California Cognitive Science ConferenceThe Cognitive Science Student Association is pleased to host the sixth annual California Cognitive Science Conference (CCSC). The theme for CCSC 2014 is "Creativity: The Inspired Mind" and we will be exploring this exciting topic through the lenses of psychology, neuroscience, linguistics, anthropology, computer science, philosophy of mind and more.The ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: $25 General, $20 Student
Consequences of Current Population TrendsThe world's population has passed the 7 billion mark and is still growing. Why should humanists care? Will we, or have we already, surpassed the carrying capacity of the earth? Will poverty and disease increase in the developing world? What will be the consequences of population aging and stabilization in ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: free
Public Open House at Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and CosmologyKIPAC Public Open House Astrophysics and cosmology talks, 3D Movies of the Universe, Planetarium Dome, Stargazing, Ask an Astronomer, and much more!Visitors will also enjoy free hotdogs, snacks and beverages, and a raffle drawing for a chance to win two tickets to the California Academy of Sciences or a telescope.Event is ...
Where: Menlo ParkCost: free but pre-registration is mandatory
Apollo DreamsOne of the best dividends of a robust space program: the leftover ideas and hardware. Look back at some of these leftover concepts that have given birth to unexpected achievements. NASA's Apollo program was a great success. Because of Apollo's stellar achievements, its creators believed that the fruit of their ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free with admission
Public Stargazing at the Muir Heritage Land Trust's Fernandez RanchFree Public Stargazing at the Muir Heritage Land Trust's Fernandez Ranch with the Mt. Diablo Astronomical Society. MDAS members will setup telescopes to view the Planet Jupiter, Saturn, our moon, and other objects. If it's too cloudy we'll reschedule this event for May 17th.Bring kids, binoculars, warm clothes (temperature can ...
Where: MartinezCost: 0
Searching for Planets in OphiuchusSearchers for extrasolar planets are using two techniques, radial velocity and a new strategy for finding a new category of planets that do not orbit any star, the so-called "free-floating" planetsSpeaker: Dr. Chris McCarthy, San Francisco State University
Where: Mill ValleyCost: Free
Sunday, 05/04/14
Free First SundayFirst Sundays of the month are free at the Oakland Museum of California. Pick up a treat for yourself or a loved one in the OMCA Store, or enjoy a lunch or snack in Blue Oak café. Take your pick and join an OMCA Docent for the Architecture Tour at ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free
Junior Academy: Naturalist Know-howCalifornia Academy of SciencesSundays at 2pm – 2:45pm (sign-up at 1:30pm) Naturalist Center / Lab (Level 3 across from the Planetarium exit)This program is designed for youth ages 8 to 11. Youth must be accompanied by an adult. Space is limited to 20 youth with attending adults. Onsite registration is ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free with Academy admission
Counter Culture Labs Presents: The Science of Sound - RESCHEDULED"I became operational at the H.A.L. plant in Urbana, Illinois on the 12th of January 1992. My instructor was Mr. Langley, and he taught me to sing a song. If you'd like to hear it I can sing it for you." - HAL 9000, 2001- A Space Odyssey.Is there a ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free
DECODING ANNIE PARKER - film screening + discussionHelen Hunt, Samantha Morton and Aaron Paul star in this heartwarming story based on true events. Annie Parker (Morton) has a personal relationship with breast cancer. Her mother and sister died of the disease and ultimately she is dealing with her own diagnosis. Mean- while UC Berkeley geneticist Mary-Claire King ...
Where: San RafaelCost: $12; $9 CFI Members
Monday, 05/05/14
Drop-based microfluidics: Biology a picoliter at a timeThis talk will describe the use of microfluidic technology to control and manipulate drops whose volume is about one picoliter. These can serve as reaction vessels for biological assays. These drops can be manipulated with very high precision using an inert carrier oil to control the fluidics, ensuring the samples ...
PARC and design and innovation consultancy Smart Design's IxD Lab have developed a design vision for a wearable medical patch that illustrates how PARC's printed electronics technologies could change product design and development. Together we explored a variety of applications of printed electronics across a number of industries (transportation, wearables, structural monitoring, and more) where this type of technology could ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: Free
East Bay Mountain Lions and MoreIn more than 40 years as a wildlife biologist and naturalist, Dr. James Hale has tramped the wildlands of the East Bay, studied our local wildlife, and become expert in how Native Americans used the land and its resources. In addition to consulting work, he leads interpretive walks, gives talks, ...
