Hi Fans of Science and Reason,
I know that you have been wondering all day… Maybe 42 is the answer…
So let’s talk about science and reason a little bit. Next week is the big weekend for Science and Reason for more than just the SF Bay Area. This is because SkeptiCal, the northern California scientific skepticism conference will be on-line on the 23rd and 24th! This means that you can attend for a much reduced price and get to see and hear from some very accomplished scientists and skeptics. I have been following the planning of it and I assure you that it will be a great opportunity to dive in to many topics. It will certainly be more than 42.
Did you know that the now controversial drug Ivermectin is linked to a Nobel Prize. I say linked because there seems to be some details to be sorted out between Ivermectin and Avermectin, the class of drugs that ivermectin is part of. Be careful when you read reports on this...
The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2015,
Ivermectin: a multifaceted drug of Nobel prize-honoured distinction
Ivermectin is a Nobel Prize-winning wonder drug – but not for COVID-19
Conservative media viewing correlates with intention to use ivermectin
We normally think of observatories as something looking up at the skies. That isn’t always the case. Did you know that there are ecotron observatories? The U.S. NSF has approved the Deep Soil Ecotron to be built in Idaho. There is a nature observatory here in the bay area that you can walk in as well. I suggest that you leave a fair amount of time to just hang out in the Fisher Bay Observatory. Try not to be lured in the rest of my favorite museum while you are there! There’s more 42 there than you can imagine. Hopefully we will be getting some rain soon. I could use a good 42 rainbow.
The CalAcademy has a new mission statement that deserves praise and support. Quite a few people think that museums (especially art and science) should remain advocates for what they share but still take a somewhat neutral stance on controversial issues. This seems like an almost radical component of the Academy mission… “Advocacy: We harness our voice as a scientific and cultural institution to positively impact policy and public opinion in support of thriving social and ecological communities—and by listening to, lifting up, and learning from underrepresented voices.” I wish more science museums would make such a statement. Is 42 the real answer?
Here are a few more thoughtful articles.
Will America’s disregard for science be the end of its reign?
How to Talk to a Science Denier
A Conservative's Approach to Combating Climate Change
With so much going on with science these days it is really hard to keep up with it all. I don’t think it’s possible really. I find it motivating to try though. Here are a few opportunities coming up this week.
Ask the Scientist - Jim Sanchirico - Livestream Wed 2:30
The Last Stargazers -- Behind the Scenes in Astronomy - Livestream Wed 7:00 another 42 up
I’m sure that you at least have heard about William Shatner after his ride to space (debatable). If you haven’t watched the whole cut of his back on land video I really recommend it. He clearly misses a couple of basic facts but give the guy a break. You may think it was bad acting or a true expression of his feelings. I think it was amazing and you can watch it here.
Ready to get some fresh air and contribute to the health of the Marin watershed? Join in on Oct 23 from 2:30 to 3:30. Contact the Marin Watershed folks at VolunteerProgram@MarinWater.org or call 415.945.1128 to sign up.
Here’s more on the ivermectin story!
Ivermectin: a multifaceted drug of Nobel prize-honoured distinction
Ivermectin is a Nobel Prize-winning wonder drug – but not for COVID-19
Conservative media viewing correlates with intention to use ivermectin
Here’s a something that many of us could, in time, contribute to… Austrians have loved beer, blue cheese for 2,700 years There are lots of new films coming our way. Be sure not to take them too seriously… “a mysterious force knocks the moon from its orbit,”
Lucy is in the sky but no diamonds to see here.
I hope that you keep looking up and down finding cool new things to learn about. If this happens to you please be sure to let me know… A Canadian Woman’s Bedroom
herb masters
“There is at present in the United States a powerful activist movement that is anti-intellectual, anti-science, and anti-technology. If we are to have faith that mankind will survive and thrive on the face of the Earth, we must depend on the continued revolutions brought about by science.” -Rosalyn Sussman Yalow
Upcoming Events:
Click to see the next two weeks of events in your browser.
Monday, 10/18/2021
Dynamics of Topological Defects in Active Nematics - Livestream - 10/18/2021 10:00 AM
UC Berkeley
Topological defects-singular tears of the order parameter field that cannot be removed by smooth deformations-are often formed in quenches from the disordered state or when order is frustrated by curvature, external fields or boundary conditions. In equilibrium two-dimensional systems, such as thin films of superfluids, crystals, liquid crystals and magnets, order-disorder transitions are controlled by defect unbinding described via the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless mapping of the statistical physics of defects onto a Coulomb gas. In active liquid crystals, topological defects become motile particles and proliferate spontaneously in the state of self-sustained turbulent-like motion ubiquitously observed in these systems. In these systems. In this talk I will outline a framework for formulating the statistical physics of defects in active nematics as quasiparticles and show that by viewing the active nematic as a collection of swarming and interacting active defects, the onset of active turbulence can be described as an activity-driven defect unbinding transition. A hydrodynamic theory of the gas of unbound defects additionally captures states of hierarchically organized active matter and the role of activity gradients for confining defects and harnessing active flows.
Speaker: Christina Marchetti
See weblink for Zoom information
UC Berkley Theoretical Astrophysics Center Seminar - 10/18/2021 12:10 PM
Campbell Hall, Rm 131 Berkeley
Speaker: Itai Linial
Regulating Social Media - Livestream - 10/18/2021 12:15 PM
Stanford Symbolic Systems Forum
Join us for a conversation with Roddy Lindsay, a 2007 graduate of the Symbolic Systems Program. Roddy was a software engineer at Facebook from 2007 to 2013, and more recently has co-founded Hustle (where he currently serves as Chief Evangelist) and Envelop (for which he currently serves on the Board). Roddy recently published an op-ed in the New York Times: “I Designed Algorithms At Facebook. Here Is How to Regulate Them.” He will speak about his proposal for regulating social media platforms through Section 230 reform.
