Science in the Cabinet with the SciSchmooze 1.18.21
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SciSchmooze Weekly Events Newsletter
Greetings Science Acceptors!
I have to say that I'm having a hard time deciding what to write about this weekend. I'm not sure about you but it has been difficult to avoid doom scrolling. So let me share a bit of great news for a change. In a couple of days we will have a new president. His challenges are many and staggering to think about. I am really encouraged by many things but this is great… Finally there will be a Presidential Science Advisor in the Cabinet. I try not to dwell on or bring it up too much but science and politics are inseparable. Most of the important decisions a government must make rely at some level on science to inform the decision. It's time our governments throughout the country, dare I say world, embrace science and how it makes most things better. I would suggest that disinformation about science is at the root of most of the biggest challenges we face.
Another challenge we face is the challenge of believing what we see. It is pretty well known that we may not see and remember what we see that well. This gets to be a bigger challenge thanks to some new technology applications. I think you might want to consider Wonderfest: Cognitive Science of Deepfake Detection this coming Wednesday @ 7:30. This will be a great way to shelter in place and still celebrate the new president.
It seems like we may actually be on the brink of getting "The Covid" under control and maybe starting to look towards a life that looks something like it did a year ago. Here's yet another link that I think is a good general resource. Coronavirus dashboard The rolling out of vaccines has been a bit rough but hopefully things will pick up quickly. In case you missed it last week, please check out After Dark Online: Vaccines. We are lucky to have so many great resources right in the SF Bay Area. The need to stand up for science based medicine has never been more important. I have heard that a lot of medical professionals as well as lay people (and a few readers) are refusing to be vaccinated against covid… Note to doubters: Vaccines Are the Safest Medical Procedure We Have. Make Your Wager Wisely
Another bit of the shiny inside of a cloud is that we now can catch a bunch of presentations from all over the planet. Of course we focus on the wealth of opportunity we have here in the SF Bay Area.
Wed @ 3:00 brings A Healthy Society Series: Communicating Science (in a Science-Skeptical World) - Livestream
Thu @ 10:00 brings Vision 2022: Climate & Clean Air Zoomposium #3
Thu @ 7:00 brings 'Human Nature' Film Screening and Conversation: Early Screening Special
In case you missed Aliens in Outer Space you now have a chance to learn more cool astronomy from Professor Andrew Fraknoi while you attend A Mini-course on Black Holes for People over 50. It starts on Jan 28. I'm always glad to hear good things going on when one of the worst days in science happened 35 years before. We need to celebrate science.
A day on Earth is now shorter than 24 hours. Don't worry about that though. There are a lot of astronomical events that are easier to see… Astronomy Calendar of Celestial Events for Calendar Year 2021-2030
As always there are things happening that most of us miss… Jan 24th Peanut Butter Day and there's a ton of science behind them. Going Nuts over NIST’s Standard Reference Peanut Butter (SRM 2387 - Peanut Butter)
Many of us procrastinate too much. Since I'm particularly good at this, I'm happy to remind you that Valentine's Day is coming. I suggest that you prepare for it with a bit of Biomeditation. If that has inspired you, I suggest a bit more research on anglerfish. In these times of isolation you may feel alone. Some folks are working on Finding The Most Identical Strangers (Thanks Sam!)
Just a brief note that I missed mentioning last week. I started the Science Schmooze sometime in the past, I can't really say when. It was a pretty shoddy little project I had started for some friends. I'm sure that I would have quit a long time ago except for some friends who jumped in to make it a lot better. I want to thank Leonard Tramiel and Kishore Hari for their behind the scenes support. Bob Siederer is the one who really took it to where it is now. He is also the brute force behind the scenes every week maintaining the calendar as well as writing once a month. I want to make sure that you all know he is the one who makes it all possible. David Almandsmith and Minu Prabhune round out the team. When you see a SciSchmooze from any of them be sure to let them know how much they help celebrate science here in the SF Bay Area. (We actually have subscribers on every continent except Antarctica!)