Where: AlbanyCost: Free
The Cosmic Cocktail: Three Parts Dark MatterThe ordinary atoms that make up the known universe, from our bodies and the air we breathe to the planets and stars, constitute only 5% of all matter and energy in the cosmos. The remaining 95% is made up of a recipe of 25% dark matter and 70% dark energy, ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $12 General, $8 Members, $10 Seniors
Dr. Zee will talk about a proposal that a sufficiently advanced civilization may employ Cepheid variable stars as beacons to transmit all-call information throughout the galaxy and beyond. They might employ a pulsed neutrino beam to trigger the expansion of a Cepheid at an earlier than normal time, generating a ...
The identities of organisms profoundly influence ecosystems, and microbial diversity is vast. Yet, the hackneyed "black box" of microbial ecology persists: we ecosystem scientists ignore and collapse microbial diversity into a box and a few arrows. We do this because this has been and still is a useful approach on scales relevant for ecosystems. ...
DARPA, established in the wake of Sputnik to prevent technological surprise, has instigated many major defense capabilities that our military has used to reshape U.S. warfighting. Today, current and potential adversaries ranging from nation states to individuals, all with ready access to powerful commercial technologies, create a national security landscape that poses new, diverse, ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Patagonia Palo Alto Presents: Righting Our Imbalanced Relationship with WaterOver the last 6 months we've faced the dry truth of drought in California. As the very real effects of drought continue to impact our lives, Patagonia Palo Alto invites you to join Linda Sheehan, Executive Director of the Earth Law Center, and the City of Palo Alto for a ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: Free
How Technology is Transforming Education: The New NormalEducators worldwide are embracing technology as a key strategic tool for preparing students to thrive and succeed in a complex and dynamic global economy, as well as to become engaged and active global citizens. The big challenge for educators and learning institutions is knowing how to harness the power and ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
Wednesday, 05/07/14
Free Days at Bay Area Discovery MuseumPlease join us for free on the first Wednesday of each month for a full day of creative and fun experiences for all.F
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Intermittency-Friendly Community Scale Renewable Energy MicrogridsThe challenges proposed by long-term resource supplies, global climate change and energy market volatility require strategies and policies directed towards the development of technologically, economically and socially acceptable energy solutions. The need for major reductions in fossil fuel consumption and carbon emissions from large-scale centralized power generation will require a ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Dripping, jetting, drops and wetting: the magic of microfluidicsThis talk will discuss the use of microfluidic devices to precisely control the flow and mixing of fluids to make drops, and will explore how these drops can be used to create new materials that are difficult to synthesize with any other method. These materials have great potential for use ...
Microbial eukaryotes (e.g. nematodes, fungi, protists, and other 'minor' metazoan phyla) are diverse and abundant in every habitat on earth, yet for most groups we possess scant knowledge of species distributions and global diversity. Benthic meiofaunal taxa often show rapid response to disturbance, and have been touted as ideal organisms ...
Where: Moss LandingCost: Free
Two Lectures at Romberg Tiburon CenterOcean Climate Change Beyond the Polar Wall: A Tale of Dragonfish Eggs; Erin Flynn, RTCSpatial and Temporal Variability in Shipping Traffic around San Francisco Bay; Caitlin Jensen, RTC
Risk, Information, Time & Money: Developing Software in Conditions of Extreme UncertaintyDeveloping software, you're constantly facing a surprisingly tricky choice: of all the things you could work on, which ones are worth your time? How should you spend your next hour? Your next day? A team building a new product will make a thousand such decisions -- and the ultimate success ...
Curious to learn and understand more about dementia? Hulme will teach real-life strategies for coping with dementia. She will describe her "Three Laws for Living with Dementia" and will highlight the importance of humor, creativity and experimentation in staying connected to anyone suffering from this illogical and vexing disease.Speaker: Mary ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $8 Members, $7 Students
Mysteries of Sleep We spend one third of our lives asleep, yet doctors and scientists still have no complete understanding as to why. It is one of the last great scientific mysteries. UC Berkeley's Matt Walker will talk with us about new discoveries suggesting that, far from being a time when the brain ...
