Combined galaxy clustering and weak lensing analysesI will discuss some of the challenges involved in producing robust cosmological constraints from photometric galaxy surveys such the Dark Energy Survey and LSST. In the context of the recent DES constraints from galaxy clustering and weak lensing, I will discuss in detail how we validate our cosmological inference using ...
Effective modeling of complex physical systems arising in the geosciences is dependent on knowing parameters which are often difficult or impossible to measure in situ. In this talk we focus on two such problems, estimating parameters for groundwater flow and contaminant transport, and estimating parameters within a coastal ocean model. ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
MAKING AT SSUJeremy Qualls will describe rapid advances in digital fabrication and social media that have given rise to new opportunities blending science, technology, art, and entrepreneurship. Sonoma State University has embraced the do it yourself maker mindset with many new innovative programs including a campus community maker-space and a sophomore year ...
Where: Rohnert ParkCost: Free
Manipulation Skills that I Wish My Robots HadMy main goal in this talk is to discuss some manipulation capabilities that I believe are essential to develop practical autonomous robotic manipulation systems. These are manipulation skills that I wish my robots had. I’ll start the talk by briefing on recent work by Team MIT-Princeton in the Amazon Robotics ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
THE QUANTUM AND THE COSMOS: THE QUEST FOR THE ORIGIN OF ORDINARY AND DARK MATTERJeremy Qualls will describe rapid advances in digital fabrication and social media that have given rise to new opportunities blending science, technology, art, and entrepreneurship. Sonoma State University has embraced the do it yourself maker mindset with many new innovative programs including a campus community maker-space and a sophomore year ...
Paul McIntyre is Rick and Melinda Reed Professor in the School of Engineering, Chair of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Senior Fellow of the Precourt Institute for Energy at Stanford University. He was previously Member of the Technical Staff of the central research laboratories of Texas Instruments, ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Reinventing Wires: The Future of Landlines and NetworksThere is an information vacuum among government, media and the public about the relative role of wired communications and the reasons hard wires, such a copper cable and optical fiber, usually offer better telecommunications options. From the perspective of public investment, health and ecosystem impacts, and energy efficiency, a strong ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $8 Members, $7 Students
The Search for Life Beyond EarthTo search for life beyond Earth, we first have to decide on several key factors, such as where we should look. Several locations within our solar system have been identified that might be habitable. An ideal place to look might be the icy moons around Saturn and Jupiter with their ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 General, $12 Members & Seniors
Tuesday, 02/06/18
Cognitive Adaptations to Harsh EnvironmentsGrowing up in a harsh environment has a major impact on cognition. People from such environments tend to score lower on a variety of cognitive tests. The predominant view in psychology is, therefore, that chronic exposure to harsh conditions impairs cognition. I have recently challenged this consensus by proposing that ...
Data Driven Modeling and Optimization of Oil and Gas AssetsThere is a significant opportunity to enhance traditional reservoir management with new quantitative tools and technologies that allow integration of all kinds to data to create accurate predictive models while significantly reducing the cycle time from data to decisions. This talk describes Data Physics, a unique modeling approach which is ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
The Horrors of Fake News Today - Can it be Stopped?Fake news played a role in the 2016 elections and have only become a larger issue since then. From compromised accounts spreading propaganda to websites that imitate legitimate new organizations, fake news can be seen everywhere. Together we’ll see how misinformation spreads, where it exists, and talk through potential paths ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Managing for resilience in California's inland fishesSince joining the faculty in UC Berkeley’s Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management in 2008, I have been working to develop a research program centered on the ecology and conservation of California’s inland and anadromous fishes. California’s waterways are generally altered, degraded, and invaded, and native fishes are in ...
Where: TiburonCost: Free
Quantum Measurements at LIGOThe precision of gravitational wave measurements by the Advanced LIGO interferometers is limited by the quantization of light. The current generation of detectors will use squeezed light to reduce this quantum noise. I will discuss a new method for generating squeezed states of light that uses optomechancal interaction between light ...
California recently extended its cap-and-trade program to 2030, including very ambitious economy wide targets. At the same time, the success of renewable support policies in the state is increasing the urgency of moving from a single-state wholesale electricity market to a western regional structure. These two processes interact in important ...
Water, Water (Not) EverywhereDrought in California is inevitable. How ready is the Bay Area for when it happens? And how will we make sure that we have enough water for our region’s projected growth? Join us to learn more about where we look for water supplies, how our cities plan for resilience, the ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $10 General, Free for Members
Building Intuition into Adversarial Examples in Deep LearningIn recent years, deep neural networks have found wide ranging applications in the general field of AI. However, it has been shown that deep learning suffers from Adversarial Examples which have puzzled AI scientists. For acceptance of deep learning based AI solutions, it is important to understand this intriguing phenomenon ...
