Greetings Science and Reason Fans,
Let’s start this out by welcoming Chabot Space & Science Center back and cheering the new collaboration they have with NASA, STUDIO 1: THE NASA EXPERIENCE. They have been closed since the start of the covid shutdowns and I think are one of the last to reopen. They are doing it right though and during an auspicious time. This week seems to be moon week. Chabot will be hosting a PENUMBRAL ECLIPSE VIRTUAL WATCH PARTY that you would probably like to watch if the sky above you isn’t clear. If the sky is clear then wrap up in something warm and step outside to watch An Almost Total Eclipse of the Moon, Nov. 18-19! Before all of that I can’t impress on you enough how happy you will be if you first go to see the Museum of the Moon at the opening night of Glow starting at 6:00 that very same evening! Be sure to head up to Chabot as soon as you can, I have heard great things and am looking forward to making it up there myself. May I suggest a bit of reading about the dark sky as well? Dark Sky Magic
I have talked before that Science is what we humans have done for hundreds of years (many would say much longer) trying to understand how and why things are the way they are, and how we can do better. Out of all of the work of scientists standing on the shoulder of scientists and curious people that went before them has come what we call the scientific method. I must say that I am concerned and disheartened by what seems to be a rising tide of science and fact denialism. Rather than try and summarize and interpret I’m just going to add a few links here for you to consider. The reason for this is that we all have friends and family that are dear to us but may not understand things the way you or I do, and think they might be better off if they did. Since we may be seeing more of them, I think it is important to try and understand why they believe what and the way they do. When we talk to those that may not see things the way we do it is important to be kind, and respectful, though that can be tough sometimes. Note: There is risk in this. You, I’m sure, know the obvious risks but one you may not think about is that they may change your mind!
Why–and When–Did the United States Turn Against Science?
Science vs science: is modern science broken?
The Uselessness of Useful Knowledge
"The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity is a short essay written by the Italian economist Carlo Cipolla. Originally, it was intentionally distributed only among his friends on a confidential basis. The reason is simple. That book was intended as a sort of joke…” or another version says THE BASIC LAWS OF HUMAN STUPIDITY
I do want to suggest that bad behavior in the science community does happen as well. Here is an interesting case… Experiment Eleven: an extraordinary case of scientific deceit It’s actions and events like this that do give deniers plausible deniability and we have to acknowledge these as well.
The use of the NON SEQUITUR will be a challenge as long as there are new ways to think about stuff as well!
There are a lot of great opportunities to discover new things this week. Here are a few that I think warrant your consideration and attention.
What must change for things not to stay the same? Mon 4:15
Postcards from Mars: The Latest from the International Armada of Robot Explorers Wed 7:00
Wonderfest - Imagination and Learning Thu 5:30
I know I’m repeating myself some but the SF Bay Area is an amazing place in many ways. One of them is how much science is happening and our opportunity to see what some of the ground breaking discoveries are happening right here. For instance the last virtual tour of SLAC (for the year?) is scheduled for 11.19 and it’s free and if it’s raining you can stay warm and dry at home as well. It is an amazing place and I look forward to when they open the lectures to the public again.
I’m not a sports person but I have received a couple of trophies quite a few years ago. Like so many things, science has really changed the game!!! How Hidden Technology Transformed Bowling
The ability to communicate science is important not just in museums but it also plays a big role in how you and your doctor might get along. This might help you or someone you know get along better with a doctor… Art Inspired This Physician’s “Empathy Project”
Are you a dog person and have you ever thought about the posthuman dog? Recently I have been amazed by the number of pelicans I have seen passing through. They are amazing to watch as they fly in their “V” flight configuration. I was amazed to hear from a friend why one side of the “V” seemed to be longer than the other. After lots of speculation about the efficiency of drafting behind each other and seeing ahead, wondering if it was related to the direction the wind was blowing, he pointed out that there were more of them on one side than the other!-} Pelicans are awesome
Have a great week learning cool new things and pondering how to unlearn some old not so cool things.
herb masters
“If I try to seize this self of which I feel sure, if I try to define and to summarize it, it is nothing but water slipping through my fingers. I can sketch one by one all the aspects it is able to assume, all those likewise that have been attributed to it, this upbringing, this origin, this ardor or these silences, this nobility or this vileness. But aspects cannot be added up. This very heart which is mine will forever remain indefinable to me. Between the certainty I have of my existence and the content I try to give to that assurance the gap will never be filled.” Albert Camus
Upcoming Events:
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Monday, 11/15/2021
Taking Stock of COP26 - Livestream - 11/15/2021 09:00 AM
Commonwealth Club - Online Event
In 2015, delegates from 196 nations entered into the legally binding treaty on climate change known as the Paris Agreement, which set a goal of limiting global warming to “well below 2 and preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius compared to pre-industrial levels.” Yet in August of this year, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released a new Assessment Report, which starkly illustrated the world’s collective failure to take meaningful action. UN Secretary General António Guterres called the report “code red for humanity.”
Against this backdrop, delegates from across the globe are again convening, this time in Glasgow from October 31 through November 12, for the international climate summit known as COP26. Six years on from the Paris Agreement, is there finally enough urgency to turn promises into action?
The Monday immediately following this historic summit, join Climate One as we and our expert guests analyze what - if anything - will have come out of the Glasgow summit.