See weblink for Zoom information
Pursuing Blue Skies for the Golden State - Livestream - 10/18/2021 12:30 PM
SF Planning + Urban Research Assoc. (SPUR)
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is the state agency primarily responsible for protecting the public health of all Californians against harmful air quality that results from both climate change and human-caused air pollution. As a result of innovative leadership and the policies and strategies that it has implemented since its creation in 1967 - including first-in-the-nation tailpipe emissions standards, the requirement of catalytic converters and zero-emission vehicle regulation - CARB has become an internationally-renowned pioneer in effective air and climate programs. Come hear from the agency’s new chair, Liane M. Randolph, as she discusses what it will take to build on this powerful environmental legacy while positioning CARB to effectively tackle the looming threats ahead.
Speakers: Nick Josefowitz, SPUR; Liane Randolph, California Air Resources Board
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Building a Climate-Resilient Energy Network for CA - Livestream - 10/18/2021 04:00 PM
Stanford Energy Seminar
As California continues to experience the impacts of climate change, utilities are taking action to build a more climate-resilient energy network. Utilities in California face an increasing amount of risk due to extreme weather events driven by climate change including heat waves, more frequent and extreme storms and wildfires, drought, subsidence, and rising sea levels.
PG&E is the largest electric and gas utility in the nation, serving 16 million customers. Drought effects 100% of the PG&E service territory and the region is experiencing higher temperatures, increased wildfire risk, and a longer wildfire season. In less than a decade, the percentage of PG&E’s service area in a High Fire Threat District grew from 15 percent to over 50 percent. Today, nearly one-third of the electric lines that serve PG&E’s customers are now in High Fire-Threat Districts.
Adapting to the changing risks involves understanding the impacts of climate change on businesses, customers, and communities. Carla Peterman, PG&E’s Executive Vice President of Corporate Affairs and Chief Sustainability Officer, will share PG&E’s efforts to assess system-wide climate vulnerability, address climate risks, and engage stakeholders and communities in climate change mitigation and adaptation solutions.
Carla J. Peterman is Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs for PG&E Corporation, the parent company of Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
See weblink for Zoom information.
Spectroscopic characterization of bioaerosols - Livestream - 10/18/2021 04:00 PM
What Physicists Do - Sonoma State University
Speaker: Dr. Christine Koh, Sonoma State University
Destination Health: The Private Sector’s Role in Ending the COVID-19 Pandemic - Livestream - 10/18/2021 04:00 PM
Commonwealth Club - Online Event
As the devastating effects and tragic loss of life from COVID-19 persist 18 months after the global pandemic began, the world is desperate to end this public health crisis.
As businesses across industries are rolling out varying degrees of vaccine, testing, and masking mandates, President Biden announced the requirement for federal workers, medium and large employers, and health-care staff to be vaccinated. Working together and partnering with government and community leaders, the private sector plays a role in helping to close the vaccination gap in our workforce and communities.
What can the business community do to stop this pandemic? What is the private sector’s role in helping keep our communities safe? How are organizations responding to local, state and federal mandates? What processes are working and not working? What will it take to return to a strong and stable economy? Join a panel of business leaders across industries discussing opportunities to address this public health crisis and how we can work together to end it.
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Challenges in phylodynamics of SARS-CoV-2 - Livestream - 10/18/2021 04:00 PM
Stanford University
Speaker: Dr. Julia Palacios is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Statistics and of Biomedical Data Sciences at Stanford University. Professor Palacios completed her PhD in Statistics at the University of Washington followed by a joint postdoc at Harvard University and Brown University before joining Stanford. In her research, Professor Palacios seeks to provide statistical answers to concrete, data-driven questions in population genetics, epidemiology, and comparative genomics.
Can a solid-state quantum simulator help us understand materials? - Livestream - 10/18/2021 04:15 PM
UC Berkeley
When Feynman suggested quantum-based computers in the '80s, he wasn't primarily thinking of the general-purpose quantum computers intensely pursued today at Berkeley and worldwide. Rather he imagined using quantum mechanical objects to simulate aspects of our quantum world. Effective model Hamiltonians are central to condensed matter physics, as they can capture the essence of material properties while avoiding the full complexity of actual materials. But even those model Hamiltonians can be intractable to treat on classical computers. Very perfect realizations of model Hamiltonians relevant to materials can now be built with ensembles of cold atoms or with nanopatterned solid state systems similar to those used to make qubits. I will compare new experimental results to cutting-edge classical computation, and then ask: What happens when we (soon!) get our wish and achieve a "quantum simulator" that can describe certain interesting Hamiltonians with power beyond the best classical computers and algorithms?
Speaker: David Golghaber-Gordon, Stanford
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Tuesday, 10/19/2021
Tech for Humanity Changemakers - 10/19/2021 11:00 AM
Computer History Museum
Meet the first-ever CHM Patrick J. McGovern Tech For Humanity Prize Changemakers and learn about what they’re doing to make the world a better place.
Growing up in Ghana, Mercy Nyamewaa Asiedu became increasingly aware of gaps in the health system due to limited technology for early diagnosis and treatment, and associated high morbidity and mortality rates that affected her family and friends. As a biomedical engineer with global health experience, she is dedicated to using technology to decrease these gaps and global health inequities. Her Changemaker projects include a mobile phone application for telemedicine with AI-generated recommendations for chronic health conditions in sub-Saharan African as well as low-cost AI-enhanced cervical cancer diagnostic tools.
Michael Bernstein aims to design technology platforms that bring us together rather than drive us apart. As a social computing expert, he is focused on redesigning online spaces, with a recent focus on machine learning algorithms embedded in our social spaces. His Changemaker project focuses on promoting a more equitable distribution of voice in these algorithms through the development of a jury-based approach to AI.
Join us and be inspired by Mercy and Michael’s creative visions and current work for serving humanity through technology.
Register at weblink to attend.
