Mini Monday: Feathered Friends Feasting Encourage your young naturalist's curiosity at Mini Monday, a special day for children and their caregivers. Animal encounters, activities and crafts help connect your child to our natural world and all its wonders. Fee: $10 for the first child ($20 for non-members), $6 for each additional child ages 2 and up. Children under 2 ...
Where: Walnut CreekCost: $10 for the first child ($20 for non-members)
The fight between cooling and heating in clusters of galaxies Clusters of galaxies are the largest gravitationally-bound individual objects in the Universe. The vast majority of their baryonic mass is found in the form of hot 10^6-8 K gas, known as the intracluster medium (ICM). The density of this gas strongly increases in the cores of the galaxies where the ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
ULTRASHORT PULSE LASER SCIENCE AND ITS APPLICATIONSSince the introduction of sub picosecond pulse generation in 1970s, the femtosecond laser science has growing into one of the main subject of modern optics. In this seminar, Dr. Sangyoun Gee, SSU lecturer, will discuss the basics of femtosecond laser science together with several research examples. Then selected applications of ...
The discovery of the Higgs particle at the Large Hadron Collider in 2012 completes the Standard Model of particle physics, which successfully accounts for almost all phenomena observed in the universe. Professor Dimopoulos will overview this model and some of the deep questions that suggest going beyond it to theories ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Tuesday, 11/17/15
Connected ExplorationEric Stackpole will talk about the new possibilities for exploration using the OpenROV underwater platform.The face of exploration is changing. Affordable tools, open standards, and connected enthusiasm are opening up new possibilities for the frontiers of discovery. OpenROV has created a low-cost, submersible Remotely Operated Vehicle that allows everyday people ...
Where: Mountain ViewCost: Free
Baylands Goals and Climate Change: What Can We Do?Planning for Sea Level Rise on the Bay ShorelineHow can the Bay Area lead the nation in adapting to sea level rise? Join a panel of scientists, urban planners, and policy experts to discuss a new study on shoreline restoration and urban planning; it presents a strategy for creating more resilient ...
Astronomer Martin Rees has observed that there might be scientific facts that will never be discovered by beings with brains that have evolved in the way that human brains have so far developed, and scientific theories we are incapable of postulating. Related ethical limits might arise from our organic embodied ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $8 Members, $7 Students
The Computing Earthquake: Neural Networks, Cognitive Layering and Energy-Driven Compute in Electronic SystemsA set of profound changes are clearly underway in computing. New computational models like convolutional neural networks for pattern recognition are replacing programming with training. Responsive systems are evolving new hardware and software layers that shift the most commonly executed functions to low-power subsystems – even while driving richer functionality ...
Harvard professor Lisa Randall (Warped Passages, Knocking on Heaven's Door) is among our most influential theoretical physicists. Her new book, Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs, explores the consequences of the comet responsible for the dinosaurs' extinction, speculates about other possible missing elements and illustrates the importance of preserving the elements ...
Join Dr. Alison Gopnik for an evening exploring how understanding babies' and young children's ability to acquire abstract knowledge has transformed how we view human nature itself.Human beings have a longer childhood than any other animal, and during this childhood we are helpless and dependent. This long period of helplessness ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $10 Presale | $15 At Doors
White Dwarf, Neutron Star, Black HolePlease join Mt. Diablo Astronomical Society for the November 17th.. general meeting. This month's speaker is Dr. Mikhail Belyaev from UC Berkeley. He will describe observations and computer simulations delving into how white dwarves, pulsars and black holes form. Even observing the shadow of a black hole will be illustrated.
The universe is full of giant structures like galaxies and clusters of galaxies. What holds them together? Over the past century, many diverse observations indicate that the glue holding these objects together is the gravitational pull of an invisible, elusive substance called dark matter. The evidence suggests that dark matter ...
In this talk, Lee will explore how stars form and evolve and how their environments play a significant role in their development. The first stars began to form in the Universe a half billion years after the Big Bang. It is now believed that these first stars were thousands to ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
Wednesday, 11/18/15
Cloud Computing Research Challenges for the Programming Languages CommunityCloud computing is an important industry trend that is having significant impact on businesses and society. Many computer science research communities have responded to this trend with vibrant research activities. However, the programming languages community seems to be mostly ignoring cloud computing, possibly because there is a perception that there ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Puma energetics, behavior, and ecology in a landscape of fear Much of California is mountain lion habitat and many thousands of people recreate in mountain lion country each day without incident. Fear of these top predators is understandable if one were to encounter a mountain lion. How does that fear change our decisions and behavior at that time? I am ...