Speakers: Yamide Dagnet, World Resources Institute; Jiang Lin, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab; Greg Dalton, Climate One, Moderator
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Cosmic rays in star-forming galaxies: transport, feedback, and non-thermal messengers - 11/15/2021 02:00 PM
Campbell Hall, Rm 131 Berkeley
Speaker: Mark Krumholz, Arizona Northern University
Reinventing Batteries through Nanotechnology - Livestream - 11/15/2021 03:30 PM
SLAC Colloquium
The fast growth of portable power sources for transportation and grid-scale stationary storage presents great opportunities for battery development. The invention of lithium ion batteries has been recognized with Nobel Prize in 2019. How to increase energy density, reduce cost, speed up charging, extend life, enhance safety and reuse/recycle are critical challenges. Here I will present how we utilize nanotechnology to reinvent batteries and address many of challenges by understanding the materials and interfaces through new tools and providing guiding principles for design. The topics to be discussed include: 1) A breakthrough tool of cryogenic electron microscopy, leading to atomic scale resolution of fragile battery materials and interfaces. 2) Materials design to enable high capacity materials: Si and Li metal anodes and S cathodes. 3) Interfacial design with polymer and inorganic coating to enhance cycling efficiency of battery electrodes. 4) Materials design for safety enhancement. 6) Lithium extraction from sea water and for battery recycling. 7) New battery chemistry for grid scale storage.
Speaker: Yi Cui, Stanford University
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Exploring the Cosmos with Superconducting Detectors - Livestream - 11/15/2021 04:00 PM
What Physicists Do - Sonoma State University
Our group at JPL has recently deployed a state of the art SNSPD camera at the Palomar 200-in telescope for NASA’s Deep Space Optical Communication project. This camera will act as the downlink receiver for the Psyche spacecraft (launches in 2022) to demonstrate the viability of laser communication links for ranges up to 400 million kilometers. Superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors, or SNSPDs, are among the highest performing detectors in the ultraviolet to mid-infrared wavelengths with specialized designs achieving
Speaker: Alex Walter, Jet Propultion Laboratory
Making the cells that make the face: Neural crest cell development across species - Livestream - 11/15/2021 04:00 PM
Stanford University
Dr. Crystal Rogers is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anatomy, Physiology, and Cell Biology at UC Davis. Dr. Rogers received her PhD from Georgetown University with Dr. Elena Silva Casey and did her postdoctoral work with Dr. Marianne Bronner at Caltech. The Rogers’ Lab studies the molecular mechanisms that control the formation, migration, and differentiation of cranial neural crest cells. Their goal is to identify the roles of transcription factors and cell adhesion molecules in regulating neural crest cell development across species with an aim to define both conserved and divergent mechanisms that make the cells that make the face.
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Reinventing the Iron-Air Battery for the Electric Grid - Form Energy - Livestream - 11/15/2021 04:00 PM
Stanford Energy Seminar
Form Energy is a battery technology company founded in 2017 focused on developing a new class of multi-day energy storage systems that enable a reliable, secure, and fully-renewable electric grid year-round. At its founding, Form sought to understand the dynamics of deeply decarbonized grids to inform our battery requirements. Form Energy’s analytics and software teams built a grid modeling toolkit to capture the dynamics of decarbonizing grids, the drivers of multi-day storage value, and optimal way to invest and operate a portfolio of technologies to ensure high reliability and low cost in renewable-driven power systems. Based on this extensive modeling of future grid needs, we identified the need for low-cost energy storage that could ensure reliability over multiple days. Our first commercial battery is a rechargeable, static iron-air battery capable of continuously discharging electricity for 100 hours at system costs competitive with fossil-fueled power plants. By using iron, one of the most abundant and cheapest minerals on Earth, this front-of-the-meter battery can enable a 100% renewable grid globally.
Speakers: Annie Baldwin, Form Energy; Scott Burger, Form Energy
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What must change for things not to stay the same? - Livestream - 11/15/2021 04:15 PM
UC Berkeley
Have you ever felt that the more things change, the more they stay the same in relation to diversifying the scientific community? Indeed, over the past fifty years, while the demographics of the higher education science community have changed, those changes have far from kept pace with national demographic shifts, and the challenges associated with access, belonging, and advancement of underrepresentation of minority and minoritized groups in science continue, especially at research intensive universities in the US. This, despite laws and policies such as affirmative action, programmatic interventions by universities, and financial support from federal agencies to diversify STEM educational and career pathways into and through academia. Here, at Berkeley, in Physics and in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Division, strategic investments of time, effort, and resources for advancing diversity and achieving equity have started to show results. This presentation will hone in on some of the most seemingly intractable problems, promising current efforts, and data-driven, evidence-based approaches that we can do now and here to affect real, measurable, and sustained positive change.
Speaker: Colette Patt, UC Berkeley
See weblink for Zoom link
Tuesday, 11/16/2021
Weekday Morning Hike at Rancho Cañada del Oro - 11/16/2021 10:00 AM
Rancho Canada Del Oro Open Space Preserve Morgan hill
Join Peninsula Open Space Trust for an excursion where you’ll explore the Mayfair Ranch - Longwall Canyon trails of Rancho Cañada del Oro! You will be guided by POST Ambassadors who will share with you the history of the preserve, the region, and the importance of conservation in the area.
