In 1900, a party of sponge divers chanced on the wreck of a Roman merchant vessel between Crete and mainland Greece. It was found to contain numerous ancient Greek treasures, among them a mysterious lump of clay that split open to reveal 'mathematical gears', now known as the Antikythera Mechanism. ...
Digital 6th SenseA global innovator in mobile technology, Dr. Jacobs is leading the convergence of connectivity, context and control to give us a digital "sixth sense" that will transform our lives - from how we communicate to how we interact with the world.Speaker: Dr. Paul Jacobs, Qualcomm
Mostly missless memory in the Mill CPU: Avoiding the pain of cache misses in a atatically-scheduled architectureThe Mill is a new CPU architecture designed for very high single-thread performance within a very small power envelope. It achieves DSP-like power/performance on general purpose codes, without reprogramming. The Mill is a wide-issue, statically scheduled design with exposed pipeline. High-end Mills can decode, issue, and execute over thirty MIMD ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Cosmology after PlanckThe Planck Telescope has made an accurate full-sky measurement of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature, the leftover heat from the big bang. These measurements probe both the physics of the very early universe and the basic properties of the universe today. The Planck measurements confirm the earlier results from ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Stanford Biology Thinks Big!Come to the first Stanford Biology Thinks Big!, an exciting symposium that will feature engaging, TED-like talks from four Stanford professors. John Boothroyd, Carlos Bustamante, Susan McConnell, and Mary Teruel represent the Departments of Microbiology and Immunology, Genetics, Biology, and Chemical and Systems Biology, and the event is designed to ...
In the Milky Way groups of stars range from sparse collections of only a few dozen stars, to massive globular clusters with a million members. Dr. Stahler will explain the basic reason why Nature forms stars in groups and why different regions of space create such vastly different entities. This ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Nerd Nite SF! Confessions of an Alien HunterSeth Shostak knew he would spend his life hunting for signs of life in the Universe from the time he was just 10 years old. He is now Senior Astronomer at the SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Institute whose mission is to explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and ...
Movie Reconstruction From Brain Signals and Statistical StabilityRecently, researchers have attempted to answer one of the important questions in computational neuroscience: Can the vast quantities of high-dimensional neuroscience data available today be used to decode brain activities? Professor Bin Yu reports on a thrilling breakthrough at the intersection of neuroscience and statistical machine learning that is ...
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.
Nation from the Bottom Up: Environmental Hygiene and Disease Prevention in Twentieth Century JapanThis talk is based on a chapter from Nation from the Bottom Up: Environmental Hygiene and Disease Prevention in Twentieth Century Japan. It examines the history of fecal-oral route and parasite-diseases, and the technology of toilets and waste-management, asking the larger question of how Japan managed, treated and disposed of ...
Treasure Island NightLifeGet marooned for a night of island-inspired entertainment as the Treasure Island Music Festivalreturns to NightLife.Get down with a live performance by local folk-rockers Thao & the Get Down Stay Down, whose latest release We the Common (Ribbon Music) has been lauded by the likes of NPR, Spin and Paste ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $12 General, $10 Members
'Odd Couples: Extraordinary Differences Between the Sexes in the Animal Kingdom'Evolutionary biologist Dr. Daphne Fairbairn will be giving a talk and signing her new book, "Odd Couples: Extraordinary Differences Between the Sexes."While we joke that men are from Mars and women are from Venus, our gender differences can't compare to those of other animals. For instance: the male garden spider ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: free
Neuropathic (Nerve) Pain-- from Toe to HeadThis talk will focus on treatment strategies for nerve pain ranging from peripheral neuropathy to complex regional pain syndrome.Speaker: Ian Carroll, MD, Assistant Professor, Anesthesia, Stanford University Medical Center
Where: Palo AltoCost: Free
The Science of Our UniverseJoin Exploratorium scientist Ron Hipschman for colorful explorations of the physical world.We tend to think of "home" as the building in which we live, or the town or city where we reside. Voyage to the edge of the known universe, and gain some perspective on the tiny planet we call ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free with admission
Alan Weisman / Countdown: Our Last Best Hope for Life on Earth?In his bestselling book The World without Us, Alan Weisman considered how the Earth could heal and even refill empty niches if relieved of humanity's constant pressures. Behind that groundbreaking thought experiment was his hope that we would be inspired to find a way to add humans back to his ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: $15 General, $8 students in advance, $20 at door
David Lukas, writer and naturalist, will cover bird bones, feathers, and muscles and how they work together to help a bird fly and live in its environment. Expect to learn about the inner and outer workings of birds.
