Saturday Cinema: Luminous Stories In recognition of Glow: Discover the Art of Light and in celebration of the holidays, these animations capture winter’s cool gleam and the heart’s warm glow.FeaturingThe Arctic by Wenting Zhu (2018, 3 min.) This film captures crystallization, revealing radiant growth patterns of different salts. It serves as a reminder of ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free with admission
Free Telescope ViewingsJoin Chabot astronomers on the Observatory Deck for a free telescope viewing! Weather permitting, this is a chance to explore stars, planets and more through Chabot’s historic telescopes. Chabot’s three large historic telescopes offer a unique way to experience the awe and wonder of the Universe. Our observatory deck offers ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free
Sunday, 12/12/21
Afternoon Hike at Mindego Hill - CANCELEDJoin Peninsula Open Space Trust for a beautiful 5-mile hike from the Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve to the top of the POST-protected Mindego Hill. You will be guided by POST ambassadors who will share details about how we protected this beautiful property featuring panoramic views of redwood ridges and ...
Where: Los AltosCost: Free
Monday, 12/13/21
Geminid Meteor Shower Watch Party - CANCELEDJoin us on our observation decks and be dazzled as we make our annual trip through the Geminids Meteor shower. The Geminids, named for the radiant or location where the shower appears to originate, is one of the best meteor showers to catch this year. The culprit and source of ...
Where: OaklandCost: $15 Adults, $7 Youth
Tuesday, 12/14/21
Preserve Stewardship: Why, How & What - LivestreamMichelle Cooper will talk about the critical role stewardship plays in maintaining healthy ecosystems. She will share briefly about the natural communities living on the Modini Preserve and the threats facing them. Her talk will focus on how stewardship helps mitigate the impacts of human caused disturbance resulting in wildfire, ...
Where: Cost: $15 General, $10 Members
Climate Change, Technology and Innovation: Views from Korea and Japan - LivestreamKorea and Japan are two of the most technologically advanced countries on the planet. In September 2021, the Korean National Assembly passed legislation mandating carbon neutrality by 2050, becoming the 14th country to legislate commitments to reduce carbon emissions. Earlier in May 2021, Japan’s parliament passed an amendment to Japan’s ...
The long-awaited launch of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, successor to Hubble, is finally here. This next generation space telescope is at the launch site in French Guiana and is expected to take off as early as December 22nd. With Webb, astronomers expect to see further, fainter, and with more ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free
Wednesday, 12/15/21
Solving Venus’ mysteries, three missions at a time - LivestreamAfter years of waiting, an armada of spacecraft are headed to Venus. In June, NASA approved not one, but two new missions named VERITAS and DAVINCI to our closest planetary neighbor and ESA quickly followed suit and approved its own mission called EnVision.Venus has been a forgotten planet for too ...
Where: Cost: Free
December Science on Tap: Deep Sea MiningAstrid Leitner, a researcher from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, will inform us of the future emerging industry of mining in the deep ocean. Demands for materials to build electronics are projected to increase, and thus it is crucial that deep sea mining be carried out sustainably.
It’s not just light we receive from the Universe. We receive cosmic particles on the Earth that have travelled enormous distances at incredibly high speeds. Some of these particles carry extreme energies, millions of times higher than we can achieve using man-made particle accelerators, like the Large Hadron Collider, here ...
Where: Cost: Free
Fascinating Mushroom Spores: Rules & Exceptions, Unknowns Galore - LivestreamIn this talk we’ll explore the world of mushroom spores - where they are formed, how they get into the environment and where they want to end up, whether there are any correlations between spore colour & ornamentation and habitat & nutritional mode (fungal life style). And we’ll make detours ...
 Started in 1900, Audubon's Christmas Bird Count is the largest and longest-running citizen science project in the world. Discover the history of the count locally and globally, what we've learned, and how this data has helped drive conservation efforts, including understanding how climate change is affecting birds.Speaker: Glenn Phillips, Golden ...
The warm glow of the projected image invites us to in-between worlds where imagination can roam and new perspectives on the world around us may emerge. Tonight, we celebrate visual storytelling - and the light that makes it possible. From early photographic experiments that led to the development of motion ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $19.95 General, Free for members
Virtual Telescope ViewingJoin our resident astronomers on Facebook Live and YouTube 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 available ...
Where: Cost: Free
Friday, 12/17/21
Planet Nine from Outer Space: A Status Update - LivestreamOver the course of the past two decades, observational surveys have unveiled the intricate orbital structure of the Kuiper Belt, a field of icy bodies orbiting the Sun beyond Neptune. In addition to a host of readily-predictable orbital behavior, the emerging census of trans-Neptunian objects appears to display dynamical phenomena ...
Where: Cost: Free
Free Telescope ViewingsJoin Chabot astronomers on the Observatory Deck for a free telescope viewing! Weather permitting, this is a chance to explore stars, planets and more through Chabot’s historic telescopes. Chabot’s three large historic telescopes offer a unique way to experience the awe and wonder of the Universe. Our observatory deck offers ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free
Saturday, 12/18/21
Passing the Baton from Hubble to Webb, A James Webb Telescope Launch PartyThe largest space telescope ever made is scheduled to launch soon! This new instrument will unveil invisible mysteries of the universe never before captured in infrared radiation from the early universe and the birth of stars to distant other worlds. Join us for an illuminating celebration with special activities, infrared ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free with admission
Free Telescope ViewingsJoin Chabot astronomers on the Observatory Deck for a free telescope viewing! Weather permitting, this is a chance to explore stars, planets and more through Chabot’s historic telescopes. Chabot’s three large historic telescopes offer a unique way to experience the awe and wonder of the Universe. Our observatory deck offers ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free
Tuesday, 12/21/21
Mushroom Dies - LivestreamMayumi Fujio has always enjoyed working with her hands to blend imagination into her creations. She loves learning traditional craft techniques - Ikebana, silver jewelry, ceramic art, sewing, color dying with mushroom, and knitting. Fiber art is a natural progression and botanical printing is bringing together all of the handicraft ...