Data Science Resume And Interview Tips - 10/19/2021 11:50 AM
Magnimind Academy
The hardest part about breaking into the data science industry is landing your first gig. This session is an opportunity to hear from someone on the other side about what attracts them to prospective hires, how to market yourself before and during the hiring process, and how to make the most of the time you have during an interview.Agenda:11:45 am - 11:55 am Arrival, socializing and Opening11:55 am - 1:00 pm Nicholas Pylypiw, "Data Science Resume And Interview"1:00 pm - 1:10 pm Q&A Speaker: Nicholas Pylypiw, Cape Fear Collective Zoom Link at website
Delafossite oxides: natural, ultra-pure metal-insulator heterostructures - Livestream - 10/19/2021 02:30 PM
UC Berkeley Condensed Matter Physics Seminar
Delafossite oxides are layered compounds, which can be thought of as natural heterostructures of triangularly coordinated metallic sheets and transition metal oxide blocks. A fascinating range of electronic state scan be found both in their bulk andon their surfaces, including extremely high conductivity1,2in PtCoO2and PdCoO2, maximal Rashba-like spin-splitting3on the transition metal terminated surfaces of PtCoO2, PdCoO2and PdRhO2, Stoner ferromagnetism4on the Pd-terminated surface of PdCoO2and, perhaps most remarkably, an intertwined spin-charge response due to a Kondo coupling between metallic and Mott insulating layers5in PdCrO2. Our group has investigated these states experimentally with transport measurements andangle resolved photoemission, and theoretically with first principles calculations and model Hamiltonians, where applicable. I will show how in a number of cases the simplicity and cleanliness of the materials allows us to pinpoint to the underlying cause for the remarkable electronic behavior, and in turn to use dela fossites as model systems to understand complex phenomena.
Speaker: Veronika Sunko, Max Planck Institute
See weblink for Zoom information
Sea level of the past and future: At the Intersection of Politics, Race, Gender, Ice Sheets, and Corals - 10/19/2021 03:30 PM
Natural Science Annex Santa Cruz
Speaker: Andrea Dutton, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Two Talks: Popping the Science Bubble - Livestream - 10/19/2021 05:30 PM
Berkeley Public Library
CSI: Supernova, the Death of a Star
Stars live for millions upon millions of years in a (for the most part) calm and steady fashion. Yet, when a star’s life ends, it escalates to outshining its entire galaxy (a collection of trillions of stars) by many thousands of times in a fraction of a moment in a brilliant and cataclysmic event known as a supernova. These explosions can tell us valuable information about the star itself: how it lived, what it was like, or potentially how far away it is. As astronomers, we investigate these ‘crime scenes’ of the deaths of stars and put together evidence to recreate the story of the star.
Speaker: Daniel Brethauer, UC Berkeley
Quantum chemistry in modern service to X-ray science
Every day, we are faced with decisions. When meeting a few friends for morning coffee, you decide on the best route and flexibly make changes based on the current conditions. This ability comes, in part, from the hippocampus of the brain, a region linked to both memory and space. However, navigating your social network when you arrive is also thought to engage the hippocampus. In this talk, I will discuss exciting work exploring the hippocampus as the cartographer of our experiences, providing an internal organization of our knowledge about the world.
Speaker: Eric Knudsen, Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute
Rewriting our Cooking History: The Importance of recognizing the Third Culinary Kingdom - Livestream - 10/19/2021 07:00 PM
Mycological Society of San Francisco
Chef Zachary Mazi presents an organic, foraged, local, & imaginative experience in both global cuisine & dining. Igniting others with his contagious zest for life, he creates lasting inspiration with delicious recipes and lectures. Zachary is classically trained in the art of French cuisine, with ventures into the wide array of New American and Pacific Northwest cuisine. He is currently visiting North America from Chiang Mai, where he lives and forages with his fiancé Kimberly Hunter in Chiang Mai, Thailand. He is the owner-chef-imaginator of The Food Bender, a cookbook author, and mycophagy researcher.
See weblink for Zoom information
Wednesday, 10/20/2021
Harnessing the power of the ocean to address climate change - Livestream - 10/20/2021 11:00 AM
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
In this seminar, Heather Ludemann and Mark Michelin (director at CEA Consulting) will lead a discussion with MBARI scientists, staff at Monterey Bay Aquarium, and other participants about the potential for ocean-climate solutions, including offshore wind, blue carbon, improved fisheries and aquaculture management, and others, as well as strategies for pursuing approaches that work for both people and the ocean.
Register at weblink to receive connection information
What if Computers Could Read Our Lips? Silent Speech as an Active Mode of Interaction with Computer Systems - Livestream - 10/20/2021 12:00 PM
CITRIS Research Exchange
Silent speech that converts lip movements into text can mitigate many challenges of speech and traditional input methods. Yet, existing silent speech recognition models are error-prone or use impractical extremal devices or implants. In this talk, I will present the findings of three projects involving silent speech input. First, a social study established silent speech as an acceptable and desired mode of interaction. Second, two empirical studies revealed that users are more tolerant of errors in silent speech and tend to speak slowly when interacting with it. Third, a new end-to-end deep neural network that can automatically segment lip sequence videos and classify them into text. In an evaluation, the model reduced the word error rate by 57% compared to the state-of-the-arts without compromising the overall computation time.
Speaker: Ahmed Sabbir Arif, UC Merced
Register at weblink to receive Zoom information
October LASER event - Livestream - 10/20/2021 12:00 PM
LASER Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous
Heather Barnett (University of the Arts London) on "Many-headed: Co-creating with the Collective"
Clare Stanton (Harvard Law School) on "Linkrot and Content Drift: The Irreversible Decay of Internet Content"
Register at weblink to receive connection information.
The Cost of Convenience: Quest for Solutions to the Plastic Pollution Crisis - Livestream - 10/20/2021 02:00 PM
Plastic Polution Coalition
During the October webinar, we will be focusing on the connection between the plastic pollution crisis and environmental injustice around the world, where economically disadvantaged nations take in a larger share of the world’s trash, and manufacturing chemicals threaten predominantly Black and low-income communities.
We will be joined by journalist Erica Cirino, author of a new book, Thicker Than Water: The Quest for Solutions to the Plastic Crisis; Dr. Kerim Odekon, Microplastics Researcher & Environmental Justice Advocate, Stony Brook University, New York, USA; and Dr. Sedat Gündoğdu, Associate Professor, Microplastic Research Group, Faculty of Fisheries, University of Cukurova, Turkey.
