Greetings Fans of Science, Reason, and Critical Thinking,
I don’t think I need to remind you that these are not the best of times for science in any evidence based form. There are still good things happening, for instance, McGill’s Office for Science and Society received the 2024 James Randi Educational Foundation Award. James Randi was one of the amazing leaders of the modern skeptics movement. However, the President of the United States has a bit of history with his war on science. He has certainly taken his assault to new levels this term. There is so much information available, I’m not going to rehash it here. Just… Please take action, support your local science museums, science based education institutions, environmental organizations, medical research institutions, and there are so many to choose from. There have been and will continue to be protests and/or rallys all across the country.
As always there’s far more going on than any of us can keep up with. Here’s some items that I think might be of interest to you or someone you would like to share the SciSchmooze with… (these are tough choices to make. π to eclipse in 2 days!)
-Artificial Art - AI vs Human Composers - 03/12/2025 06:30 PM
swissnex San Francisco San Francisco
-Deliberation corrects: The case of conspiracy theories - Livestream - 03/13/2025 06:30 PM
Bay Area Skeptics
-Total Lunar Eclipse - 03/13/2025 09:00 PM
Chabot Space and Science Center Oakland
-Lunar Eclipse Observation - 03/13/2025 10:00 PM
Foothill College Los Altos Hills
-Lunar Eclipse Watch Party - 03/13/2025 10:00 PM
Lawrence Hall of Science Berkeley
-Pi Day - 03/14/2025 11:00 AM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
-KALW LIVE: Pi Day with Science Friday featuring Ira Flatow - 03/14/2025 05:00 PM
Minna Gallery and Event Space San Francisco
-Keeper Academy at CuriOdyssey - 03/15/2025 08:30 AM
CuriOdyssey San Mateo
There were so many items I had to choose from this week!!!
Put this on your calendar! 🎶 Music of the Spheres* Lick Observatory brings popular musicians and expert astronomers to the summit of Mount Hamilton for a musical night to remember. These are great evenings to spend on the mountain at Lick Observatory. There are programs for almost every taste in music. Tickets go on sale Apr 9 for members and Apr 16 for everyone else. WARNING: If you want to get tickets you need to be ready and prepared. They usually go on sale at 0900 PDT and are gone within 2 or 3 hours!
Landing on the Moon is hard! The Odysseus lunar lander has landed sideways on the moon.
We’re Charging Our Cars Wrong!… If there’s one thing we could do now to hasten the transition to electric vehicles, it’s this: Build a robust public EV-charging infrastructure.
You may have heard of the Glass Brain found in Herculaneum.
You may recognize this number… 3.14159. Convert it to a calendar format and you get 1:59 PM (AM too) on March 14. Two really cool museums that I encourage everyone to support (along with so many others!) are celebrating not only π-day but π-week! They both created a cool way to celebrate a really important irrational number. Curiodyssey got a jump on π-Day essentially starting π-Week at their First Friday event on Mar 7. You can still donate as many π$ as you would like at their donor site, you do the math! The explOratorium invented π-Day! They have a special support option that does the math for you! Donate for the Love of Pi (𝜋) here. It all started at the Exploratorium with former staff physicist, tinkerer, and media specialist Larry Shaw. If you go to π-Day this Fri at the explO you will get a chance to see one of the original ambassadors of π present more than you could imagine about π in a fascinating presentation, in addition to actually eating π! (Note: he has a cool place to smash that button)
Nobody can escape AI in the day to day discussions we have, or news we hear and read. Here’s a great alternative! Check this one out too… This Mushroom Can Fly | Deep Look
What if Women Were the True Architects of Human Evolution?
Maybe this is why science seems so misunderstood by so many… Many people know how to read, but struggle to understand what they're reading and this… The Ideological Hijacking of Science Funding
There is so much going on in the news about science, anti-science, how we are learning about how the universe works, and just plain cool stuff. Take some time to cherish the times we live in and the opportunities we have. Remember though, there are obligations that come with such richness.
Have a great week learning cool new stuff and celebrating stuff you already know!
herb masters
Note: Please share this with the science inclined folks you know. Encourage them to subscribe.
“Science can give mankind a better standard of living, better health and a better mental life, if mankind in turn gives science the sympathy and support so essential to its progress.” Vannevar Bush
Upcoming Events:
Click to see the next two weeks of events in your browser.
Monday, 03/10/2025
Development of the Human Neocortex: from Progenitors to Circuits - 03/10/2025 10:00 AM
James H. Clark Center (Bldg 340) Stanford
Speaker: Li Wang, Baylor College of Medicine
Room: Auditorium
Artificial and Post-Artificial Texts: The Reader’s Expectation after AI - 03/10/2025 12:00 PM
Sutardja Dai Hall Berkeley
With the advent of large language models, the number of artificial texts we encounter on a daily basis is about to increase substantially. This talk asks how this new textual situation may influence what one can call the “standard expectation of unknown texts,” which has always included the assumption that any text is the work of a human being.
