Feeding Massive Galaxies in the Early Universe from the Cosmic WebGas accretion onto galaxies is perhaps the most fundamental process driving their evolution, supplyiing fuel for star formation, setting the angular momentum and size of disk galaxies, and driving turbulence and disk instabilities. Over the last two decades, a coherent picture has emerged whereby gas is accreted onto dark matter ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Leveraging Windows of Opportunity in Early Childhood and Adolescence for Systems-Level ChangeOur goals for this session aim at a translational bridge - from actionable insights into sensitive periods of learning, to strategies for improving practices, policies, and organizational systems that support children and adolescents. We describe a framework, some key principles, and promising approaches. We highlight the need for interdisciplinary teams, ...
In the past, models of human cognition attempted to capture principles of human cognition but they could not actually achieve human like levels of performance in a wide range of domains. For example, they could not recognize objects in images, learn to beat a good Chess player, or translate from ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
The Human Cost of Wildfires: Protecting Health in a Changing Climate - LivestreamAs recovery efforts continue in the wake of the Los Angeles-area wildfires, the need for clear, evidence-based guidance on protecting communities and people’s wellbeing has never been more urgent. Join leading experts in climate science, pediatrics, mental health, environmental health, and climate adaptation to explore wide-ranging short-term and long-term health ...
In this presentation, we explore how quasiparticles can be controlled and stabilized within 2-D solids by creating carefully designed atomic hetero structures. Quasiparticles give raise to phenomena such as excitons (bound states of electrons and holes), superconducting states, polaritons (hybrids of light and matter), as well as more exotic systems ...
My long-term research goal is to enable real robots to manipulate any kind of object so that they can perform many different tasks in a wide variety of application scenarios, such as in our homes, hospitals, warehouses, or factories. These tasks will require fine sensorimotor skills to, for example, use ...
Differential privacy is one of the most prominent definitions for privacy, being used not only in academic research but also in real-world applications such as Google’s next word prediction. The static data structures setting-where multiple queries must be answered in a differentially private manner over a static data set-is already ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Quantifying the physical genomeMy lab aims to understand how a 2 meter long object, the human genome, encodes for molecules which, through physical interaction with the genome itself, evince the immense cellular diversity we observe in the human body. I will discuss efforts to catalog regulatory elements and transcription factor grammars that are ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Resilience in ActionThe Berkeley Neuro-AI Resilience Center invites you to its inaugural event, hosted by center directors Professors Daniela Kaufer and Shafi Goldwasser. This evening will highlight the center’s mission to explore resilience as a unifying principle across neuroscience and computation. This event is co-hosted by the Simons Institute’s Research Pod on ...
Starting in undergraduate statistical physics, we study small systems that thermalize by exchanging quantities with large environments. The exchanged quantities - heat, particles, electric charge, etc. - are conserved globally, and the thermalization helps define time’s arrow. If quantum, the quantities are represented by Hermitian operators. We often assume implicitly ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Bitcoin+: Blockchain Architectures, Stablecoins, & Its Transformative PotentialBlockchain technology, widely recognized as the backbone of Bitcoin, has emerged as a revolutionary force poised to redefine industries far beyond cryptocurrencies. This talk delves into the foundational architectural features that distinguish blockchain from traditional technologies, including distributed ledger systems, cryptographic hashing, and consensus algorithms. These components enable blockchain’s unparalleled ...
Racial and ethnic diversity in the geosciences continues to be exceptionally low relative to other STEM fields. These demographics have not shifted over the past 40 years even as gender representation has improved and despite sustained attempts to achieve diversity. These results reflect a need to significantly alter institutional and cultural systems and ...
The concept of attractors, well-known in classical mechanics, proved very productive in the theory of black holes and inflationary cosmology. I will start with attractors in supersymmetric black holes and discuss how the discovery of Kaluza-Klein black hole attractors helped recently to explain the mysterious cancellation of ultraviolet divergences in ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
Towards predictive protein separations: Imaging protein dynamics at nanoscale interfacesRecent efforts by our group and others have shown the promise of applying single-molecule methods to link mechanistic detail about protein adsorption to macroscale observables. When we study one molecule at a time, we eliminate ensemble averaging, thereby accessing underlying heterogeneity. However, we must develop new methods to increase information ...
Water has always been the heart of California, providing essential habitat for both waterbirds and people. After the Gold Rush, California experienced rapid and widespread destruction and modification of natural hydrological ecosystems and wetlands. This included the rapid conversion of Delta wetlands to peat farmland, development of many North Bay ...
