Midday Science Cafe: Adapting to Change: The Future of California’s Water-Energy Nexus - LivestreamWater and energy, two intricately connected systems, are critical to California’s future as we face increasing urbanization and climate change. In this Midday Science Cafe, we’ll hear from two researchers studying the connection between water and energy, or the “water-energy nexusâ€. We’ll learn from Julia Szinai about the implications of ...
Where: Cost: Free
Converging Threats, Cascading Health Risks: Climate Change, Food Security, and Migration - LivestreamClimate change is anticipated to unleash unprecedented threats to global food security and to drive the largest wave of human migration in history. This session will evaluate the intersection of climate change with the social determinants of health, emphasizing the compounding connections between a warming climate, food and water security, ...
Where: Cost: Free
LASER: Pulled Apart: Re-engineering and Re-purposing Human Civilization - LivestreamThe Thacher Gallery at University of San Francisco is having an art exhibition titled "Pulled Apart" (March 1 - April 25, 2021), for which the exhibiting artists (Terry Berlier, Adam Chin, Gail Wight, Carrie Hott, Cynthia Hooper) were invited to explore the intersection of art and engineering. These artists ...
This presentation will discuss how audio recording is used for conservation and research with examples ranging from the use of portable recording systems in tropical bird conservation, autonomous recorders for detection and monitoring, automated playback systems for reintroduction, and will also touch on related issues such as the ethics of playback. ...
Where: Cost: Free
After Dark Online: Listening to the EnvironmentExplore the intersections of art and science through the practice of individual artists weaving science, technology, and methods of discovery. We'll hear from artists who tune into the sounds of the natural world, with a particular interest in broadcasting the impacts of climate change on our aural environment. From interpreting climate ...
Where: Cost: Free
NightSchool: Illustrating Science - LivestreamScience has always relied on the skilled work of illustrators to help people better explain the world around them. Learn about the history of scientific illustration from the 1500s to today, and how visual artists have helped further our understanding of unseeable phenomena, microscopic organisms, and ecosystems we can’t travel ...
Where: Cost: Free
Friday, 04/16/21
Coded Bias - Online Screening of New Documentary On How AI Can Perpetuate Class, Race and Gender InequitiesCHM is delighted to offer a special complimentary online screening of the award-winning new documentary film, Coded Bias, available for viewing on-demand any time between April 16-19. The screenings are a companion to the CHM Live expert panel discussion, Is AI Racist?See weblink for additional information and to register
When Isaac Newton established the laws of motion in 1687, he created a foundation of understanding that still guides physicists to scientific discoveries today. As studies evolve, scientists get closer to understanding the deepest mysteries of space and time. Once physicists can successfully combine theories of relativity and quantum mechanics, ...
Most meteorites are remnant pieces of planetesimals, the first 1- to 1000-km planetary bodies to form in the solar system. Meteorites are divided into two principal groupings: chondrites (unmelted accretional aggregates) and achondrites (products of planetary melting). This division has commonly been interpreted as evidence that planetesimals either never melted ...
Where: Cost: Free
Keeping the Water On: Addressing the Water Affordability Crisis in the Wake of COVID-19 - LivestreamThe affordability of drinking water was already a problem before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the resulting economic crisis has only served to accelerate and deepen the plight for California residents. The state issued a temporary moratorium on water shutoffs in April 2020 that protected customers unable to pay their bills, ...
Where: Cost: Free
Lick Observatory Back On Sky: 2020 Wildfire Recovery - LivestreamThe 2020 wildfire season saw an unprecedented series of lightning strikes sparking fires across the Bay Area. Located on Mount Hamilton, outside of San Jose, Lick Observatory was directly threatened by these fires and, for the first time in its history, was forced to evacuate. In this talk I'll discuss ...
Where: Cost: Free
Saturday, 04/17/21
Climate Change, The Top 10 things you Should Know in San Francisco- LivestreamCyndy Comerford, Climate Program Manager at the San Francisco Department of the Environment provides a presentation on how climate change will affect our local communities, especially the most vulnerable, and the solutions available to address these near and long-term impacts. This presentation explores the top five impacts climate change will have ...
Where: Cost: Free
Searching for the Darkest Galaxies: Ultra-Faint Dwarfs as Dark Matter Laboratories - LivestreamHow small is the faintest galaxy in the Universe, and what is the nature of the dark matter particle? These seemingly unrelated questions are brought together by so-called "ultra-faint" dwarf galaxies (UFDs). The smallest UFDs contain as few as hundreds of stars and are the most dark matter-dominated systems in ...
Black holes are among the most remarkable predictions of Einstein's theory of gravity: so much material is compressed into such a small volume that nothing, not even light, can escape. Black holes have also captured the public imagination, and are commonly featured in popular culture, from Star Trek to Hollywood ...
Join our resident astronomers on Facebook Live every Saturday evening live from Chabot’s Observation deck!Each week, our astronomers will guide us through spectacular night sky viewing through Nellie, Chabot‘s most powerful telescope. Weather permitting we will be able to view objects live through the telescopes and our astronomers will be ...