Speaker: Hannes Bajohr, UC Berkeley
Register to attend in person or to watch online (see weblink)
Asteraceae in Isolation: Island Biogeography of the Largest Plant Family - 03/10/2025 12:00 PM
Sonoma State University - Biology Colloquium Rohnert Park
Speaker: Nathan Cho, UC San Francisco
Tell-tale electromagnetic Signatures of Massive Black Hole Binaries - 03/10/2025 12:10 PM
Campbell Hall, Rm 131 Berkeley
Speaker: Jordy Davelaar, Princeton University
Branching Times Metaphysics, Irrealist Semantics + Natural Language Negation - 03/10/2025 12:30 PM
Stanford Symbolic Systems Forum Stanford
In this talk, i describe the problem of “future contingents” - in effect, how we determine the truth of statements about the future - and outline “branching times” theoretic approaches to this question. in recent work in linguistic semantics, these models have shed light on the notion of “reality status”,
Speaker: Joshua Phillips, Stanford University
See weblink for building admission information
Freshwater from air using moisture-capturing hydrogels: Soft matter and sorption for sustainability and energy - 03/10/2025 12:30 PM
Green Earth Sciences Building Stanford
Humidity in the air is a vast water resource representing 6 times more freshwater than all rivers and lakes. This humidity can be converted to drinking water via moisture sorption-desorption, serving as a potentially decentralized, passive, and low-cost pathway to mitigate the pressing water scarcity challenge. However, the productivity and potential of this approach has been severely limited by the performance, scalability, and durability of conventional moisture sorbent materials.
Speaker: Carlos Diaz-Marin, Advanced Research Projects Agency - Energy (ARPA-E)
Magnetic topological insulators: from fundamental physics to a quantum standard of resistance - 03/10/2025 02:30 PM
Birge Hall Berkeley
The quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE), first observed in Cr/V-doped (Bi,Sb)2Te3 [1], holds promise as a disruptive innovation in quantum metrology, for its potential to define a new generation of quantum standards of resistance. A goal of modern metrology is to combine the various standards into a combined “quantum electrical metrology toolbox”, that can perform quantum resistance, voltage and current metrology. Conventional quantum standards of resistance rely on the integer quantum Hall effect for their operation.
Speaker: Charles Gould, University of Würzburg, Germany
Innovator's Edge in Supply Chain Transparency and Food Waste Reduction - 03/10/2025 03:30 PM
Etcheverry Hall Berkeley
Digital technologies are transforming fresh produce retail by enabling real-time freshness tracking and direct consumer access to supply chain data. However, adopting these technologies comes at a high cost. It is therefore essential to determine whether an innovator - the first retailer to adopt supply transparency technology - gains a competitive edge over a follower, who adopts it only after the innovator, and under what conditions this advantage justifies the investment.
Speaker: Jeannette Song, Duke University
AWAKE: beam-plasma interactions and plasma wakefield acceleration - 03/10/2025 03:30 PM
Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC) Colloquium Series Menlo Park
Plasma-based accelerators have demonstrated their ability to accelerate electrons at very high gradients (>100GeV/m). They have a number of niche applications.
The AWAKE experiment, located at CERN, aims at producing high-energy electron bunches (50 to 200GeV) for application to particle physics. Large energy gain is in principle possible by avoiding staging challenges, using a single energetic driver and only one plasma for acceleration. A 400GeV bunch from the SPS with 3e11 protons first self-modulates in a 10m-long plasma, then drives wakefields in an accelerator plasma (10 to 200m long).
Speaker: Partic Muggli, Max Planck Institute for Physics, Munich
Attend in person or online (see weblink)
The quantum limit of gravitational-wave detection - 03/10/2025 04:00 PM
Sonoma State University - What Physicists Do Rohnert Park
Speaker: Prof. Victoria Xu from UC Berkeley will share how the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO) uses subtle tricks in quantum squeezing to expand our new gravitational-wave window into the Universe.
High-Temperature Superconductivity in Cuprates - Strides Made and Challenges Remain - 03/10/2025 04:15 PM
Physics North Berkeley
The enduring mystery of high-temperature superconductivity in copper-based materials, with critical temperatures surpassing earlier expectations set by the BCS theory, remains one of the most intriguing puzzles in physics, even three decades after its initial discovery. What makes this enigma so captivating is its simultaneous simplicity - characterized by a single-band and half-spin system - and its extraordinary complexity, featuring rich phenomena such as d-wave superconductivity, the pseudogap, spin and charge orders, and the peculiar behavior of strange metals.
Speaker: Zhi-Xun Shen, Stanford University
Power Deals: Unlocking Long-Duration Storage - 03/10/2025 05:00 PM
Durand Building, Room 353 Stanford
Join Stanford Energy Club for an in-depth conversation with Scott Burger, Director of Business Development & Analytics at Form Energy, to explore the evolving landscape of long-duration energy storage.
Discussion topics include:
Origination strategy & market positioningContract structuring & risk mitigationScaling & lessons learned
Whether you’re an aspiring founder, investor, engineer, or policy enthusiast, this fireside chat will provide actionable insights into the business of scaling climate tech solutions.
March LASER Event - 03/10/2025 07:00 PM
LASER Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous Stanford
For this LASER we'll experiment a different format than the traditional 20-minute talks. We'll try the "A.T.O.M.I.C." format: A for Anthropology, T for Technology, O for "Omega Point", "M" for Music, "I" for Images, "C" for Cognitive Science. Six discussions on six topics. "I" will be led by Jennifer Parker, founding director of OpenLab at UC Santa Cruz and will be the only extended talk.
Each will lead a conversation with a brief introduction and then will invite the others and the audience to join the conversation.
Room: LiKaShing building, LK120
Tuesday, 03/11/2025
Masquerading Soft Materials: Anomalous Behavior in Macromolecular Design - 03/11/2025 11:00 AM
Latimer Hall Berkeley
The Golder Research Team utilizes fundamental principles of molecular structure to control synthetic polymer function. Many of society’s greatest advancements spanning health, sanitation, construction, electronics, and transportation have been enabled by the invention and application of plastics. Simultaneously, these materials have created significant concerns about global sustainability, climate impact, and environmental pollution.
