Memory Systems and Theoretical Ways to Improve ThemWe will discuss models of short- and long-term memory, explore case studies that examine the loss or enhancement of memory, and learn about notable scientists who have contributed to our understanding of memory. We will also examine practical and theoretical ways to improve our memory and overall brain health, including ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Tea and the Taste of Climate Change: Effects of Global Change on Specialty Crop Quality and Agroecological ManagementSelena Ahmed is an Assistant Professor of Sustainable Food Systems at Montana State University where she leads the Agroecology and Phytochemistry Group of the MSU Food and Health Lab (http://www.montana.edu/food-health-lab/). Her research, teaching, and service interests are at the intersection of the ecological, cultural, and health aspects of food systems. ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
NEW HORIZONS MISSION TO PLUTO Dr. Leslie Young, New Horizons Deputy Project Scientist from the Southwest Research Institute will discuss the latest results from the historic 2015 Pluto flyby.
Where: Rohnert ParkCost: Free
Mega-DroughtTrends indicate that a major drought event is looming in the not-too-distant future. In as few as three decades we could experience conditions that would make the Dust Bowl of the 1930s seem like an oasis. Efforts to conserve, while admirable and desperately necessary, may already be too late. This ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
From Comets to Startups - Building Europe's SpaceTech Entrepreneurship Ecosystem - w European Space AgencyIn our final Session Eight of 'European Entrepreneurship' we discuss the emerging SpaceTech startup and venture finance ecosystem in Europe, and the role that the European Space Agency (ESA) is playing here. Stanford Mechanical Engineering presents three founders from the ESA business incubator network across Europe, which is operated by ...
Valerie J. Karplus is the Class of 1943 Career Development Professor and an Assistant Professor of Global Economics and Management at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Her research focuses on resource and environmental management in firms operating in diverse national and industry contexts, with an emphasis on emerging markets and the role of ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Could it Happen Here?In Benjamin Parzybok's eco-fiction novel Sherwood Nation, he speculates about what an American city would be like if an extended drought limited water rations to one gallon of water per person a day. Hoarding, riots, neighborhoods filled with abandoned homes and businesses, fires left to burn themselves out, power outages ...
AWIS Palo Alto has invited Dr. Maria Grazia Roncarolo to inspire you. You will hear how this leading scientist has surmounted hurdles in her career to become co-director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford.
Where: Palo AltoCost: $15 General at door, $10 advance, Free Members
At our meeting grounds under the Muir Woods archway, we catch our first glimpse of Redwood Creek. We will make our way upstream keeping an eye and ear open for the coho salmon. This tour is part of a series, and as the weather changes so too will the tour. ...
Exploring the outer Solar System: now in vivid colourThe outer reaches of our Solar System are home to hundreds of thousands of small icy worlds. Their present orbits are a sculpted signature of the early migrations of the giant planets, particularly Neptune. Yet the faintness and highly eccentric orbits of most of these worlds mean only a tiny ...
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) was originally created to help the state protect the environment, but a comprehensive statistical study released last year shows that CEQA lawsuits actually hurt the transit, renewable energy and infill housing development projects that would further our state's environmental goals. Hear about the challenges ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $10 General, Free for members
Total Solar EclipseGather at the Exploratorium to watch our live broadcast of the total solar eclipse happening in Micronesia. Our webcast team will travel to the coral island of Woleai, in the Pacific Ocean 500 miles north of New Guinea, to bring you this astronomical event. Special monitors have been set up to ...
The clash at the Paris Climate Conference between developed and developing nations, which sunk the Copenhagen Climate Conference, was navigated deftly and miraculously, with the possibility that billions of people can soon benefit from green power. Yosef Abramowitz, a pioneer of Israel's and Africa's solar industries, and a member of ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
The Fight for WaterThis historical documentary, set during the 2009 California Water Crisis, follows the stories of two Central Valley farmers. They discuss how water restrictions and environmental regulations have threatened their way of life, their American dream and their community. The crisis point was an environmental ruling to protect an endangered fish ...
