Makerspaces are places of possibility and a reflection of the community they benefit. They bring together people of all ages, skill levels, tools, and potential. They are environments that foster not just creations, but also mentorship, community, and memories. On the most basic level, makerspaces are places, real or virtual, ...
Climate change, prolonged drought periods, the lack of cultural awareness and funding for physical conservation pose severe threats to the preservation of California’s natural and cultural heritage. Digital technologies of data capture and data curation provide viable solutions for the documentation, interpretation, and preservation of heritage sites. Nonetheless, more work ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Understanding Others: Robot Learning in InteractionsWe are motivated by the problem of building autonomous robots that are able to work collaboratively with other agents, such as human co-workers. One key attribute of such an autonomous system is the ability to make predictions about the actions and intentions of other agents in a dynamic environment - ...
The Golden Shore: California’s Love Affair with the SeaAcclaimed author and ocean activist David Helvarg, founder and Executive Director of Blue Frontier (www.bluefront.org) will share the history, culture, and changing nature of California’s coasts and ocean in a public talk on December 10. In discussing his book, ‘The Golden Shore �" California’s Love Affair with the Sea,’ just ...
The structure of global tropical rainfall has sharply defined features, and it is also susceptible to change. Professor Chiang will outline an argument for how this structure may have changed in the past, and with implications for the future.  Several lines of evidence â€" paleoclimate observations, model simulations, and theory ...
America's best-known outdoors man and the SF Chronicle outdoors editor (lucky us), Stienstra will share dramatic photos, videos and stories from his expedition to climb the Lyell Glacier in Yosemite National Park, where he traces the melting drops of water to the Tuolumne River en route to San Francisco and ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $8 Members, $7 Students
Processes of Exfoliation-Induced Rock Falls: Recent Studies from California’s Sierra NevadaGranitic rocks in the Sierra Nevada are known for their dramatic displays of exfoliation, " the “peeling off†of the outer layer of rock that often manifests itself in massive arches and domes such as found in Yosemite and Kings Canyon National Parks, among many other high and low peaks ...
Where: OrindaCost: $5, $1 for students and K-12 teachers
Holding global warming below 2°C with minimum investment cost, negligible land-use area, and acceptable riskWell-intentioned as they are and representing excellent progress along the required path, the INDC commitments on CO2 emission reduction made by 196 nations of the world at the Paris climate talks in December 2015 will not hold global warming below the environmentally critical value of 2°C by 2100.  To accomplish this vital objective, ...
If ye value critical thinking, and if ye scorn the flim-flam man, join us, your friends.  Skeptics in the Pub is a group of like-minded people informally discussing the latest in science or pseudoscience over good eats & ale.7PM  4th Wednesday each month (except November and December)
Happy Hollow is not just a place for kids!Introducing our early morning Senior Safari Walkabout. Get some exercise while enjoying the beautiful sights and sounds of Happy Hollow Park & Zoo. Seniors are invited to challenge their minds, get a little (or a lot) of exercise, and gain unique knowledge into the ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free admission and parking
Field Lab: TidelandsVisit the Field Lab and explore the dynamics of the San Francisco Bay. From the critters that live in the tidelands to the impacts of rising seas to the regional policies and projects that will help us adapt to the effects of climate change, the Field Lab will engage the public in ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: free
Let Them Eat RobotsWe are in the midst of a new industrial revolution creating more powerful products with less human labor. How do we reap the benefits of this increased productivity? Unfortunately, automation is rapidly replacing jobs. How do we suppress mass riots and feed starving people? Guaranteed minimum income has been proposed ...
Speaker: Lionel Chocron, OracleEditor's Note: Laura Ipsen, Oracle, the original speaker scheduled for this date, will not be available.
