managing Director of Ridgewood Capital, and author of Addicted to Energy, will detail how he dramatically cut his own home energy usage - and his prescription for cutting energy waste in government and business sectors as well. Join Acterra for a series of exciting conversations focused on ...
Limits to Limiting Greenhouse Gases: Intertemporal Leakage, Spatial Leakage, and Negative LeakageThis paper contributes to the recent literature on the Green Paradox (Hoel, 2011 and Harstad, 2012) that distinguishes between regulated and unregulated regions in a Hotelling framework. In our model, different grades of oil are characterized by different costs, emission factors, and underground reserves; furthermore, the clean backstop experiences cost-reducing ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Public Star Viewing NightsJoin Sonoma State University's Physics and Astronomy department for a star party.Topic: Jupiter and the Winter Circle