Ask the Scientist - Jim Sanchirico - Livestream - 10/20/2021 02:30 PM
Estuary & Ocean Science Center
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 our weekly Seminar speakers.
Parents must give permission for children under 18 to participate.
Dr. Sanchirico received his Ph.D. in agricultural and resource economics from the University of California at Davis in 1998. After working nine years at Resources for the Future in Washington D.C. (an independent, non-profit environmental policy think-tank), he returned to UC Davis where he is currently a Professor in the Department of Environmental Science and Policy. His main research interests include the economic analysis of policy design, implementation, and evaluation for marine and terrestrial species conservation, the development of economic-ecological models for forecasting the effects of resource management policies, and the control and prevention of invasive species.
Register at weblink.
Ocean Conservation, Fisheries, and Poverty Alleviation - Livestream - 10/20/2021 03:30 PM
Estuary & Ocean Science Center
Small-scale nearshore fisheries provide an important source of protein and sustainable livelihoods in developing countries. Yet, for a number of reasons, small-scale fisheries pose particular challenges for marine conservation efforts. Past and current efforts at reforming fishery management have focused narrowly on the fishing sector and on fishing households. However, the livelihoods of fishing and non-fishing households in rural coastal communities are deeply intertwined, and households depend on a diversity of activities connected, directly or indirectly, with the marine environment. This talk will introduce a new policy evaluation tool that combines insights from development economics, natural resource economics, and ecology to capture the linkages in local economies in rural coastal areas of developing nations. We apply thetool to understand the impacts ofpoverty alleviation programs and blue economy sustainable development programs. Results underscore the importance of considering characteristics of local economies and household linkages to marine and land resources when designing poverty alleviation and conservation policies to avoid unintended consequences.
Speaker: Jim Sanchirico, UC Davis
Register at weblink for Zoom information
Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani - Livestream - 10/20/2021 04:00 PM
Stanford University
Reshma Saujani is the founder of Girls Who Code and the Marshall Plan for Moms, as well as the author of the forthcoming book Pay Up: The Future of Women and Work (and Why It’s Different Than You Think). Saujani has spent more than a decade building movements to fight for women and girls’ economic empowerment, working to close the gender gap in the tech sector, and most recently advocating for policies to support moms impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. She is also the author of the international bestseller Brave, Not Perfect, and her influential TED talk, “Teach girls bravery, not perfection,” has more than five million views globally. Saujani began her career as an attorney and Democratic organizer. In 2010, she became the first Indian American woman to run for U.S. Congress.
See weblink for YouTube connection link
The Last Stargazers -- Behind the Scenes in Astronomy - Livestream - 10/20/2021 07:00 PM
Silicon Valley Astronomy Series
A bird that mimicked a black hole. The astronomer that discovered microwave ovens. A telescope that got shot. The science of astronomy is filled with true stories (and tall tales) of the adventures and misadventures that accompany our exploration of the universe. Dr. Levesque will take us on a behind-the-scenes tour of life as a professional astronomer. We'll learn about some of the most powerful telescopes in the world and their cutting-edge discoveries, meet the people behind the science, and explore the crucial role of human curiosity and innovation in the past, present, and future of scientific discovery.
Emily Levesque is an astronomy professor at the University of Washington and the author of the critically-acclaimed popular science book, The Last Stargazers
View the lecture at website, or watch it afterwards.
Black Holes are Real. How Do They Shape Structure and Evolution in our Universe? - Livestream - 10/20/2021 07:00 PM
SETI Institute
Fantastical though they may seem, black holes are real, not just science fiction or ideas from the imaginations of theorists. Scientists are now able to study black holes, in detail, throughout our Universe.
Researchers are gaining different, complementary views of black holes using multiple techniques, but we are still a long way from putting a complete picture together. In April 2019, an international collaboration called the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) produced the first image of a black hole found in the heart of the nearby galaxy Messier 87. The LIGO gravitational wave detector has even been able to spot the ripples created in space itself when black holes collide.
When gas falls into a black hole, it releases an enormous amount of energy. As strange as it seems, this means that black holes can give rise to some of the brightest objects in the known Universe, especially in the X-ray waveband. Observing the X-rays emitted as gas falls into a black hole gives us a close-up view of what’s happening just outside of the event horizon. Future space telescopes, such as the European Space Agency’s Athena mission, will reveal supermassive black holes in the early Universe and help us understand how black holes grow and helped shape our Universe.
We invited two astrophysicists to discuss the state-of-the-art scientific investigations and instrumentation dedicated to understanding these most extreme phenomena in our Universe. Our guests will be Dr. Laura Brenneman, Deputy Associate Director for the High-Energy Astrophysics Division of the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, who pioneered the study of the rotation of black holes and is involved in the ATHENA mission, and Dr. Dan Wilkins, an astrophysicist in the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology at Stanford University. He led a team that recorded the first detection of radiation coming from behind a black hole bent due to the warping of spacetime around the object.
Moderated by Simon Steel, SETI Institute.
Register at weblink to attend.
Fungiaolo - The History, Heritage, Lore and Food of the Italian American Mushroom Hunters - 10/20/2021 07:00 PM
Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History Santa Cruz
Todd Spaniard, CEO, King of Mushrooms, will again be be sharing with us his experience and knowledge.
Attend in person or online.
Living with a Star: the Sun, Space Weather, and Our Place in the Stellar Neighborhood - Livestream - 10/20/2021 07:00 PM
San Francisco Amateur Astronomers
As humanity expands its presence on the Moon and Mars, we venture outside of our Earth’s protective magnetic bubble and into the dynamic space weather system driven by the sun. On Earth, we feel the effects of space weather during extreme solar storms, which can produce intense x-ray flares and massive explosions that deform our planet’s strong magnetic field, generating the aurora. Much as Earth weather influences the voyages of earthbound explorers, interplanetary space weather is an important consideration for these space-borne explorers. Several currently operating and future NASA and ESA missions seek to uncover persisting mysteries about our sun, including the source of supersonic plasma flows we call the solar wind, and what conditions lead to massive solar eruptions associated with intense x-ray flares. Lastly, what we learn about how our sun locally can be extended to inform what we see at other distant stars.
