Large-scale intrinsic alignments of dark matter halo orientations with velocity fieldThe kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect enables us to directly probe the density-weighted velocity field up to very large cosmic scales. We investigate the effects of intrinsic alignments (IA) of dark-matter halo shapes on cosmic density and velocity fields on such large scales. In literature IA have been detected with the halo ...
Digital materials design (DMD) coupled with new manufacturing techniques are emerging technologies that have the potential to revolutionize product realization on a global scale. The key to DMD is access to efficient facilities and tools to characterise material structure and function at multiple scales (from nanometers to structural sizes), in ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Artificial Intelligence, from Astronomy to Interior Design and Back Again - CANCELEDThis week, computational cosmologist Miguel Aragon-Calvo will share his thoughts on how the interdisciplinary aspects of Artificial Intelligence offer a unique opportunity for academic researchers to apply their expertise in real world applications. He will talk about his experience as an AI startup consultant and how this has helped broaden ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Topological Hydrodynamics in InsulatorsI will discuss transport phenomena in nonmetallic solid-state systems, which are engendered by the order-parameter topology. Unlike the traditional conservation laws that are rooted in some global symmetry, the hydrodynamics here are governed by the topological structure of the field configurations. I will consider several illustrative examples, including superfluid-like winding ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Searching for Dark Matter with Athermal Phonon Detectors Throughout the Mass Range from 50meV through 500MeVSubstantial astronomical observations have established that approximately 25% of the energy density of the universe is composed of cold non-baryonic dark matter, whose detection and characterization could be key to improving our understanding of the laws of physics. Over the past three decades, physicists have largely focused on searching for ...
Visiting Newton's Atelier Before the Principia, 1679-1684Newton's Principia ignited the Scientific Revolution, but the work-sheets showing how he composed his masterpiece have been lost. Fortunately, he left behind enough clues that make it possible to give a plausible reconstruction how he did it. Surprisingly, such a reconstruction has not been attempted before. In the winter of ...
Hydropower, the nation’s largest renewable electricity generation source and storage capacity, is both a significant climate solution and conservation challenge. Stanford’s Steyer-Taylor Center for Energy Policy and Finance and Woods Institute for the Environment are jointly leading a project focused on how to better use this major energy resource and, ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Wonderfest: Cultured MeatIn 1931, Winston Churchill declared: "We shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under suitable medium." What suitable medium is that?! Beyond chicken, can the tissues of cow, pig, and fish really be grown in ...
Where: NovatoCost: Free
Big Screen Science: AVENGERS - ENDGAMEMore than a decade's worth of Marvel movies has brought us to this point, where half of the Universe's living creatures have been turned to dust by Thanos, The Mad Titan. Stick around after the movie (and after all the mid- and post-credits scenes that we assume will be there) ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $16
Places in SpaceAdam Savage's mother is a psychologist; his father was a celebrated artist, painter and filmmaker. From the youngest age they encouraged his flights of fancy. Savage has been a paperboy, a projectionist, juggler, unicycle rider, sculptor, graphic designer, scenic painter, robot builder, welder, carpenter, machinist, prop maker, toy designer, actor, ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Imaging the molecular world of lifeAs the fundamental unit of life, a cell is comprised of numerous different types of molecules that form intricate interaction networks and function collectively to give the cell its life. Dissecting the inner workings of a cell requires imaging with molecular-scale resolution such that molecular interactions inside the cell can ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Nerd Nite 4/29: Marvel Law, New Elements, CA Hip Hop HistoryIf the Glove Fits: Legal Lessons from the Marvel Cinematic UniverseUsing Marvel stories to understand how the legal process really works is as easy as snapping your fingers. Yes Dr. Strange is a superhero, but find out how he saved the world using contract law. Was Star-Lord really the rightful ...
Where: OaklandCost: $8 Web, $10 at door
Tuesday, 04/30/19
Soil Health Series: Understanding Growth Media & the Chemistry of SoilYou've undoubtedly heard of the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. But what about the Clean Soils Act...? Why not? Soil is the largest chemical reactor on the planet. Happening beneath our feet are fascinating chemical reactions responsible for immobilizing, filtering, purifying, detoxifying, and recycling. This class will cover: ...