'Secrets of the Whales' - Exclusive Virtual World PremiereMembers of the ACS San Francisco Bay Chapter community are cordially invited to the EXCLUSIVE VIRTUAL WORLD PREMIERE of National Geographic’s Four-Part Special, “SECRETS OF THE WHALESâ€! You can be among the first to see this extraordinary four-part documentary!Narrated by Sigourney Weaver (Alien, Avatar, Gorillas in the Mist), “SECRETS OF ...
Where: Cost: Free
Monday, 04/19/21
Improving neural network based equations solvers - LivestreamNeural Networks (NNs) have ushered in new methods of constructing solution approximations to complex mathematical equations. However, especially in the context of Differential Equations (DEs), such approximations are often reliant on external methods/solutions to reliably estimate the errors associated with them. This occurs because cost functions are seldom explicitly dependent ...
Where: Cost: Free
Dipolar excitonic insulator in atomic double layers - LivestreamThe excitonic insulator (EI) is a charge insulating state that arises from the spontaneous formation of bound electron-hole pairs (excitons). It presents an interesting platform for realizing quantum many-body ground states of bosons in solids, such as condensate and superfluid. Although the concept has been known for sixty years, to ...
I present a new measurement of the positive muon anomalous magnetic moment a_μ=(g_μ-2)/2 from the Fermilab E989 experiment.  The quantity a_μ is an exquisite probe of the quantum corrections of the muon interaction with the electromagnetic field. The experiment is a follow up of the BNL E821 experiment, which saw ...
Affordable, reliable, ever-cleaner energy is essential to achieve a more prosperous and sustainable world. Reducing the carbon intensity of the energy that billions of people rely on every day is a tremendous opportunity to advance the global net zero ambitions of the Paris Agreement. At Chevron, we use our unique ...
Measuring your ingredients: topological phases for quantum computing - LivestreamTopological quantum computing relies on qubits encoded in quantum states that are exponentially protected from local perturbations. One method for realizing such protected states is a practical recipe for topological superconductivity: hybrid superconductor-semiconductor nanowires in finite magnetic fields. In this talk I will describe experimental methods for identifying and manipulating ...
Where: Cost: Free
Continuity: Discovering the Lessons behind the World’s Longest-lived Organizations - LivestreamOne of Long Now’s founding premises is that humanity’s most significant challenges require long-term solutions, including institutions that caretake and guide the knowledge and commitment needed to work over long time scales.However, there are a limited number of organizations that have managed to stay stable over many centuries, and in ...
Where: Cost: Free
Virology 101What ARE viruses? Join us for a virtual talk by Columbia University professor Dr. Vincent Racaniello, who will explain what viruses are and how they work, followed by a wide-ranging discussion on the COVID-19 pandemic. He will cover the origins of the virus, the disease, how it is diagnosed, and ...
Where: Cost: Free
Tuesday, 04/20/21
Is Artificial Intelligence Racist? - LivestreamAre AI technologies racist, by design, in their data collection, or through the optimization of their functions? Are uses of AI technology racist by application or outcome? Is there racism in the AI community of makers, companies, and funders? Is it possible that AI be used for anti-racist outcomes? This ...
Where: Cost: Free
Being with Bears - Livestream“Being with Bears†will focus on Meghan Walla-Murphy’s work with the North Bay Bear Collaborative. She will outline the goals, research methods and findings of their research as well as share how to help bears thrive in the North Bay and how humans can live among bears safely.
Where: Cost: $15
Hubble Telescope Spacecraft - LivestreamThe Hubble Space Telescope was the first of NASA's great observatories in space. It was launched in 1990 and has provided an unbelievable amount of scientific data for over 30 years. This presentation will focus on the Lockheed portion of the Hubble through launch and then show some of the ...
Join us for this after-school program as we explore the beautiful and fascinating world of flowers--a plant part specially designed for its pollinator friends. We'll look at flowers from around the world, dive into the different flower parts, and discover a myriad of pollinating animals, from bees and butterflies to ...
Speaker: Jill Marshall, University of ArkansasThis event was originally scheduled for February 16, 2021.Zoom information can be found on the EPS advising Google calendar
Where: Cost: Free
The NANOGrav 12.5-Year Data Set: Knocking at the Gravitational Wave Door - LivestreamMillisecond pulsars are rapidly rotating neutron stars with phenomenal rotational stability. The NANOGrav collaboration monitors an array of about 80 of these cosmic clocks in order to detect perturbations due to gravitational waves at nanohertz frequencies. These gravitational waves will most likely result from an ensemble of supermassive black hole binaries. Their ...
Where: Cost: Free
Two Talks: Popping the Science BubbleElephant seals: Are they nature’s SCUBA divers?Speaker: Kaitlin Allen (Integrative Biology)A day in the life of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (green algae)Speaker: Valle Ojeda (QB3 - California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences)See weblink for connection information
Fire has been a major driving force in the ecology of California's landscapes since prehistoric times. In addition to 'natural' fires, indigenous people used extensive intentional burning practices to produce more favorable landscapes for human habitation.But the frequency and intensity of fires has dramatically increased across the American west in ...
High-throughput sequencing of targeted “barcode†loci in DNA extracted from marine environmental samples such as water and sediments has recently exploded in popularity due to the ability to generate a taxonomic community profile that usually surpasses what is obtainable from using traditional monitoring methods in terms of biodiversity and detection ...