Speaker: Phyllis Whittlesey, UC Berkeley
See weblink for Zoom, Facebook, and YouTube links
Nerd Nite SF #121: Jazz, Psychological Mythbusting, & a Rotten City - 10/20/2021 08:00 PM
Rickshaw Stop San Francisco
Join us as we think and drink together for our last show of 2021. Thanks to all who have come out and supported us through this especially weird time in event planning. Special thanks to the SF Public Library for supplementing each of our shows this year with library swag and reading lists based on speaker topics, and very special thanks to all of our speakers. We
Cakewalk: Unsung Creators of Jazz Music by John William Templeton
A decorated historian, author, and businessman, John Templeton is also recognized as the authority on San Francisco’s rich Black history, which is often obscured and little known. He’s set out to tell the stories of how African Americans have contributed to the city’s culture and economic development, going back to the late 19th century. His book Cakewalk explores the key roles African Americans played during the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake and through 1921, the beginning of the jazz age. Copies of his book will be available this evening, and he’ll sign a copy for you!
The Rottenest City on the Whole Pacific Coast by John Bauters
Emeryville is the Bay Area’s original city of vice. Now known as a city of arts and innovation, Emeryville’s history is replete with gambling, brothels, corruption, scandal, and bootlegging. Supreme Court Chief Justice Earl Warren once labeled Emeryville “The Rottenest City on the whole Pacific Coast.” Come peek behind Emeryville’s modern facade as the home of Pixar Animation Studios and IKEA to learn about it’s grittier days from one of her former mayors and current council members.
Psychological Myth busting with Dr. Emily Anhalt
Revisit Psych 101 with Dr. Emily. Learn some popular psych concepts and bust some common psych myths, without having to take a test at the end!
Thursday, 10/21/2021
When and How Will Nature Provide Urban Solutions? - Livestream - 10/21/2021 08:00 AM
Stanford University
Cities must manage multiple, interacting challenges such as climate change, air and water pollution, flooding, heatwaves, affordable housing, public health, and socio-economic and environmental inequities. Nature-based solutions can help cities address many of these challenges. By reducing the risk of flooding, attenuating water, noise, and air pollution, mitigating the urban heat island effect, and providing attractive spaces that promote physical and mental health, nature-based solutions can provide diverse benefits to people in cities. But they are not a panacea - they can neither solve all problems on their own nor are they even appropriate or feasible in all locations. In this session, we will bring together academics and practitioners for a conversation about nature-based solutions in cities. We’ll first address challenges unique to urban environments and barriers that currently prevent uptake of these solutions to date. Then we will focus on opportunities to do things differently through discussion of bright spots, policy levers, and new avenues for research and practice.
Five expert panelists - from academia and practice - will be in conversation with Anne Guerry, Chief Strategy Officer & Lead Scientist at Stanford Natural Capital Project, and Eric Lonsdorf, Program Director & Lead Scientist at University of Minnesota Natural Capital Project.
Panelist:
Erik Andersson, Associate professor & principal researcher at Stockholm Resilience CenterTodd Gartner, Director, Cities4Forests and Natural Infrastructure at World Resources Institute Seema Kairam, Design Lead at Able City in San Antonio Joe Kane, Fellow at the Brookings Metropolitan Policy Program Timon McPhearson, Associate Professor of Urban Ecology & Director of the Urban Systems Lab at The New School
Youth Rising: The Next Generation of Climate Leaders and How We Can Help - Livestream - 10/21/2021 11:00 AM
Post Carbon Institute
Join Josephine Becker, climate justice activist and organizer; Kevin J. Patel, Founder and Executive Director of One Up Action; and Leslie Davenport, climate psychology consultant and psychotherapist for a conversation about how young activists are stepping up to tackle the climate emergency, what would-be activists can meaningfully do in their own lives, and how young people can build their emotional and psychological resilience to face this existential threat.
Register at weblink to receive connection information.
In this month’s Midday Science Cafe, we’ll speak to scientists who ask one of the most pressing questions in climate change: How does climate change alter landscapes and what are the downstream effects of these changes? First, we’ll hear from Dr. Erica Siirila-Woodburn, a Research Scientist at Berkeley Lab who will discuss how mountains -- which are known as nature’s water towers because they store, capture, and release water for downstream use -- are especially sensitive to climate change. Dr. Kerri Johnson, a Postdoctoral Scholar at UC Berkeley, will then discuss how climate change is projected to make hillslope soils more vulnerable to erosion, a consequence that has far-reaching impacts on ecosystem health, downstream water resources, and global carbon distribution. We’ll also hear how both scientists use field sites to help them understand current conditions and model future scenarios. Dr. Siirila-Woodburn uses measurements from and models of watersheds located in California and the Upper Colorado River Basin, one of the most comprehensive watershed research projects in the world. And Dr. Johnson uses a well-controlled natural experiment on Santa Cruz Island, CA, to explore the influence of microclimate on patterns of hillslope soil erosion.
Water for a Growing Bay Area - Livestream - 10/21/2021 12:30 PM
SF Planning + Urban Research Assoc. (SPUR)
The Bay Area is projected to add 2.1 million people, 1.1 million jobs and 660,000 homes by the year 2040. Subsequently, the region’s water use could increase 50% by 2070, which would be catastrophic for the environment and the affordability of water bills. A new study, jointly produced by SPUR and the Pacific Institute, shows that the Bay Area can prevent, and even decrease, this projected water usage and accommodate sizeable and necessary growth - 6.8 million more people, 2 million more jobs and 2.2 million more homes by 2070 - if the region invests in efficiency and prioritizes compact infill housing. Join the authors of this report, Water for a Growing Bay Area, for a deep dive into how the Bay Area can save water and simultaneously surpass its growth expectations.