Speaker: Matt Golder, University of Washington
Innovation at Agilent: Bridging Research and Real-World Applications - Livestream - 03/11/2025 12:00 PM
Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center
Agilent is a global leader in analytical instrumentation, software, and services, supporting scientists and engineers in addressing complex challenges across life sciences, pharma and biopharma, clinical diagnostics, advanced materials, and food and environmental analysis. With a legacy originating from Hewlett-Packard (HP) and operating independently since 1999, Agilent combines decades of expertise with a commitment to advancing analytical science.
Additionally, specific examples of technological advancements will be discussed, showcasing how these innovations have been integrated into Agilent’s product portfolio and applied to address critical scientific and industrial challenges.
Speaker: Nahid Chalyavi, Agilent
Bioenergetic trophic trade-offs determine mass-dependent extinction thresholds across the Cenozoic - 03/11/2025 12:00 PM
Braun (Geology) Corner (Bldg 320), Rm 220 Stanford
Body size drives the energetic demands of organisms, constraining trophic interactions between species and playing a significant role in shaping the feasibility of species' populations in a community. On macroevolutionary timescales, these demands feed back to shape the selective landscape driving the evolution of body size and diet. We develop a theoretical framework for a three-level trophic food chain -- typical for terrestrial mammalian ecosystems -- premised on bioenergetic trade-offs to explore mammalian population dynamics.
Speaker: Justin Yeakel, UC Merced
Large scale data processing with MapReduce - 03/11/2025 01:00 PM
Cory Hall Berkeley
Large scale data analytics frameworks (e.g., Apache Spark, Apache Hadoop, Map Reduce, FlumeJava, and Dryad) are now widely used to derive value from massive amounts of raw data. In this talk, I’ll describe how these frameworks work. I’ll introduce the Map Reduce paradigm, and describe why it made it much easier for users to write programs to analyze data using hundreds or thousands of machines. I’ll also discuss problems solved by successors like Apache Spark (invented at UC Berkeley!).
Speaker: Kay Ousterhout, Principal Software Engineer, ServiceNow
Unintended Environmental Consequences of Investment Stimulus Policy - 03/11/2025 02:10 PM
Evans Hall Berkeley
We study the unintended environmental consequences of “bonus depreciation,” one of the largest investment tax incentives in US history. To do so, we pair emissions data from the EPA’s Toxic Release Inventory and National Emissions Inventory with quasi-experimental policy variation in the extent to which establishments benefited from the policy.
Speaker: Eric Ohrn, Grinnell College
Attend in person or online (See weblink)
Path Towards Exciton Condensation at High Temperatures - 03/11/2025 03:30 PM
Hewlett Teaching Center Stanford
Excitons are composite bosons made of bound electron-hole pairs in semiconductors. With a much smaller mass than atoms, they are expected to Bose-condense at much higher temperature scales. This is especially the case for the tightly bound excitons in two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors; theoretical studies have predicted the possibility of realizing exciton superfluidity near room temperature.
Speaker: Kin Fai Mak, Stanford university
Towards the elucidation of the mechanisms of synthesis of zeolites - 03/11/2025 04:00 PM
Latimer Hall Berkeley
Zeolites are the principal solid catalysts in the chemical industry and are also widely used as adsorbents and detergent builders. Their remarkable topological diversity - 255 realized polymorphs to date, with over 300,000 more proposed - enables highly tunable shape-selective catalysis and adsorption. However, this same diversity underlies a longstanding challenge: how to direct the synthesis toward one desired polymorph among the many that can form under similar conditions.
Speaker: Valeria Molinero, University of Utah
False Beliefs in a Post-Truth World: Psychological Causes and Antidotes - 03/11/2025 05:30 PM
Commonwealth Club San Francisco
Why is the human brain so vulnerable to false beliefs and conspiracy theories despite evidence to the contrary? And what can be done to protect ourselves, our families, and society from our collective propensity to fall into these seductive traps?
Dr. Joe Pierre, health sciences clinical professor at UCSF and a specialist in delusions and delusion-like beliefs, will be returning to the Club to discuss these issues with us. His first talk on the topic, a few years ago, was a sold-out, extremely informative success, so we asked him to return for a deeper look into the personal and societal effects of mistrust, misinformation, and motivated reasoning. Equally important, he is going to outline how we can avoid the pitfalls of acting on false beliefs, both as individuals and as a society.
Moderator: Eric Siegel, Commonwealth Club
Spritacular: Electrical Discharges Above Thunderstorms - Livestream - 03/11/2025 06:00 PM
Night Sky Network
Spritacular is a community science project that aims to collect observations of sprites and other optical phenomena occurring above thunderstorms - collectively known as Transient Luminous Events (TLEs). TLEs have been frequently captured by storm chasers all around the globe with off-the-shelf DSLR cameras, however, they are sporadically shared over various social media platforms. In late 2022, we launched a NASA citizen science project with the goals of gathering these observations for research and building a community.
Speaker: Burcu Kosar, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Sal Khan's Brave New Words - 03/11/2025 07:00 PM
Computer History Museum Mountain View
Save the date for an inspiring evening with Sal Khan, founder of Khan Academy, as he shares insights from his upcoming book, Brave New Words: How AI Will Revolutionize Education (and Why That's a Good Thing). Discover how artificial intelligence is reshaping the future of learning and why it offers exciting possibilities for education
Feed the Planet: A Photographic Journey to the World’s Food - 03/11/2025 07:30 PM
Hewlett Teaching Center Stanford
Do you know where your food comes from? To find out, acclaimed photographer George Steinmetz spent a decade documenting food production in more than 36 countries on 6 continents, 24 US states, and 5 oceans. In his new book, Feed the Planet, filled with never-before seen aerial images, Steinmetz documents the awesome global effort that puts food on our tables and transforms the surface of the Earth, capturing the massive scale of 21st-century agriculture that has sculpted 40 percent of the Earth’s surface.