Robert Drewes is a American biologist with a long fascination for the African continent, having conducted field research in 30 different countries in Africa since 1969. In this presentation, he will bring us up to date on the Academy's research and conservation efforts in São Tomé and Príncipe. These two ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $12 General, $10 Seniors, Free for members
Thursday, 05/08/14
Falsifying Paradigms for Cosmic Acceleration The physical mechanism behind the acceleration of the universe remains one of the great mysteries of modern cosmology. Numerous attempts to explain the nature of dark energy that causes the acceleration have met little success. Given the proliferation of dark energy models on the market, an obvious question is: How ...
YES VIRGINA, THERE IS A LONG-DURATION, GRID-SCALE REDOX FLOW BATTERY SYSTEMThe growing awareness of grid resiliency requirements as well as the impacts of increased renewable penetration (exemplified by CAISO's duck chart) has rapidly given rise to a $1B market for long-duration energy storage systems. Long duration energy storage systems (i.e. high ratio of energy capacity to power capacity) become costly ...
Animals and plants rule the world - or do they? A cup of seawater contains 100 million cells which are preyed upon by billions of viruses; a pinch of soil swarms with cryptic microbes whose activities are a mystery; 50 million tons of fungal spores are released into the atmosphere ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Climate Change: What Can You Do?Public awareness of Global Climate Change was jolted to life by the 2006 release of the Al Gore movie "An Inconvenient Truth". Global Climate Change became a common theme on the evening news. A media-fueled debate raged with Climate Change skeptics. What is the state of Global Climate Change 8 ...
Where: Menlo ParkCost: Advance Ticket $10 or $15 at the Door
Be a Scientist: Day of Science and ServiceThe University of California is conducting three science projects on May 8, 2014 and we need your help collecting data. Pick one of three projects to learn more about how you can participate.Science is everywhere. Take a walk, visit a park or garden, and help us paint a picture of California's ...
Where: Cost: free
Friday, 05/09/14
National Public Gardens DayCome celebrate National Public Gardens Day with UCBG! National Public Gardens Day is a celebration of America's public gardens and their important role in promoting environmental stewardship and awareness, plant and water conservation and education. The Garden is offering a free admission coupon for one (1) to celebrate National Public ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
GeoEngineering Distinguished Lecture SeriesPlease join us for an exceptional set of lectures, a wonderful hosted social and poster session, and a dinner that celebrates the GeoEngineering profession in the San Francisco Bay area. The 2014 topics and Distinguished Lectures will be: "The Case for Quality Lab Testing", Dr. Michael F. Riemer, Professor, UC ...
Dr. Carl Haber takes us on a journey of sound. Listen to the earliest known sound recordings, learn how the process has changed throughout history, and what scientists are doing to restore our oldest relics. From the first sounds recorded by Thomas Edison in 1877 to the 1950's, when most ...
Where: OaklandCost: $23 + service
Night HikeHike under the beautiful night sky through the redwoods from twilight to moonlight on a moderate 4-5 mile hike. After the hike, stay and further explore the amazing objects in the night sky through our telescopes (weather permitting) or tour the Telescope Makers Workshop. Hike will take place rain or ...
Where: OaklandCost: $12 (hike only)
Sierra Club Green Friday: Climate Risk, Sustainability, and Global Policy DialogAverage temperatures in the Earth's atmosphere have begun an upward trend that is largely irreversible over the next century. Whether these trends lead to moderate or extreme climate change will depend on policy. In this talk, learn about the risks we face around the world, as well as the state ...
Humans and our technology have wiped entire species from the planet. Can humans and our technology bring them back? Ben Novak is a paleogeneticist whose life's work is the de-extinction of Ectopistes migratorius aka the passenger pigeon. Using cloned cells from cryopreserved museum specimens along with CRISPR genome editing technologies, ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free
Climate Risk, Sustainability, and Global Policy DialogAverage temperatures in the Earth's atmosphere have begun an upward trend that is largely irreversible over the next century. Whether these trends lead to moderate or extreme climate change will depend on policy. In this talk, learn about the risks we face around the world, as well as the state ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: $3.00 donation recommended
Prevalence of Earth-size planets orbiting Sun-like starsA major question is whether planets suitable for biochemistry are common or rare in the universe. Small rocky planets with liquid water enjoy key ingredients for biology. In this talk, I will highlight recent results from NASA's Kepler space telescope, including my own work to determine the frequency of potentially ...