So now it's time to go and learn something cool, interesting, or fun.
herb masters
"Our nation has been frayed, if not torn apart. A key component of our repair will be a renewed belief that there is a truth — one based not on ideology or opinion, but on data and science. "This vaccine is our generation’s call. Let’s answer the call. Let’s get two million fellow Americans off this beach. Life is so rich" " Scott Galloway
Upcoming Events:
Click to see the next two weeks of events in your browser.
Monday, 01/18/2021
Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service Virtual Bioblitz Launch - 01/18/2021 10:00 AM
Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy,
Be part of this special edition of MLK Jr. Day of Service and discover how you can become a community scientist and contribute to parks and beyond!
Come learn more about how community science is a movement to empower everyone to participate in building better knowledge to care for the world around us. Gain insight into community science projects throughout the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and find out how you can participate from your own home and neighborhood.
This program will provide an introduction to iNaturalist, including observation, identification, and annotation to get ready for the Golden Gate National Parks MLK Day of Service Virtual Bioblitz. We will send you off with information about the amazing animals, plants, and fungi that you can observe in the parks and near your home this time of year. We will also cover tricks for smartphone nature photography, attracting nature to your home, engaging young naturalists, and have some thought-provoking discussion of natural history in our cities and community sciences in our lives.
Join us and get ready to see the world around you in an entirely different way!
Register for the Zoom details.
Tuesday, 01/19/2021
This Moment in Climate with Michael Mann and Leah Stokes - Livestream - 01/19/2021 12:00 PM
Commonwealth Club - Online Event,
Climate change was a leading issue for more voters in 2020 than any other election year. With a promising new pro-science, pro-climate action administration coming in 2021, there are more pathways - and far greater political will - than ever before to transition to a clean energy economy.
Now, the question is less about what can be done to act on climate, and more about how soon. How quickly can a new administration turn around a gutted EPA, myriad environmental law rollbacks, and a legacy of climate denial from fossil fuel companies? What are the key tools and actions the Biden administration can take to address the urgency of the climate crisis?
Join us for a conversation on climate breaking through in 2021 with Michael Mann, director of the Earth System Science Center at Pennsylvania State University and author of The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet, and Leah Stokes, assistant professor of political science at UC Santa Barbara and author of Short Circuiting Policy: Interest Groups and the Battle Over Clean Energy and Climate Policy in the American States.
Register at weblink to receive connection information
The role of the Southern Ocean in glacial/interglacial CO2 change - Livestream - 01/19/2021 03:30 PM
UC Santa Cruz,
In the effort to identify the cause of the lower atmospheric concentration of CO2 during ice ages, the potential impact of the Southern Ocean, the circumpolar ocean around Antarctica, has long been recognized. I will describe an increasing body of nitrogen isotope evidence - from the organic matter bou nd within sedimentary microfossils - that both the (higher latitude) Antarctic and (lower latitude) Subantarctic Zones of the Southern Ocean played roles in lowering the atmospheric concentration of CO2 during the ice ages. In the Subantarctic, the data indicate dust-driven iron fertilization of phytoplankton during the peak ice age conditions, which enhanced the flux of organic carbon out of the surface ocean. In the ice age Antarctic, the exchange of water between the surface and subsurface was apparently reduced, a state that I summarize here as “isolation” of the Antarctic surface; this could have stanched the leak of biologically derived, deeply stored CO2 that occurs there today. As to the physical cause, a range of observations point to weakening of westerly wind-driven Antarctic upwelling. Moreover, new high-resolution nitrogen isotope records suggest orbital controls on the upwelling that can explain important aspects of glacial/interglacial CO2 change, such as the lag of CO2 behind climate at the initiation of the last ice age and the gradual rise in CO2 over the Holocene.