The hike is moderate to strenuous at about 4 miles round trip with about 700 feet of gradual elevation gain.
This wonderful preserve is a hub for wildlife, such as deer, bobcats, mountain lions, and more! In the Spring, you can expect a colorful array of wildflowers adorning the hillsides, and you may get a chance to see a beautiful little creek running through Llagas meadow.
Register at weblink to attend.
Designing a 100% Renewable Energy System - Livestream - 11/16/2021 10:00 AM
Stanford Energy
Dr. Jens Madrian will outline NEOM Energy's strategy to develop the world's first 100% renewable energy system. The key focus areas will be system design goals, intermittency challenges, and key enablers for system stabilization and optimization.
Register at weblink to attend.
CITRIS Day 2021: Celebrating 20 Years of Impact and Innovation - Livestream - 11/16/2021 01:00 PM
CITRIS at UC Berkeley
CITRIS Day is an annual public showcase of emerging research, leading-edge applications, collaboration opportunities, and societal impact of the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and the Banatao Institute (CITRIS).
CITRIS will celebrate its 20th anniversary with a virtual public showcase of emerging research, leading-edge applications and collaboration opportunities in the interest of society. We are honored to feature academic leaders, industry executives and public officials, along with students and representatives from research labs and startup companies who have benefited from CITRIS’s support over the years.
The event will also unveil strategic plans for the next three to five years, and highlight areas where CITRIS will contribute to the needs of California and the world in climate resilience, technology policy, food systems, health care delivery and inclusive workforce development in the face of automation.
Register at weblink to attend.
The fall and rise of the mass on a spring - Livestream - 11/16/2021 02:30 PM
UC Berkeley Condensed Matter Physics Seminar
Speaker: Benjamin Aleman, University of Oregon
See weblink for Zoom information
Rainfall-intensity thresholds for post-wildfire debris-flow initiation vary with climatology of peak rainfall intensity - 11/16/2021 03:30 PM
Natural Science Annex Santa Cruz
Rainfall-intensity thresholds for post-wildfire debris-flow initiation are the primary criteria for issuing debris-flow hazard warnings in burned landscapes. Yet, with the expansion of frequent wildfires into a wide range of hydroclimates, there is a growing need for accurate thresholds in landscapes with few to no observations of post-fire debris-flow activity on which to constrain them (such as in Northern California and the Pacific Northwest). To help constrain thresholds in these burned landscapes, I will present fire-scale observations of rainfall intensities associated with post-wildfire debris-flow initiation across the western US that indicate rainfall-intensity thresholds for post-fire debris-flow initiation are systematically higher at sites that frequently experience higher maximum rainfall intensities. In particular, there is a strong correlation between the 15-minute rainfall-intensity threshold and the peak 15-minute rainfall intensity of storms with a one-year return interval. In the second part of the talk, I will explore a growing dataset of soil properties measured in burned landscapes across a range of hydroclimates and propose some physical mechanisms that help explain such a correlation.
Speaker: Scott McCoy, University of Nevada, Reno
Electrochemical Interfaces by Design - 11/16/2021 04:00 PM
Latimer Hall Berkeley
Technologies for electrochemical energy conversion, storage and hydrogen production, such as fuel cells, batteries and electrolyzers have evolved as a prevailing option in achieving environmentally neutral energy and transportation sectors. Global deployment of these technologies dictates perpetual demand for improved functionality and performance of employed materials that are mainly based on scarce elements. Research aimed towards the design and synthesis of materials with advanced electrochemical properties, while diminishing the need for rare constituents, will be presented. Emphasis will be placed on the fundamental understanding of well-defined electrified interfaces and resolving their functionality at atomic and molecular scale. The research strategy is built on insights at the atomic/molecular level that define events controlled by electrode potential, which triggers electron and ion transfers across the electrochemical interfaces. The role of structure, spatial arrangement and nature of the surface atoms will be discussed for different reactive species, spectators, and impurities. The set of physical and chemical properties acquired from well-defined systems under operating conditions determines the guiding principles in synthesis of materials with advanced functionality. Such research approach extends beyond material discoveries towards modification of electrochemical interfaces to further improving their efficiency and durability. These multidisciplinary efforts rely on a variety of experimental and theoretical tools, including surface specific ultra-high vacuum characterization, physical and chemical vapor deposition, chemical synthesis, electron microscopy, computational studies and synchrotron techniques.
Speaker: Vojislav Stamenkovic, UC Irvine
The Mushrooms of Cacadia: Why I wrote a new kind of field guide - Livestream - 11/16/2021 07:00 PM
Mycological Society of San Francisco
In creating Mushrooms of Cascadia: An Illustrated Key. I wanted a book small enough to carry and use in the woods yet with a broad coverage of species, something far more reliable than existing apps, and something not dependent on cell phone coverage.
This talk will feature the mushrooms that are found within 40 miles of my home, half-way between Mount Adams and Mount Hood but that are also found in most of Cascadia, a region from southern Alaska to north-central California.