Using Artificial Intelligence for hypothesis testing and physical insight extraction Artificial Intelligence techniques excel at predicting values or classifications based on complex training data. However, they do so as a "black box" and often offer no new insight on the physical processes behind the data. In this talk I will discuss uses of AI in which our focus is in ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Process Chemistry Approach to the Total Synthesis of BMS-813160BMS-813160 is being investigated by Bristol-Myers Squibb as a combination therapy for colorectal and pancreatic cancer. In order to evaluate the clinical efficacy, a safe, robust, scalable, and cost-effective total synthesis was needed. The talk will focus on how process chemists enabled the production of multi-kg of BMS-813160 by route ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Imaging at the genomic-scale: from 3D organization of the genome to cell atlas of the brainProf. Xiaowei Zhuang, the 2019 Robert Hofstadter Memorial Lecturer and the David B. Arnold Professor of Science, Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and Professor of Physics of Harvard University, will give the Appied Physics/Physics colloquium.Inside a biological cell, thousands to tens of thousands of different genes function collectively to ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Republicans on ClimateIs there hope for bipartisan progress with the Green New Deal shaking up climate politics in Washington, D.C.? Championed by Democratic U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and U.S. Senator Edward Markey (D-MA), the bill’s ambitious clean energy goals are backed by prominent Democratic support but are criticized by Republican leaders ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $12 Members, $7 Students
Join us for the second SLAC on Tap in Palo Alto. SLAC engineer Margaux Lopez will chat about what on earth Maseratis, ice hockey and corgi puppies have to do with the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). Have a drink, find out more about telescopes, and learn how to build a mini three-axis telescope out of ...
Bill McKibben is an author, environmentalist, activist, and the co-founder of 350.org, the first planet-wide, grassroots climate change movement. His first book,The End of Nature, is considered the first book about climate change written for a general readership. McKibben has been awarded the Right Livelihood Prize, The Gandhi Prize, a ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: TBA
Wednesday, 05/01/19
Climate Science & Solutions for Bay Area SchoolsSchool groups from all over the Bay Area will be coming by bus to this event. Featuring hands-on science on climate change and solutions. Student groups will be viewing films and taking part in the Active Cinema Room, where the interactive climate science labs wil be set up.We're looking for ...
When quantum materials get hot: anomalous thermal conduction and radiationHeat conduction in and radiation from solids provides a unique window to probe solid state physics, and also plays a pivotal role for a wide range of industry applications. Although it is a traditional research focus in mechanical engineering, study of heat transfer from materials scientists’ perspective would result in ...
Reinventing Expertise in the Age of Platforms: The Case of Data Science"Data scientist,†so says the Harvard Business Review, is “the sexiest job of the 21st century.†What accounts for the prestige that this new professional mode of knowledge production now enjoys across institutions ranging from non-profits to research labs, corporations, hospitals, and schools? Based on a two-year ethnographic study of ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Fishes of the San Francisco Estuary: A Seascape PerspectiveSeascape ecology is an emerging field that applies principles of landscape ecology to marine environments. For my dissertation research, I used long-term data on a fish assemblage in the Suisun Marsh, San Francisco Estuary, California, to answer the following questions: (1) Do species exhibit ontogenetic or seasonal shifts in distribution? ...
Mind the GAP: Bridging Strategies for Universal Energy AccessOver 1 billion people face energy poverty around the world, without access to modern, reliable, and affordable energy. The slow pace and high cost and environmental impacts of energy poverty alleviation is in part the result of relying on century-old planning, financing, and institutional paradigms to design and operate energy ...
The future of lossy image compression: what machines can learn from humansThe availability of massive public image datasets appears to have hardly been exploited in image compression. In this work, we present a novel framework for image compression based on human image generation and publicly available images as "side information." Our framework consists of one human who describes images using text ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
The Origins of Silicon Valley: Why and How It Happened HereWhy did Silicon Valley come into being? The story goes back to local Hams (amateur radio operators) trying to break RCA's tube patents, "angel" investors, the sinking of the Titanic, Fred Terman and Stanford University, local invention of high-power tubes, WW II and radar, William Shockley's mother living in Palo ...
