High Redshift Quasars: Constraining their Lifetime and the Epoch of ReionizationOne of the major goals in observational cosmology today is to understand how our Universe transitioned from the "dark ages", following recombination, into the ionized universe we can observe today. For this purpose we compiled a new data set of 34 high redshift (5.8<z<6.5) quasar spectra of moderate resolution, containing ...
Efficient simulation of the Navier-Stokes equations for fluid flow is a long standing problem in applied mathematics, for which state-of-the-art methods require large compute resources. In this work, we propose a data-driven approach that leverages the approximation power of deep-learning with the precision of standard solvers to obtain fast and ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Thirty Year Perspective on Medical Robotics: Yesterday, Today, and TomorrowThis talk will discuss insights gathered over nearly thirty years of research on medical robotics and computer-integrated interventional medicine (CIIM), both at IBM and at Johns Hopkins University. The goal of this research has been the creation of a three-way partnership between physicians, technology, and information to improve treatment processes. ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Data Privacy : The European Union Invades Silicon Valley | GDPRSession #6 takes a hard pan-Europe look at how European Union regulations are reaching deep into the operations of Silicon Valley companies and startups, including enterprise software architecure, data storage and management policies, product development, overseas market entry, management of intellectual property and business strategy. The EU's General Data Protection ...
Rhyolitic calderas - the explosive “supervolcanoes†like modern-day Yellowstone that spread ash continent-wide - have long been recognized as hosts for traditional metal resources such as Ag, Au, Pb, Zn, and Cu, which form by circulation of hydrothermal fluids driven by the heat of the magmatic intrusions below. Recently, calderas ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Broadening and Deepening the Role of Artificial Intelligence in Computational NeuroscienceAdvances combining artificial intelligence techniques with computational neuroscience have shown that time-averaged neural responses in the primate visual and auditory systems can be modeled with reasonable accuracy by task-optimized deep neural networks. I'll discuss our lab's recent work to broaden and deepen these results, using convolutional recurrent networks to model ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Nerd Nite East Bay: Thirsty Flies, Star Wars Law, Trauma ResponsesThe Thirst Is Real(ly an Interesting Question in Fruit Flies)Why don’t flies get fat, how do they know when to stop drinking, and what can humans learn from the BMI and brains of Drosophila melanogaster? Learn how new transgenic techniques allow us to see the real time activity of neurons ...
Where: OaklandCost: $8 Advance, $10 at door
The Silk RoadArchaeologist, photographer, and author Michael Frachetti researches Asia’s ancient Silk Roads to understand Central Asian societies and their unique role in shaping ancient and modern civilization. He uses high-resolution satellite imagery, 3-D modeling, and computer simulations to help predict, discover, and document the ancient archaeology of Central Asia, while studying ...
Thinking outside the 2pt function: Higher-order statistics in cosmologyThe two-point correlation function has been the workhorse of modern cosmology for many decades. However, in reducing massive galaxy catalogs to ~10 data points, two-point functions discard a large amount of information present in the galaxy distribution. I will describe in this pedagogical talk how higher-order statistics, including three-point correlation ...
In this talk, I will share my personal experience as a user with cochlear implants, and discuss the history and future of this device's development. Introducing historian of science and technology Mara Mills' term "bionic rhetoric," I will explain how the cochlear implant negotiates two different strains of thinking in ...
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death among teens in the U.S. In this program, Elliot Kallen, who founded A Brighter Day in honor of his late son, Jake, will discuss the organization's efforts in fighting depression and teen suicide. A Brighter Day reaches out to teens suffering ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $8 Members, $7 Students
Fire and the Lands We Call Home: A Renewed Approach for a Brighter FutureThis past October, the North Bay area experienced one of its most destructive and tragic human disasters in recorded history due to fire. Over the past hundred years, the human-fire relationship has been one riddled with animosity, and this antagonism has come at great cost to people and ecosystems alike. ...
There is estimated to be over 30,000 different species of phytoplankton in our world’s waterways. Too often computers use simple shapes such as spheres to model them where in reality, phytoplankton come in all different shapes and sizes! They also have a number of different mechanisms to help them survive ...
We are pleased to host William "Bill" Maloney. Bill is currently a Director of Trident Energy, an Energy Advisor to Warburg Pincus, a Corporate Advisory Board Member of AAPG, and an Energy Advisory Board Member at the University of Houston. Bill was formerly EVP at Statoil. Bill will be presenting on the ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Press Play: The Origins of QuickTimeFrom Hollywood blockbusters to social media cat videos, the ability to record, edit and play video on mobile devices and personal computers has changed the way we consume and produce moving images. 25 years ago, this technology was in its infancy. In 1991, Apple released QuickTime, the first mass-market digital ...
We have a complicated relationship with tech. Throughout history, technological advancements have helped us address some of our most pressing challenges, but its application has also created new ones. “A Tech + Human Love Story†will share examples of how tech - from AI and digital identity systems to social ...
Much of the literature that examines the impacts of environmental change utilises high frequency (typically annual) shocks. This approach yields cleanly identified effects, but has been criticised for failing to account for adaptations to more gradual long-term changes. We study adaptations by smallholder farmers to growing water scarcity in the ...