Speakers: Laura Feinstein, SPUR; Anne Thebo, Pacific Institute
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UC Berkeley Astronomy Colloquium - 10/21/2021 12:40 PM
Campbell Hall, Rm 131 Berkeley
Speaker: Will Farr, CCA
COVID, Grief, and Healthcare Professional Burnout: An Opportunity for Awakening - Livestream - 10/21/2021 05:00 PM
Cafe Scientifique Silicon Valley
The COVID pandemic has necessitated unprecedented change and thus stress at all levels - individual, societal, and global. Themes of grief have never been as relevant as they are now. With the COVID pandemic and resultant innumerable profound losses, our world is grieving collectively. Healthcare systems are the stage upon which these layers of stress and grief are playing out. Yet, even prior to the pandemic, the distress of healthcare systems and the people who comprise them has been the focus of much research, media coverage, and discussion. Burnout of healthcare professionals, including its myriad negative sequelae on patient care, health care professionals’ lives, and healthcare systems was at alarming rates before the pandemic. The pandemic is further exacerbating this situation. In this talk, Dr. Alana Iglewicz will review what is known in the scientific literature about grief, with a focus on clinical approaches to grief. She will also review what is known about healthcare professional burnout. By contextualizing both topics in the COVID pandemic and exploring the connections between grief and burnout, she will outline opportunities for a healthier path moving forward.
Speaker: Alana Iglewicz, UC San Diego
Register at weblink to receive connection information
From Wayback to Way Forward: The Internet Archive turns 25 - Livestream - 10/21/2021 06:00 PM
The Internet Archive
This year, the Internet Archive is turning 25.
On October 21, come on a virtual journey with us through time. First, we'll go way back with Brewster Kahle to the early days of the Internet, when computers promised to put the published works of humankind at our fingertips.
Then author Cory Doctorow takes us way forward to 2046. This science fiction writer conjures the future: in another 25 years, what shape will knowledge on the Internet take?
Celebrate with us from the comfort of your home. We'll be zooming in special musical performances, video tributes, and highlights from our 25 years. So, join us for From Wayback to Way Forward: The Internet Archive turns 25, a virtual event exploring the promise and the peril of Universal Access to All Knowledge.
Register at weblink to receive connection information
After Dark: (Un)Dead Science - 10/21/2021 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
Unearth the expired ideas, outdated facts, and incorrect assumptions that litter the canon of scientific knowledge. Inspired by our annual Cemetery of Dead Science, tonight's program will dig deeper into scientific theories that have been overturned by new discoveries and correction of bias, some of which still haunt us today!
Nightlife - 10/21/2021 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
Calling all creatures of the night: explore the nocturnal side of the Academy at NightLife and see what's revealed. With live DJs, outdoor bars, ambiance lighting, and nearly 40,000 live animals (including familiar faces like Claude the albino alligator), the night is sure to be wild.
Step inside the iconic Shake House and our four-story Rainforest, where you can explore the Amazon’s treetops surrounded by free-flying birds and butterflies. Reservations for these exhibits are no longer required. However, please note that the last entry into the rainforest is 7:30 pm- our animals need their sleep.
Venture into our latest aquarium exhibit Venom to encounter live venomous animals and learn the power of venom to both harm and heal.
Visit the BigPicture exhibit in the Piazza to marvel at the most recent winners of the BigPicture Natural Photography competition.
Bask in the glow of one of the largest living coral reef displays in the world: our 212,000-gallon Philippine Coral Reef tank.
Take in the interstellar views from the Living Roof, then grab a bite from the Academy Cafe and head to the West Garden outdoor bar to drink and dine under the stars. For adults 21+.
Should I Have Eaten That Mushroom? - Livestream - 10/21/2021 06:00 PM
Sonoma County Mycological Association
Drawing on my over 50 years in the woods hunting mushrooms and over 40 years on the North American Mycological Association (NAMA) Toxicology committee, I describe the common identification mistakes that people have made when out mushrooming. This talk features the most dangerous mushrooms and what happens when you eat a poisonous species. You will also learn what features I look for when seeking my favorite edible mushrooms. I describe how to tell the good ones from the bad ones. My stories are both of the mistakes that people have made leading to poisoning and of the disappointment felt by people when they realize that they have left choice edibles behind.
Speaker: Michael Beug
See weblink for Zoom link
Avenging the Dinosaurs: Radar Observations for Planetary Defense - Livestream - 10/21/2021 06:30 PM
UC Riverside
On a nearly daily basis, Earth is impacted by dust, meteoroids, and even small asteroids, which typically burn up in the atmosphere producing what we call “shooting stars”. We also know that Earth has been hit by much larger and more devastating objects. In fact, a large impact is thought to have led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Luckily, unlike the ancient terrible lizards, we have a space program and can work to defend Earth against such events. To do so, we need to know where hazardous objects are today and where they’ll be in the future, and we must also characterize them well enough so we can put together impact mitigation plans. Radar observations, such as those that were conducted at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, are invaluable for such measurements. Join Dr. Ed Rivera-Valentín to learn how radar and other observations can help keep us safe!
Micromitigation: Fighting Air Pollution with Activated Carbon - Livestream - 10/21/2021 07:00 PM
Counter Culture Labs
We 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 air quality.Please sign up by joining the Counter Culture Labs' Meetup group, then RSVPing for the event. Weblink provided after signup.
Bringing Back the Burrowing Owl - Livestream - 10/21/2021 07:00 PM
Golden Gate Audubon Society
Once thriving in the East Bay, the Burrowing Owl has been forced to move inland and the consequences for many have been fatal. Conducting long-term research on these colonies, Shawn Smallwood and Doug Bell have observed the rate of mortality for Burrowing Owls living within the Altamont Pass Wind Resource Area, as wind turbines within the area continue to contribute to avian bird deaths. During this presentation they will speak on their findings and the management efforts being conducted on East Bay Regional Park District lands, including volunteer-based habitat restoration programs.