Speaker: George Steinmetz, photographer
Registration required at weblink
Wednesday, 03/12/2025
Understanding a Fish through Genomics, Microbiomes, and Microplastics - Livestream - 03/12/2025 11:00 AM
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
I’m an evolutionary geneticist and I’m interested in identifying complex patterns of evolutionary adaptations within fishes. I use genomes and transcriptomes (genes expressed within a given set of cells or tissue type) to better understand adaptations related to diet, metabolism, and depth. I’m interested in looking at the genetic variation of hemoglobin genes within marine fishes and how this is related to adaptations of occupying different oceanic depths.
Speaker: Joseph Heras, CSU San Bernardino
Register at weblink to receive connection information
Exploring Open RAN's Role in Transforming Telecom - Livestream - 03/12/2025 12:00 PM
Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity
Join the UC Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity for an expert panel examining the implications of “open radio access networks,” or Open RAN, a movement focused on “unbundling” the hardware and software in wireless telecommunication systems to reduce dependence on a small number of suppliers.
This webinar will feature key insights and policy recommendations from CLTC’s recent report, Impacts of Open Radio Access Networks for Operators, Policymakers, and Consumers,
Registration required: https://forms.gle/FaE861SGqpRZvW5U9
The Role of Energy Storage in The Rapid Transformation of The UK's Energy System - 03/12/2025 12:00 PM
Durand Hall, Room 450 Stanford
The UK is going through an accelerated transition of its' energy system with the grid to deliver net zero clean power by 2030, deployment of green/blue hydrogen into decarbonisation and ramping up of small and large nuclear power. There are ambitious plans related to decarbonisation of transport. This is the backdrop which sees a much greater need for energy storage solutions, some of which we have now, others which we are going to need to develop. This talk will try and do this topic some justice.
Speaker: Martin Freer, Faraday Institution
Deploying AI in Organizations and Society - 03/12/2025 12:00 PM
Gates Computer Science Building Stanford
Leaders and members of established organizations - from governments to hospitals and nonprofits - are zealously exploring ways to harness these powerful tools to amplify their intended impact. Today, nearly every organization is actively experimenting with AI, whether through formal initiatives or informally, within their operations. AI’s deployment in real-world organizational settings, however, may also spark transformations beyond those of individual organizations and the communities they serve.
Speaker: Angela Aristidou, Stanford University
Attend in person or online (see weblink)
Fun Times with Fungi: What the Clock of a Fungus can Teach Us about the Importance of a Healthy Circadian Rhythm - 03/12/2025 12:10 PM
Morgan Hall Berkeley
Circadian rhythms are highly conserved, 24-hour, oscillations that tune physiology to the day/night cycle, enhancing fitness by ensuring that appropriate activities occur at biologically advantageous times. Circadian rhythms are a phenomenon that exist across the tree of life and throughout biological scales, with broadly conserved atomic-level timekeepers enhancing fitness at the organismal level. Chronic disruption of proper circadian synchronization negatively impacts organisms throughout the kingdom of life, from disrupting metabolic networks in fungi to increasing the risk for Alzheimer’s disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) in humans.
Speaker: Jennifer Hurley, Rensselear Polytechnic Institute
The Morphology and Mythology of Nuclear Waste Containment in the American West - 03/12/2025 03:30 PM
McCone Hall Berkeley
In this conversation, we explore the creative power of rock, clay, soil, and salt in catacomb architecture designed to contain nuclear waste. Scattered across the American West, these man-made structures resemble meso-American pyramids and ancient subterranean crypts designed to function at 1,000-to-10,000-year timescales and beyond. These structures are becoming cultural ancestors of the far future, hidden in the undersoil. While the conversation of “nuclear waste disposal” may seem like stale talk of some bygone era, these burial sites are in an infantile stage, built only thirty years ago or less, while many are still under construction.
Speaker: Morgan Williams, Applied Carbon
UC Santa Cruz Whole Earth Seminar - 03/12/2025 03:30 PM
Earth and Marine Sciences Building Santa Cruz
Speaker: Cindy Looy, UC Berkeley
Leveraging eDNA to Survey Large Marine Ecosystems in the Northeast Pacific - 03/12/2025 03:30 PM
Estuary & Ocean Science Center Tiburon
Speaker: Zachary Gold, Lead Molecular Ecologist - Ocean Molecular Ecology Program, NOAA Pacific Marine Environmental Laboratory
Attend in person or click here to watch on Zoom
Energy and Resources Group Colloquium - 03/12/2025 04:00 PM
Giannini Hall Berkeley
Speaker: Jack Chang
Science in the White House: Integrating Solutions to the Triple Crises of Climate Change, Loss of Biodiversity, and Inequality/Inequity - 03/12/2025 04:10 PM
International House Berkeley
Three major global challenges - climate change, loss of biodiversity and its benefits, and inequality and inequity among people - are typically tackled within three separate silos. However, scientific knowledge tells us that the three are inextricably linked. If the problems are not considered together, solutions to one may undermine solutions to the others.
Speaker: Jane Lubchenco, Oregon State University
Register at weblink to attend
Artificial Art - AI vs Human Composers - 03/12/2025 06:30 PM
swissnex San Francisco San Francisco
Artificial Art - AI vs Human Composers is an innovative production of the interdisciplinary Swiss music festival Interfinity that explores the fascinating interplay between human and artificial intelligence in music - set in an engaging and interactive game show format, this production invites the audience to become musical detectives, testing their ability to distinguish between compositions created by human minds and those generated by AI. The audience is playfully challenged to identify the origin of the presented works - with live performers bringing both AI and human-composed works to life. The concert experience will be narrated and complemented by scientific interludes as well as visual arts, creating an immersive atmosphere.