Where: Santa ClaraCost: $5 General, Free for IEEE members
Understanding Bone Marrow Transplantation - from the Clinical and Personal PerspectivesA bone marrow transplant is a multi-step procedure to replace damaged or destroyed bone marrow with healthy bone marrow stem cells, and it is used to treat certain blood cancers like lymphoma and leukemia, as well as aplastic anemia and other immune and genetic diseases. This talk will discuss current treatment ...
A revolution is occurring in biology due to new technologies in the world of electron microscopy. In addition to the monumental advances in the Cryo-EM, which garnered the Nobel Prize last year, a new wave of 3-dimensional imaging is taking over the rest of the electron microscopy field. With these advanced ...
Where: AlbanyCost: Free
Weathering the Storm: Mayors of Houston, Miami and ColumbiaHow are cities coping with political and climatic upheaval? Battles over immigration, sanctuary status, federal funding and other hot-button issues are creating tension between local and federal government at a time when the impacts of climate change are hitting home.Miami and Houston are recovering from epic storms that were amplified ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $12 Members, $7 Students
Building a Deep Map -- Beyond Buildings and ViewsCelebrating the release of a new map of San Francisco, "Nature in the City" reflects a rich and fairly recent understanding of what comprises a place. An update of an original 2006 map, the rework includes a total of five maps, highlighting species that live alongside Homo sapiens, geology, gardening, ...
Pairings: PeanutsTo reserve a seat and something to eat, pick up free tickets onsite at the Observatory. Seating is limited to 120.7:00 p.m.  Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a new star.Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, Physiologie du Gout, 1825Join us for robust presentations and ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 General; $10 Members; Free for Lab Members
Nursery Series: Growing for RestorationDid you think that we just go to our local nursery and pick up the over 100,000 plants to use in restoration projects each year? Wrong.To kick-off the nursery series, join Alisa Shor (Director of Park Nurseries) to learn what is involved in producing our native plant crops each year, ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Donations encouraged
From Hot Neptunes to Temperate Earths: Observing the Atmospheres of Small PlanetsSubstantial resources have been dedicated to characterizing the handful of planets with radii between Earth’s and Neptune’s that are accessible to current telescopes. Observations of their transmission spectra reveal a diversity of worlds, some shrouded in clouds and others with molecular features. I will discuss the types of clouds and ...
Speaker: Brienne Ghafourifar, Co-Founder, Entefy, Inc.
Where: San JoseCost: Free
Lecture 2: Mathematics and Computation (through the lens of one problem and one algorithm). Proving Algebraic IdentitiesIn numerous mathematical settings, an object typically has several representations. This leads to the “isomorphism problem†or “word problemâ€: when are two given representations equivalent. Such problems have driven much structural and algorithmic research across mathematics. We will focus on the algebraic setting, where our objects will be polynomials ...
How to catalyze communities to environmental action?Environmental problems have the potential to affect us all. Combating them will require changing individual behavior, from the food we eat to the way we travel. But it also will require community action: protesting to change policy, for example, and working with neighbors to ...
Stephen J. Gould described humans as “the primates who tell stories.†Psychologist Robyn Dawes took it one step further, arguing that we’re "the primates whose cognitive capacity shuts down in the absence of a story.†Why are we so motivated to find a good story or explanation? Is this tendency beneficial? Cognitive ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
'Chasing Coral' screening & Lecture"Chasing Coral" - Coral reefs are the nursery for all life in the oceans, a remarkable ecosystem that sustains us. Yet with carbon emissions warming the seas, a phenomenon called “coral bleaching - a sign of mass coral death - has been accelerating around the world, and the public has no idea ...
Where: TiburonCost: $9.00
Noise Pop NightLifeNightLife resumes its role as the official pre-party for the Noise Pop Music and Arts Festival as the bastion of Bay Area independent music takes over for an evening exploring the science of sound.-----> In the Piazza, catch a DJ set from a local favorite - chillwave originator, vocalist, and ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 General, $12 Members
The Science of Cannabis: The Genetics of Cannabis Breeds - SOLD OUTThere is a rich informal taxonomy of Cannabis strains with exotic and evocative names. How do these breeds reflect the genetic relationships among different strains, and how do those genetic relationships reflect the chemical properties of the specific plants? This is critical information for the commercialization of cannabis, and there ...
How We Know It Was Climate Change: Connecting Extreme Weather Events with Global WarmingHeat waves, hurricanes, wildfires - extreme climate events are on the rise in the US and worldwide. Dr. Noah Diffenbaugh, Kara J Foundation Professor and Kimmelman Family Senior Fellow at Stanford University, examines the connections between global warming and extreme events and asks the question, did global warming contribute to ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: $10 General, Students Free
Friday, 02/09/18
Riparian Restoration Using WillowsBrian Hildebidle (Associate Director of Conservation Research and Stewardship for the Presidio Trust) will lead this very hands-on field workshop that will cover techniques and uses of willows in riparian restoration projects!The class will initially meet at Presidio 1216 and then continue on to various Presidio sites. Please bring your lunch and dress ...