Where: Cost: Free
Euclid: Mapping the Geometry of the Dark Universe - LivestreamEuclid is a new European Space Agency space telescope with NASA contributions designed to provide new insights into the nature of dark matter and why the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate. The term “dark energy” has been given to refer to the unknown cause of this accelerated expansion. ...
Where: Cost: Free
Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary - Discoveries and Surprises - LivestreamChad King, Research Ecologist at the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary, will treat us to his many years exploring the Sanctuary. We will celebrate ocean protection with Chad as he leads us into the deep sea and shares his observations and discoveries, covering flora and fauna, including human impact on ...
Where: Cost: $10 donation suggested
Thinking in Planetary TimeDisrupting traditional western understandings of time that separate human history from natural history, Planetary Temporality recognizes that these two modes of history are now inseparable, and that meeting planetary challenges will require that we go beyond our lived experience of time, to think instead in terms of our deep-time embeddedness ...
Insufficient sleep dramatically changes how we feel and think, about ourselves and about others. Even a single night of sleep loss elevates levels of anxiety, depression, and asocial behavior in healthy adults. If sleep loss is chronic, this association can develop into a clinical mental disorder. Since 40% of adults ...
Oceanography remains vastly underrepresented in science communication. Take the example of a college freshman who might register for an oceanography class expecting to learn about sharks and whales, only to encounter topics like the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). While such subjects may seem less captivating, the key to effective ...
Where: Cost: Free
Engineering Real-Time Sensors and Sustainable Materials for a Healthier PlanetWe currently face rising global temperatures, dwindling natural resources, and increasing threats to human and ecological health. To help meet these challenges, my research group engineers biomolecules and microorganisms for real-time bioelectronic sensing and sustainable materials synthesis. We draw inspiration from how proteins and microorganisms transfer electrons to their environments ...
Decarbonizing the industrial sector to mitigate climate change is challenging: not only must multiple processes within existing coupled production systems be transformed, but changing technology and production geography will have consequences for workers, the local environment, and community health. Focusing on the iron and steel industry in the United States ...
Where: StanfordCost: Free
A Philosophy of Planetary Computation: From Antikythera to Synthetic IntelligenceThe Antikythera mechanism, sometimes called the “first computer,” was more than a calculator; it was also an astronomical device. Thus the birth of computation is in the orienting of intelligence to its planetary condition. From Climate Science to Synthetic Biology, this remains the case.As computation becomes planetary infrastructure, its myriad ...
NASA’s VIPER lunar-rover is being planned as humanity’s first resource mapping mission on another celestial body. The Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) will go to the South Pole of the Moon to get a close-up view of the locations that can sustain water ice - ice that could eventually ...
Where: Los Altos HillsCost: Free
Restoring Wetlands for Climate Resilience - LivestreamJoin us for an informative webinar with Ecological Engineer, Christina Toms, and Senior Water Resources Specialist, Judy Nam to discuss how wetland restoration helps communities adapt to climate change. Discover how these efforts enhance community well-being and foster climate resilience. Explore actionable ways to contribute and make a meaningful impact.Register ...
What are those amazing auroras we’ve been seeing around here in recent years? Laura Peticolas earned her B.A. in mathematics and physics at the University of Oregon Honors College and her Ph.D. in physics studying the aurora at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. She then spent 3 years as a ...
Where: San RafaelCost: Free
Thursday, 01/30/25
SETI Live: Automated Discovery of Anomalous FeaturesOver the past decade, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has captured thousands of high-resolution images of the Moon's surface - far more than humans can manually review. To tackle this challenge, scientists have developed an automated system that quickly identifies scientifically significant images from the LRO data, making it the ...
In this talk, Karan Bhuwalka will discuss how a game theory modeling approach to firms’ decision-making can lead to environmental outcomes significantly different from those predicted by system optimization. Karan will present results from a model of four mining companies making production decisions, to show how competitive behavior can lead ...
This talk will examine how technology can amplify deliberative democracy to foster a more informed and engaged society. Drawing on findings from two nationally representative online Deliberative Polls called America in One Room, the talk will demonstrate how online deliberation is alleviating polarization and producing lasting effects with hopes for a ...
Earthquakes occur when faults slip. While the most devastating earthquakes are of tectonic origin, human activities have been associated with the triggering of earthquakes that have caused substantial economic damage and societal concern. The demonstration that fluid injection can cause earthquakes dates back to the 1970s (Raleigh et al., Science ...
In many markets, protecting participants’ privacy comes into tension with economic and social objectives. We outline a framework for comparing the privacy of different protocols used to implement market rules and carry out computations. Protocols produce a set of contextual privacy violations - information learned about participants that may be ...