Speaker: Michael Beug
All the Humpback Whales of the Pacific Ocean - Livestream - 11/16/2021 07:00 PM
American Cetacean Society
Over the past six years, Ted Cheeseman has led a team building the research collaboration and citizen science Happywhale project, gathering ID images of individual humpback whales worldwide. In the North Pacific, they have achieved a milestone: the project now has identified the majority of living humpback whales in the entire ocean basin. Individual humpback whales can be identified by unique tail patterns, a powerful tool to spy into their individual lives as they migrate between wintering areas in the tropics and feeding areas in higher latitude coastal waters. Join us for an exploration of how the public has contributed to whale science, and what can be learned by following an entire ocean's worth of whales.
SpeakerK Ted Cheesman, Happywhale
Wednesday, 11/17/2021
A Star is Born, and Planets Too - Livestream - 11/17/2021 07:00 PM
San Francisco Amateur Astronomers
We live in a privileged time, when at last humans have been able to directly see other stars and planets as they are being born. Needless to say, this has enabled us to answer age-old questions about how the Sun and Earth were made. It turns out the process is beautiful! We are now certain that planets are a natural outcome of star formation. I’ll explain in simple terms the universal star and planet formation mechanisms and events. These same processes are also at work in spiral galaxies and around black holes. The talk is richly illustrated with pictures from major observatories on Earth and in space that have enabled us (along with computer modeling) to learn how stars and planets are born and watch the whole process unfolding.
Speaker: Gibor Basri, UC Berkeley, Emeritus
See weblink for Facebook and YouTube links
Postcards from Mars: The Latest from the International Armada of Robot Explorers - Livestream - 11/17/2021 07:00 PM
Silicon Valley Astronomy Series
Ten missions have been successfully landed on Mars since 1976, including six rovers that have traversed across a total of nearly 50 km of terrain on the Red Planet. Professor Jim Bell from Arizona State University has been the lead or deputy scientist in charge of the science cameras on the NASA Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, and Perseverance rovers, and has had an amazing front row seat for their photographic and geologic adventures. In this presentation, Prof. Bell will share his favorite images and stories from "inside" mission operations and describe the major scientific findings made by these roving and landed missions over the past 45 years, focusing especially on the latest results streaming in from the still-active Curiosity and Perseverance rovers. He will also talk about plans for the next exciting Martian rover and lander adventure -- sample return!
Speaker: Jim Bell is a professor in the School of Earth & Space Exploration at Arizona State University.
SETI Talks: UAPs: Are they worth scientific attention? - Livestream - 11/17/2021 07:00 PM
SETI Institute
In June of this year, an unclassified version of the U.S. Department of Defense released its preliminary report on unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). The report cataloged and investigated records of unexplained encounters seen in the sky by U.S. Navy ships and fighter jets. The report’s firmest conclusion is that the vast majority of UAPs do represent physical objects, and their surprising maneuvers are not caused by any U.S. advanced technology programs. Nor are they evidence that those objects came from outer space. So, what are they?
Recent UAP sightings have so far failed to generate interest among the scientific community. Part of the reason could be the apparent taboo around UAP phenomena, connecting it to the paranormal or pseudoscience while ignoring its history. Should scientists care about these events? Why should we care? All good questions, and rightly so.
To address these questions and discuss how we could scientifically study UAPs, we invited two scientists to discuss their thoughts. Dr. Jacob Haqq Misra, SETI astronomer and senior research investigator at the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science and Dr. Ravi Kopparapu, planetary scientist and an astrophysicist at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Both co-wrote two articles, one in Scientific American published in July 2020 and another in the Washington Post in June 2021, and advocated for a scientific investigation of UAPs by interdisciplinary teams of scientists. Kopparapu and Haqq-Misra emphasize that discarding the taboo surrounding this phenomenon would generate genuine scientific inquiry in actually finding out what UAPs are.
Molly Bentley, host and producer of Big Picture Science, will moderate this conversation. Molly and the two astronomers will discuss the taboo surrounding this phenomenon and how interdisciplinary teams should conduct a genuine scientific inquiry to understand those UAPs. As Sagan concluded in the 1969 debate, “scientists are particularly bound to have open minds; this is the lifeblood of science.” We do not know what UAP are, and this is precisely why we as scientists should study them.
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Science on Tap: Hunting for new minor planets - 11/17/2021 07:00 PM
Museum of Art and History Santa Cruz
Why study asteroids? The scientific interest in asteroids is due largely to their status as the remnant debris from the inner solar system formation process. The probability of an asteroid striking the Earth and causing serious damage is very remote but the devastating consequences of such an impact suggests we should closely study different types of asteroids to understand their compositions, structures, sizes, and future trajectories. In this talk, I will be presenting various methods how we detect new minor planets in our solar system, and will be focusing on how to get the general public to contribute in making new discoveries using the same techniques and data provided by some of the world’s largest fully robotic telescopes.
Speaker: Pranvera Hyseni, UC Santa Cruz
Thursday, 11/18/2021
Earth at the Crossroads: Can the Study of Other Worlds Help Us Save This One? - Livestream - 11/18/2021 07:00 AM
SETI Institute
Tantalizing new discoveries suggest that we are probably not alone in the universe. And yet, as Enrico Fermi first put in 1950: where is everybody? Are habitable worlds rare, unlikely, and therefore cosmically precious? Or is life easily overwhelmed by changing planetary conditions? Do technological societies in particular face an inevitable “Great Filter” that causes their extinction? These questions link the search for extraterrestrial life to the urgent environmental challenges facing our own civilization, from deadly pandemics to human-caused climate change. On November 18th, Georgetown University and the SETI Institute will unite scholars, journalists, artists and activists in conversations that explore what the search for alien life may reveal about the future of life on Earth. These conversations will be open to Georgetown students and will be broadcast to the public. They will culminate in a roundtable debate intended to draft a proclamation on the state of Earth’s environment and its future potential in a cosmic context.