Speaker: Danny Sigman, Princeton University
See weblink for Zoom information
NOVA 'Secrets in Our DNA' Screening & Panel Discussion - Livestream - 01/19/2021 04:00 PM
Computer History Museum,
Some 30 million Americans have sent their DNA to be analyzed by companies like 23andMe and AncestryDNA, hoping to obtain clues to family origins and forecasts of their future health. Some users have found family members and discovered lurking genetic risks. But what happens once the sample is in the hands of testing companies? What are they looking at and how accurate are their results? What is the promise and peril of personal DNA?
NOVA explores the power of this information and the unintended consequences that can arise from sharing our data with these rapidly growing online databases. DNA results that offer estimates of health risks can be misleading, and the discovery of intimate family secrets can tear relationships apart. Meanwhile, law enforcement is increasingly turning to the DNA-sharing website GEDmatch as an extraordinarily powerful tool for cracking cold cases, as demonstrated by the 2018 arrest of California’s notorious Golden State Killer after 42 years at large. NOVA Secrets in our DNA - produced by Menlo Park, California-based Kikim Media - premieres Wednesday, January 13, 2021 at 9 p.m. ET / 8C on PBS.
Join us for virtual screening of a selection of clips from the film paired with a panel discussion featuring leading experts in the science and business behind personal genetic testing.
Register at weblink to receive connection information.
Two Talks: Popping the Science Bubble - 01/19/2021 05:30 PM
Berkeley Public Library,
Effect of Moisture Content and Fuel type on Emissions
Speaker: Priya Garg, UC Berkeley
Sweat It Out - What can molecules in sweat tell us about our health?
Speaker: Mallika Bariya, UC Berkeley
See weblink for Zoom or Facebook links.
An Evening Cruise into the Virgo Cluster - Livestream - 01/19/2021 07:00 PM
Chabot Space and Science Center,
In 2020, we took a cruise to the center of the Milky Way. In 2021, we leave the comfort of our home galaxy and head to the Times Square of the Universe - the Virgo Cluster. Along the way, we will visit a whole zoo of different galaxies, the biggest star factory in the cosmos and nature’s answer to the Death Star.
Speaker: Dr. Simon Steel, SETI
See weblink for Facebook Live and YouTube links.
Exploring the Unknown: Cryptic Mushroom Diversity in Your Backyard - Livestream - 01/19/2021 07:00 PM
Mycological Society of San Francisco,
California has an extremely diverse 'mycoflora', with over 4,000 species of macro fungi documented. Modern taxonomical tools have shown that this is just the tip of the iceberg. This talk will highlight some of the recent discoveries, and how you can help move mycology forward.
Speaker: Noah Siegel
COVID-19 Mutations & YOU - Livestream - 01/19/2021 07:00 PM
UC Santa Cruz,
Santa Cruz Works will conduct a Town Hall wherein a distinguished panel of experts will answer all of your questions about the new COVID-19 mutation. You learn what UCSC and our community leaders are doing to test and combat the virus.
Register at weblink to receive connection information.
Wednesday, 01/20/2021
A Healthy Society Series: Communicating Science (in a Science-Skeptical World) - Livestream - 01/20/2021 03:00 PM
Commonwealth Club - Online Event,
As a driver of global health, prosperity and planetary sustainability, science pervades all realms of human activity. The COVID pandemic of the past year and the prospect of its eventual resolution have put science (and scientists) at the forefront of an international cultural conversation. Yet communicating facts and credible research is a tricky task in a world awash in social media, anti-scientific agendas, political forces and biases of every kind.
Speakers: Jeremy Abbate, "Scientific American"; Melinda Wenner Moyer, New York University and "Scientific American"
Register at weblink to receive connection information
Full-Spectrum Science: LASERS! - Livestream - 01/20/2021 04:00 PM
ExplOratorium,
Join Exploratorium scientist Ron Hipschman for colorful explorations of the physical world - in this case, lasers! Find out what's special about laser light, how it's made, and how it's used in everything from Blu-ray to eye surgery to fusion energy research.