Results from DarkSide-50 ExperimentLocated at the LNGS, Italy, DarkSide (DS) is a dark matter search project, which features a dual-phase Time Projection Chamber as the WIMP detector, surrounded by an organic liquid-scintillator neutron veto and a water-Cherenkov muon veto. The current DS-50 has been taking data since 2013, initially with atmospheric Ar (AAr) ...
The obvious paradox within China’s environmental politics is the big gap between the central government’s policy and its implementation outcomes at local levels. While the supporters of decentralized environmental governance theory believe that decentralization can produce better environmental performance mainly because lower-level governments are closer to the people and environmental ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Modern Loss: Candid Conversation About GriefModern Loss co-founders Rebecca Soffer and Gabrielle Birkner will discuss how the isolation they experienced after losing parents as young adults inspired them to take a no-holds-barred approach to grief. Their efforts have taken the form of a website and community that The New York Times described as a way of "redefining ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $8 Members, $7 Students
IntarsiaPeninsula Gem & Geology Society Monthly MeetingSpeaker: Sarah Hawklyn
Where: Los AltosCost: Free
Leaded or Unleaded: Monitoring stress levels in the California CondorYou may have heard of the endangered California condor, our state’s namesake vulture species with its impressive nine foot wingspan. Perhaps you are lucky enough to have seen a condor soaring over Pinnacles National Park or the Big Sur coastline. You may even know that frequent lead poisonings from consumption ...
If ye value critical thinking, and if ye scorn the flim-flam man, join us, your friends. We are a group who informally discuss the latest in science or pseudoscience over good eats & ale. Sponsored by Bay Area Skeptics.WHY: Because we’re curious creatures.
Where: MillbraeCost: Free
taste of science: DNA packaging and error-free communicationWhat about them Scrambled Genomes?!You know when your room gets messy, and you finally decide to clean it by putting books on the shelf, arranging papers into folders, and clearing out the dead bodies whom your friends promised never to talk about? After that point, doesn't your room seem way ...
Where: Palo AltoCost: $5
When Mars Was Like Earth: Five Years of Exploration with NASA’s Curiosity Mars RoverMore than five years after its dramatic arrival at Mars, the car-sized Curiosity rover continues to reveal Mars as a once-habitable planet. Early in Mars' history, rivers and lakes persisted for millions of years and created the landforms that Curiosity explores today. The rover is climbing the foothills of a ...
Two Supermassive Black Holes are Better than OneSupermassive black holes, once thought to be theoretical novelties, are now considered to play a major role in many astrophysical phenomena including galaxy evolution. Now that we live in the era of gravitational wave observations, it is interesting to look forward to a time when we can detect gravitational waves ...
Speaker: Maha Ibrahim, Partner with Canaan Partners
Where: San JoseCost: Free
AI and IoT at Industrial ScalePlease join us for our launch of the CITRIS Silicon Valley Forum 2018 while we share our innovative, cross-disciplinary research.Our Spring 2018 series begins with a “Fireside Chat†about AI and IoT at Industrial Scale, featuring visionary entrepreneur Thomas M. Siebel of C3 IoT and Costas Spanos, Director of CITRIS ...
The 6th annual Assistive Technology Faire provides an opportunity for students and community members to get an up-close look at a variety of devices and learn about available programs from product vendors and service agencies. Users of assistive technology products as well as small companies and agencies serving individuals with ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
The Software ArtsSacks will argue that computing grew out of the arts. This argument will be a provocation for some, especially for those who see a bright line dividing the “two cultures†of the arts and the sciences. For others, the argument will not seem provocative at all. Important computer scientists have ...
Contemplate cinema’s continuum at After Dark. Traverse a timeline of motion-picture technology, from the earliest hand-drawn, hand-cranked experiments to cutting-edge experiences that aim again to redefine what cinema may be.Lose yourself in over 650 interactive exhibits exploring perception, art, and science at our adults-only After Dark. Grab your friends and ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $17.95/$14.95/Free for AD members
Astronomy on Tap Santa Cruz - TelescopesJoin us for our inaugural Astronomy on Tap. We will begin mingling on the 2nd floor beginning at 6:00pm. We’ll hear from Professor Mike Bolte, as well as Postdoctoral Scholar Deno Stelter on the latest in telescope technology and developments. The event is free of charge and open ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free
Cafe InquiryMeet up with rationalists, skeptics, and freethinkers south of San Francisco.Cafe Inquiry is a social event hosted by the Center for Inquiry|San Francisco.For more information or if you have questions please email sf@centerforinquiry.net
Grow that green thumb and dig in: We’re calling all lovers of succulents, fiddle-leaf figs, giant ferns, and everything in-between.-----> It’s a mini-Golden Gate Park get-together, as we welcome our neighbors at the Conservatory of Flowers for a chlorophyll-filled night. Get practical tips from Garden for the Environment, whose mission is ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 General, $12 Members
The Science of Cannabis: Cannabis as Medicine - SOLD OUTWhat are the potential therapeutic benefits of Cannabis to ameliorate physical and psychological illnesses? Because of the constraints on conducting medical research on Cannabis and related products, much available information is empirical and has not been subjected to the rigors of the scientific method. What are the outstanding questions, and ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: $40 General, $35 Members
Pioneering Tech Journalist and Author Kara SwisherKara Swisher is one of the country's most influential journalists covering Silicon Valley, the focus of her reporting for over two decades. She is the executive editor of Recode, host of the Recode Decode podcast and co-executive producer of the high-profile Code Conference. Swisher began covering the digital economy for ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Dooley and Pelosi: Bridging Trump’s DivideDebbie Dooley helped organize the Tea Party’s first national demonstration in 2009 and until recently was on the board of the Tea Party Patriots. She enthusiastically supports Donald Trump, defends Roy Moore and despises the “Bush cabal.†But her views transcend typical partisan boundaries. She loathes the Koch brothers, thinks solar ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $12 Members, $7 Students
Nursery Series: Seed Treatment and GerminationGrowing native plants often involves getting dormant seeds to germinate. Based on habitat and adaptation, seeds may require a variety of physical or chemical conditions to begin germination. In this class, we will discuss seed biology, seed dormancy, and the physiology of seed germination. There will be plenty of hands-on ...