See weblink for Panel topics and speaker list, and to register
The Human and Economic Costs of Climate Inaction - Livestream - 11/18/2021 10:00 AM
The Climate Center
Achieving a climate-safe future for California will require massive investments, both public and private, in all sectors of the economy. But people across the state are already paying a heavy price for our tepid approach to the climate crisis today. This webinar will take a deep dive into the cost of “business as usual,” both in terms of lost economic opportunity and in terms of healthcare burdens and climate disasters.
Speakers: Chris Busch, Energy Innovation; Lena A. Gonzalez, California State Senator; Ibrahim AlHusseini, FullCycle Climate Partmers
Register at weblink to receive connection information.
Weekday Morning Walk at Pillar Point Bluff - 11/18/2021 10:00 AM
Peninsula Open Space Trust
Join Peninsula Open Space Trust for an afternoon Hike at Pillar Point Bluff just north of Half Moon Bay! You will be guided by a POST representative who will share details about the area’s interesting natural history, from the coastal scrub habitat to the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve that hosts tide pools and breeding grounds for harbor seals.
The walk is moderate at about 2.5 miles round trip with around 300 feet of gradual elevation gain.
In 2004, POST stepped in to fund protection of the bluff, restore it to ecological health, and construct a 1.6-mile section of the California Coastal Trail that now runs across it. Today, all 161 acres of the bluff are fully protected in perpetuity - a process that took four transactions, 11 years of work, and an array of visionaries, landowners and donors, both public and private.
Register at weblink to attend.
AI Is Transforming Health, Space, War, and More - Livestream - 11/18/2021 11:00 AM
Computer History Museum
Whether you consider AI a tool, a partner, or a rival, one thing is certain: AI will alter your experiences and permanently change your relationship with reality. The good news? We can still decide how.
What you’ll learn
Eric Schmidt, former Google CEO and Chairman, and Daniel Huttenlocher, inaugural dean of the MIT Schwarzman College of Computing, will explore what AI means to all of us and answer compelling questions:
What will AI mean for health, biology, space, and quantum physics?How will AI impact war, security, and diplomatic negotiations?How will AI influence our culture, our concept of our humanity, and even our history?
Why you should join us
While the advancement of AI may be inevitable, affecting our relationship with knowledge, politics, and society, its ultimate destination is not. As digital citizens, we each can help shape technology in ways that are ethical and good for humanity.
In their new book The Age of AI and Our Human Future, Henry A. Kissinger, Eric Schmidt, and Daniel Huttenlocher unite their perspectives to explore how AI is transforming human society - and what it means for us all.
Register at weblink to receive connection information
At this month’s Midday Science Cafe, we are going on a journey through the wonderful world of the microbiome. We’ll zoom in on the communities of tiny organisms that live everywhere, from the leaves of plants to the guts of tropical reef fish, and do everything, from connecting neighborhoods of plants to creating renewable energy. You’ll hear from two scientists who study the bacteria, fungi, and viruses that make up a microbiome. First, Dr. Kyle Meyer, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley, will discuss how the ecosystems neighboring an individual plant impact its microbiome and may influence plant health by creating nutrients or protecting against disease. Next, Dr. Lydia Rachbauer, a postdoctoral researcher at the Joint BioEnergy Institute at Berkeley Lab, will take us on a deep dive to explore the power of microbes found in a fish’s gut to digest complex sugars found in seaweed and how they might help us transform seaweed into a renewable energy source. These two scientists will show us just two examples of the many ways microbes shape the world around us.
Register at weblink to receive connection information
UC Berkeley Astronomy Colloquium - 11/18/2021 12:40 PM
Campbell Hall, Rm 131 Berkeley
Speaker: Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz, UC Santa Cruz
Fun with Flicker Feathers: Studying Genomes to Understand Coloration in the Northern Flicker - Livestream - 11/18/2021 05:00 PM
San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory
Have you ever wondered about the coloration of intergrades in flickers? Dr. Stepfanie Aguillon will be talking about her ongoing work using genomic sequencing to understand coloration differences between (eastern) yellow-shafted and (western) red-shafted flickers using these iconic intergrades.
Speaker: Stepfanie Aguillon, Stanford
Photosynthesis: How Plants Build the Air we Breathe - Atom by Atom - Livestream - 11/18/2021 05:00 PM
SLAC Public Lecture
Over billions of years, plants and cyanobacteria changed the Earth’s atmosphere by inhaling carbon dioxide, storing the carbon in solid biomass and exhaling oxygen. Their release of oxygen into the air made animal life possible. But how, exactly, do plants produce oxygen? Scientists have been puzzling over this for decades. In the past few years, experiments at X-ray lasers such as the Linac Coherent Light Source at SLAC have allowed us to follow the production of oxygen step by step and atom by atom. In this lecture, I will show a molecular movie made here at SLAC of the first half of oxygen production in cyanobacteria. The movie reveals the amazingly complex, concerted atomic motions that nature has orchestrated to perform this essential reaction. I will discuss what we have learned about the process of oxygen production, and the mysteries that still remain.