See weblink for YouTube and Facebook Live links.
Multi-Electron and -Proton Chemistry: from Biology to Solar Fuels - Livestream - 01/20/2021 06:00 PM
California Section American Chemical Society,
Small molecule transformations, such as CO2 or N2 reduction, in biology and solar fuels chemistry require multi-electron and multi-proton reaction sequences. The goal of synthetically realizing these reaction types provides a rich landscape for exploring new ideas in the design, synthesis, and characterization of inorganic and organometallic molecules. This talk will explore the molecular space where conjugated organic molecules and metal-metal bonded clusters provide electronic structures with delocalized frontier molecular orbitals. Just like in heterogeneous materials, these molecules have low kinetic barriers for electron and proton transfer reaction chemistry that enable transformations such as low potential ET, concerted ET, PT pathways and fast PT. These processes can be characterized using the powerful characterization tools of molecular chemistry to obtain new insights into reaction mechanisms and electronic structures.
Speaker: Louise Berben, UC Davis
Register at weblink to receive connection information.
Efficiently Protecting Software Innovations on a Global Scale - Livestream - 01/20/2021 07:00 PM
SF Bay Association of Computing Machinery,
To be competitive, software companies often employ designers and developers in different locations and countries to implement and update different versions of software. With this increasing workforce in other countries, software company competition can also stem from other countries, and c an provide different flavors of a software product to different markets. To adapt to this developing global stage of software development, competition, and implementation, software companies should use diverse and efficient strategies to protect their innovations both where and when the protection is appropriate and makes business sense.
This presentation coves strategies for efficiently protecting software innovations, both individual and families or related innovations, in the US and foreign countries. Efficient methods for protecting an innovation in different countries, from different perspectives, and utilizing trade secret and patent protection will be discussed. Real life examples will be discussed to demonstrate how to implement decisions to maximize innovation protection in a manner that aligns with the goals and budget of a company.
Speaker: Steve Bachmann, Bachmann Law Group
See weblink for connection to YouTube.
SETI Talks: Birth of the New Giant Telescopes - Livestream - 01/20/2021 07:00 PM
SETI Institute,
The Arecibo Telescope may have tragically collapsed last year, but it doesn’t mean the end of the era of giants in astronomy. Giant ground-based telescopes currently being built will get their first light this decade. The Extremely Large Telescope (ELT), the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) and the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) are revolutionary telescopes that will transform humanity’s view and understanding of the universe. They will provide new observational opportunities in nearly every field of astronomy and astrophysics. These new instruments will observe in wavelengths ranging from the near-ultraviolet to the mid-infrared, allowing astronomers to address fundamental questions ranging from understanding star and planet formation to unraveling the history of galaxies and the development of large-scale structures in the universe.
We invited two astronomers whose careers are strongly related to two of these telescopes to discuss their potential and the status of these projects. Rebecca Bernstein is the Chief Scientist for GMT, a next-generation extremely large telescope with seven segmented mirrors that will be 25.4 meters in diameter, making its resolving power more than ten times that of the Hubble Space Telescope. Christophe Dumas is the Observatory Scientist and Head of Operations at the TMT. With its 30 m prime mirror diameter, TMT will be three times as wide, with nine times more area, than the largest currently existing visible-light telescope in the world. Both giant telescope that will allow us to see deeper into space and observe cosmic objects with unprecedented sensitivity.
These scientists will discuss the need for large telescopes in today’s modern astronomy, the challenge of building these telescopes and their enclosures, which are rotating buildings, twenty-two-stories tall, and the and instruments for them, which are the size of a European flat. This conversation will include a description of the international consortium’s role in providing political and financial support for the projects. They will also tell us what to expect from these giants and when they will be ready to open their eyes and observe the cosmos.