Where: SaratogaCost: Free
Thursday, 05/02/19
Climate Science & Solutions for Bay Area SchoolsSchool groups from all over the Bay Area will be coming by bus to this event. Featuring hands-on science on climate change and solutions. Student groups will be viewing films and taking part in the Active Cinema Room, where the interactive climate science labs wil be set up.We're looking for ...
Where: San RafaelCost: free
SPHEREx: An all-sky near infrared spectral surveyRecently selected for implementation as the next medium-class mission in NASA's Explorer line, SPHEREx will produce a Near Infrared spectrum for every 6 arcsecond pixel on the celestial sphere. Through the use of cold. wide-field optics combined with linear variable filters, this experiment is optimized to probe for signatures of ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Jay Inslee: The Climate CandidateObama chose health care. Trump went with taxes. Presidential hopeful Jay Inslee is the only candidate with a very different top priority: to stop climate change. With a laser focus on climate and the environment, the Washington state governor is a notable departure from other Democratic candidates who regularly mention ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $12 Members, $7 Students
Jump on your saddle and ride down the waterfront as we celebrate cycles and promote pedal power! In collaboration with the SF Bicycle Coalition and Bike to Work Month, we’ll explore the physics, culture, and sustainable future of bicycles. Watch cycling demos, marvel at unusual bike builds, and get hands-on ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: 17.95 advance, 19.95 door, AD members free
Cafe InquiryCenter for Inquiry San Francisco's monthly get together to talk about whatever interests us.
Where: Menlo ParkCost: Free
NightLife in Space: The MoonNightLife goes to the Moon and back, exploring the origins of space travel and the future of lunar missions. Plus, MUTEK.SF presents A/Visions 1 in the planetarium, featuring full dome video art and live music performances and DJ sets.
Where: San FranciscoCost: $15 General, $12 Members
Astronomy on Tap Santa Cruz - Brown DwarfsBrown dwarfs â€" not quite a star, not quite a planet. UCSC graduate student will talk about how we study the atmospheres of brown dwarfs, and how they can help us better understand gas giant planets. Next we will hear from Dr. Andrew Rushby about how ice and snow may ...
Climate Science & Solutions for Bay Area SchoolsSchool groups from all over the Bay Area will be coming by bus to this event. Featuring hands-on science on climate change and solutions. Student groups will be viewing films and taking part in the Active Cinema Room, where the interactive climate science labs wil be set up.We're looking for ...
Where: San RafaelCost: free
Alcohol and Amine Derivatives Guide Position-Selective C-H Functionalization ReactionsFree radical reactions represent an important and versatile class of chemical transformations. Nitrogen-centered radical applications remain underexplored due to the lack of convenient methods for their generation. Recent advances have improved access to nitrogen-centered radicals through photoredox-mediated oxidation of two such directing groups: amides and sulfonamides. Guided by this approach, ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
New Insights into the Seismic Structure of the North American Upper MantleI present new seismic images of the key structural elements of the upper mantle beneath North America. These images are significantly different from all previous studies. Unlike earlier work, we successfully image the cratonic lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary (LAB), and the 250-km-deep Lehmann discontinuity. We see evidence for plate tectonics in the ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free
DNA Origami Tools for Cryo-EMWe have created DNA origami nanostructures to overcome challenges in structure determination of certain small ( under 100 kDa ) proteins and nucleic acids by cryo-electron microscopy. We aimed to use the nanoscale positional control afforded by origami to overcome issues related to particle contrast, preferential orientation, and ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Journey to the Moon With NASA As NASA, the nation, and the world prepare to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first human landing on the Moon, we will examine NASA’s missions of lunar exploration. We will review the missions that led to Apollo as well as the six individual Apollo missions, explore missions that came ...