Where: BerkeleyCost: Free
Shaping Public Health Amidst Political Change - LivestreamThis session features Gina Daly, Director of Federal Government Relations at UC Berkeley and Eve Granatosky, Principal at Lewis and Burke Associates. Our guests will be giving a brief presentation, moderated by Frederick Smith, Assistant Dean for Students on the incoming Trump administration and how it may affect public health.Register ...
Where: Cost: Free
Adaptation Incentives in a Risky World: Lessons from Los Angeles - LivestreamIn this fireside chat, the Stanford Sustainable Finance Initiative (SFI) is delighted to host Matthew Kahn, Provost Professor of Economics at the University of Southern California and Visiting Fellow at the Hoover Institution, in conversation with Marc Roston, SFI Senior Research Scholar, as they discuss Adaptation Incentives in a Risky ...
Where: Cost: Free
Innovative Women in Climate & TechAn evening with women entrepreneurs, funders, and founders to discuss innovation and opportunities to create change.Discussion panel followed by networking and light refreshments.Moderator: Sri Kurniawan, Professor of Computational Media, Baskin School of EngineeringPanelistsMartina Doleshal, Entrepreneur, ESG and Sustainability LeaderKim Kolt, General Partner at Bay Bridge Ventures and Founder of For ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free
Female Founders in Healthtech: A Panel DiscussionJoin us for an engaging and insightful panel of mid-stage Female Founders in HealthTech, hosted by Female Founders Edge in collaboration with the Berkeley Haas Alumni Department. Hear from accomplished founders about their journeys, challenges, and successes in driving innovation in healthtech.What to Expect:Gain valuable insights from healthtech founders innovating ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $20 General, $15 UC Berkeley Alum
Science on Tap: Fungus Among UsJoin us for a special night featuring fungus with local mycologists and mushroom experts! Fungi and mushrooms are still shrouded in mystery, and it often seems that the more we learn the more questions we have. Neither straight plants or animals, living in colonies and completely alone, able to provide ...
Where: Pacific GroveCost: $25 General, $15 Members, Students free with ID
Every year around the world, dozens of universities, civil space agencies, and nonprofit organizations plan crucial space missions focused on exploration, science, and education objectives, and then they struggle to get the funding needed to turn their dreams into reality. Ironically, at the same time, there are hundreds of family ...
Where: Mountain ViewCost: Free
Silicon Valley Reads 2025 - Empowering Humanity: Technology for a Better WorldJoin us for a thought-provoking conversation about technology and humanity with Silicon Valley Read’s featured authors Charlee Dyroff (Loneliness & Company), Dr. Fei-Fei Li (The Worlds I See: Curiosity, Exploration, and Discovery at the Dawn of AI), and Ray Nayler (The Mountain in the Sea).Attendees are invited to come early ...
Rapidly changing ocean conditions are resulting in changes in marine species and across entire ecosystems that, in turn, affect communities and individuals who rely on these resources for their livelihoods, culture, and sustenance. Marine social science, an emerging field that embraces diverse methods to understand human??"ocean relationships, is increasingly called ...
Photonic research has a distinguished legacy beginning with the invention of the semiconductor laser diode 63 years ago that has enabled countless applications entrenched into modern society. Today we still mostly rely on Gaussian modes emitted from semiconductor lasers with often the objective of reducing the number of lasing modes. ...
Fungus Fair at Presidio Tunnel TopsJoin us outside the Field Station at Presidio Tunnel Tops for the Parks Conservancy Fungus Fair to explore the weird and wonderful world of fungus! Learn the process of how mushrooms grow, how to identify them in the wild, and what ecologists have been learning about fungus in the park. ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: Free
First Saturday: Free Tour of the Santa Cruz ArboretumAround the World in 60-90 Minutes!On the first Saturday of each month, the Arboretum offers a docent or staff-led tour of the Arboretum.Sometimes you will see New Zealand, South Africa, California, and Australia. Sometimes you might see combinations of several gardens or the developing World Conifer Collection or Rare Fruit ...
Where: Santa CruzCost: Free with admission, and for members
Sunday, 02/02/25
Native Seed Ball WorkshopLet's make native wildflower seed balls! Seed balls (or "seed bombs") are an easy and fun way to distribute seeds. We'll use native wildflowers such as California poppies because they support a variety of local pollinators such as bumblebees and butterflies.First we'll do a short walk around the Butterfly Garden, ...
Where: AlvisoCost: 0
Hidden Brain: An Evening with Shankar VedantamAre there parts of our minds that are hidden from us? This question launched the Hidden Brain podcast ten years ago. Since then, the program has helped millions of listeners accomplish their goals, improve their relationships, and develop a deeper understanding of their emotions.Now, host and creator Shankar Vedantam brings ...
Where: San FranciscoCost: $58.50 - $78.50 (including fees).