Register at weblink to receive connection information
Wonderfest: Cognitive Science of Deepfake Detection - Livestream - 01/20/2021 07:30 PM
Wonderfest,
Computer vision systems are now capable of surpassing the performance of human experts in fields like radiology and dermatology. Can they also help us discern real videos from deepfakes - videos manipulated by artificial intelligence? This presentation will provide an overview of the state-of-the-art machine-learning models for detecting deepfakes. It will also present evidence that reveals how most people are more accurate at spotting deepfakes than the best machine-learning models. We will examine results of a recent experiment suggesting that humanity's specialized ability for recognizing faces lies at the heart of our superior performance.
Speaker: Matthew Groh, MIT Media Lab
See weblink for connection information
Mapping the Missing Matter in Our Universe - Livestream - 01/20/2021 07:30 PM
San Francisco Amateur Astronomers,
Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) are mysterious events that were discovered only in the last decade by astronomers. They last a few milliseconds at most but are extremely bright sources of radio waves. They are so bright that we can spot them from distant galaxies. Although we are not fully certain how they are produced, we already have some ideas about how we can use them to study the universe.
According to simulations, matter in the universe is distributed along filamentous structures which make up the "cosmic web". Unfortunately, most of this matter is fully ionized and therefore invisible to optical telescopes. This is where FRBs come in. Just like a prism dispersing the individual colors of sunlight, the ionized matter disperses FRBs and the amount of dispersion depends on how much matter is between the source and the Earth.
In our most recent work, we have tried to leverage the observed dispersion of FRB 19068, an event detected by the Australian Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder, to study the matter between us the source. Augmenting it with data from the Sloan Digital S ky Survey and our own optical observations, we showed that it is possible to map out the ionized matter to a considerable extent. Our study represents a proof of concept and we expect astronomers to routinely use similar but more refined techniques to make inferences of the cosmic web.
Speaker: Sunil Simha, UC Santa Cruz
See weblink for instructions on how to attend.
Thursday, 01/21/2021
Vision 2022: Climate & Clean Air Zoomposium #3 - 01/21/2021 10:00 AM
SF Planning + Urban Research Assoc. (SPUR),
Over the past several months, SPUR and Move LA have convened a series of panels laying the foundation for a statewide ballot measure that would generate the funding necessary to accelerate the deployment of climate change-abating transportation, infrastructure and other technologies. In October, we heard from elected officials, environmental luminaries and environmental justice advocates that it is both possible and imperative to build an economy that is both sustainable and equitable. In December, air quality leaders from around the state agreed that a vast overhaul of the transportation sector is needed to achieve California's vital climate and air quality goals.
This January, we’ll focus on the role of, and solutions to, short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs), powerful climate forcers that remain in the atmosphere for significantly less time than carbon dioxide, yet cause significantly more damage. A direct result of human development, these pollutants include methane emitted by livestock production, black carbon produced by fossil fuel combustion and hydrofluorocarbons used in aerosols and refrigeration. The impact of SLCPs is clear, but so are the solutions. Join us to hear more about the steps that California must take to eliminate these pollutants a nd move our state sustainably forward.
Register at weblink to receive connection information.
Avoiding the Pitfalls of Selection Bias - Livestream - 01/21/2021 10:00 AM
Berkeley Institute for Data Science,
Selection bias occurs when the method by which a statistical sample is obtained prevents the sample from accurately representing the population about which one wishes to draw inferences. As straightforward as the issue may seem, selection bias is among the most pernicious perils of statistical inference. In this lecture, Dr. Carl T. Bergstrom will discuss some of the many ways that selection bias and related phenomena, from right censoring to the “Will Rogers effect,” can arise in medical research and beyond. He will draw from a range of examples, including recent studies on COVID-19. The session will feature interactive audience questions and answers, using the chat function of the live Zoom session.