Where: Cost: Free
SETI Talks: Going Dark: The Mystery of Vanishing Stars - LivestreamComparing a 70-year-old survey with recent images of the night sky, astronomers have discovered that 100 stars may have gone dark. Those vanishing light sources could be short-lived flashes in the night or possibly, the disappearance of a long-lasting star.  These preliminary findings almost certainly represent natural and well-understood events, but ...
How do scientists go from OMG to PhD? How do they turn their passion for science into their profession? What advice do they have for future scientists?If you are a 5th-12th grade student, undergraduate, teacher or parent, join us to ask these questions and more in a Q&A session with ...
Arsenic contamination of groundwater continues to threaten access to safe drinking water for California’s most vulnerable small, socioeconomically disadvantaged communities. How does this disparity persist in California, the wealthiest state in the US and one of the world’s largest economies? In this talk, I will first introduce challenges to safe ...
In The Alchemy of Us, scientist and author Ainissa Ramirez examines eight inventions - clocks, steel rails, copper communication cables, photographic film, light bulbs, hard disks, scientific labware, and silicon chips - and reveals how they shaped the human experience.Ramirez shows not only how materials were shaped by inventors but ...
Where: Cost: Free
Lessons and Opportunities in Large Scale Networks and Smart Health Application - LivestreamData science and statistical/machine learning techniques can be leveraged to tackle various predictive and decision control problems in a wide range of application domains. This talk will focus on two domains: (1) large-scale networked systems such as IP backbone or wireless cellular networks, and (2) smart health applications. The first ...
The Dragonfly mission to Titan is under construction and scheduled to launch in 2027. Titan is the largest Moon of Saturn and has a rich organic chemistry with lakes of liquid methane and ethane on its surface. The goals of the Dragonfly include the search for life. Could life exist ...
In honor of Earth Day, Garden Curator Holly Forbes will shine a light on the various ways the Garden is involved in native California flora conservation efforts. The Garden holds one of the largest collections in the world of California native plant species, including over 200 taxa on rare or ...
Extreme fire behavior has been observed frequently during recent wildfires in the Western US, yet there is still limited understanding of the role of plume dynamics on fire spread. The Rapid Deployments to Wildfires Experiment (RaDFIRE) was the first coordinated meteorological field campaign dedicated to observing fire-atmosphere interactions during large ...
Bats are often misunderstood and feared by people, but they are amazing animals and are incredibly important to the ecosystem and to us humans. Join us to learn about these flying mammals and how they are vital to agriculture. Bats eat the insects that affect our crops and spread disease.This ...
The pandemic has raised significant issues of concern for a democratic society, including that of balancing personal freedom against the greater good. How should this issue be most appropriately addressed during a time of pandemic or national emergency? How well is America actually equipped to handle this kind of crisis ...
Where: Cost: $10 General, Free for Members.
The past, present, and future of DNA-based forensics - LivestreamNew technologies are being brought to bear in criminal justice. The existence of community databases of DNA information have enabled a new approach, forensic genetic genealogy, for identifying suspects in violent crimes. New technologies for recovering and analyzing DNA from forensic samples brings forensic genetic genealogy to bear for even ...
Where: Cost: Free
Hardcore Natural History: Marine Algae as Ocean Record Keepers - LivestreamJoin us as we speak to Dr. Emily Miller a research technician in the Monterey Bay Aquarium/Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) Incubator Initiative program with the Environmental Sample Processor (ESP) team. Emilly Miller will talk about how the team based at the Monterey Bay Aquarium used older algae specimens ...
At this After Dark, hear from and celebrate voices at the forefront of the environmental justice movement. Founded in 1970 by activist groups, Earth Day is an annual, global event to raise awareness about our natural environment, the threats posed by a changing climate, and the actions we can take ...
Where: Cost: Free
Intro to Computer Vision: Building Object Detection Models and Datasets - LivestreamJoin this hands-on workshop to get started with computer vision and object detection.Build your own object detection model from start to finish. Includes step-by-step instructions on data annotation and model training with your own dataset.Object classification and localization within an image is foundational to many computer vision applications.In this workshop ...
Where: Cost: Free
NightSchool: Earth Day for the People - LivestreamWe know that it’s important to take care of the entire planet, but this Earth Day, we’re focusing on projects at the zip code level. Get inspired by people and organizations radically changing both the health of the environment and their communities - through sustainable development, environmental justice, citizen science, ...
Wonderfest Science Envoys are early-career researchers with special communication skills and aspirations. Following short talks on provocative modern science topics, these two Science Envoys will answer questions with insight and enthusiasm:UC Berkeley psychologist Rebecca Corona on The Many Faces of Awe - Awe is unlike any other emotion. It possesses ...
Where: Cost: Free
Friday, 04/23/21
DNA Day at UC Santa Cruz - LivestreamAttend our annual celebration to learn how UCSC is revealing life’s code. This event features distinguished scientific speakers on leading edge genomics science; research presentations by UCSC undergraduate genomics scholars; and a student-led strawberry DNA extraction demonstration. Join in the discussion and Q&A.Selected talks will be made available in Spanish.Speakers ...