See weblink to register
How Do Humans Influence Evolution? Studying the Impacts of Human-made Dams on Endangered Trout Anatomy - 03/12/2025 07:30 PM
Marin Science Seminar San Rafael
Humans impact ecosystems in a variety of ways, with urbanization, climate change, and infrastructure projects posing unique challenges organisms must overcome. In freshwater river systems, human-made dams pose major risks to endangered fish species, disrupting habitats in many ways. Jackie Galvez’s research investigates the influence of damming on one important aspect of fish biology: anatomy.
Speaker: Jackie Galvez, UC Berkeley
Thursday, 03/13/2025
How the Sausage Is Made: Testing the Effectiveness of an Informative Video in Promoting Sustainable Food Consumption - Livestream - 03/13/2025 10:00 AM
Stanford University
In the work presented, we use an incentivized consumption measure to assess the behavioral impacts of watching a roughly 15-minute video about industrial-scale pork production (clipped from the Dominion documentary). They find, provisionally (based on data collected thus far), that the demand for meat-containing meals decreases by 26.4% immediately after watching the video and by 12.2% at a one-week follow-up. The video appears to have a particularly large impact on the demand for pork, with immediate and one-week decreases of 48.5 and 26.2 percent, respectively.
Speaker: Peter Landry, University of Toronto, Mississauga
See weblink for streaming information
Silicon Valley Leaders Symposium - 03/13/2025 12:00 PM
Silicon Valley Leaders Symposium San Jose
Speaker: Maria Pizzaro, Pizzaro Consulting
Robotics in Construction: Advancing Refurbishment and Material Reuse - 03/13/2025 12:15 PM
Davis Hall Berkeley
The current construction industry is inherently misaligned with the planetary boundaries. Not only do we exceed our budget of CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, but the industry’s increasing demand for new resources is damaging our natural environment. Robotics in construction promises to support the transition to a sustainable building industry. Advancements in robotics and adaptive control enable the development of new processes in building renovation and in the reuse of building components.
Speaker: Christoph Heuer, RWTH (Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule) Aachen University
Four Fish: How Science and the Media Shaped What We Eat from the Sea - 03/13/2025 12:30 PM
Valley Life Sciences Building Berkeley
There are plenty of fish in the sea, we’re told, but over the last fifty years, Americans have seen their seafood choices shrink to the point where often we’re usually choosing among just four “flesh archetypes” of protein from the ocean. How did this simplification of our markets and our palates come about? In this talk, bestselling author and New York Times contributor Paul Greenberg, walks us through his four fish (and one bonus crustacean) and shows us the key technology and communications moments that upended what we eat from the sea.
Speaker: Paul Greenberg
Michael Campbell's talk has been rescheduled to April 10, 2025
Learning Latent Symmetry for Sample-Efficient Dynamical Modeling - 03/13/2025 01:30 PM
Environment and Energy Building (Y2E2) Stanford
Data-driven dynamical modeling, fundamental to control and Reinforcement Learning in systems with unknown dynamics, faces challenges from data scarcity, such as low-resolution measurements. For example, in power systems, smart meter data may not capture fast load dynamics. This prevents us from training an accurate and robust Deep Learning model.
In this talk, I will address the problem by exploiting symmetry in dynamical systems. Symmetry, defined as a group of transformations that leave a system’s behavior or properties equivariant, is prevalent across various domains.
SETI Live: Amino Acids on Bennu! Building Blocks for Life Detected in Asteroid Bennu Samples - 03/13/2025 02:30 PM
SETI Institute
The OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification and Security - Regolith Explorer) mission has been a resounding success so far, from taking a sample of asteroid Bennu to returning that sample to Earth. Now, the first in-depth analysis of the space rocks is complete, and the results have been published in Nature and Nature Astronomy. One of the most intriguing results shows that 14 of the 20 amino acids that life on Earth uses to form proteins have been found in the sample.
WATCH ON YOUTUBE
Theoretical perspectives on modern machine learning paradigms: generative, scientific and out-of-distribution - 03/13/2025 04:00 PM
Sutardja Dai Hall Berkeley
Over the past decade, machine learning models have grown in scale and complexity. Generative models, for instance, have gone through many iterations of model classes (e.g., GANs, diffusion models, autoregressive models), architectures (e.g., Transformers), as well as an increasingly involved training and inference-time pipeline. Machine-learned systems have also started to permeate new domains beyond images and language, such as scientific computing and discovery. Finally, trained models have started to be widely deployed - often in situations that are very different from what they were trained on.
Speaker: Andrej Risteski is an Assistant Professor in the Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University.
Seas the Day: A New Narrative for the Ocean - 03/13/2025 04:10 PM
International House Berkeley
It’s time for a new narrative for the ocean, one that reflects current scientific knowledge and acknowledges innovative new partnerships and solutions that center the ocean in our future. The two current dominant narratives for the ocean are anchored in the past. The older one considers the ocean to be so vast, bountiful, and resilient that it is simply too big to fail.
Speaker: Jane Lubchenco, Oregon State University
Register at weblink to attend
Vector Media - 03/13/2025 05:00 PM
Dwinelle Hall Berkeley
The capability of neural networks to generate texts and images by learning from large amounts of data is often framed as both the most significant contribution and the most obvious flaw of contemporary artificial intelligence research. Much critical work thus starts from a reading of training datasets - but the mapping from training data to trained model is always messy and indirect. Bias is not just a question of what is represented but also of the logic of representation itself, of the peculiar ways of knowing that emerge from training neural networks on unprecedented amounts of multimodal data.
Speaker: Fabian Offert, UC Santa Barbara
After Dark: Syzygy - 03/13/2025 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
Dive into the science and history of eclipses with experts from the Exploratorium.