Speaker: Carl Bergstrom, University of Washington
Register at weblink to recieve Zoom information
Biometrics and the Surveillance State - Livestream - 01/21/2021 03:00 PM
Commonwealth Club - Online Event,
Journalist Annie Jacobsen is well known for her best sellers The Pentagon's Brain, Area 51 and Operation Paperclip. In her latest book, First Platoon, she investigates "warfare, good and evil in the age of biometrics, the technology that would allow the government to identify anyone, anywhere, at any time." Come for a discussion about the Pentagon's abilities to utilize iris scans, fingerprint scans, voice patterning, detection by odor, gait, and more to track human patterns, as well as the ethical questions raised by what Ms. Jacobsen calls "a burgeoning surveillance state."
This is a story that starts off close and goes very big. The initial part of the story might sound familiar at first: It is about a platoon of mostly 19-year-old boys sent to Afghanistan, and an experience that ends abruptly in catastrophe. Their part of the story folds into the next: Inexorably linked to those soldiers and never comprehensively reported before is the U.S. Department of Defense’s quest to build the world’s most powerful biometrics database, with the power to identify, monitor, catalogue, and police people all over the world.
Based on hundreds of formerly classified documents, FOIA requests, and exclusive interviews, First Platoon is an investigative exposé by a master chronicler of government secrets. Jacobsen reveals a post 9/11 Pentagon whose identification machine s have grown more capable than the humans who must make sense of them. She says it's a Pentagon so powerful it can cover up its own internal mistakes in pursuit of endless wars; and people are at its mercy, in the last moments before a fundamental change so complete it might be impossible to take back.
Speaker: Annie Jacobsen, Journalist
Register at weblink to receive connection information
How Do You Feel: Molecular and Cellular Mechanisms of Itch, Touch, and Pain - Livestream - 01/21/2021 05:00 PM
Cafe Scientifique Silicon Valley,
Humans rely on the sensations of itch, touch, and pain for a broad range of essential behaviors. For example, acute pain acts as a warning signal that alerts us to noxious mechanical, chemical, and thermal stimuli, which are potentially tissue damaging. Likewise, itch sens ations trigger reflexes that may protect us from disease-carrying insects. Despite these essential protective functions, itch and pain can outlast their usefulness and become chronic debilitating conditions that affect millions of people worldwide. Dr. Bautista will summarize what is known about the biology of itch, touch, and pain, and then focus on her latest research identifying novel mechanisms that drive chronic itch and pain disorders.
Register at weblink to receive connection information
NightSchool: Moths & Butterflies - Livestream - 01/21/2021 07:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences,
NightSchool dedicates a night to Lepidoptera, the order of insects that include the very recognizable, (often) colorful, scal e-winged moths and butterflies.
EVENT HIGHLIGHTS
Explore specimens from the vaults of the Academy’s vast entomology collection with collection manager Chris Grinter. He’ll show you a wide range of audience favorites, from extinct species to some of the largest, the smallest, and the most bizarre moths and butterflies. Did you know that moths have an impressive array of anti-bat defenses to help them evade these nocturnal hunters? Dr. Akito Kawahara, Curator at the Florida Museum of Natural History, shares how tiger moths, hawkmoths, and luna moths use strategies like acoustic jamming and alarm warning calls to protect themselves from these predators.
Peter Soroye, PhD student at the University of Ottawa, talks about the global challenges facing important wild pollinators like butterflies and bees. Join Peter as he explores some of the reasons that these important and beautiful animals are disappearing, and some of the secrets of how you can help save them.
Ages 21+
See weblink for YouTube and Facebook Live links
'Human Nature' Film Screening and Conversation: Early Screening Special | After Dark Online - 01/21/2021 07:00 PM
ExplOratorium,
For this special After Dark, we invite you to view the acclaimed documentary Human Nature in advance and join us for a live conversation with executive producers Dan Rather and Elliot Kirschner, bioethics expert Alta Charo, and staff biologist Dr. Jennifer Frazier.