Speakers: Shawn Smallwood; Doug Bell, East Bay Regional Park District
See weblink for Zoom link
Friday, 10/22/2021
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics Seminar - 10/22/2021 12:00 PM
Earth and Marine Sciences Building Santa Cruz
Speaker: George Hilley, Stanford University
Saturday, 10/23/2021
SkeptiCal 2021 - Livestream - 10/23/2021 09:00 AM
SkeptCal 2021
In its 11th year, SkeptiCal 2021 brings stimulating and entertaining speakers to a nation-wide audience of science fans, critical thinkers, and, in the words of Carl Sagan, questioners of “extraordinary claims”. Join us for two stimulating days of speakers, interviews, and discussions. And - test your wits on a round of Skeptical trivia, and try your hand at SkeptiCal’s popular Skepardy! game.
Register at weblink. Schedule of speakers here.
Talks include:
Real vs Unfounded Concerns about COVID-19 Vaccines. Speaker: Paul Offit The Fiction of Memory. Speaker: Elizabeth Loftus, UC Irvine Fake doctor. Real harm. Confessions of a former naturopathic doctor. Speaker: Britt Marie Hermes, former naturopathic doctor. A conversation with Maria Konnikova Big Bad Pharma, the FDA, and the reasons why a new Alzheimer’s drug should never have been approved. Speaker: Rachel Dunlop, Brain Chemistry Labs Déjà Voodoo: Or How to Start Your Own Cult. Speaker: Ross Blocher, Podcaster Fighting Pseudoscience at Scale: How to Take on the Juggernauts of Woo. Speaker: Thomas Westbrook, Holy Koolaid LLC
Registrants will receive connection information prior to the event.
Bat Fest - 10/23/2021 04:00 PM
Rancho Canada Del Oro Open Space Preserve Morgan hill
The event will be held in the meadow at Rancho Canada del Oro Open Space Preserve and will feature a live bat presentation by Northern California Bats and a live owl and opossum presentation by the Wildlife Education & Rehabilitation Center.
Join Saved By Nature for a family-friendly evening outdoors with Special Guest Speaker Jose Gonzalez, founder of Latino Outdoors and music by DJ Shugga Shay! Live bats and owls, auction, raffle, tacos, horchata, arts & crafts, and festival games.
See link for more cost details
Exotic Solar Systems on the Path to Earth-Like Planets - Livestream - 10/23/2021 08:00 PM
San Jose Astronomical Society
Humans have long wondered about other planetary systems and if potentially Earth-like worlds exist around other stars. NASA's Kepler mission was designed to answer these questions. The Kepler telescope operated from[masked] and discovered over 3,000 confirmed exoplanets and several thousand additional candidates. We now know that while most planetary systems do not look like our own, potentially habitable planets are common in our galaxy. I will share insights from the Kepler mission, the current ongoing NASA TESS mission to find even more planets around nearby bright stars, plans for upcoming James Webb Space Telescope to investigate exoplanet atmospheres, and the future of exoplanetary research.
Speaker: Dr. Jonathan Fortney, UC Santa Cruz
Register at weblink to receive connection information
Virtual Telescope Viewing - Canceled - 10/23/2021 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.
Sunday, 10/24/2021
SkeptiCal 2021 - Livestream - 10/24/2021 09:00 AM
SkeptCal
In its 11th year, SkeptiCal 2021 brings stimulating and entertaining speakers to a nation-wide audience of science fans, critical thinkers, and, in the words of Carl Sagan, questioners of “extraordinary claims”. Join us for two stimulating days of speakers, interviews, and discussions. Test your wits on a round of Skeptical trivia, and try your hand at SkeptiCal’s popular Skepardy! game.
Register at weblink. Schedule of speakers here.
Talks include:
Real vs Unfounded Concerns about COVID-19 Vaccines. Speaker: Paul Offit The Fiction of Memory. Speaker: Elizabeth Loftus, UC Irvine Fake doctor. Real harm. Confessions of a former naturopathic doctor. Speaker: Britt Marie Hermes, former naturopathic doctor. A conversation with Maria Konnikova Big Bad Pharma, the FDA, and the reasons why a new Alzheimer’s drug should never have been approved. Speaker: Rachel Dunlop, Brain Chemistry Labs Déjà Voodoo: Or How to Start Your Own Cult. Speaker: Ross Blocher, Podcaster Fighting Pseudoscience at Scale: How to Take on the Juggernauts of Woo. Speaker: Thomas Westbrook, Holy Koolaid LLC
Registrants will receive connection information prior to the event.
Morning Hike at La Honda Open Space Preserve - 10/24/2021 10:00 AM
La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve Redwood City
Experience the sweeping views and gorgeous rolling grasslands of Lower La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve. This moderately strenuous 6-mile hike takes you through POST-protected land, featuring a still-active cattle operation! The meandering trail provides nice views of the surrounding ridgelines and in January, after some rain, the hills will be beautiful and green. The preserve is over 6,100 acres, of which POST has contributed 5,200 acres.
The trail has several steep climbs - we suggest bringing hiking poles, shoes with tread, and plenty of water in a reusable water bottle!
Monday, 10/25/2021
UC Berkeley Condensed Matter Physics Seminar - Livestream - 10/25/2021 10:00 AM
UC Berkeley
Speaker: Stefan Nadj-Perge, Caltech
See weblink for Zoom information
Promises and Pitfalls of Machine Learning for Education - Livestream - 10/25/2021 11:00 AM
Berkeley Institute for Data Science
Speaker: Serena Wang, UC Berkeley
UC Berkley Theoretical Astrophysics Center Seminar - 10/25/2021 12:10 PM
Campbell Hall, Rm 131 Berkeley
Speaker: Melina Bersten
A 'cool' route to unveil the Higgs boson’s secrets - Livestream - 10/25/2021 03:30 PM
SLAC Colloquium
The Higgs boson was discovered in 2012 by the ATLAS and CMS experiments at the world’s most powerful particle collider, the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, Switzerland. This particle plays a unique role in fundamental physics. It gives all of the known elementary particles, including itself, their masses. While we now have a strong evidence that the Higgs field is indeed the unique source of mass for the known elementary particles, the next step is to search for new interactions that could also explain why the Higgs field has the properties required by the Standard Model of particle physics. We have no clear roadmap to this new theory but the Higgs boson plays a crucial role in this quest. This talk highlights the current experimental results of Higgs boson couplings to other particles and its self-coupling at the LHC and perspectives at future colliders. The goal of a next-generation collider is to carry out precision measurements to per-cent level of the Higgs boson properties that are not accessible at the LHC. The exploitation of the complementarity between LHC and future colliders will be the key to understanding fundamentally the Higgs boson. The Cool Copper Collider (C^3) is a new concept for linear e+e- collider that could provide a rapid route to precision Higgs physics with a compact footprint.