NightLife - 03/13/2025 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 60,000 live animals (including familiar faces like Claude, our alligator with albinism), the night is sure to be wild.
Ages 21+
Deliberation corrects: The case of conspiracy theories - Livestream - 03/13/2025 06:30 PM
Bay Area Skeptics
Motivated reasoning - confirmation bias, disconfirmation bias, and related concepts - can get in the way of making well-reasoned decisions. And people certainly are capable of poor reasoning, especially when it comes to conspiracy theories. Psychologists debate whether mistaken ideas are the result of “information deficit”, and even whether it’s counterproductive to provide corrective information. Does providing corrective information push people to dig in rather than change their views?
Speaker: Gordon Pennycook, Cornell University
Beavers - Livestream - 03/13/2025 07:00 PM
Marin Audubon Society
Beavers and their dams create wetlands, store and filter water, augment fish populations, raise the number of migratory and songbirds, and have a dramatic positive impact on biodiversity. Dr. Perryman will discuss how working to help people understand and coexist with this single species will continue to have a beneficial trickle-down impact on both humans and wildlife and improve resilience to ongoing climate changes.
Speaker: Heidi Perryman, beaver advocate
Register at weblink for Zoom information
Total Lunar Eclipse - 03/13/2025 09:00 PM
Chabot Space and Science Center Oakland
Join Chabot astronomers for a live watch party of the magnificent Total Lunar Eclipse from Chabot’s Observation Deck. Bring your friends & family and a lawn chair to enjoy Eclipse-themed crafts and demonstrations, then get bundled up with a cup of hot cocoa to watch this stunning celestial show. Between 11:26 pm to 12:31 am, the peak of the Eclipse, The Moon will become totally engulfed in Earth’s dark umbral shadow, turning stunning shades of orange and red as the twilight glow of sunlight slips around the edges of Earth’s atmosphere and shines onto the Moon’s face.
Lunar Eclipse Observation - 03/13/2025 10:00 PM
Foothill College Los Altos Hills
Come to the Foothill Observatory to see the moon pass through Earth's shadow. The Foothill College Astronomy Department and the Peninsula Astronomical Society will open the observatory and have additional portable telescopes out at parking lot 4 to observe our cosmic companion as our planet blocks direct sunlight from its surface.
Lunar Eclipse Watch Party - 03/13/2025 10:00 PM
Lawrence Hall of Science Berkeley
On the night of Thursday, March 13, a total lunar eclipse will be visible across the United States for the first time since 2022. Join us at The Lawrence for a late-night watch party to catch this celestial spectacle, also known as a Blood Moon! Learn from local astronomers about how lunar eclipses happen, and what makes total lunar eclipses special. Explore the Moon and the night sky, hands-on activities, our Planetarium, and exhibits including Future of Food.
Event is included with admission to the science center (Adults & children ages 3+: $20). Admission is free for UC Berkeley students & staff, Members, children 2 and under, Museums for All, and active-duty military.
Friday, 03/14/2025
Bair Island Walking Tour - 03/14/2025 10:00 AM
Bair Island Wildlife Refuge & Trail Redwood City
Join Peninsula Open Space Trust for a walking tour at the Bair Island Unit of the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge! You’ll be guided by POST ambassadors who will share the history of this beautiful protected space, information about the species that live there, and what you can do to contribute.
This easy 1 mile walk with little to no elevation gain will highlight the wetlands and the marine life that live within, such as: Endangered Ridgeway’s rails and salt marsh harvest mice. Also cottontail rabbits, peregrine falcons, pelicans, egrets, terns, and stilts. We recommend bringing binoculars to catch sight of some of the beautiful birds at Bair Island.
Register at weblink
Realistic Strategies for Decarbonizing Construction - 03/14/2025 10:00 AM
Shriram Center Stanford
"Construction" contributes around 20% of human related GHGs every year. This is from the embodied emissions of materials, the transportation and construction processes. These embodied emissions occur mainly “upfront” before the building or infrastructure is even in use and is then effectively “locked in”. This means it has become the most important part of emission from buildings and infrastructure in the coming decades, especially in light of the climate emergency we are facing.
Speaker: Karen Scrivener, EPFL, Switzerland
Attend in person or online (see weblink)
Pi Day - 03/14/2025 11:00 AM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
Join the 38th annual celebration of our own homegrown holiday! March 14 (3/14) commemorates the irrational, transcendent, and never-ending ratio that helps describe circles of all sizes. Explore math-inspired activities and presentations, then join our pi parade and eat a free piece of pie. Come for the STEAM and stay for the slice!
UC Santa Cruz Geophysical & Planetary Physics Seminar - 03/14/2025 12:00 PM
Earth and Marine Sciences Building Santa Cruz
Speaker: Alexis Saez
Superconducting van der Waals Devices For Quantum Technology - 03/14/2025 02:00 PM
Tan Hall Berkeley
2D van Der Waals materials-based heterostructures have led to new devices for fundamental science and applications. Superconducting Josephson devices based on 2D materials offer unique opportunities to engineer new functionality for quantum technology.
Speaker: Mandar Deshmukh, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
Robotaxis and AI: Navigating Mobility Innovation and the Public Good - 03/14/2025 03:00 PM
CITRIS at UC Berkeley Berkeley
TBA
KALW LIVE: Pi Day with Science Friday featuring Ira Flatow - 03/14/2025 05:00 PM
Minna Gallery and Event Space San Francisco
Ira Flatow and Ethan Elkind will take the stage of 111 Minna to do an exclusive live in-person Science Friday with a focus on climate change and environmental solutions.