The San Francisco–East Bay area still harbors one of the densest nesting populations of Golden Eagles in the world. Yet all is not well. Aside from development pressure putting the squeeze on eagle habitat, wind farm operations at the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area account for a high eagle mortality ...
Sydney Glassman is interested in the interactions between aboveground and belowground terrestrial communities, in particular the effects of mycorrhizal symbioses on plant community composition and function. She is also interested in understanding broad patterns of fungal and microbial diversity and the role of dispersal in shaping ectomycorrhizal communities. Sydney received ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Friday, 10/18/13
Center for Global Public Health Annual Symposium 2013Join us for the Center of Global Public Health's Annual Symposium featuring Prof. Marion Nestle, followed by a reception. Prof. Nestle is a Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health at New York University and author of Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
The Future of Global Healthy Food: From Science to PolicyJoin us for the Center of Global Public Health's Annual Symposium featuring Prof. Marion Nestle on Friday October 18 from 8:30 am- 5 pm at the Banatao Auditorium in Sutardja Dai Hall followed by a reception. Prof. Nestle is a Paulette Goddard Professor in the Department of Nutrition, Food Studies ...
Where: BerkeleyCost:
Just Twelve Men Throughout all of human history, only twelve people have ever walked on the Moon-one of the smallest explorers' clubs ever. Who were these twelve, and how were they chosen? The expected factors such as experience, skill, and seniority did play a role. But so too did unexpected medical conditions, office ...
The longstanding reliance on fossil fuels has boosted the atmospheric CO2 concentration to a level that is unprecedented in modern geological history. Since the use of carbon-containing fuels is entrenched in society, controlling the atmospheric CO2 concentration may ultimately require recycling CO2 into liquid fuels and commodity chemicals using ...
Dynamic Weather Routes: The Search for Smarter Flight RoutesAdverse weather is the leading cause of flight delay in the US National Airspace System. Airline flight dispatchers must file flight plans about an hour before push-back from the gate using their best available weather forecasts. FAA traffic managers assess the impact of weather on traffic flows, and, when necessary, ...
Join us for a lively conversation about all things gaming! Meet the dynamic husband and wife duo of John Romero and Brenda Brathwaite Romero as they discuss their paths into and through this industry and get a peek at what they believe the future holds. John is the mastermind behind ...
Where: OaklandCost: $23 General, $20 Members in advance; $29 at door
The Exploratorium is pleased to announce a newly commissioned work by experiential artist Jeppe Hein to debut October 18, 2013. Hein has designed six Long Modified Benches to animate the public promenade of the Embarcadero in front of Pier 17, part of the Exploratorium's new campus. Hein's site-specific work reminds us how ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Saturday, 10/19/13
Geology of the Golden Gate HeadlandsExplore 200 million years of geologic history and learn the fascinating story told by the rocks at the Golden Gate.Bring a lunch and wear comfortable walking shoes and a coat.Trip includes a short but strenuous walk down and up a 200-foot bluff.Meet Ranger Will Elder in front of Fort Point. ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Take FLight for KidsJoin us for the third annual community festival for Silicon Valley youth interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). Take Flight for Kids believes that the sky is literally the limit to reaching out and overriding perceived limitations. Join us, and see how high you can reach!Foight schools and ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
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
Bay Area X-PlanesA child stopped in front of a house in his neighborhood and asked the woman working out front why she had such a strange looking canoe in her driveway. "It's not a canoe, it's an airplane!" said the woman. Mystified, the boy asked where the wings were if the odd ...