Where: San MateoCost: Free
Silicon Valley Skeptics in the PubWe'll meet up, drink, and socialize. All while not believing in ridiculous things! We are a group of skeptics, freethinkers, and nonbelievers in Silicon Valley. We enjoy intellectually stimulating conversations and provocative debate.Join us on the 1st Friday of each monthÂ
Where: SunnyvaleCost: Free
Saturday, 05/04/19
Guided Nature WalkExperience the beauty and rich natural history of this 535-acre preserve. Our 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 and flower-carpeted oak woodland. Guided Nature Walks begin at 10:00am ...
Where: Glen EllenCost: $20 suggested donation
Shark DayMSI loves sharks! Our special day invites one and all to learn about these amazing creatures while feeding and touching our local friendly leopard sharks and making a special take home craft.10:00 and 10:30 AM.
Where: Redwood CityCost: $20
Sonoma-Marin Eco-Friendly Garden TourStop by and enjoy the beauty of the new native plant pollinator garden in front of the Bay Model. The garden, featuring plants native to Marin, was designed and installed by volunteers from the California Native Plant Society’s Marin chapter. Garden volunteers will be on hand all day, assisted by ...
Calling All Eco-Explorers! Youth ages 5-15 will be up to their elbows in FREE, hands-on activities. Learning through fun interactive, nature science experiences and regional field trips, your kids will find out all about the Bay Area ecosystem and become the next generation of Citizen Scientists! We have extended Welcome ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free
National Math FestivalJoin us on as we become a Zometool Bubble Station, as part of the National Math Festival! Can you imagine using a bubble wand and dish soap to make a square bubble? How about a cubic, or spiral, or saddle-shaped, or wormhole, or even parabolic-shaped bubble? With the Zometool Bubble ...
In his new novel, Machines Like Me, Ian McEwan uses science fiction and counter-factual history to speculate about the coming of artificial intelligence and its effect on human relations. The opening page introduces a pivotal character, "Sir Alan Turing, war hero and presiding genius of the digital age.â€The evening with ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $25 General, Free for members
350 Bay Area's Eco Home & Garden TourLocal non-profit 350 Bay Area will be hosting its first-ever Eco Home & Garden Tour on May 4, 2019 from 10:00 a.m to 4:00 p.m. Owners of five eco-friendly East Bay homes in Berkeley, Kensington and Albany will open their doors to 100 attendees toshowcase their sustainable, carbon footprint reducing ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: $50 to $150
Sunday, 05/05/19
YTH Live 2019YTH Live brings together people who are working on innovative research, programs, and products that advance youth health and wellness, including public health professionals, youth leaders, social entrepreneurs, educators, nonprofit leaders, technology developers, and more.YTH Live is in its 11th year. YTH Live 2019 will focus on how mental health ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $18 - $550 (see website)
Bringing Back the Natives Garden TourCome learn how to attract native birds, butterflies and bees to your garden, while consering water and eliminating pesticide use.  Registration for the Fifteenth Annual Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, which will take place on Sunday, May 5, 2019 from 10:00 to 5:00, is now open.  This award-winning tour features thirty seven beautiful Alameda ...
Where: Cost: $10
Butterfly and Nature Activities for the Whole Family!Prospect Sierra Elementary School in El Cerrito will be a stop on this year's Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour. • Calling all children! They can participate in monarch butterfly crafts, color butterfly pages, take pictures (with you!) in the butterfly wings photo area, and go on the storywalk - a ...
Where: El CerritoCost: $15 donaton suggested
Native American Games and Nature Activities for the Whole Family!This year San Lorenzo HIgh School is again participating in the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour.  Bring your children to the school, where they can enjoy the East Bay Regional Park District’s Mobile Visitor Center, with its accompanying, engaging naturalist, play Native American games, do arts and crafts, pound ...
Where: San LorenzoCost: $15 donation suggested
TEDxPaloAltoSalon: Bending BoundariesTEDxPaloAlto will be bending boundaries. The Oshman Family JCC is a proud sponsor of TEDxPaloAlto and we're thrilled to invite you to this year's boundary-bending event!TEDxPaloAlto will re-imagine possibilities and explore the limits of human achievement. We'll be spending the day with some of the world's leading voices in technology, ...