Where: San JoseCost: Free
BASF - Explorer Days - Sustainable Bioenergy: From Plants to BiofuelsThe Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) established by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2007 is a leader in the development of advanced biofuels. Using molecular, computational and robotic technologies, JBEI has successfully altered biomass composition in plants and engineered organisms to produce energy-rich biofuels identical to gasoline, diesel and jet ...
Where: EmeryvilleCost:
Teacher Workshop: Collecting Data on Diverse organisms and their Life CyclesCollecting data on arthropod and other small organisms in the environment; butterflies and moths; beetle life cycle; ants as decomposers and their life cycles; comparing bees with flies; mimicry; design, engineering and creation of bee hives; learn how to maintain butterflies and moths in the classroom; learn about science gardens ...
Come tour the UCSF Human Performance Center and experience various ways we test human movement and performance. After a tour of the lab we will be demonstrating the use of our motion capture and physiology equipment. Several volunteers will be asked to participate in a variety of activities, while the ...
As we seek to describe our world, we are always inventing new ways to push the boundaries of what we can experience: smaller, farther, fainter, quieter, louder. During two evening events, explore exhibits of multimedia artwork, microscopy, music and sculpture created by artists and scientists seeing the world in new ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Solar Energy Training: Free Workshop on How to Install Rooftop PV SystemsJoin others who are interested in helping save the environment one rooftop at a time! This workshop is offered by SunWork, a Bay Area nonprofit that installs rooftop PV systems on small-energy-footprint homes (those that use less than $100/mo, excluding electric vehicles). You'll learn the basics of rooftop solar energy ...
The creatures come out at night as NightLife joins forces with the Bay Area Science Festival for an evening of spine-tingling science. Come in costume for this annual Halloween bash and tour a haunted museum full of scientific curiosities, mad science, live performances, cocktails, and more!Every Thursday night a new ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15
Mind over Genes: Heredity Is not Destiny-The Science of EpigeneticsA renaissance in science is creating a genuine revolution in thought and understanding, one so radical that it is changing the world. The frontier science of epigenetics reveals that we are not victims of our genes but instead have unlimited capacity to live a life overflowing with peace, health and ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $8 Members, $7 Students
You are invited to the first public screening of the thought-provoking new documentary, Dr. Banting’s Miracle Drug, a short film that delves into the true story of the discovery of insulin. The film will be followed by a panel discussion and catered reception with the film’s director and leading researchers from the UCSF ...
For one evening, the Field Lab will be transformed into an outdoor cinema. Join us for a program of shorts curated by the Exploratorium’s Cinema Arts group. A selection of documentaries, artist-made films, and archival footage will offer a multifaceted look at water and our relationship to it. From poetic ...
Pursuing explanations for exfoliation and seemingly spontaneous fracture of rockby Brian D. Collins, USGS Research Civil Engineer, Landslide Hazards ProgramExfoliation is a process by which layers of rock erode from the surface of landscapes.In California's Sierra Nevada, exfoliation in steep granite cliffs is common, sometimes leading to potentially hazardous rock ...
Chouinard is a legendary climber, surfer and environmentalist. He is also the reluctant entrepreneur who founded Patagonia, Inc., one of the most respected eco- and socially conscious companies in the world.To celebrate the re-release of his best selling memoir, Chouinard recounts his early days of selling climbing equipment out of ...
Where: CampbellCost: $25 General, $15 Member
Full-Spectrum Science with Ron Hipschman: Science Fiction Turned FactScience fiction has predicted many things. Some have come true (think touch screens, submarines, bionic limbs), others, not so much�"or at least, not yet. If you’ve ever wondered where your flying car or rocket belt is, or why you don’t yet have a robot servant, find out at Full-Spectrum Science.Part ...
Friday, October 28, 20169:00 - 11:00 am or 12:00 - 2:00 pmSaturday, October 29, 20161:00 - 3:00 pmAero Design Challenge is an exploration into design and engineering.  Each 2-hour program explores concepts in aeronautics that challenges participants to construct a working prototype.Each student in the Aero Design Challenge participates in a series ...