Where: Cost: Free
Eggs, Tadpoles, to Frogs: Monitoring Frogs in the Golden Gate National Parks - LivestreamLearn about the common and uncommon frogs you will see in the Golden Gate National Parks. Hear the story about the California Red Legged Frog and the work the Golden Gate National Parks is doing to reintroduce and monitor this threatened frog population in the park.Price Sheppy from the Parks ...
Both Ganymede and Callisto, Jupiter’s two largest moons, host numerous impact craters and basins on their ice shells. Although it is not yet possible to directly probe them, the wide ranges of impact crater sizes provide a possible avenue through which we can begin to understand the internal structures of ...
Where: Cost: Free
'Saving the Dark' Movie and Panel Discussion - Livestream"Saving The Dark" is a Documentary Movie on Astronomy and Light Pollution. It is about the significance of Astronomy and the night skies, effects of Light Pollution on Astronomy, human health, wildlife and beyond, what we can do to fight it. The movie will show what the people in cities are missing out ...
Prepare for time-travel during this prehistoric Science Saturday, when we'll set our sights on the age of the dinosaurs. This event will feature fossils, footprints, and more as we learn what made the dinosaurs so successful, and also what led to their extinction.See weblink for connection information
Where: Pacific GroveCost: Free
Reducing our Footprint with Chemistry - LivestreamOur virtual event on April 24th will be a fun-filled learning event. Several hands-on demonstrations, short lectures and explanations of activities will keep it exciting, engaging and informative. One of these activities will involve plant smells (flower, leaves, barks etc.), guessing the smells, and building models of molecules behind these ...
Where: Cost: Free
Observing the Sky: (Some) Astronomical Innovation From Then to Now - PART 2 - LivestreamFor more than 2000 years, innovative people have applied their ideas and insights into observing the universe. Unknown thousands of years ago, visual observers named sets of stars from the patterns they saw, sometimes using myths or animals, real or imagined, in their environments for the names. This became a ...
Where: Cost: Free
Current Understanding and Recent Work on Cosmology, Galaxy Formation - LivestreamThe modern standard cosmology ΛCDM describes almost perfectly the cosmic microwave background observations, but the resulting expansion rate of the universe (the Hubble parameter) is in serious disagreement with local measurements. This Hubble tension can be resolved by a brief episode of dark energy contributing about 10% of cosmic energy ...
Join our resident astronomers on Facebook Live every Saturday evening live from Chabot’s Observation deck!Each week, our astronomers will guide us through spectacular night sky viewing through Nellie, Chabot‘s most powerful telescope. Weather permitting we will be able to view objects live through the telescopes and our astronomers will be ...
Where: Cost: Free
Sunday, 04/25/21
Bringing Back the Natives Virtual Garden TourIn a series of live garden visits passionate garden owners and the talented designers of the Bay Area’s most beautiful and inspiring landscapes will show us what’s happening in the garden now, feature their favorite natives, describe their great native plant gardening resources, and more.Check the weblink for the agenda ...
Benchmark Mineral Intelligence offers market price and data assessments for lithium, graphite, cobalt and nickel - the foundation of a lithium ion battery, which in turn is the foundation of the energy storage revolution. Simon Moores will discuss his work at Benchmark.Speaker: Simon Moores, Benchmark Mineral Intelligence
An issue that has been debated for decades is whether there are gendered differences in communication styles and, if so, whether these differences can perpetuate power imbalances between people with different gender identities. If the answer to these questions is yes, then many have argued that those with less power ...
Where: Cost: Free
Non-abelian bosonization in two and three spatial dimensions and applications - LivestreamIn this talk, we generalize Witten's non-abelian bosonization in (1+1)-D to two and three spatial dimensions. Our theory applies to fermions with relativistic dispersion. The bosonized theories are non-linear sigma models with level-1 Wess-Zumino-Witten terms. We apply the bosonization results to the SU(2) gauge theory of the $pi$-flux phase, critical ...
Supercomputer performance now exceeds that of the earliest computers by thirteen orders of magnitude, yet science still needs more than they provide. Prior to 1990, supercomputers were powered by one, or a few, sequential or vector processors. But since 1990, almost all the increased machine performance has been provided by a ...
Benchmark Mineral Intelligence offers market price and data assessments for lithium, graphite, cobalt and nickel - the foundation of a lithium ion battery, which in turn is the foundation of the energy storage revolution. Simon Moores will discuss his work at Benchmark.Speaker: Simon Moores, Benchmark Mineral IntelligenceEditor's Note: This seminar ...
Where: Cost: Free
Using Quantum Sensors to Search for Dark Matter - LivestreamAstronomical observations (such as galaxy rotation speeds and gravitational lensing) are the primary evidence for the existence of Dark Matter (DM). DM makes up ~80% of all matter in the universe, is effectively invisible to the electromagnetic force, and interacts at the very least via the gravitational force. Theorists have ...
Where: Cost: Free
Atoms Interlinked by Light: Programmable Interactions and Emergent GeometryThe power of quantum information lies in its capacity to be non-local, encoded in correlations among entangled particles. Yet our ability to produce, understand, and exploit such correlations is hampered by the fact that the interactions between particles are ordinarily local. I will report on experiments in which we use ...
In 2017, Dr. Shanna Swan published an internationally acclaimed landmark study that sparked great concern about declining human fertility. Join us as this award-winning scientist and reproductive epidemiologist outlines steps individuals and society can take to prevent further impairment by everyday chemicals, which she says are severely impacting our reproductive ...