Special guest speakers also include:
Etosha Cave - Cofounder and Chief Science Officer at Twelve, a company that recycles carbon dioxide Krishna Niyogi - Professor, UC Berkeley Department of Plant and Microbial Biology Whendee L. Silver - Distinguished Professor, UC Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management
In this critical moment in time, the importance of science has never been clearer. Join Ira Flatow and a panel of specialists for an extraordinary event that shines a spotlight on the role of science in tackling humanity's greatest challenge??"climate change. They will discuss how climate change is disrupting our lives as we know it and what we can do to minimize it.
This Pi Day, be part of the movement for truth and facts. Your presence at this event isn’t just about celebrating Pi Day - it’s about protecting our future, uplifting science, and making your voice heard.
..And there will be free pie sponsored by San Francisco's beloved pie shop, Peasant Pies! Don't miss out - RSVP to this special event today!
Doors open at 5:00, program starts at 7:00.
Sonoma Mycological Association General Meeting: David Arora - 03/14/2025 06:00 PM
Sebastopol Grange Sebastopol
David Arora’s Wheel of Fungi Join us with the esteemed mycologist for a variety of mushroom-related topics across Asia, Africa, and California! Mycologist David Arora is the author of the very popular mushroom guidebooks All that the Rain Promises and More as well as the epic and humorous tome Mushrooms Demystified.
Saturday, 03/15/2025
Keeper Academy at CuriOdyssey - 03/15/2025 08:30 AM
CuriOdyssey San Mateo
If you have ever dreamed of being an Animal Keeper this is the workshop for you! In this four-hour crash course, participants will experience a day in the life of an Animal Keeper. Spend a morning with us cleaning, prepping food, and making behavioral observations as you learn what goes into keeping our zoo's inhabitants healthy!
AI Workshop: Humanoid Robotics - 03/15/2025 09:00 AM
UC Santa Cruz Silicon Valley Campus Santa Clara
Welcome to our immersive AI technology workshop series. During these sessions you will be introduced to new and established AI tools that will help you create and manipulate content in new and powerful ways. Each session is led by an industry expert who will guide you through the material and share its real-world implications.
Register at weblink
Salamander Search at Sanborn - 03/15/2025 10:30 AM
Sanborn Science and Nature Center Saratoga
Sanborn is famous for its amphibians; you just need to do some extra searching to find them! Join us for a fun day of looking under rocks, logs, and other unique hiding spots that Sanborn’s Salamanders call home!
Register at weblink
Ages 4 - 12
Foothills Family Nature Walk - 03/15/2025 11:00 AM
Foothills Nature Preserve Los Altos
Environmental Volunteers’ Family Nature Walks program is designed to help community members get to know our local open space areas. Small groups will be guided by a knowledgeable environmental educator during an exploration of a local open space. These small groups will be introduced to fun nature-based activities, and a chance to learn more about the plants and animals all around us. Join us for some fun, outdoor learning! Each group will have a maximum limit of 12 participants. Meet at the Boronda Lake Dock.
Families/groups are welcome to sign up for as many as they like. The nature walks are intended for all ages 6 and up, but children must be accompanied by an adult.
Monday, 03/17/2025
Searching for Wandering MHBs and Stornly Lensed Transients in the Ear of Rubin, Roman, and Euclid - 03/17/2025 12:10 PM
Campbell Hall, Rm 131 Berkeley
Speaker: Charlotte Ward, Princeton University
UC Berkeley Industrial Engineering and Operations Research Seminar - 03/17/2025 03:30 PM
Etcheverry Hall Berkeley
Speaker: Vivek Farias, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Seeing Triple: the Multiply-imaged Standard Candle Supernova 'H0pe' That Yielded a Value for the Current Expansion Rate of the Universe - 03/17/2025 03:30 PM
Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC) Colloquium Series Menlo Park
Einstein first correctly predicted how mass deflects light. Galaxy clusters, comprising of up to hundreds of galaxies all residing in a still larger dark matter halo, act as excellent gravitational lenses. We present results from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Prime Extragalactic Areas and Reionization and Lensing Science (PEARLS) program targeting galaxy cluster lenses. One point-source situated behind the galaxy cluster PLCK G165.7+67.0 (G165) appeared in three different locations as a result of lensing effects.
Speaker: Brenda Frye, University of Arizona
Attend in person or via Zoom.
Radical-SAM Enzymes Nature’s Choice to Initiate Radical Reactions - 03/17/2025 04:00 PM
Stanley Hall Berkeley
Radical reactions are central to enzymatic catalysis, and overwhelmingly are carried out by Nature’s largest enzyme superfamily, the radical S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAM) enzymes (RS enzymes), with over 700,00 members that span all kingdoms of life and exhibit remarkable catalytic diversity. In taking this walk we answer the equally long-sought, foundational question: Why is the title true?
Speaker: Brian Hoffman, Northwestern University
Evolution of social behaviors in nature and under domestication - 03/17/2025 04:00 PM
James H. Clark Center (Bldg 340) Stanford
Speaker: Andres Bendesky, Columbia University
Room: Auditorium
Is the protein folding problem really solved? (Probing hidden conformations on the energy landscape) - 03/17/2025 04:15 PM
Physics North Berkeley
The amino acid sequence of a protein encodes more than the native three-dimensional structure; it encodes the entire energy landscape - an ensemble of conformations whose energetics and dynamics are finely tuned for folding, binding and activity. Small variations in the sequence and environment modulate this landscape and can have effects that range from undetectable to pathological, even when the protein’s folded structure is unchanged.