Speaker: Franklin Fuller, SLAC
See weblink for Zoom information
Wonderfest - Imagination and Learning - Livestream - 11/18/2021 05:30 PM
Wonderfest
Conventional wisdom suggests that knowledge and imagination - science and fantasy - are deeply different from one another. However, new insights into childhood development challenge this distinction. In fact, exactly the same abilities that allow children to learn about the world also allow them to imagine alternative worlds. Research in computational theories of cognitive development is allowing us to grasp the relation between imagination and causal cognition.
Speaker: Caren Walker, UC San Diego
See weblink for Zoom information
After Dark: GLOW Opening Night - 11/18/2021 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
Connect, play, and get inspired in the glow of luminous sculptures big and small, as eight artists turn up the radiance at Pier 15. Explore our spacious galleries to discover captivating light art by Michael Brown, CHiKA, Nick Dong, Alicia Eggert, Ekene Ijeoma, Luke Jerram, Burt Libe, and Ames Palms. Then expand your curiosity to exhibits in the Seeing and Reflections gallery, where you can experiment with color, shadows, and more.
Light up with delight this winter! Visible light inspires us across cultures, reveals nature’s beauty, and contains clues to the history of space and time. Tonight at After Dark, join us for the opening night of Glow, a collection of ten luminous sculptures big and small inviting you to connect to, reflect on, and interact with light. Hear from select Glow artists about their work and dive into the processes that light up their sculptures. Also, enjoy a special performance beneath Luke Jerram’s Museum of the Moon from pianist Tammy Lynne Hall and soprano Leberta Lorál. Don’t miss this joyful seasonal expansion of the Exploratorium’s iconic exhibits on light.
Nightlife - 11/18/2021 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+.
Micromitigation: Fighting Air Pollution with Activated Carbon - Livestream - 11/18/2021 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.
Climate and Birds in California - Livestream - 11/18/2021 07:00 PM
Golden Gate Audubon Society
North America’s bird populations have declined by approximately 3 billion birds since 1970 and two-thirds of North America’s bird species now face an even greater risk of extinction due to climate change. Mike Lynes will discuss the threats California birds face from climate change and how Audubon California is working with chapters, allies, and decision-makers to implement climate-smart, nature-based policies like California’s “30 by 30” initiative aimed at expanding open spaces to meet climate goals and benefit human communities.
Speaker: Mike Lynes, Audubon California
See weblink for Zoom link.
Busting Myths About One of the Largest Volcanic Systems in the World - The Top 10 Misconceptions about Yellowstone Volcanism - Livestream - 11/18/2021 07:00 PM
US Geological Survey Public Lecture Series Contrary to popular belief, Yellowstone is not "overdue" for eruption. Volcanoes don't work that way. Yellowstone experiences thousands of earthquakes every year, but these are not a sign of the volcano getting ready to erupt.Despite its reputation, most eruptions from Yellowstone are lava flows, not massive explosions.
Speaker: Michael Poland, USGS Yellowstone Volcano Observatory
See weblink for link to livestream
Penumbral Eclipse Virtual Watch Party - 11/18/2021 11:00 PM
Chabot Space and Science Center
Witness a nearly total lunar eclipse! On this special night, the Moon will be darkened by the Earth’s shadow will occur for much of North America. Join our astronomers for a live stream on Facebook or YouTube through Chabot’s most powerful telescope, Nellie!
Event ends Friday at 2:30 AM
Friday, 11/19/2021
Next Steps for United Climate Action - Livestream - 11/19/2021 09:00 AM
Climate Emergency Mobilization Task Force
RSVP at weblink to receive connection information
Lawrence Berkeley Lab Virtual Tour - 11/19/2021 11:00 AM
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
In response to COVID-related social conditions, Berkeley Lab is offering virtual tours of its facilities to the public. These are pre-scheduled, live, interactive, one-hour long presentations by Lab staff and scientists. Participants will learn about the Lab's fascinating history, ground-breaking discoveries, and contributions to COVID-19-related research.
Join a Zoom Webinar to learn about Berkeley Lab's history and take a peek at the Molecular Foundry, the Advanced Light Source, National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC). While we can spend days showing you various facilities at Berkeley Lab, in order to respect your time we'll only be giving you a taste of the vast research conducted.
Understanding the Evolution of the Early Solar System through Paleomagnetism of Meteorites - 11/19/2021 12:00 PM
Earth and Marine Sciences Building Santa Cruz
Speaker: Caue Borlina, Massachusets Institute of Technology
The Costs of Environmental Policy Uncertainty: The Case of Air Toxics Standards - Livestream - 11/19/2021 12:10 PM
Giannini Hall Berkeley
Speaker: Gautam Gowrisankan, Columbia University
See weblink for Zoom information, or attend in person
From Astrometry to Discovery - Livestream - 11/19/2021 07:00 PM
San Mateo County Astronomical Society
The unprecedented high precision of astrometric data released by the European Space Agency’s Gaia mission provide us a new map of nearby stars and the Milky Way we have never seen before. In this talk, I will discuss a brief history of astrometry, the importance of astrometry, and new discoveries from this mission, especially a new feature embedded in the Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. I will also present the latest results related to this feature using the data from NASA’s TESS mission and Gemini observatories, and these results will lead us to understand the connections between the changing of stellar interior structure and surface activities, which will eventually affect the habitable zones around these stars.