Human Nature is a provocative explora tion of the biggest tech revolution of the 21st century - and it isn’t digital, it’s biological. CRISPR has given us unprecedented control over the basic building blocks of life and opens the door to curing diseases, reshaping the biosphere, and designing our own children. The film probes CRISPR’s far-reaching implications through the eyes of the scientists who discovered it, the families it’s affecting, and the bioengineers who are testing its limits.
RSVP to receive a private link to the film 48 hours prior to the panel discussion, to enjoy at your leisure prior to the conversation. You MUST RSVP to receive the link. The conversation will be presented live on January 21st at 7:00 p.m.
Net Negative Emissions in California by 2030: Can We Do It? - Livestream - 01/21/2021 07:00 PM
Golden Gate Audubon Society,
The latest climate science supports what millions of people and animals are experiencing daily: the impacts of climate change are hitting harder and faster than expected, posing grave threats to human health and planetary health. We are already pushing against multiple global tipping points that could unleash abrupt and irreversible damage to people and wildlife alike. Children, the elderly, and people living in low-income communities are disproportionately affected.
Our only hope for a vibrant, healthy, and equitable future for all is to enact bold climate policies now, not decades from now. The solutions exist in every sector- from energy and transportation to natural and working lands management. Yet we still lack the political will. Ms. Cohen will highlight recent climate science findings followed by an overview of The Climate Center’s Climate-Safe California initiative and recent successes. She will inspire citizen action to ensure that California, the world’s 5th largest economy, steps up its climate leadership by enacting the bold policies required by science soon. She will conclude with a hopeful view of our future to protect the planet for future generations.
Speaker: Ellie Cohen, The Climate Center
See weblink for connection information
Friday, 01/22/2021
Speaker: Alexis Cartwright-Taylor, University of Edinburgh, School of GeoSciences
See weblink for connection information
Saturday, 01/23/2021
Mushrooms of the Garden - Livestream - 01/23/2021 10:00 AM
UC Botanical Garden,
Botanical gardens are obviously known for their plants, but with plants come fungi. In fact, the diversity of plants and fungi are coupled through their many ecological interactions. The UC Botanical Garden is a great place to showcase the fungal side of life, particularly during the rainy season when mushrooms start to fruit in abundance. This talk will introduce you to some of the fungi seen in the Garden over the last few weeks and will cover the ecological roles that they fill.
Speaker: Thomas Bruns, UC Berkeley
See weblink for registration information
Virtual Telescope Viewing - Livestream - 01/23/2021 09:00 PM
Chabot Space and Science Center,
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 available for an open forum for all of your most pressing astronomy questions.
Monday, 01/25/2021
Stanford Symbolic Systems Forum : Jeff Hancock - Livestream - 01/25/2021 02:30 PM
Stanford Symbolic Systems Forum,
Speaker: Jeff Hancock
See weblink for Zoom link.
Stanford Energy Seminar: David Victor - Livestream - 01/25/2021 04:00 PM
Stanford Energy Seminar,
Speaker: David Victor, UC San Diego
See weblink for registration info.
Making Climate Policy Work - Livestream - 01/25/2021 04:00 PM
Stanford Energy Seminar,
For decades, the world’s governments have struggled to move from talk to action on climate. Many now hope that growing public concern will lead to greater policy ambition, but the most widely promoted strategy to address the climate crisis - the use of market-based programs - hasn’t been working and isn’t ready to scale.
In a new book, Danny Cullenward and David Victor show how the politics of creating and maintaining market-based policies render them ineffective nearly everywhere they have been applied. Reforms can help around the margins, but markets’ problems are structural and won’t disappear with increasing demand for climate solutions. Facing that reality requires relying more heavily on smart regulation and industrial policy - government-le d strategies - to catalyze the transformation that markets promise, but rarely deliver.
Register at weblink to receive connection information.