Where: Cost: $10 General, Free for Members.
'Beauty and the Beast: California Wildflowers and Climate Change' - LivestreamClimate change and other human impacts on the environment are threatening wildflowers and the life that depends on them. In this special and timely work, conservation photographers Rob Badger and Nita Winter give us a spectacular view of California’s extraordinary wildflowers as both a cause for celebration and protection. Beauty ...
Robot ethicist Kate Darling offers a nuanced and smart take on our relationships to robots and the increasing presence they will have in our lives. From a social, legal, and ethical perspective, she shows that our current ways of thinking don’t leave room for the robot technology that is soon ...
Birgitta Whaley’s current research interests focus broadly on quantum information and quantum computation, control and simulation of complex quantum systems, and quantum effects in biological systems. Quantum information processing employs superposition, entanglement, and probabilistic measurement to encode and manipulate information in very different ways from the classical information processing underlying ...
Where: Cost: Free
Scientific espionage, open exchange, and American competitiveness - LivestreamAmid rapidly escalating tension between the United States and China, professors, scientists, and students of Chinese ethnic origin as well as those engaging in academic collaborations with China are under heightened scrutiny by the federal government. In 2015, Xiaoxing Xi, Laura H. Carnell Professor of Physics at Temple University, became ...
Where: Cost: Free
Basic Science Lights the Way: Rising Stars of Berkeley Mathematical and Physical Sciences - LivestreamFrom the search for Earth-like planets to seeking knowledge of past climates on Earth, Berkeley’s early-career faculty in the physical sciences push the boundaries of basic research and teaching in their fields. Hear from professors in four MPS departments about how their work lights the way.This talk features Courtney Dressing, ...
Where: Cost: Free
Gray Whale Populations: The Eastern/Western Paradox - LivestreamJoin ACS San Francisco Bay Chapter for a fascinating evening of insights into gray whale biology and ecology. After being driven to the brink of extinction by commercial whaling, the eastern North Pacific population has made a remarkable recovery. They remain subject to threats including, but not limited to, lack ...
Where: Cost: Free
Near-Earth Asteroids, The Impact Hazard, and Space Missions - LivestreamNear-Earth asteroids (NEAs) are small solar system bodies in orbits that come near or cross the orbit of Earth. I will review NEAs as unique physical worlds, as potential impact hazards to Earth, and as accessible destinations for spacecraft. Michael W. Busch, PhD, is a planetary astronomer and research scientist at the SETI Institute. ...
Each year, more than half the coho salmon that return to spawn in Puget Sound’s urban streams die suddenly when exposed to stormwater that has flushed through highways and city streets. A team of researchers has identified a single contaminant, 6PPD-quinone, as the cause of this mass poisoning. This chemical ...
For thousands of years, people have wondered, “Are there planets like Earth?†“Are such planets common?†“Do any have signs of life?â€Today astronomers are poised to answer these ancient questions, having recently found thousands of planets that orbit nearby Sun-like stars, called “exoplanetsâ€.Professor Sara Seager, one of the world’s leading ...
How do scientists go from OMG to PhD? How do they turn their passion for science into their profession? What advice do they have for future scientists?If you are a 5th-12th grade student, undergraduate, teacher or parent, join us to ask these questions and more in a Q&A session with ...
Where: Cost: Free
Does California need more options for forest or blue carbon offsets? - LivestreamGovernments, universities, oil companies, and businesses of all sorts pledge to achieve “net zero†greenhouse-gas emissions by buying offset credits based on conservation of forests or farm soils, or carbon sequestration by waters and wetlands: so-called natural climate solutions. Offsets are meant to compensate for damage caused by emissions from ...
There is a well-recognized partisan and ideological polarization on environmental issues in the United States. This talk will discuss what is known (and what is not) about the origins and development of that phenomenon between 1945 and 1981, examined against the background of the postwar decades’ intra-party ideological conflict, national ...
In this talk, Dr. Levin will help us understand, and find delight in, black holes - perhaps the most opaque theoretical construct ever imagined by physicists. She will take us on an exploratory tour of the neighborhood of a black hole, and help us feel the visceral experience of encountering ...
Join our virtual event featuring an international panel of renowned research scientists to learn all about vaccines for COVID-19 and other deadly infections. Our panel will discuss how effective COVID-19 vaccines have been developed so quickly, and highlight the remarkable achievements of other vaccination programmes from the past century.See weblink ...
Where: Cost: Free
Using Genetic Engineering to Combat Invasive Species - LivestreamRecently developed tools for Precise Genome Engineering have ushered in a number of novel proof-of-concept technologies for pest control. Termed ‘genetic biocontrol’, these approaches allow researchers to essentially convert the pest organism into a pesticide. Released genetically engineered biocontrol agents would spread deleterious genes into the pest population, leading to ...
Where: Cost: Free
A Brief Introduction to Applying Machine Learning to InvestingApplying machine learning to longer-term investing comes with specific difficulties. In this talk, we discuss a number of these issues to be aware of, such as:Signal-to-noise ratios are lowMarkets are continuously evolvingThe number of independent observations is lower than you might thinkPredictability does not guarantee profitability in real-world portfolios.While these ...
Where: Cost: Free!