Where: San CarlosCost: Free with admission
Celebrate National Chemistry WeekThe theme of this years' interactive chemistry show is: "Energy Now & Forever", and is free for kids of all ages! Join us for experiments, prizes and fun for all!
Where: San JoseCost: Free
Intel Museum - Free Class Lets Kids Explore the World Inside of a FabKeeping it Clean (ages 7 and up)Explore what it's like inside an ultra-clean, highly automated silicon chip fabrication facility (fab) - from particles of contamination to bunnysuits - and get an inside glimpse into a Class 1 Fab from the museum. Space is limited and reservations are required. Email museum@intel.com ...
Just as San Francisco's late-in-the-year summertime comes to a close, and cool autumn nights begin, the Exploratorium will celebrate its final Market Days open-air festival of the season. Market Days: Heirlooms will look at the great experiments, cultural practices and traditions that make human culture rich. The free, family-friendly event is on ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
The Mighty Single-Celled Yeast: Brewing, Medicine and BiotechnologyHumans have taken advantage of the metabolism of the tiny fungus called baker's or brewer's yeast to generate beer and wine from grains and fruits and to bake bread and other confections for millennia. Less appreciated is the fact that this organism has provided a living test tube in which ...
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
Feeding Our Future: Contemporary Family Nutrition and the Obesity EpidemicHere in the US, we are facing an epidemic of a disease that threatens to leave our children with a shorter life expectancy than their parents. One in three American children is either overweight or obese and while the origins of the problem are complex, the solution doesn't have to ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Science Saturday: Frog in the Fog, Part 2David Blackburn is a curator of amphibians and reptiles in the Institute for Biodiversity Science and Sustainability at the California Academy of Sciences. He specializes in studying the diversity, evolution, and conservation of amphibians, especially frogs. Working with colleagues and students around the world, Dave's current work focuses on the ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Do Lake Lagunita Salamanders Hold the Chemical Clues for Treating Pain?Natural poisons, such as the one found in the skin, reproductive glands, and eggs of Taricha torosa (California newt), can be used as 'tools' to study the complex biochemical mechanisms associated with nerve cell conduction. In this talk, Professor Du Bois discusses the potential for creating next-generation pain medicines modeled ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Lessons from Early Development: Stem Cell Reprogramming and Human Development AgingThe excitement over stem cell research is generated by the many potential applications in medicine. But how close are we to seeing the first uses of this promising breakthrough in treating humans? What are the safety concerns, and when we will know its real value? Dr. Reijo Pera provides background ...
Saturn V CountdownTake a closer look at this magnificent flying machine that took man farther and faster than ever before. The story of the complex and powerful Saturn V moon rocket is anything by short and sweet. Nearly half a million dedicated people toiled for the better part of a decade to ...
Where: OaklandCost:
Sunday, 10/20/13
Wine Country Optics and Nature FestivalMeet the company experts from Swarovski, Leica, Zeiss, Nikon, Pentax, Kowa, Opticron, Celestron and more. Experience the newest spotting scope, cameras and binoculars on the market! Nearly one thousand people attended the event at Cornerstone Sonoma last year. Stroll through award winning gardens, shops and visit with over 25 major ...
Where: SonomaCost:
Naturalist 101: SKULLS TELL IT ALLScientists can learn many things by looking at an animal's skull, and so can you! In this two-hour workshop, learn the essentials of how to identify local animals by their skulls. Discover what determines if the animal was predator or prey, what it ate, what sense was most important to ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 General, $12 Members
What and why: A Maker Faire is about celebrating learning and doing – not the finished and perfect end product. It's a place to share what we're learning with others, and celebrate the fun and freedom of being an amateur.Featuring both established and emerging local "makers," the East Bay Mini Maker ...
Where: OaklandCost: $12.50
Hike the HeadlandsHike the Headlands Sunday, October 20, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.Participate in our 1st annual family–friendly fundraiser and help make our programs accessible to ALL children. Enjoy hands-on science activities along the trail, musical entertainment, refreshments, festivities, and prizes!Individual participant registration for adults ($42) and families up to four ($82), children ...