Where: SausalitoCost: Donations encouraged
Non-local Mesoscale Model for Multiphase Flow I will present a novel non-local mesoscale model for multiphase flow. The model is obtained by adding a non-local “surface-tension†force to the Landau-Lifshitz-Navier-Stokes equation. Next, I will discuss grid-based and meshless discretizations of the resulting stochastic partial differential equations. Our results show that the proposed mesoscale model is able to ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Managing Transportation in a New Era of InnovationA combination of forces is affecting the development and delivery of infrastructure and transportation services and presenting the industry with new challenges. Forces such as politics, budgetary constraints, organizational and workforce issues, and technology continue to change and require innovative approaches and solutions. With a new and different level of ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
First Friday Family Night at CuriOdysseyFamilies with small children can swing into the weekend with music, science, food and fun! On the first Friday of every month, from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m., parents and kids celebrate together at CuriOdyssey. Dance to live music including soul, funk and jazz of the 60’s and 70’s. Purchase ...
Where: San MateoCost: $12.50-9.50 / Free with Admission / Members Free
Future Fridays: An Energy Future the Earth Can Live WithDr. Daniel M. Kammen is a Professor of Energy at the University of California, Berkeley, with parallel appointments in the Goldman School of Public Policy and the department of Nuclear Engineering, and as chair of the Energy and Resources Group. A frequent contributor to or commentator in international news ...
Where: OaklandCost:
Enceladus: a moon of Saturn with a life of its own?Mars has long been the primary target for the search for a second genesis of life beyond Earth. Now interest in the search for life has expanded to the subsurface oceans of the outer Solar System: particularly on Enceladus. Analysis of the plume of Enceladus by the Cassini Spacecraft indicates ...
Where: San MateoCost: Free
Saturday, 03/03/18
5th NGSS STEM Conference: Heading into the 1st Dimension: Science and Engineering PracticesTravel to a new dimension at our 2018 STEM Conference, Heading Into the 1st Dimension: Science and Engineering Practices. This full-day conference includes a variety of workshops designed for teachers of grades 3â€"12 and featuring Dimension 1 of the California Next Generation Science Standards: Science and Engineering Practices (SEPs).The SEPs ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $45.41
Biodiversity BioblitzCome explore the Modini Mayacamas Preserves with other serious “nature nerds†and experts. Our goal is to add species records each season to the Biodiversity of the Modini Mayacamas on iNaturalist. Each of us tends to spot, and share enthusiasm and knowledge about, species that others rarely notice. Mark your ...
Where: GeyservilleCost: $20 suggested donation
Science on the Screen: 'Wargames'Gamers, don’t miss this chance to peek behind the scenes! 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 ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $18 General, $10 Students & Teachers
Limits of thermonuclear synthesis at extreme conditions of supernovae and neutron star binariesOne of the greatest questions of astrophysics is what is the mechanism for synthesis of heavy elements beyond Iron.The leading theory supported by astronomical spectroscopy data is the R-process, rapid neuton capture thermonuclear reaction.The conditions for R-process require extreme temperatures of billions of Kelvins, and extremely dense neutron-rich matter as ...
Where: San JoseCost: Free
Sunday, 03/04/18
Sunrise Tour of Muir WoodsYou are cordially invited to attend a sunrise guided tour through Muir Woods National Monument. While the early hour may seem uncivilized, if not down-right obscene, sunrise is a particularly beautiful time to visit an old-growth redwood forest. Participants will be introduced to the local plant and animal residents (more ...
Experience summer bird watching in the Marin Headlands.  Join volunteer Jane Haley on an easy walk along Rodeo Lagoon to discover our winter birds.  Bring binoculars and field guides. Meet at the Marin Headlands Visitor Center. Bring field guides and binoculars.Ages 8+. Reservations required