City Nature Challenge Launch with One Tam - LivestreamIf you are curious about the world around you and want to connect with others, consider joining the fun on iNaturalist in preparation for City Nature Challenge 2021 (April 30- May 9).iNaturalist is an online platform to record, identify, and organize nature findings, meet other nature enthusiasts, and learn about ...
Astrobotany 101 - LivestreamNow, more than ever, humans are exploring the possibility of growing plants outside of Earth's atmosphere. Come learn about the fascinating field of astrobotany from UC Botanical Garden's own Director, Dr. Lew Feldman. Before taking on the directorship of the Garden, Professor Feldman spent 40 years on the Berkeley faculty, ...
Where: Cost: Free
SETI LIVE: The Library of the Great Silence and the Fermi Paradox - LivestreamSeth Shostak will be in conversation with the SETI Institute’s Artist in Residence member Jonathon Keats about his Library of the Great Silence. Keats is a widely recognized experimental philosopher, artist, curator and writer.The Library of the Great Silence is an installation art project that addresses one of the implications of ...
Where: Cost: Free
Making Waves: Protecting Nature and Culture in Micronesia - LivestreamClimate change threatens the very existence of many small island nations. Sea-level rise, weather extremes and coral reef destruction caused by warming waters have driven untold destruction and outmigration, with some communities fleeing - literally - to higher ground.Fighting for their collective survival, three small Pacific Island nations and two ...
Now that nearly 40 million people have had DNA tests, we've reached a tipping point. Virtually all Americans are affected - tested or not - and millions have been impacted by significant revelations in their immediate families. Libby Copeland's new book, The Lost Family: How DNA Testing Is Upending Who ...
Where: Cost: Free
After Dark Online: Forever ChemicalsBuilding resilient communities requires us to look at complex interactions between the built and natural environments we inhabit and our vulnerabilities within them. But what should we know about less visible barriers to resilience? Certain chemicals found in everyday products we use and wear have impacts on our bodies, and ...
Where: Cost: Free
NightSchool: Geology & Society - LivestreamExplore the vast field of geology and how the ground beneath our feet affects our lives - and vice versa. Hear from researchers studying how human activities impact the Earth’s structure and consider how geologic features are linked to the culture of local communities.EVENT HIGHLIGHTSDr. Hendratta Ali, Professor of Geoscience ...
Progressive localization of deformation is a basic mechanical process that produces simultaneously reduced strength and increasing strain in a deforming rock volume. The localization framework describes the progressive evolution of deformation from distributed failures in a rock volume to localized shear zones, culminating in generation of primary slip zones and ...
Where: Cost: Free
Saturday, 05/01/21
The Wonderful World of Indoor Houseplants - LivestreamHouseplants can bring us joy and a sense of calmness in our homes, and provide other benefits too! As many of us continue to spend more time at home during this extended COVID period, our appreciation of our beautiful potted companions has increased. This informative, fun, and engaging workshop presented ...
Join our resident astronomers on Facebook Live every Saturday evening live from Chabot’s Observation deck!Each week, our astronomers will guide us through spectacular night sky viewing through Nellie, Chabot‘s most powerful telescope. Weather permitting we will be able to view objects live through the telescopes and our astronomers will be ...
Where: Cost: Free
Sunday, 05/02/21
Bringing Back the Natives Virtual Garden TourIn a series of live garden visits passionate garden owners and the talented designers of the Bay Area’s most beautiful and inspiring landscapes will show us what’s happening in the garden now, feature their favorite natives, describe their great native plant gardening resources, and more.Check the weblink for the agenda ...
Where: Cost: Free
San Bruno Mountain: Rare Plants & Rare GeologyOur speaker Dr. David Nelson is an orthopedic hand surgeon and a botanist on the weekends. He has just finished a book titled The Natural History of the San Bruno Mountains which will be released in Fall 2022.San Bruno Mountain is located between Highways 101 & 280 in northern San Mateo County, ...
Where: Cost: Free
Monday, 05/03/21
Imaging quantum spin liquid behavior in single-layer 1T-TaSe2 - LivestreamQuantum spin liquids (QSLs) are a novel state of matter predicted to arise in quantum antiferromagnets where magnetic frustration or quantum fluctuations are strong enough to prevent magnetically ordered states even down to the lowest temperatures. QSLs are believed to exist in strongly correlated Mott insulators, and are thus related ...
Why do falling cats always land on their feet? The question has long intrigued humans. In this talk, we explore how the solution stumped brilliant minds and how it helped solve other seemingly impossible puzzles. With numerous photos and videos, physicist and cat parent Greg Gbur explores how attempts to ...
Where: Cost: Free
Programmable light-matter interactions: DNA as a tool for nanophotonics - LivestreamLight can be created, scattered, and confined by nanoparticles whose dimensions are smaller than the wavelength of light. A nanoparticle's interaction with light is often strongly tuned by its size and shape, providing an exciting opportunity to control the fate of photons with extraordinary precision. However, harnessing this potential is ...
Recent years have seen unprecedented motivation for the emergence of new energy technologies. Global dependence on fossil fuels, however, will persist until alternate technologies can compete economically. We must develop means to produce energy (or energy carriers) from renewable sources and then convert them to work as efficiently and cleanly ...