Where: San JoseCost:
Social Isolation Under the Microscope: Dangerous Health Effects and How We Meet this ChallengeThis panel will present eye-opening information about serious health and psychological effects of social isolation on youth. This dynamic panel of experts and student leaders will discuss everything from root causes of social isolation and alarming statistics that impact everything from academic failure-including increased school truancy rates-to adverse medical outcomes-including ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General $8 Members, $7 Students
Engaged Locally and Globally: Young Climate Researchers at UC BerkeleyJoin four energetic, engaged UC Berkeley grad students for a to glimpse the fascinating range of climate-related research that young people are doing in our back yard – as well as a their aims for the future. Ian Bolliger models the Sierra snowpack – and in his spare time works ...
Where: AlbanyCost: Free
The Threat of Rising WatersSilicon Valley is the lifeblood of the Bay Area economy. But rising waters and extreme weather brought about by climate change put major tech companies and other businesses at risk. Scientists and experts warn that our region is due for the next severe storm, but are Bay Area residents and ...
Carbon is naturally sequestered in the deep ocean by organic particles and organisms that sink out of the surface ocean in a process called "the biological pump". The amount of carbon that is transported by this process is difficult to constrain due, in part, to the complex ecological interactions that ...
Where: Moss LandingCost: Free
Combating CybercrimeParisa Tabriz manages Google's information security engineering team at Google, which is responsible for improving Google's product security. This team of "hired hackers" conducts security design and code reviews, builds and enhances Google technology to make secure development possible and easy, conducts security engineering training, and does vulnerability response.
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Measuring Regenerative Medical TechnologyDr. Jan Nolta is the Director of the Stem Cell Program at UC Davis School of Medicine. Her current research is focused on developing therapies that will use mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) to deliver factors for treating Huntington's disease and other disorders and injuries. Her group focuses on "bench to ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Himalayan Tectonics, Isotopes, and the Late Cenozoic Carbon Cycle: A Work in ProgressThe Himalayan orogeny is widely believed to have had impacts on global climate, erosion and weathering fluxes, and the carbon cycle. Despite many proposals, the connections between late Cenozoic Himalayan tectonic history, geochemical tracer records such as 87Sr/86Sr, 187Os/188Os, and d7Li, and the carbon cycle remain uncertain. Both modern river ...
Does morality come from God, as many religions believe, offering a foundation of theocracy, or could there be biological explanations that have more to do with evolution than Divine design? In this lecture, De Waal will discuss the sense of fairness in animals and will review expressions of empathy in ...
Where: StanfordCost:
Mega-DroughtTrends indicate that a major drought event is looming in the not-too-distant future. In as few as three decades we could experience conditions that would make the Dust Bowl of the 1930s seem like an oasis. Efforts to conserve, while admirable and desperately necessary, may already be too late. This ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
Building ExoskeletonsExoskeletons offer a world of possibilities in augmenting human ability. We can help restore motion to those who have been injured and we can provide extra strength to soldiers or builders. The super suits offer a lot of possibility for improving our world, but creating them is not as easy ...
Speaker: Philip HarrimanEditor's Note: Per the speaker, this talk has been rescheduled to next week, 3/16.
Where: SebastopolCost: $5
SF Microscopical Society: An Evening of Microbial AppreciationWe will have various phase contrast, dark field, and Rheinberg microscopes set up for viewing of live specimens. I'll also be bringing various aquatic samples from Marin County where I've had good protozoan activity from before. I've also put together some baited freshwater and soil samples in order to get ...