Speaker: Dr. Wei-Chun Jao, Georgia State University
Introduction to modern narrow band filters & Coloring with Narrowband Images using Pixel Math- Livestream - 11/19/2021 07:30 PM
Tri-Valley Stargazers
For this meeting we will have two speakers. Gert will talk about narrowband filters, and Kai will talk about Coloring with Narrowband Images using Pixel Math.
Amateur astronomers in light polluted areas like our region in northern California use filters to reduce the effect of light pollution and give better visual and photographic impressions for certain classes of objects. The first part of this presentation will introduce to the audience to what types of light pollution we face and the types of filters that have been developed for various visual and photographic applications. We will introduce the relatively new development of narrow band filters with multiple pass bands and how these filters are used mainly in astrophotography.
Speaker: Gert Gottschalk Practitioners of astrophotography usually are rigorous, who try to reproduce images that mimic closely to what humans would have seen if they had perfect vision and no atmospheric distortions. With narrowband images, however, it is often acceptable and encouraged to playfully combine the color channels to arrive at compelling artworks that are still based on the physics of star creations and destructions. The main challenge with narrowband image processing is how vastly different the magnitude of signal we can detect from the different bands, where the black body emission from stars overwhelms the H-alpha ones, which overwhelms the OIII or SII. To arrive at a color-balanced final image that is relatively noise free, but yet can be acquired with a non-professional setup within a reasonable amount of time, many processing techniques were developed. Today, we will focus on using Pixinsight’s powerful and flexible Pixel Math process (along with other supporting modules). We will first show how to create a color image from a single channel (typically Ha), 2 channels (e.g. HOO) and 3 channels (e.g. SHO or HSO). Followed by how to add narrowband data to RGB images. We will then demonstrate techniques to improve the color and detail using relatively simple Pixel Math expressions. We will finally deep dive into the more exotic pixel math expressions that we sometimes see referenced in others’ works, and try to explain the logic and reason behind them.
Speaker: Kai Yung
See weblink for Zoom instructions
Saturday, 11/20/2021
Water Management in The Era of Climate Change: California and Michigan Experience - Livestream - 11/20/2021 09:00 AM
California Section American Chemical Society
It is recommended that participants prepare for this event by reading The Story of More: How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go from Here - by Hope Jahren. The panel event will convene panelists from Michigan and California. Both states are experiencing the effects of climate change, extreme drought and in California and extreme flooding events in Michigan. Panelists will be asked to briefly share challenges and experiences in working with communities and legislative government to develop mitigation and adaptation strategies. Following this, participants in the audience will be asked to pose questions to the panel. A free electronic version of the book will be given to the first 25 registrants in each section.
Panel: Ben Bray, Ph. D, P.E., Senior Civil Engineer, East Bay Municipal Water District, Oakland, CA; Kris Olsson, M.S., M.S., Watershed Ecologist, Huron River Watershed Council, Ann Arbor, MI
Register at weblink to receive connection information
Holiday Rock, Gem, and Lapidary Show and Sale - 11/20/2021 10:00 AM
Santa Cruz Live Oak Grange Santa Cruz
The Santa Cruz Mineral and Gem Society invites you to the annual holiday sale organized by members of the club. Come and see wonderful gifts of nature and art from around the world - gems, jewelry, rocks, minerals, and lapidary arts. Browse the bargains and pick up some great gifts for the holidays.
The sale supports the mineral and gem society and earth sciences education and scholarship. The Society is an all-volunteer California 501(c)3 non-profit incorporated in 1949. For more information, visit the society web pages:
http://scrockngem.org
and https://www.facebook.com/pg/scmgs, or email scruzmgs@gmail.com.
Saturday Cinema: Trip the Light Fantastic - 11/20/2021 01:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
In celebration of the opening of Glow: Discover the Art of Light, we put a spotlight on short, kinetic films that dance! These exuberant films express joyful movement in luminous and colorful ways.
Featuring:
Light Play: Black/White/Gray by artist Laszlo Maholy-Nagy (1930, 6 min.) The ephemeral elements of light play off of a kinetic sculpture casting dancing shadows in evocative ways.
Pow.Wow.Wow by Lisa Jackson (2011, 4 min.) Featuring the dynamic dancing of Shyama Priya, a Cree Nation Fancy Shawl dancer, this short film offers a celestial performance of “grace and energy” in rhythm with music performed by Cris Derksen.
Con Brio by Sandra Eber (2013, 4 min.) This choreographed stop-motion animation features flowers at liberty and play, accompanied by a lively ukulele composition. Flowers dance in a joyous celebration in the garden in this complexly created pinhole film.
Twyla Tharp by Bay Area filmmaker Kathleen Quillian (2021, 4 min.) This animated music video bursts with color and was made using digitally printed images and approximately 1,200 hand-cut paper silhouettes. Music by Dylan Hicks.