The emergence of wireless sensors and smartphones have created opportunities to understand and better manage �"in real-time�" the behavior of critical infrastructures, including their response to disruptive events. Ongoing resiliency research at CITRIS and the Banatao Institute involves improving the capacity of built infrastructure, such as our water systems, buildings, ...
As we seek to describe our world, we are always inventing new ways to push the boundaries of what we can experience: smaller, farther, fainter, quieter, louder. During two evening events, explore exhibits of multimedia artwork, microscopy, music and sculpture created by artists and scientists seeing the world in new ...
Featuring a performance by Paz Lenchantin from the Pixies!In celebration of the internet archive's 20th anniversary, the Berkeley Center for New Media and BAMPFA are presenting a computer program on the BAM/PFA lawn that explores a trove of visual culture preserved by the archive. The program randomly selects six GIF images created for and hosted by geocities, a ...
The Crucible's Fireside LoungeJoin us for a FREE evening of art, industry, community, and entertainment. All ages are welcome! The Crucible’s Fireside Lounge illuminates the world of original artists, collectives, and innovators who create movements “Made in Oakland. The Crucible’s Fireside Lounge lets you see demonstrations of our industrial and fine arts for ...
The Festival of Bad Ad Hoc Hypotheses (BAH!) is a celebration of well-argued and thoroughly researched but completely incorrect evolutionary theory. Six brave speakers will present their bad theories in front of a live audience and a panel of judges with real science credentials, who together will determine which speaker takes home ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $10/$20
Einstein's Greatest MistakeWidely considered the greatest genius of all time, Albert Einstein revolutionized our understanding of the cosmos with his general theory of relativity and helped lead us into the atomic age. Yet in the final decades of his life, he was ignored by most working scientists, and his ideas were opposed by ...
Join naturalists from the California Center for Natural History on a creepy-crawly night hike at Joaquin Miller Park in the Oakland hills. We’ll find spiders, moths, and night-dwelling creatures that glow under UV light.  Bring your headlamp, drinking water, warm layers, and sturdy hiking shoes. Please no pets on this walk!
Volcanoes and Mercury Mines in Clayton? Come learn about unique geology and mercury mining on Mt. Diablo. After a short talk about human impacts to the Watershed, the hike will continue up Perkins Canyon in Mount Diablo State Park. This 3 mile, 350 foot elevation gain loop hike offers opportunities ...
Where: ClaytonCost: 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 ...
Where: GeyservilleCost: $15 Donation suggested
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
Science Saturday: Bats, Spiders and SnakesJoin us as we slither into the magical world of spiders, snakes and bats. Learn about these amazing animals as you visit fun and educational stations throughout the Museum. Don't miss this opportunity to meet a live animal up close, take home a creepy craft and more!
Where: Pacific GroveCost: Free
Stanford Energy Week: Day 3 Conference10:00 - 10:30am: Opening Remarks and Refreshments10:30 - 11:30am: Keynote Address with Ira Ehrenpreis11:30am - 1:00pm: Entrepreneurship in Energy: Founders’ Perspectives1:00-2:30pm: Lunch @ GSB Lawns3:00 - 6:00pm: Design Thinking Workshop @ GSB Gunn Building, Room G1014:30 - 6:00pm: Entrepreneurship in Energy: VC Perspectives6:00 - 7:30pm: Fireside Chat and Mixer with ...
Join the 5th annual Bay Area Science Festival for an Explorer Day at the EcoCenter: San Francisco’s best example of sustainable building located in the wetlands of Heron’s Head Park. We will explore the EcoCenter and surrounding nature and discover the deep connections between environmental justice and green engineering. Plus, ...
Start your Halloween celebration early with special Halloween-themed activities in the Ingenuity Lab and Animal Discovery Room. Pumpkins will fly during this annual outdoor event featuring our friends from UC Berkeley’s Pioneers in Engineering (PiE) program. Join us on the Hall’s C-level lawn and watch as a giant trebuchet sends ...
