Exploratorium Lab and Lunch: Surface Currents"Surface Currents, or How to Study the Ocean Without Getting Wet" with Toby Garfield, Director of the Romberg Tiburon Center for Environmental Studies, San Francisco State's Field Station on the Bay. Using high-tech instruments and new visualizing capabilities Toby Garfield's group at Romberg Tiburon Center are providing new ways to ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Local process and pattern in the Everglades restorationSince the turn of the 20th century, varying sections of the Everglades have been drained via canals, converted to agriculture, enriched with phosphorus, and unnaturally flooded throughout the constructions of impoundments. Levee projects have culminated in the development of 1000 miles of canals, 720 miles of levees, 16 pumping stations, ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
History of the U.S. Army Corps of EngineersJoin Ranger Bill to learn about the "When/Where/Why/What/ How," the diverse, complex, many faceted missions, goals and objectives of the USACE's "Birth" in 1775 under General George Washington.
In 1872, the headwaters of the Yellowstone River and the surrounding forests, canyons and geyser basins were designated the world's first national park. Since then, most nations around the world have protected important biological places. Today, depending on how you measure it, six to 12 percent of the world's land ...
Why go fast? Compared to moving slowly, the advantages seem obvious: find food first, forage more widely, and escape more rapidly! But, in the water, being speedier incurs huge energetic costs, with moving a little bit faster skyrocketing the amount of fuel you need. This trade-off between speed and energy ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $12 General, $10 Seniors, Free Members
Brown Dwarfs: The Spectroscopy of Sub-stellar ObjectsThe most massive planet is nearly 6 times lighter than the least massive star. In between is the realm of brown dwarfs. In 1995 both the first brown dwarf and the first exoplanet were discovered. Since then we have found hundreds of each, and have learned quite a bit. Recent ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Nerd Nite SF #40: Science Rapping, Renaissance Handwriting, and Sharks!"Science Rapping from Auckland to Oakland" by Tom McFaddenWhat is the Holy Grail of science rap? Science history battles–written and performed by middle-schoolers–that explore the nature and ethics of science over Kanye beats. Picture Rosalind Franklin vs. Watson & Crick over "Clique." Tom's traveled the world dropping science rhymes, but ...
Speaker: Laura Guio, VP and Storage Systems, Business Line Executive, IBM
Where: San JoseCost: Free
Internet Privacy: Towards More TransparencyInternet privacy has become a hot topic recently with the radical growth of Online Social Networks (OSN) and attendant publicity about various leakages. For the last several years we have been examining aggregation of user's information by a steadily decreasing number of entities as unrelated Web sites are browsed. I ...
Venture off the beaten path for fresh ideas on how to enjoy some fresh air, and hone your survival skills with help from people who actually know how.Presidio Trust and Save the Redwoods League will bring a bit of the outdoors into NightLife to get you into the spirit. Sharpen ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $12 General, $10 Members
Full Spectrum Science: LasersInvented in 1960, lasers are now a ubiquitous technology. Come learn how laser light is made, and how it is used in things like DVD players, eye surgery, and fusion energy research.Instructor: Ron Hipschman18+ only
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free with admission
Sharks: Beware of HumansDr. A. Peter Klimley has studied sharks for over three decades. The topics of his studies have ranged from the complex social habits and keen navigational abilities of hammerhead sharks to the feeding tactics and communication behavior of white sharks. His latest book, The Biology of Sharks and Rays, is ...
Perry Matlock, archivist for the Sacred Sites Preservation & Rights of Indigenous Tribes, will talk about the shellmounds and the people who made them.
Harry Fuller will visit some of the best birding spots within 20 minutes' drive of I-5 and feeder routes between San Francisco and Oakland on the south and Seattle on the north. This drive of 800-plus miles passes numerous wildlife refuges, state and local parks, a wilderness area, a national ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free for members, $5 donation General
California Coastal Cleanup Day - Marin County9 am – Noon • Beach Cleanup Noon – 3 pm • Celebration at the Bay Model Visitor Center Please check the Bay Model website for over 35 volunteer cleanup sites in Marin County.
Where: SausalitoCost: Volunteer
Guided Nature WalkExperience the beauty and rich natural history of this 535-acre preserve. Our half-day guided nature walks are on Saturdays throughout fall and spring. Participants are divided into small groups and paired with a trained Bouverie volunteer to explore the mixed evergreen forest, flower-carpeted oak woodland and rugged chaparral. Guided Nature Walks range ...