Transforming Social Services with Data ScienceBayes Impact's is a non-profit whose mission is to use data science to do good on a large scale. Our work at the intersection of technology and policy has led us to work with governments and NGOs around the world in areas spanning health, social services, and international development. How ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Four presentations at Romberg Tiburon CenterMelissa Kent (Hines) Citizen Science's Role in Filling Data Gaps: Whale Watching Operators of Northern California Kerstin Kalchmayr (Holzman/Hines) Assessing spatio-temporal changes of invasive Limonium ramosissimum in San Francisco Bay wetlands Serina Sebilian (Boyer) The effects of elevated salinity and temperature ...
Climate change mitigation requires gigawatt-scale deployment of low-carbon energy technologies, including carbon-negative technologies like bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) to reduce atmospheric CO2 concentrations. There are few deployments of BECCS outside of niche markets, creating uncertainty about commercialization pathways and sustainability at scale. Here, I present results on the ...
Chemocatalytic routes for the conversion of sugars into monomers that can be used to create known and new polymers have significant potential to enable large-scale production of bio-based polymers. Starting from glucose, reaction pathways that lead to the synthesis of terephthalic acid (PTA) and racemic lactic acid (LA), that can ...
Sorting out membrane traffic with old friends: Having the time of my life at CalAs a cell biologist and biochemist, Emr's research has focused on uncovering the molecular mechanisms responsible for the biogenesis of a specialized organelle, the lysosome, which functions in the degradation and recycling of cellular proteins, lipids, carbohydrates and nucleic acids. Emr's lab has used a single-cell yeast as a genetic ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Happening: The Story of a Clean Energy Revolution that Is Patriotic, Democratic and Well UnderwayThe new documentary Happening takes us to towns, cities and people across the United States where new technologies are transforming our homes, schools, towns and cities into healthy and safe environments now and for the future.The panel will discuss the dawn of American's clean energy economy as it creates jobs, ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $8 Members, $7 Students
Effective communication is crucial to successful collaborations, fundraising, and science policy.To help you understand how you can effect change in the scientific and lay community, AWIS has invited Natalie DeWitt to moderate a discussion panel with journal editors, grant writers, and science journalists. Natalie will facilitate a conversation between you and the panelists about:the current state ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: $10 General Advance/$15 at door, Members Free
Replacing the Worlds Most Destructive IndustryImpossible Foods is leading the way to a sustainable food system by replacing animal-derived foods with irresistibly delicious meat and dairy products – made directly from plants. Impossible has developed an innovative platform to make foods with all of the nutritional value and complex flavors of meat and dairy, without the ...
Where: BelmontCost: Free
'The Great California Drought of 2012-2015. Will El Niño Save Us?'The drought of 2012 – 2015 has been unprecedented in California's history. The Sierra Nevada snowpack of 2015 was the lowest in 500 years, and by summer 2015 California was in the midst of a 1-in-1200 year drought. Record-low rainfall, minimal Sierra Nevada snow pack, reduced runoff, and massive reductions ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free
Can plants choose their ectomycorrhizal fungal partners?Have you ever wondered why some fungal species only grow under certain trees? Why are some parts of the woods great for the mushrooms you want, while other parts are barren? One part of the story may be that the trees can pick and choose the fungi on their roots. ...
Nerd Nite #66: Hypervelocity, SF Politicking, and Fake Deafness Cures!Should you elect to come to Nerd Nite this month, we guarantee – cross our quackish little hearts – that you'll come away cured of a certain amount of ignorance. Now, isn't that something to be thankful for? Join a speed obsessive, PR flack, a medical historian, a vinyl-spinner, some ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $8
Thursday, 11/19/15
Saving the Last of the LastGarden Curator Holly Forbes will describe plant endangered species projects on-going at the Garden and in the field. Most of these are for Californian species, and most are in the immediate Bay Area. Learn more about what threats our rare plants are facing and what we are trying to do ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free with admission
The Bay Model Wants You!!! Become part of Sausalito's very own attraction known around the world! We have a variety of volunteer positions that are suited for people just like you! Greet visitors, lead tours, work with school groups, and more!Come and be a part of one of the largest working hydraulic models in existence. ...