The stars beckon. But humans evolved to survive on Earth, not to hurtle through space. For long-duration travel - interplanetary and, even, interstellar - what spacecraft accommodations are necessary? Is on-board human hibernation an option? Might we overcome the problems of space radiation and prolonged weightlessness? Finally, scientists may argue ...
Where: NovatoCost: Free
Thursday, 12/30/21
After Dark: See for YourselfSpark your curiosity at After Dark - as the Sun sets, we’ll hit the rainbow lights and open our doors, inviting you to take your imagination out to play. Fuel up with a cocktail and prepare to roam free through six spacious outdoor and indoor spaces. Bask in the light ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $19.95 General, Free for members
Monday, 01/03/22
Putting the ecological biogeography of vascular plants on the mapBarnabas Daru is an Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He received his PhD in Botany from the University of Johannesburg in South Africa in 2015. He then joined Harvard University in 2016 where he completed a postdoctoral fellowship on new uses of herbarium specimens for ecology and evolutionary ...
Kathy Hannun will tell the story of founding and growing Dandelion Energy, a startup focused on replacing fossil-fueled furnaces and boilers with home geothermal heating and cooling systems. Kathy started Dandelion as a project within Alphabet's X lab before spinning it out as a standalone startup. As Dandelion's CEO, Hannun ...
Rationality: What It Is, Why It Seems Scarce, Why It Matters - LivestreamToday humanity is reaching new heights of scientific understanding--and also appears to be losing its mind. How can a species that developed vaccines for Covid-19 in less than a year produce so much fake news, medical quackery, and conspiracy theorizing?Speaker: Steven Pinker, Harvard University
Foraging for fungi? Discover some fun facts about the beautiful, diverse, and curious fungus kingdom, including mushrooms, yeasts, and molds. Learn about the fungi that are most local to the Bay Area and how to identify species. And discover a few of the new uses inventive minds are finding for ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $19.95 General, Free for members
From the lowland forests of Madagascar to Easter Island’s coral reefs, Academy scientists described 70 new-to-science planet and animal species this year! Join us and hear from the researchers themselves as they teach us about their unique discoveries, as well as the importance of new species research and its role ...
Have a ball as we celebrate the new year and all things spherical! The night will include the return of the popular ‘The Sky Tonight’ Zeiss show in the planetarium led by the East Bay Astronomical Society, virtual reality experiences, juggling, music by DJ Brad and hands-on activities led by Chabot’s Galaxy Explorers. The night ...
Where: OaklandCost: $15 Adults, $10 Kids/Seniors, $5 Members
Free Telescope Viewings - CANCELEDJoin Chabot astronomers on the Observatory Deck for a free telescope viewing! Weather permitting, this is a chance to explore stars, planets and more through Chabot’s historic telescopes. Chabot’s three large historic telescopes offer a unique way to experience the awe and wonder of the Universe. Our observatory deck offers ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free
Saturday, 01/08/22
Free Telescope Viewings - CANCELEDJoin Chabot astronomers on the Observatory Deck for a free telescope viewing! Weather permitting, this is a chance to explore stars, planets and more through Chabot’s historic telescopes. Chabot’s three large historic telescopes offer a unique way to experience the awe and wonder of the Universe. Our observatory deck offers ...
Where: OaklandCost: Free
Sunday, 01/09/22
Point Reyes National Seashore Fungus Fair - CANCELEDJoin us for the 16th annual Point Reyes National Seashore Fungus Fair! Learn about the fungi of the Point Reyes National Seashore. See remarkable colors and shapes of wild mushrooms that were collected right in the park. The fair will also include a number of displays on post-fire fungi, the ...
Where: Point Reyes StationCost:
Afternoon Hike at Mindego Hill - FULLJoin Peninsula Open Space Trust for a beautiful 5-mile hike from the Russian Ridge Open Space Preserve to the top of the POST-protected Mindego Hill. You will be guided by POST ambassadors who will share details about how we protected this beautiful property featuring panoramic views of redwood ridges and ...
Where: Los AltosCost: Free
Engaging Elders in Climate Action - LivestreamSince 1989, with his bestseller The End of Nature, New York writer and climate visionary Bill McKibbenhas been at the forefront of inspiring climate action. In 2008, along with university students and friends, he co-founded 350.org, now a grassroots global network mobilizing millions of young people in the existential crisis of our ...
Quantized sound waves---phonons---govern the elastic response of crystalline materials, and also play an integral part in determining their thermodynamic properties and electrical response (e.g., by binding electrons into superconducting Cooper pairs). The physics of lattice phonons and elasticity is absent in simulators of quantum solids constructed of neutral atoms in ...
India has one of the most ambitious national plans for rooftop solar - 100 GW by 2023 - yet adoption by homes and small businesses remains slow due to broken customer experience and lack of awareness. Rooftop solar is expected to become ubiquitous in a few years in India, just ...
Where: Cost: Free
Changing migrations in a changing world: a big data perspectiveDr. Benjamin Van Doren studies the eco-evolutionary responses of migratory birds to environmental change. His research spans spatial and population scales and straddles ecology, evolution, behavior, and conservation. Dr. Van Doren earned a PhD in Zoology from Oxford University, and he has received achievement awards from the Linnean Society of ...
Biogeography is one of the most fascinating topics in all of natural history. The basic question is simple: Where do organisms live? But every subsequent question adds a new layer of complexity: Do they live there all the time? Why do they live there? Are there patterns that emerge when ...