From the Black Hole Conundrum to the Structure of Quantum Gravity - Livestream - 01/25/2021 04:15 PM
UC Berkeley,
Having a complete quantum theory of gravity has long been a major goal of theoretical physics. This is because a naive merger of quantum mechanics and general relativity---though it works in certain limited regimes---suffers from major theoretical problems. A particularly acute one arises when one considers the quantum mechanics of black holes: two fundamental principles of modern physics---the conservation of probability in quantum mechanics and the equivalence principle of general relativity---seem to be incompatible with each other. I will explain how recent theoretical progress begins to address this problem and portray the emerging picture of how spacetime and gravity behave at the level of full quantum gravity.
Speaker: Yasunori Nomura, UC Berkeley
See weblink for Zoom link, posted day of lecture.
Tuesday, 01/26/2021
What About Climate Change and the Impact on Ocean Life? - Livestream - 01/26/2021 07:00 PM
American Cetacean Society,
Peninsula Gem and Geology Society General Meeting - Livestream - 01/26/2021 07:00 PM
Peninsula Gem & Geology Society,
Wednesday, 01/27/2021
Genome-resolved metagenomics reveals novel enzyme diversity, micro-scale interactions, and biogeochemical potential - Livestream - 01/27/2021 11:00 AM
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute,
Ask the Scientist - Dr. Joanna Alfaro Shigueto - Livestream - 01/27/2021 02:30 PM
Estuary & Ocean Science Center,
Marine turtle conservation in Peru - Livestream - 01/27/2021 03:30 PM
Estuary & Ocean Science Center,
The Antarctic and Climate Change: Exploration Above and Below the Surface - Livestream - 01/27/2021 05:30 PM
UC Santa Cruz,
Conversations About Landscape: Observing Landscape s - Mirrors of Time - Livestream - 01/27/2021 07:00 PM
ExplOratorium,
Thursday, 01/28/2021
A Mini-course on Black Holes for People over 50 - 01/28/2021 03:00 PM
Online, Online
SFBBO Birdy Hour Talk: Taken Under Their Wings: How Chickens and Supportive Mentors Launched My Passion for Birding and Nature Journaling - Livestream - 01/28/2021 06:00 PM
San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory,
AI-Driven Photorealistic Human Digitization - Livestream - 01/28/2021 06:30 PM
SF Bay Association of Computing Machinery,
After Dark Online: House Plants - 01/28/2021 07:00 PM
ExplOratorium,
NightSchool: The Study of Humanity - Livestream - 01/28/2021 07:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences,
Friday, 01/29/2021
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics Seminar - Livestream - 01/29/2021 12:00 PM
UC Santa Cruz,
Prepare for Landing: An Update on NASA’s Mars Perseverance Rover - Livestream - 01/29/2021 07:00 PM
Chabot Space and Science Center,
Wonderfest: Exoplanets and the Search for Alien Life - Livestream - 01/29/2021 08:00 PM
Wonderfest,
Saturday, 01/30/2021
Science of Whales Virtual Conference - 01/30/2021 09:00 AM
American Cetacean Society,
Science Saturday: Amazing Migrations - 01/30/2021 10:00 AM
Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History, Pa cific Grove
Birds of the Garden and Their Nests - Livestream - 01/30/2021 10:00 AM
UC Botanical Garden,
Star Map History for Today’s Amateur Astronomer - Livestream - 01/30/2021 07:00 PM
East Bay Astronomical Society,
An Astronomical Perspective on Star Clusters, Planet Earth - Livestream - 01/30/2021 08:00 PM
San Jose Astronomical Society,
Virtual Te lescope Viewing - Livestream - 01/30/2021 09:00 PM
Chabot Space and Science Center,
Monday, 02/01/2021
Stanford Energy Seminar - Sharon Tomkins - Livestream - 02/01/2021 04:00 PM
Stanford Energy Seminar,
UC Berkeley Physics Colloquium - Livestream - 02/01/2021 04:15 PM
UC Berkeley,