Rare and Endangered Plants of the Garden TourJoin Chris Carmichael, Associate Director of Collections and Horticulture at the Garden on a tour of the Garden's rare and endangered plants.
The Federal Trade Commission is the leading federal agency responsible for protecting privacy online. You might be familiar with the FTC's privacy and data security enforcement actions against some of the world's biggest tech companies, but what you may not know is how privacy and security research can inform the ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Trekking the ModelJoin a Ranger guided tour of the Bay Model, a 1.5-acre hydraulic model of San Francisco Bay and Delta. Discover the stories of the two major operations that took place at this location between 1942–2000.
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Cities, Earthquakes, and TimeDr. Robert Olshansky, Professor and Head at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has been selected as EERI's 2015 Distinguished Lecturer. Dr. Olshanksy's lecture, titled "Cities, Earthquakes, and Time", examines the relationships of earthquakes to time and the policy implications thereof.
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
River of StarsAn ongoing collaboration between the speaker and an international team of professional astronomers has demonstrated the scientific potential of using modest aperture, commercially produced, semi-robotic telescopes situated under steady dark skies and affordable off-the-shelf astronomical cameras to reveal extremely dim, diffuse structures on the outskirts of distant galaxies that sheds ...
Mr. Yobie Benjamin, Chairman of Rev Worldwide and CTO of Token.io, talks about how the Internet-of-Things has started to make a huge impact in every sector of society and is expected to disrupt every industry imaginable. Mr. Benjamin will also discuss innovations in wearable technology, a market segment that industry ...
After Dark: Everything Matters OxygenAt 8:00 PM: Follow tales of intrigue and invention, join in dynamic demonstrations, and uncover fascinating connections between combustion, phytoplankton drifting in the oceans, and oxygen, the third most abundant element in the universe.
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 General, $10 Members
Curious about the intersections among design, visual arts, and technology? Join us for an event held in collaboration with Autodesk and the Exploratorium Lab. Hear from Exploratorium developers about their newest exhibits-created in partnership with Autodesk-and enjoy demonstrations of 3-D printers. Mingle with other omnicurious young professionals and experience objects ...
River otters are charismatic carnivores, and make wonderful ambassadors for river and wetland restoration and conservation efforts. Once extirpated in the SF Bay Area, little is known about their current population, range, and seasonal eating habits. The River Otter Ecology Project has taken on the challenge of discovering and documenting their ecological niche, with ...
The elusive American Badger in California has been a Special Status animal, a California Species of Concern, since 1987. Badger's ability to sustain and biodiversity are significantly threatened in Sonoma County and in California. Much misinformation and misunderstanding about American Badger exist with the public and in the biological and ...
The urbanized San Francisco Bay is a critical wintering and stop-over area for more than a million migratory annually that rely on a mosaic of Bay habitats, including former salt ponds.The 15,100 acre South Bay Salt Pond (SBSP) Restoration Project is in the process of restoring 50 to 90% of ...
Learn about North American woodpecker species through award-winning images, intimate sounds, and stories and observations from the field. Paul Bannick, co-author and photographer of the new book Woodpeckers of North America: A Naturalist's Guide, will help you distinguish between species by behavior, habitat, and field markings. He will also discuss races ...
Over the last 10 years, there has been a rapid growth in analyses of computational modeling and simulation in the philosophy of science. Research on simulations has concentrated largely on simulations built using established background theories or theoretical models and the relations between these simulations and theory. Examples have been ...
Native SeedsSeeds are how many plants reproduce, but seeds are also used by other animals as food. Learn how seeds are dispersed and how agressive non native seeds sometimes take over.