Fiddle De Dee by animation pioneer Norman McLaren (1947, 5 min.) This hand-painted film is a tumble of colors and undulating shapes. Reflecting the gaiety of old time music by a Gatineau Valley fiddler who plays Alice Hawthorne’s composition “Listen to the Mocking Bird.” Lively abstract shapes frolic across the screen in tempo with the happy, toe-tapping music.
Showings at 1:00 and 3:00
Sunday, 11/21/2021
Holiday Rock, Gem, and Lapidary Show and Sale - 11/21/2021 10:00 AM
Santa Cruz Live Oak Grange Santa Cruz
The Santa Cruz Mineral and Gem Society invites you to the annual holiday sale organized by members of the club. Come and see wonderful gifts of nature and art from around the world - gems, jewelry, rocks, minerals, and lapidary arts. Browse the bargains and pick up some great gifts for the holidays.
The sale supports the mineral and gem society and earth sciences education and scholarship. The Society is an all-volunteer California 501(c)3 non-profit incorporated in 1949. For more information, visit the society web pages:
http://scrockngem.org
and https://www.facebook.com/pg/scmgs, or email scruzmgs@gmail.com.
Environment vs. Ecology: Decoding the Decline of a Kelp Forest Ecosystem in Northern California - Livestream - 11/21/2021 01:30 PM
Seymour Science Center
Bull kelp forests experienced unprecedented losses along 220 miles of coastline in Northern California beginning in 2014 after the onset of a large marine heatwave and the local extinction of sunflower sea stars (sea urchins primary predator). These losses have had devastating consequences to the region’s communities, economies, and fisheries. Similar to the nature versus nurture debate in psychology, it can be equally challenging to tease apart environmental and ecological drivers (also known as "top down versus bottom up”) in ecosystem dynamics.
Using a suite of diver and satellite-derived data, join Meredith as she describes historical patterns of kelp canopy coverage in Northern California, decodes how and why this event occurred, and provides perspective on the future of these iconic marine ecosystems.
Register at weblink to receive connection information.
Monday, 11/22/2021
Imaging quantum materials with scanning SQUID microscopy - Livestream - 11/22/2021 10:00 AM
Stanford University
Novel quantum phenomena are often driven by cooperation or competition between different electronic properties with similar energies. Probing coexisting or competing electronic orders requires versatile probes which are sensitive to the multiple aspects of the system, such as magnetism, conductivity and superconductivity. In my talk I will describe two systems where our local view uncovered surprising mesoscopic effects. In the oxide interface LaAlO3/SrTiO3, we directly imaged a filamentary current flow near the metal-insulator transition, revealing a non- universal transition [1]. In the transition metal dichalcogenide 4Hb-TaS2 we uncovered a hidden magnetic order in the normal state, through its unusual effect on the superconducting state. We ascribe this behavior to the coupling between the two building blocks of this van der Waals material, the superconducting 2H-TaS2 and the candidate spin liquid 1T-TaS2.
Speaker: Beena Kalisky, Bar Ilan University
Missions to Near Earth Asteroids - Livestream - 11/22/2021 11:00 AM
Royal Observatory, Edinburgh
This talk will describe the two recent missions which have taken samples at Near-Earth Asteroids, Hayabusa-2 at Ryugu and OSIRIS-REx at Bennu. Hear about the scientific results from the orbital phases of the missions, the dropping of surface landers, and how the material is returned to Earth. The talk will be illustrated with amazing images from these missions.
Register at weblink to receive connection information
Electrically charged skyrmions and superconductivity - Livestream - 11/22/2021 04:15 PM
Stanford University
Skyrmions, first proposed in the context of nuclear physics, elegantly realize Kelvin’s dream of understanding particles as topological defects in an underlying field. When skyrmions arise in 2D materials with band topology, Berry-phase effects can endow them with an electric charge in addition to their magnetic moment, with intriguing implications for electrical transport. In this talk I’ll explain how skyrmions may even pair into charge-2 bosons, potentially giving a new route to electron-mediated superconductivity, and show how recent scanning tunneling microscopy experiments can “image” charged skyrmions in graphene.
Speaker: Michael Zaletel, UC Berkeley
See weblink for Zoom information
Tuesday, 11/23/2021
The Botany of Fall: Leaf Color and Deciduousness - Livestream - 11/23/2021 01:00 PM
UC Botanical Garden
Moiré superlattices: a new Hubbard model simulator - Livestream - 11/23/2021 02:30 PM
UC Berkeley Condensed Matter Physics Seminar
Whole Earth Seminar - 11/23/2021 03:30 PM
Natural Science Annex Santa Cruz
Deep Learning Hardware: Past, Present, and Future - Livestream - 11/23/2021 06:00 PM
SF Bay Association of Computing Machinery
Monday, 11/29/2021
Developing Academic Software (CCPNmr) for the Analysis of Biomolecular NMR Data - Livestream - 11/29/2021 12:00 PM
California Section American Chemical Society
UC Berkley Theoretical Astrophysics Center Seminar - 11/29/2021 12:10 PM
Campbell Hall, Rm 131 Berkeley
CITRIS People and Robots Seminar - 11/29/2021 04:00 PM
CITRIS People and Robots
Wonderfest - Can AI Know What It Doesn't Know? - 11/29/2021 07:00 PM
Hopmonk Tavern Novato