An Isenthalpic-Based Framework for Nonlinear Thermal SimulationThermal enhanced oil recovery (EOR) involves the interplay of mass and energy transport with complex phase behavior. Hydrocarbon-water interactions govern the behavior of these systems in which components partition across multiple fluid phases as a function of composition, pressure and temperature. In this work we develop a thermodynamically consistent framework ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Leveraging Big Data to Improve Operational Performance, Reliability, and EfficiencyThe existing public transit infrastructure in the United States already generates a tremendous amount of data, however, this information is often not used as effectively as it could be. In this session, we will discuss some of the ways that Swiftly is leveraging billions of data points to help transit ...
Solar Eclipse Extravaganza, Part IIPlease join us for some FABULOUS eclipse photos and videos taken by our PAS Members from various locations along the eclipse path! Several world-renowned eclipse chasers will be among those presenting their images. This should be a great meeting! And it might help kick-start your ideas for how to view ...
Where: Los Altos HillsCost: Free ($3 parking)
Saturday, 02/10/18
SWOOP - Drone Racing & Raptors in Flight (First Weekend of 2 Weekend Event)CuriOdyssey’s extraordinary exhibition, SWOOP - A Celebration of Flight, opens on the evening of February 9 and runs for two weekends, February 10-11 and February 17-19, 2018. This unique avian and aeronautical festival will thrill curious kids and families with exciting indoor drone races and nature’s aerial experts, live raptors, ...
Where: San MateoCost: $9.50-12.50
Fixit Clinic CCLV (255) Castro Valley LibraryFixit Clinic CCLV (255) Castro Valley LibraryFixit Coaches will be training in residence at the Castro Valley Library and available for consultation on your broken items.Celebrating repair by conveying basic troubleshooting skills, Fixit Clinics are do-it-together hands-on STEM-oriented fix-n-learn community-based exploration and discovery workshops staffed by volunteer Fixit Coaches who ...
Where: Castro ValleyCost: Free
Trekking the ModelJoin a ranger-guided tour of the Bay Model, a 1.5-acre hydraulic model of the 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
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
Science on the Screen: 'Wall-E'Curious about robotics? Science on the Screen creatively pairs cutting-edge science presented by leading science and technology experts with classic science fiction films. The series reveals the science of everyday living, explores where science and art connect, and inspires students to explore the fields of science, technology, engineering, arts and ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $18 General, $10 Students & Teachers
10-11am: Agart ArtCome and learn how to make colorful and unique living art. Design your own art piece using our colorful bacteria and then submit your piece for a chance to win in the American Society for Microbiology annual Agar Art Contest.We will be hosting several workshops, as well as ...
Where: OaklandCost: $10-$20
Marine Science Sunday: Marine Mammal Parents and PupsIn preparation for Valentine's Day, this month we celebrate love under the sea with Marine Mammal Parents and Pups in a fun, educational way for both kids and adults. We recommend teaming our free classroom program with a Docent-led tour at 11am, 1pm or 3pm for a truly immersive marine mammal experience.FREE Classroom ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Free
Randall Museum Grand Reopening Family FestivalCelebrate the grand reopening of the Randall Museum, a one-of-a-kind art and science education center. All three floors of the Corona Heights facility have been revitalized, reimagined, and refreshed. Explore the Randall’s state-of-the-art STEM lab, the new geology/seismology exhibit, and the habitat-based live animal enclosures. Discover what’s new in the ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
SWOOP - Drone Racing & Raptors in Flight (First Weekend of 2 Weekend Event)CuriOdyssey’s extraordinary exhibition, SWOOP - A Celebration of Flight, opens on the evening of February 9 and runs for two weekends, February 10-11 and February 17-19, 2018. This unique avian and aeronautical festival will thrill curious kids and families with exciting indoor drone races and nature’s aerial experts, live raptors, ...
Join us for a delicious all-you-can-eat bagel brunch, with a talk by guest speaker Dr. Jeffrey Silverman on "Exploding Stars, Dark Energy, and the Runaway Universe." Some of the most energetic and fascinating objects in the Universe are exploding stars known as supernova. Observations of distant supernova provided the first ...
Where: AlbanyCost: $10
CRISPR, A New Genetic Engineering Technology: Promises and PerilsAnnual Darwin Day CelebrationGenetic engineering technologies, prior to CRISPR, were expensive and time-consuming.  CRISPR has resulted in the ability to precisely edit the genome of nearly any organism, and consequently, has revolutionized biology, medicine, and agriculture. From curing deadly genetic disorders to engineering drought-resistant plants, CRISPR genome editing technology will reshape modern ...