A 250-Year Argument (Belief, Behavior, and the Bootstrap) The year 2013 marked the 250th anniversary of Bayes rule. The rule has been influential over the entire period, and controversial over most of it. It's reliance on prior beliefs has been challenged by frequentist methods, which focus instead on the behavior of specific estimates and tests. The bootstrap helps ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Spring Bloom Plankton DemonstrationLiving in the water beneath the Exploratorium at Pier 15 is an ever-changing community of microscopic plankton. As spring approaches and the days get longer, plant-like phytoplankton are rapidly growing and reproducing.Join oceanographer Anna McGaraghan, from the Kudela Phytoplankton Ecology Lab at UC Santa Cruz, as she examines phytoplankton from ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free with admission
Managing agricultural biodiversity for ecosystem servicesSpeaker: Dr. David Gonthier. As an agroecologist, I collaborate with farmers, academics, and other stakeholders to better understand how to promote environmental and socio-economic sustainability. In practice, my research evaluates the viability of agricultural management systems to curtail environmental problems while maintaining profitability and valuable ecosystem services. In theory, I ...
With a delegation led by Mayor Schaaf, Oakland was well represented at COP21, the United Nations summit on climate change held in Paris last December. Hear what happened at the conference, why Oakland was so deeply engaged and what next steps for climate action the city is planning.Speaker: Daniel Hamilton, ...
Look closely at nature – trees, leaves, cones, cacti, ferns, flowers, honeycomb, and more. Discover geometric shapes, angles, symmetry, and patterns, even fractals and Fibonacci numbers! Learn how nature's mathematical designs and patterns are adaptations helping plants to survive.Register at web site
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free with admission
Arvados: A Free Platform for Big Data ScienceThis talk will introduce the Arvados (http://arvados.org) platform for data science. Arvados is a software system for managing compute clusters built around a scale-out content-addressed distributed file system (Arvados Keep) for storage, a cluster job queuing system designed for reproducibility (Arvados Crunch), and a user and group permission system for controlling and ...
American innovation, know-how, and prosperity depend on the talent of a diverse technical workforce. Every U.S. student must have an equal opportunity to gain the skills and knowledge needed to compete. New policies and strategies are needed to improve the educational environment for underrepresented engineering students, from K through Ph.D. ...
From rocks in space to rock 'n' roll, join us for NightLife's salute to rock in all forms.Be among the first to catch the Academy's latest original planetarium show Incoming!, narrated by George Takei-an out of this world, all-digital show exploring asteroids, comets, and the hard-hitting stories of our cosmic ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 General, $12 Members
Deep Brain Stimulation – Past, Present, FutureThis talk will focus on deep brain stimulation with respect to Parkinson's disease reviewing the history of its discovery, current indications, and future direction. In addition there will be short updates on treatment and research regarding Parkinson's disease.Speakers: Melanie Lising, MD, Clinical Assistant Professor, Neurology and Neurological Sciences, Stanford University ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: Free
Supermassive Black Holes (and how to observe them cheaply!)In this talk Martin Gaskell, UC Santa Cruz, will explain how you can can detect the effects of supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies. He will give the main observational properties and explain how the energy is generated. He will particularly emphasise how observations can be made remarkably ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free
Friday, 03/11/16
Water DetectivesIn Matamoros, Mexico, a severe water shortage led to a one-of-a-kind solution: The city put local children in charge of changing adults' attitudes and habits. Thousands of schoolchildren were enlisted as "water detectives." Educated about resource conservation, they were encouraged to discuss proper water usage with adults and were authorized ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
There Once Was An IslandWhat if you had to leave your home forever? Takuu, a tiny atoll in Papua New Guinea, contains the last Polynesian culture of its kind. Facing escalating climate-related impacts, including a terrifying flood, community members Teloo, Endar and Satty take us on an intimate journey to the core of their ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
Future Fridays: Life on Mars: Past and Future The search of past life on Mars is one of the key goal of NASA's astrobiology program. The indications from the missions to date are that we will have to drill meters below ground to find any preserved evidence of past life. Mars may have life in the future though. ...