Where: FremontCost: Free
The Long Run Impact of Environmental Policies on Wholesale Electricity Markets: A Dynamic Competitive AnalysisMany economic analyses of the performance of wholesale electricity markets utilize static models of perfect competition. In this paper, we propose a dynamic model of a wholesale electricity market and capacity investment that incorporates two key features of electricity generation technology: minimum operating rate constraints and generation unit start-up costs. ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
100 Years of Robot Art and Science in the Bay AreaIn conjunction with the 100 year anniversary of the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition, the de Young and collaborators Ken Goldberg from UC Berkeley / CITRIS "People and Robots" Initiative, and Alexander Rose from The Long Now Foundation present "100 Years of Robot Art and Science in the Bay Area."Friday Nights ...
Challenges around access to safe, sufficient, and affordable freshwater are growing around the world as populations increase, economies expand, and our climate changes. Hundreds of millions of people still lack access to basic water services. Billions lack access to adequate sanitation. Violent conflicts over water allocations and control are on ...
Where: OaklandCost: $26 General, $23 Members Advance; $30 at door
Explorables: Handmade ScienceMotors, Climbing Bears, and Paper RocketsMake toys that whir, climb, and soar with the help of friction, feet, and magnetic fields. Use everyday materials to create models and other tools for exploring the world around us. Run by a highly skilled, dedicated team of volunteers, these drop-in workshops mix classic activities ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Included with museum admission
Genesis on the benchtop: how do we study the origin of life in the lab?The origin of life is a topic that has driven scientific research from many disciplines, ranging from astronomy to organic chemistry. Molecular biology has revealed that all life on earth shares a common ancestor, yet we know little about how those first cells arose. In this talk I will focus ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Navigating SF BayBoating is a great way to relax and have some fun. It can be very exciting but it requires knowledge and skill to do it safely. Each bay has its own disposition and personality. Unpredictable winds, powerful tides, conflicting currents and gyres are just a few things that add to ...
Where: SausalitoCost:
Family Bird WalkLet family walks become a shared time of nature learning. We'll begin by helping kids create their personal bird watching field guides, and then head out onto the trails to find those birds. A limited number of binoculars are available to borrow. Recommended for children ages 5-10. RESERVATIONS REQUIRED. Register ...
Where: FremontCost: Free
Twilight Marsh WalkExperience the salt marsh at twilight on an easy stroll along Tidelands (1 1/3 mile) Trail. At the setting of the sun we will observe the beginning of nature's night shift. Come discover the sights, sounds, and smells of the refuge as night descends. Not suitable for young children. RESERVATIONS ...
Where: FremontCost: Free
Moonwatch '15Amazing moongazing! Using binoculars, a spotting scope, and telescopes, we'll study the face of the moon and learn more about constellations and the night sky. Binoculars will be provided, or bring your favorite pair! Weather may prevent us from actually seeing the moon and stars, but we will still have fun ...
A documentary that looks at pundits-for-hire who present themselves as scientific authorities as they speak about topics like toxic chemicals, pharmaceuticals and climate change.There will be a brief introduction as well as a Q&A following the film by author Erik Conway.Supported by the Elizabeth Paris Fund for Socially Engaged History and ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free, but ticketed
Sleepover by the BayIf you missed our sleepover in September, there's still time to check it out! Explore the Bay Model after hours with our new, one-of-a-kind sleepover. Naturalists from Aquarium of the Bay will lead a dynamic tour, followed by evening snacks, a toasty campfire (weather dependent), and fun activities focused on Bay ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Contact Mayra Rivas mayra@bay.org for Pricing
Solar Eclipse in SvalbardThe speaker will share his experiences during his trip to Svalbard, Norway to view the March 20 2015 solar eclipse.Some info on the eclipse is here.Speaker: Donald Gardner
This month we celebrate Thanksgiving by highlighting the amazing feeding and hunting strategies of marine mammals! Find out about how orcas have learned together to wash seals off the ice in Antarctica, humpback whales use bubbles to trap fish and otters use tools to crack open their favorite foods!FREE Classroom Programs: An Ocean Feast- 12 PM ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Full-Spectrum Science with Ron Hipschman: Making ColorJoin Exploratorium scientist Ron Hipschman for colorful explorations of the physical world.Explore some of the many ways to make color-from neon signs to oil slicks to rainbows and more. Learn all about light, how it is made and interacts, and take home materials to build your own spectroscope. You'll see ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Included with museum admission