Where: GeyservilleCost: Free
Fall FluttersJoin a park docent for an easy 2-mile stroll to enjoy views of the wetlands, migratory birds, and other wildlife. Observe California's smallest butterfly, the Western Pygmy Blue, and learn how it thrives in a harsh, alkaline environment. Meet in the parking lot near the restrooms. Dress in layers with ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $25 for adults; discounts available
Piquant Investigations into Salt, Herbs, and SpicesRelish the rich world of seasonings in this free, outdoor festival. Get a taste for the historical uses of herbs, trace the geographic origins of common, culinary spices, and find out how the chemical defenses of certain plants can be so stimulating-and flavorful. You can also learn about local saltworks, ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Water, Water, Everywhere – from the Earth, the Moon, Mars, and BeyondWater, essential for life as we know it, is an important indicator of the conditions present on other planets and moons throughout recent history and in the distant past. The presence and state of water and other similar volatile compounds throughout our own solar system provides insight into its formation, ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
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: SausalitoCost: Free
A Musical World Premiere Inspired and Accompanied by AstronomyThe Mission Chamber Orchestra of San Jose will offer the world premiere of a new orchestral composition by composer Nancy Bloomer Deussen, entitled "The Transit of Venus." In June 2012, the composer participated in an event at NASA's Ames Research Center, featuring live images of Venus crossing the face of ...
Where: San JoseCost: $25 General, $20 Senior, $12 Student, $10 Children
Don't Lick That Doorknob: 'Contagion' movie screening and science talkYour evening begins at 6:30 in the lounge of San Francisco's luxurious Variety Preview Theater with great conversation and a cash bar.Then, at 7:30, take limitless free popcorn to plush theater seating for a special screening of "Contagion".Finally, at about 9 o'clock, Prof. of Microbiology and Immunology, Dr. Bob Siegel ...
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: SausalitoCost: Free
Naturalist Know-howDo you know a young person interested in nature? Take them to Junior Academy: Naturalist Know-how! Learn to be a naturalist! September's skill is Flower/Plant Pressing. Variations of the monthly skill will be available each week. This program is designed for youth ages 8 to 11. Youth must be accompanied ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Monday, 09/23/13
DARK MATTER: AND HOW WE WOULD NOT BE ALIVE WITHOUT ITDr. Tom Abel from SLAC and KIPAC at Stanford University will explain how telescopic observations have convinced scientists that Dark Matter must exist. The talk will also discuss the importance of supercomputers in studying how Dark Matter influences the Universe.
Where: Rohnert ParkCost: Free
How (and Why) to 'Read' Big GraphsA graph consists of a set of vertices and edges, where each edge connects a pair of vertices. This mathematical construct is an extremely important theoretical object as well as a wonderful tool for modeling and analyzing real-life systems. For example, each vertex can represent a person, and an edge ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
On the topology and future stability of the universeThe current standard model of the universe is spatially homogeneous, isotropic and spatially flat. Furthermore, the matter content is described by two perfect fluids (dust and radiation) and there is a positive cosmological constant. Such a model can be well approximated by a solution to the Einstein-Vlasov equations with a ...
Energy use and conversion are important for the design of low-power electronics and energy-conversion systems. This is also a rich domain for both fundamental discoveries as well as technological advances. This talk will present recent highlights from our studies at the intersection of energy, nanomaterials, and nanoelectronics. We have investigated ...
Stem cells appear to have the capability of regenerating all cell types in the human body. Moreover, simple tissue structures generated by culturing these cells have been grown in vitro, suggesting the possibility of regenerating damaged, degenerated, or otherwise dysfunctional organs in vivo. Stem cells can be harvested from early ...
The Colossus Project: Designing an optical/IR instrument to detect life outside the solar system This talk describes an effort to detect life, and even conduct a planetary census, in our cosmic neighborhood. I'll describe some results from the Colossus group, an interdisciplinary science and engineering team, working to show how telescopes much larger than the TMT or EELT could be built today by relaxing ...
Where: Mountain ViewCost: Free
Can We Cope with Sea Level Rise?Climate change is affecting sea levels around the world. In Australia a rise of around a meter by the end of the century is predicted. The impacts of this are likely to be significant in a number of ways. Planners need to carefully consider the location of future coastal developments. ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
Shock-Bubble InteractionWhen a shock wave propagates across the interface between fluids of different acoustic impedance, two fundamental events follow: the refraction of the shock wave across the non-uniformity, and the baroclinic generation of vorticity on the interface. This latter, in turn, causes the development of distinct vertical structures which lead to ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Changing Shores: What the Bay's Past Can Tell Us about Its FutureThe Save the Bay moment of the 1970s was a premier regional effort at environmental protection and presented a model to the world. It remains an unfinished project, however, for the San Francisco estuary, like all shores, is what Rachel Carson called an "elusive and indefinable boundary," which can never ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 non-members, $8 members, $7 students
Things should be things and not computersWho wants to reboot their thermostat? Garage door opener? That's where we're heading because most Internet of Things (IoT) vendors have taken a "Honey, I shrunk the computer" design approach. That's wrong. The danger is that the commonly used Internet architecture, that was designed in ...
Where: Santa ClaraCost: $10 General, $5 members at door, free in advance
Since 1999 Judith Selby Lang and Richard Lang have collected more than two tons of plastic trash from 1000 yards of Kehoe Beach along the Point Reyes National Seashore. For Finding Meaning in the Mess, their exhibit at the Bay Model, they have transformed this debris into engaging works of art that raise awareness of the sheer ...