Speaker: Caterina Vernieri, SLAC
Testing Einstein with Lasers and the Moon - Livestream - 10/25/2021 04:00 PM
What Physicists Do - Sonoma State University
Speaker: Dr. James Battat
This talk will present our effort to control and use the dipole-dipole interactions between cold atoms in order to implement spin Hamiltonians useful for quantum simulation of condensed matter or quantum optics situations. We trap individual atoms in arrays of optical tweezers separated by a few micrometers. We create almost arbitrary geometries of the atomic arrays in two and three dimensions up to about 200 atoms. To make the atoms interact, we either excite them to Rydberg states or induce optical dipoles with a near-resonance laser. Using this platform, we have in particular explored quantum magnetism, topological synthetic quantum matter, and a new light-matter interface.
Speaker: Antoine Browaeys, Institut d'Optique, CNRS
Lightning-fast SQL Queries + Transactions directly on the Data Lake - Livestream - 10/25/2021 07:00 PM
SF Bay Association of Computing Machinery
Data Lakes have been built with a desire to democratize data - to allow more and more people, tools, and applications to make use of more and more data. A key capability needed to enable more users is the ability to hide the complexity of underlying data structures and physical data storage. The de-facto standard has been the Hive table format, released by Facebook in 2009 that addresses some of these problems, but falls short at data, user, and application scale. So what is the answer? Apache Iceberg. Apache Iceberg table format is now in use and contributed to by many leading tech companies like Netflix, Apple, Airbnb, LinkedIn, Dremio, Expedia, and AWS.In this talk you will learn:* The issues that arise when using the Hive table format at scale, and why we need a new table format* How a straightforward, elegant change in table format structure has enormous positive effects* The underlying architecture of an Apache Iceberg table, how a query against an Iceberg table works, and how the table’s underlying structure changes as CRUD operations are done on it* The resulting benefits of this architectural design
Speaker: Jason Hughes, Dremio
Register at weblink to receive connection information
Wonderfest - Future Farming (Not Cooking) with Robots - 10/25/2021 07:00 PM
Hopmonk Tavern Novato
Humans have grown food for over 10,000 years. As Earth's climate changes and the global population seeks fresh and healthy nutrition, advances in robotics gradually transform agriculture: robots assist in precise irrigation, drones fine-tune fertilizer delivery, and mobile robots optimize plant breeding. Robots even help combine research and art. In 1995, over 100,000 people remotely collaborated to tend a living garden; and in 2020, researchers trained a robot to sustain a diverse polyculture garden. Alas, robot help in the kitchen is significantly harder to achieve than on the farm.
Speaker: Ken Goldberg, UC Berkeley
Tuesday, 10/26/2021
Flip the Switch: Controlling the Spin Crossover Transition in an Fe2+ Organic Molecule Thin Film Through Interface Engineering - Livestream - 10/26/2021 02:30 PM
UC Berkeley Condensed Matter Physics Seminar
Whole Earth Seminar - Wind-blown dunes in the solar system - 10/26/2021 03:30 PM
Natural Science Annex Santa Cruz
Marine Mammals of the World: A Comprehensive Guide to Their Identification - Livestream - 10/26/2021 07:00 PM
American Cetacean Society
Wednesday, 10/27/2021
Integrating virtual fieldwork, paleontology collections, and visualization tools to enhance geoscience instruction for diverse audience - Livestream - 10/27/2021 03:30 PM
Estuary & Ocean Science Center
Creepy, Crawly Night with 'Deep Look' - 10/27/2021 07:00 PM
KQED, The Commons San Francisco
Science on Tap: Après Nous, Le Déluge? A View From the Antarctic Doomsday Glacier - 10/27/2021 07:00 PM
Museum of Art and History Santa Cruz
Thursday, 10/28/2021
UC Berkeley Astronomy Colloquium - 10/28/2021 12:40 PM
Campbell Hall, Rm 131 Berkeley
NightLife: FrightLife - 10/28/2021 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
After Dark: Fright Night - 10/28/2021 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
Hardcore Natural History: Maritime habitat at Fort Ord - 10/28/2021 06:00 PM
Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History Pacific Grove
Zombie Salmon and Ghost Moose: The Spooky Implications of Climate Change - Livestream - 10/28/2021 07:00 PM
US Geological Survey Public Lecture Series
Friday, 10/29/2021
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics Seminar - 10/29/2021 12:00 PM
Earth and Marine Sciences Building Santa Cruz
Saturday, 10/30/2021
Coyote Point Movie Nights - 10/30/2021 07:00 PM
Coyote Point Recreation Area San Mateo
Virtual Telescope Viewing - Livestream - 10/30/2021 09:00 PM
Chabot Space and Science Center
Sunday, 10/31/2021
Bat and Owls with Lindsay Wildlife Experience - Livestream - 10/31/2021 10:00 AM
UC Botanical Garden
Monday, 11/01/2021
UC Berkley Theoretical Astrophysics Center Seminar - 11/01/2021 12:10 PM
Campbell Hall, Rm 131 Berkeley
Psychological Science Acceleratior - Livestream - 11/01/2021 12:15 PM
Stanford Symbolic Systems Forum
Building Traversable Wormholes (In Theory) - Livestream - 11/01/2021 04:00 PM
What Physicists Do - Sonoma State University