Speaker: Susan Marqusee, UC Berkeley
Tuesday, 03/18/2025
UC Berkeley Special Chemistry Lecture - 03/18/2025 11:00 AM
Latimer Hall Berkeley
Securing the Future: Trust, Data & Cyber Challenges - Livestream - 03/18/2025 11:00 AM
UC Berkeley
Deployable Quantum Sensors Based on Spins Driven Far-from-Equilibrium - Livestream - 03/18/2025 12:00 PM
Berkeley Sensor & Actuator Center
Understanding the mechanisms of DNA repair, one molecule at a time - 03/18/2025 03:30 PM
Genetics and Plant Biology Building Berkeley
UC Berkeley Physical Chemistry Lecture - 03/18/2025 04:00 PM
Latimer Hall Berkeley
When Eagles Roar - The Amazing Journey of an African Wildlife Adventurer - 03/18/2025 06:00 PM
Hopkins Marine Station Pacific Grove
Wonderfest Ask a Science Envoy: Anthropocene Alarm; Partisan Contagion - 03/18/2025 07:00 PM
Hopmonk Tavern Novato
Severe Mushroom Poisoning - 03/18/2025 07:30 PM
Mycological Society of San Francisco San Francisco
Wednesday, 03/19/2025
Prime Editing enables engineering crop disease resistance - 03/19/2025 12:10 PM
Morgan Hall Berkeley
The long and the short of it: Mechanistic insights into the mRNA poly(A) tail machinery - 03/19/2025 03:30 PM
Genetics and Plant Biology Building Berkeley
Apparent competition among four copepod species in the San Francisco Estuary, an estuarine food desert - 03/19/2025 03:30 PM
Estuary & Ocean Science Center Tiburon
Energy and Resources Group Colloquium - 03/19/2025 04:00 PM
Giannini Hall Berkeley
Carbon, Climate, and Humanity - 03/19/2025 06:00 PM
Commonwealth Club San Francisco
A Logic For The Future: International Relations in the Age of Turbulence - 03/19/2025 07:00 PM
Long Now Foundation San Francisco
Two Eyes are Better than One: JWST and ALMA Look at Star Formation - 03/19/2025 07:00 PM
San Francisco Amateur Astronomers San Francisco
Waves of Change: Ensuring Equity in Coastal Access - Livestream - 03/19/2025 07:00 PM
City of Sunnyvale
Exploring BioAstronautics: A Path to the Stars - Livestream - 03/19/2025 07:30 PM
Marin Science Seminar
Science on Tap: Bacterial-Fungal Interactions in Cheese Rind Microbes: A Taste of Science - 03/19/2025 07:30 PM
Abbott Square Santa Cruz
Thursday, 03/20/2025
Lunch Break Science - Livestream - 03/20/2025 11:00 AM
The Leakey Foundation
Conservation Priorities and Environmental Offsets: Markets for Florida Wetlands - 03/20/2025 12:10 PM
Giannini Hall Berkeley
UC Berkeley Integrative Biology Seminar - 03/20/2025 12:30 PM
Valley Life Sciences Building Berkeley
The Ocean's Stories Symposium - Afternoon Session - 03/20/2025 01:30 PM
David Brower Center Berkeley
Super-Earth Laboratory: Using HD 20794 d to Understand Habitability - Livestream - 03/20/2025 02:30 PM
SETI Institute
Unscripted Grounded Visual Learning - 03/20/2025 04:00 PM
Sonoma State Dept. of Engineering Science Rohnert Park
Birdy Hour: Beyond Birds -The Hidden World of Insects - Livestream - 03/20/2025 05:00 PM
SF Bay Bird Observatory
The Ocean's Stories Symposium - Evening Session - 03/20/2025 05:30 PM
David Brower Center Berkeley
NightLife in the Deep - 03/20/2025 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
After Dark: See for Yourself - 03/20/2025 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
Exploring Mental Health and Wellness: An Experiential Event - 03/20/2025 06:00 PM
Commonwealth Club San Francisco
Open Question: Health Tech - When does Tech Make Us Healthier? - 03/20/2025 07:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
Alcatraz Island - A Climate Refuge for Seabirds - Livestream - 03/20/2025 07:00 PM
Golden Gate Bird Alliance
Friday, 03/21/2025
Orexin/hypocretin as a common mediator of sleep disturbances and drug motivation during cocaine abstinence - 03/21/2025 12:00 PM
ChEM-H/Neuroscience Building, James Lin and Nisa Leung Seminar Room (E153) Stanford
The Predicament of the Industrialized Gut Microbiome - 03/21/2025 03:00 PM
Genetics and Plant Biology Building Berkeley
Molecular Confinement Effects by Self-Assembled Cages - 03/21/2025 04:00 PM
Latimer Hall Berkeley
From the Real to the Unreal - 03/21/2025 05:00 PM
Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History Pacific Grove
In Town Star Party - 03/21/2025 08:15 PM
San Jose Astronomical Association San Jose
Saturday, 03/22/2025
Aquatic Exploration at Alum Rock - 03/22/2025 10:00 AM
Alum Rock Park San Jose
CuriOdyssey Weekend Workshop: Sensational Senses - 03/22/2025 01:00 PM
CuriOdyssey San Mateo
Starry Nights Star Party - 03/22/2025 08:30 PM
Rancho Canada Del Oro Open Space Preserve Morgan hill
Sunday, 03/23/2025
Wonderfest: 'The Thinking Game' - 03/23/2025 01:00 PM
Cameo Cinema St. Helena
Living with Lions: Coexistence with an Iconic American Carnivore - 03/23/2025 04:00 PM
Willow Camp Stinson Beach
Monday, 03/24/2025
Sonoma State University Biology Colloquium - 03/24/2025 12:00 PM
Sonoma State University - Biology Colloquium Rohnert Park
Defense Against LLM and AGI Scheming with Guardrails and Architecture - 03/24/2025 07:00 PM
Valley Research Park Mountain View