Where: SausalitoCost: $42-$82
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
Junior Academy: Naturalist Know-how Learn how to be a naturalist! Each month a new nature skill will be presented. October's skill is Stones, Spiders and Scum -- Up Close! Explore the hidden side of everyday things by learning to use a microscope. Variations of the monthly skill will be available each week. This program ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free with Academy admission
Join Exploratorium scientist Ron Hipschman for colorful explorations of the physical world. We tend to think of "home" as the building in which we live, or the town or city where we reside. Voyage to the edge of the known universe, and gain some perspective on the tiny planet we ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $25 for adults; discounts available
Monday, 10/21/13
Green Infrastructure in PracticeChih-Wei 'G.V." Chang, RLA, LEED AP, Associate SWA Group joins us for a discussion of examples of bringing research and rigorous analysis into landscape architecture project design.
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
SOLAR FUELS PRODUCTION BY ARTIFICIAL PHOTOSYNTHESISDr. Joel Ager from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will explain his research on practical methods to use sunlight to generate liquid transportation fuels, using a carbon-neutral energy source. Artificial photosynthesis is the first step to such alternative fuels.
Where: Rohnert ParkCost: Free
Ethics in an Energy Crisis: What Should We Do When Current Needs Conflict with Long-Term Sustainability?Ethics are important. The economic divide between the developed and developing world highlights the ethical dimensions of energy access in a climate-constrained world. Is it fair to hinder economic growth in developing countries because the wealthiest nations have changed the composition of the atmosphere and changed the climate of the ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Radioluminescence: Old Concept, New ApplicationIonizing radiation has many uses in medicine, both for imaging and therapy. For instance, radionuclide imaging provides sensitive, quantitative, and non-invasive characterization of molecular disease processes in vivo. X-ray computed tomography is the standard method for imaging the human anatomy with high spatial resolution. Megavoltage radiation is one of the ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Tuesday, 10/22/13
Dynamics of Ice, Water and Salts in the Martian SubsurfaceRecent discoveries on Mars suggest ice may be or recently was present at latitudes where it is not expected and at unexplained abundance. As ice may be unstable under present Martian climatic conditions, a mechanism may be needed to explain the presence of ice in the near surface at these ...
Where: Mountain ViewCost: Free
Water and Health in South Asia: Water, Disease, and PollutantsJoin us for a discussion with Steve Luby (School of Medicine, Stanford University) and Scott Fendorf, (Environmental Earth System Science, Stanford)University), as they discuss hydrology, disease burden and chemical environments.Woods Institute
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Short and Long Term Impacts of the Rim Fire on the Tuolumne River WatershedThe Tuolumne River is the circulatory system for the health of the Tuolumne River Watershed which sustains a large portion of the Stanislaus National Forest in the Sierra Nevada of California, including Yosemite National Park. The Rim Fire, located primarily in the Tuolumne River Watershed, has burned over 253,000 acres ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $11.34
Fundamental Fluid Dynamics and the Olympic Swimming MovementThe world of competitive swimming is dynamic. Swimmers today are bigger, stronger and faster than they ever have been. The training regimen of an elite athlete includes not only endless practice of his or her skills, but also a carefully planned diet, strength and endurance training, and hours of mental ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
New Concepts for Old Black HolesProf. Leonard Susskind of the Stanford University Physics Department will give the Applied Physics/Physics colloquium
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Chester Chester Chester October 22, 2013 marks the exact 75th anniversary ("10-22-38") of Chester Carlson's invention of the process that came to be known to the world as xerography.Growing up in deep poverty in Southern California, Chester managed to graduate from Caltech in June, 1930, as he himself later wrote "right on time ...
Consumer and mobile displays - technology & trendsTouch screens encompass a wide variety of technologies and sensor structures. The touch industry is evolving rapidly, driven by competition to reduce materials usage, size, and cost while improving performance. Smartphones and tablet PCs have been the dominant applications, and while there has been much activity around touch in traditional ...
Where: Santa ClaraCost: $10 General, Members free in advance, $5 at door
Latest Kepler ResultsOur 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. Jon Jenkins, NASAThere is no fee for visitors but we appreciate a donation for light snacks and beverages.