Where: OaklandCost: Advance: $26 General, $23 Members, $30 at door all
Green Friday: What the Paris Agreement Means for the Climate, and What the Climate Means for the DroughtAndy's Katz's talk will reflect on the Paris Agreement adopted during the recent climate negotiations, in addition to an important community update on the drought emergency. Andy Katz was a delegate to the talks representing Sierra Club, and will outline what the milestone agreement represents for facilitating international collaboration, where ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: $3 Donation
Good Science with Modest InstrumentsAmong his many accomplishments, GaBany's image of NGC 3521 was selected as the backdrop for the official crew portrait of Expedition 30 to the International Space Station. In 2012 and again in 2013, he was selected by the editors of Time magazine as one of "The 25 Most Influential People ...
Where: Los Altos HillsCost: $3 parking
Saturday, 03/12/16
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 ...
Where: Glen EllenCost: Donations appreciated
Little Explorers Workshop: Tails and WorkshopsMake take-home projects and do activities with our menagerie of animals, including rabbits, turtles, and birds. Young children develop an appreciation of living things and spark their curiosity with a new animal theme each week.
Where: BerkeleyCost: $65-80
Open House at the Marine Science InstitutePlease bring your friends and family to visit our site. Feel fre to explore our discovery classrooms, view live fish and invertebrates in our aquarium, and pack a picnic lunch to nibble on whilst enjoing our Bay front location. Staff will be around to answer questions and give you a ...
Where: Redwood CityCost: Free
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 ...
Join us at The North Berkeley Public Library and bring along your young learner for a fabulous event featuring Marley, the creator of the children's book Hello Roara! , a book about a dinosaur named Roara.There will be real fossils to marvel at, free toys for the youngsters, and the ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: free
Discover San Francisco Bay with the Marine Science Institute!The Marine Science Institute invites you to explore San Francisco Bay with us on. Voyages lasting two hours will depart at 1pm and 3pm from Marine Science Institute. Our 90 foot Research Vessel, the Robert G. Brownlee, offers a unique window into the wilderness below the surface. We will deploy ...
Where: Redwood CityCost: $30 General, $20 Members
Mega-DroughtTrends indicate that a major drought event is looming in the not-too-distant future. In as few as three decades we could experience conditions that would make the Dust Bowl of the 1930s seem like an oasis. Efforts to conserve, while admirable and desperately necessary, may already be too late. This ...
Spring is a wonderful time to enjoy the influx of birds to the Marin Headlands. Join volunteer Jane Haley for an easy walk to discover our spring visitors. Meet at the Marin Headlands Visitor Center. Bring field guides and binoculars; dress in layers. For ages 8 and up; no pets ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Marine Science Sunday: Celebrating the Ocean: The Big, The Small, and The WeirdThe theme this month is Celebrating Our Oceans: The Big, The Small, and The Weird. Come learn about the amazing diversity of life that lives out in the Ocean, from the big to the small and everything in between. Docent-led tours will take you around the hospital showcasing some of the patients we ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Fusion: Seeing Symmetry: Making Art with WavesHave you ever thought about the intersection of mathematics and art? Dr. Farris has an entirely new approach. Instead of stitching together pieces to make a pattern, he uses mathematical functions called wave forms to create patterns different from any you've seen before. Dr. Farris' talk will touch on some ...
Where: CupertinoCost:
Drones: An Introduction to a Modern PhenomenonDo you own a drone? Thinking about getting one? Come learn all about these wildly popular devices.Alvin Alejandro, owner of the Bay Area company Aerial Vue (www.aerial-vue.com), and an expert in the field, will be discussing the various types and classification of drones, their different uses and who buys them. ...
Where: LivermoreCost: FREE
Daring the Western Desert: Ancient Travelers and Their Rock InscriptionsSince 2001 the North Kharga Oasis-Darb Ain Amur Survey team has been exploring the sandy routes connecting Kharga oasis to Dakhla and beyond. In the course of this survey we have discovered and recorded numerous lonely rock sites which were used in antiquity as camping spots and stopovers for travelers. ...