The Hawk Talk begins at noon, when a GGRO volunteer speaks about hawk migration and identification, and what we do here at the GGRO. Midway through, a banding volunteer brings up a newly banded hawk, talks about the banding program, shows everyone the hawk, and lets it go in front ...
Friday, October 28, 20169:00 - 11:00 am or 12:00 - 2:00 pmSaturday, October 29, 20161:00 - 3:00 pmAero Design Challenge is an exploration into design and engineering.  Each 2-hour program explores concepts in aeronautics that challenges participants to construct a working prototype.Each student in the Aero Design Challenge participates in a series ...
Where: San CarlosCost: Free with Registration
Back in Time18,000 years ago there was no San Francisco Bay Estuary and the delta was in a whole different location. Watch an accelerated time lapse and see how one of the world’s largest natural estuaries and one of the few inverted deltas on the planet were created. You will see how ...
How does the brain allow us to mentally wonder off to another time and place? How do we perceive our environment? How do people effectively communicate? What can evolutionary biology tell us about how species are formed and how new shapes and colors evolve?Six local students will review scientist presentations ...
Do you sometimes see paw prints in mud or scat (poop) on the trails and assume that a dog left it? It could be from something else. Come along with me and I will show you how to distinguish and identify the markings of a gray fox. Gain some insights ...
Where: FremontCost: Free
Bird Watching for BeginnersIn this beginner’s program, we will go over the use of binoculars, how to use a bird guide, and identify the birds we see on the trail. Recommended for ages 10 and up. Wear comfortable shoes. A limited number of binoculars are available to borrow.  Heavy rain cancels. Led by ...
Where: FremontCost: Free
Family Sundown SPOOKfariGrab your tent, bring your family, and get ready for an eerie overnight experience. Take a Trick-or-treat night tour through the Children’s Zoo. Make Jack-o-Lantern enrichment treats for the animals, and meet live, creepy, crawly animals up close! Before bedtime participate in a petrifying puppet show with Jungle Joe followed ...
Photo credit:Â Dallis WillardThis year, Tested traveled to the ends of the earth, meeting makers, creators, and scientists. Join us for a night of epic journeys into new realms - past, present, and future. This will be your chance to see and interact with Tested's projects, experiments, and explorations in a ...
Happy Creepy Hall-oweenStart your Halloween early and celebrate all weekend long during Happy Creepy Hall-oween.From pumpkin lifts in the Ingenuity Lab to giant trebuchet demonstrations with UC Berkeley’s Pioneers in Engineering program, you’re sure to find the perfect way to celebrate with science.Learn more about each day's events: http://hallsci.org/82gj304TLE7
You are invited to a behind-the-scenes tour of a UCSF Parasitology Lab where you’ll have the chance to see live parasites (worms and protozoa)!You’ll learn about the world of parasitic worms and protozoa that infect humans and have the chance see live parasites with a microscope!Restrictions: First Come, First Served (No RSVP). Children ...
The Hawk Talk begins at noon, when a GGRO volunteer speaks about hawk migration and identification, and what we do here at the GGRO. Midway through, a banding volunteer brings up a newly banded hawk, talks about the banding program, shows everyone the hawk, and lets it go in front ...
Where: MarinCost: Free
Synthetic Dreams: Artificial Intelligence And The Human BrainMight it someday be possible to manufacture sentient machines? Can we provide humans with android bodies or upload their minds into artificial brains? What are the similarities between brains and computers? Should we fear machine intelligence?To address these questions, we’ll start by reviewing the neuroscience that’s taking us closer to ...
Join us for a very special Eureka! that will be part of the Bay Area Science Festival!We will be hosting Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer at SETI Institute(Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute), who will discuss the search for extraterrestrial life in the universe. How does one go about detecting alien civilizations across interstellar ...