Financial interests distort the truths of evidence-based medicine, says Dr. Leemon B. McHenry. By revealing previously confidential documents released in litigation, Dr. McHenry exposes the role that pharmaceutical marketing has in the construction of medical literature, conference presentations and continuing medical education. The marketing spin is designed to be indistinguishable ...
For nearly four decades, satellites showed Antarctic sea ice had been slowly expanding in horizontal extent. Over the same period Arctic sea ice extent decreased rapidly, by nearly half the extent seen in the first images from modern satellite sensors. The decline in Arctic sea ice extent is roughly proportional ...
“Life is a process, not a substance, and it is necessarily temporary. We are not the reason for the existence of the universe, but our ability for self-awareness and reflection makes us special within it.†― Sean CarrollSean Carroll is a Research Professor of theoretical physics at the California Institute ...
How do scientists go from OMG to PhD? How do they turn their passion for science into their profession? What advice do they have for future scientists?If you are a 5th-12th grade student, undergraduate, teacher or parent, join us to ask these questions and more in a Q&A session with ...
A New Force of Nature at the Large Hadron Colider - LivestreamAt the end of March 2021, scientists working on the LHCb experiment at CERN in Geneva reported an unusual discrepancy in their data that caused huge excitement in the physics community and beyond. They looked at a decade of information about how unstable particles called B mesons decayed into electrons ...
Where: Cost: Donations encouraged
A New Theory of Adversarial Examples in Machine Learning - LivestreamThe extreme fragility of deep neural networks when presented with tiny perturbations in their inputs was independently discovered by several research groups in 2013. Due to their mysterious properties and major security implications, these adversarial examples had been studied extensively over the last eight years, but in spite of enormous ...
Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Clathrate Hydrates - LivestreamClathrate hydrates are ice-like inclusion compounds in which space-filling water cages encapsulate different molecular substances. Dr. Saman Alavi studies clathrate hydrate materials using molecular dynamics simulations. In this talk, an introduction to these substances will be given with examples of how molecular dynamics simulations can give insights into details of ...
  The Frank Drake Award of the non-profit SETI Institute celebrates outstanding contributions to the scientific study of the origin, nature, and prevalence of life in the universe, and for work on techniques for the discovery of the existence of such life. (Past winners have included Nobel Laureate Charles Townes, and ...
Where: OnlineCost:
Micromitigation: Fighting Air Pollution with Activated Carbon - LivestreamWe would like to invite new members to join Counter Culture Labs' Micromitigation Meetup alternate Thursdays. We will be discussing ways to deploy existing adsorption technology using commodity granulated activated carbon for the mitigation of air pollution. We welcome those interested in both the environmental justice and technical engineering aspects of ...
Where: Cost: Free
NightSchool: Extreme Life - LivestreamYou know the saying: “Life finds a way.†Meet the world’s most poisonous bird, tiny thermophiles, and other living organisms that have adapted - and thrive - through extreme measures and in extreme environments.
As an old adage (mistakenly attributed to Confucius) notes, it’s difficult to find a black cat in a dark room, especially when there is no cat. Conspiracy theories have long been prevalent in the United States, but today they seem to be especially popular - from politics to popular culture ...
Planet 9 or Planet Nein? Discoveries in the Outer Solar System - LivestreamThere have been many headlines about the possibility of an undiscovered giant planet in the outer reaches of our Solar System. But is it real? Dr. Sam Lawler will lead you through the wilds of the distant Kuiper Belt with a surprisingly digestible (we promise!) discussion of orbital dynamics and ...
A sphere cluster (SPH-Mas) based gravity model allows a semi-analytic expression of the linearised equations around irregular-shaped celestial bodies Equilibrium Points (EPs) and an easy method for searching families of periodic orbits around them. The SPH-Mas model can retrieve the same dynamical objects of the shape model when the spheres ...
Where: Cost: Free
Virtual Talk: Through the Looking Glass at Aloes in WonderlandCome take a virtual tour of this well-known Santa Barbara garden’s namesake, the aloes! Though his life’s botanical passion has been the cycads, the name “Aloes in Wonderland†came to him in a dream some 15 years ago and changed the course of the gardens focus. Jeff will share some ...
The Mentoring Physical Oceanography Women to Increase Retention (MPOWIR) program was initiated in 2005 to address a systematic deficit in retention of women physical oceanographers at higher career levels compared to their representation at the PhD level. The program has focused on community and discipline-based mentoring. The principal elements of ...
Join our resident astronomers on Facebook Live every Saturday evening live from Chabot’s Observation deck!Each week, our astronomers will guide us through spectacular night sky viewing through Nellie, Chabot‘s most powerful telescope. Weather permitting we will be able to view objects live through the telescopes and our astronomers will be ...
Where: Cost: Free
Monday, 05/10/21
Light and Dark. A Story of the Cosmos - LivestreamLight is the main observable in cosmology, but most of what we "see" with this light is how the dark universe behaves. We will explore how the light from millions of distant galaxies are used to shed light on the nature of dark matter and dark energy.Speaker: Marika AsgariRegister at ...
There has never been more interest and anxiety about the effects of media - addiction, wellbeing, relationships, politics, finances, work changes, and more. Parents, pediatricians and policy makers are eager for better data about the effects of technology, but it has been a challenge for scientists to accommodate. The major ...
Supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies power some of the brightest objects we see in the Universe; active galactic nuclei (AGN). Much remains unknown, however, about exactly how energy is released from the material falling in through the accretion disk, and from the black hole itself, to power ...
Where: Cost: Free
Meeting the Goals of SB 100 - LivestreamCalifornia's Senate Bill (SB) 100 established a landmark policy requiring renewable energy and zero-carbon resources supply 100 percent of electric retail sales to end-use customers by 2045. This seminar will share the results of a recent study on the paths to achieving the goals of SB 100.Register at weblink to ...
Where: Cost: Free
Slugs and Steins: A Century of Paradigm Shifts in our Understanding of the Universe - LivestreamThe past century has witnessed the birth of our modern view of the large scale universe as well as an astonishing list of startling changes or paradigm shifts in our understanding. The rate of new discoveries seems to be accelerating with time. This talk will take us from the contributions ...
We’ll hear from Sabrina Pakzad: “SOFIA: NASA’s Flying Infrared Observatory†and from Dr. Saptarshi Bandyopadhyay: “The Lunar Crater Radio Telescope on the Far Side of the Moonâ€. In addition, we will host interactive astronomically-themed pub trivia.See weblink for YouTube link.
Artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly critical to develop innovative, competitive, and differentiated medical businesses and products. However, each such project bears the risk of costly failures, due to lack of proper vision, guidance, and data strategy. Furthermore, deployed AI solutions always contain a degree of human and societal biases that ...
Cycles are hard to break. Once you get into the habit of eating badly, not exercising, or procrastinating, finding purpose and success can seem like an insurmountable goal. No matter how many books you read, podcasts you listen to, or YouTube how-to videos you watch, you're still not where you ...
Many landscapes are mantled with thin soils that overlie meters to tens of meters of weathered bedrock. This transition zone between soil and bedrock can be a vital water supply to vegetation and can control rates of groundwater recharge. This weathered rock may also regulate carbon cycling through the action ...
Dr. Mandë Holford will talk about how her research bridges from mollusks to medicine, combining chemistry and biology to discover, characterize, and deliver novel peptides from venomous marine snails for manipulating cellular physiology in pain and cancer. Her laboratory investigates the power of venom to transform organisms and to transform ...
Where: Cost: Free
Wednesday, 05/12/21
Amazon's Rise as a Global Empire - LivestreamCan you imagine life without Amazon? The company has changed the way we shop, invented products like Alexa, and disrupted industries, while its workforce has quintupled in size and its valuation has soared to well over a trillion dollars. Jeff Bezos’s empire, once housed in a garage, now spans the ...
After the successful February 18th landing of the Perseverance rover on Mars, Exploratorium scientist Isabel Hawkins and host Ron Hipschman catch up with our plucky Martian companion and tell you all about what's happening on the red planet. Where has Perseverance been? What has it found? Where is it going? Tune in ...
Where: Cost: Free
The Science Behind Catching Criminals and Cheats: Benford’s Law - LivestreamWhat do the IRS, election fraud, great music, Russian bots, deep fakes, and volcanoes have in common? The answer: Benford’s Law. But if you’re like us, you a) didn’t know this and b) don’t understand what this Law is all about. Not to worry because we’ve got you covered. Or ...
How do scientists go from OMG to PhD? How do they turn their passion for science into their profession? What advice do they have for future scientists?If you are a 5th-12th grade student, undergraduate, teacher or parent, join us to ask these questions and more in a Q&A session with ...
Labside Chats: A Conversation with a Scientist, featuring Stephanie Brodie, Ph.D. - LivestreamTune in for the next Labside Chat with Stephanie Brodie, project scientist at UC Santa Cruz and researcher with the Fisheries Collaborative Program. Learn why scientists track marine predators in the ocean and how this helps protect endangered species such as whales and sea turtles.Join the conversation! Submit your questions ...
Join author Enrique Salmón for a presentation on his recent book "IwÃgara: The Kinship of Plants and People". In this book he explores 150 plants of key importance to American Indians. Enrique Salmón reveals how the plants were traditionally used, why they were used that way, what their health and ...
Where: Cost: Free
SETI LIVE: The End of Everything - LivestreamTake a look around. Everything you see, from this blue and green planet we live on to the stars and distant fuzzy galaxies in the sky, began with the Big Bang and, over billions of years, found its way to the shapes and forms they have now. But what is ...
Where: Cost: Free
After Dark Online: Sustainable EnergyExplore technologies designed to harness renewable energy sources and lower the carbon footprint of energy use through building and transportation design. The first week of May, the vessel Energy Observer will be docked next to our Platinum LEED-Certified campus on Pier 15. This high-tech French sailboat is the first self-sufficient, ...
Explore the tropical rainforests of the world with a session dedicated to these iconic and important ecosystems, which are home to nearly half of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity and play a critical role in global weather. Learn how scientists are studying rainforest health - and get a bonus behind-the-scenes look ...
The anti-vaccine movement has broadened in scope over the past year, using arguments of “medical freedom†to bring in COVID-19 deniers and anti-maskers into the fold. Concerningly, the movement has also grown more politically polarized, as those who believe COVID is a hoax and masks don’t work tend to lean ...