To prepare for an urban influx of 2.5 billion people by 2050, it is critical that cities are sustainable: Â low-carbon, resilient, and livable. Dr. Deborah Sunter will discuss options for sustainable urban energy systems by reducing energy consumption and providing robust, decentralized, and renewable energy. Through technical advancements in power ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Deep Robotic LearningThe problem of building an autonomous robot has traditionally been viewed as one of integration: connecting together modular components, each one designed to handle some portion of the perception and decision making process. For example, a vision system might be connected to a planner that might in turn provide commands ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
What Physicists DoDr. Sue Carter of UC Santa Cruz will discuss her work, which includes explorations of climate change and entrepreneurship.
Where: Rohnert ParkCost: Free
Innovation in Stationary Electricity Storage: The Liquid Metal Battery Massive electricity storage would offer huge benefits to today’s grid, reducing price volatility, improving stability against loss of power, increasing utilization of generation assets by enabling us to design towards average demand instead of peak demand, and deferring the costs of upgrading existing transmission lines. When it comes to tomorrow’s ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Science at the Library: Bones, Bones, Bones, A Million Bones There are 4 activities at each presentation after a show presentation. Parents work with their children to learn about science. Recommended for elementary age children. Families are encouraged to attend. Limited seating. Funding provided by Lam Research Foundation and free.Register at weblink
Join naturalists from the California Center for Natural History on a creepy-crawly night hike at Joaquin Miller Park in the Oakland hills. We’ll find spiders, moths, and night-dwelling creatures that glow under UV light.  Bring your headlamp, drinking water, warm layers, and sturdy hiking shoes. Please no pets on this walk!
Where: OaklandCost: $20 Donation suggested
Tuesday, 11/01/16
Collective Work and Play in Ant ColoniesAnts are an amazingly diverse group of more than 14,000 species that live in every conceivable habitat on earth. Like many distributed systems, both natural and engineered, ant colonies operate without any central control. No ant can assess what needs to be done. Each ant responds to its interactions with ...
Geological field trip to Gale crater, Mars: a view from the ChemCam on MSLLocated on Curiosity's mast, the ChemCam instrument ("Chemistry and Camera") uses a laser to provide the elemental composition of geological features along the rover's path. Since 2012, it has contributed to the investigation of geological units that record a time when on Mars, at Gale crater, liquid water was present ...
Laurence Tubiana is France’s lead climate negotiator and a key architect of the international climate agreement forged in Paris last December. Founder of the Institute for Sustainable Development and International Relations (IDDRI) in Paris, Tubiana is Professor and Director at the Sustainable Development Center at Sciences Po Paris. This is the first ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Vulnerability of the tropics to future changes in drought and fireIn the future, changes in precipitation across the tropics may have profound consequences for the survival of tropical forests and their vulnerability to fire and other agents of global change. I will discuss how the physiological response of forests to increasing CO2 is a primary mechanism responsible for this pattern, ...
Christopher Bollas, the most influential psychoanalyst writing in English today, asserts that mental life is innately hazardous. The steps we take through childhood are marked by mentally painful episodes that constitute ordinary breakdowns in the self. Adolescence stands as the most painful such period, during which some of the major ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Low (Car)bon CommunitiesWith an increasing awareness of the urgent need to reduce carbon emissions and a recognition of the social benefits of car-free and car-light living, more and more city planners, advocates and everyday urban dwellers are demanding new ways of building cities. The book Low Car(bon) Communities examines case studies from ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free
BASF: Nerd Nite at The Tech MuseumNerd Nite Silicon Valley returns to The Tech Museum! We celebrate the Bay Area Science Festival with two talks from Stanford genetics Ph.D.s Alex Dainis and Lisl Esherick. Coral sex and animal hearts, oh my! We'll have games, drinks, a little nerdy trivia and lots of nerdy fun. Food, beer ...
