Hello Mothers and the sons and daughters of Mothers,
I hope everyone is having an excellent Mother’s day. Did you get up early and make a fine cup of Kopi Luwak for the mom of the house? Let’s be honest here. None of us would be here without mothers or science. I like to think we celebrate science here at the SciSchmooze. I hope that we do better than history in general to remind everyone that there have been many Women in science who changed the world.
I want to make sure that you know about a great opportunity this Saturday May 20 at the Berkeley Public Library. There will be a Live Hangout with Susan Gerbic. I know you might be wondering what??? (It’s like a SkepTalk but more interactive) I assure you it will be worth attending. Here is the full description: “Are you having difficult discussions with people on the edge of falling into magical thinking rabbit holes? This workshop will provide you some skills to help with this problem that so many of us have experienced. We will discuss the concepts of debunking vs prebunking (also called inoculation theory). We will start with a case study and use that to further the discussion on how to have difficult discussions. This is a workshop, not a lecture! Join us!”
I have been distracted shortly after sunset almost every evening lately. There are apps to let you know when and where to look for the International Space Station and many other things humans have put in orbit. (There are many so I’m not going to recommend one!) I think it is refreshing after a full day to stop and look up and realize that there are humans up there. It’s not the first living environment in space. There was at least one other, that ultimately resulted in a $400 fine for littering, after having done amazing stuff in space! You can still visit and see some remains. I find it interesting that we often hear the statement that we know more about the moon than we do what’s under our oceans. It isn’t too rare that science puts life at risk for the sake of discovery. Not just human life but that of an organism that is being studied. We have learned many things in the last hundred or so years. But what about now that the extinction of entire species of animals are occuring? What about new ones that are being lost even as we gaze at the stars? The Challenge of Deep-Sea Taxonomy: Miles below the ocean’s surface, should the old rules still apply? is from Nautilus
There’s more cool things to learn this week. Here are a few that I think are worth a look at…
-After Dark: Plants and Place Thu @ 6:00
-Nerd Night SF #132 Urine, Minerals, & a Botanical + Legal History of Abortion! Thu @ 8:00
-Easy Morning Walk at Wavecrest Sat @ 10:00
The May/June Skeptical Inquirer is focused on Medical Pseudoscience around the World they have a couple of articles worth checking out… Homeopathy Research Hits New Low, Rise Of Ayurveda: A Dangerous Trend To Decolonize The Scientific Method, The Hypocrisy Of Medical Disinformation: A Report From Hungary
Check out this Tutorial: NASA's Eyes on the Earth and Understanding our planet to benefit humankind.
Here’s an interesting and entertaining interview worth watching as well… Penn Jillette and Julia Sweeney in Conversation (Recently I received a notice that if I was offended by Mother’s Day and Father’s Day announcements because I’m neither, I could opt out of them! In that spirit I offer that if you are religious you may find topics in this that make you uncomfortable!)
Here’s one more to check out… It was pretty audacious: suck enough water from the underside of the glacier for the whole block of ice to lose its water cushion and crash back down onto bedrock
I hope that you have a great week learning new and cool things!
herb masters
A Schill for Science
Every time we get slapped down, we can say, “Thank you Mother Nature,” because it means we’re about to learn something important.
Upcoming Events:
Click to see the next two weeks of events in your browser.
Monday, 05/15/2023
Large eddy simulations of wind turbine and wind farm wakes - 05/15/2023 12:30 PM
Environment and Energy Building (Y2E2) Stanford
With the continuing growth in wind energy, the ability to accurately predict wind turbine and farm wakes, including their interactions with the surrounding atmosphere and neighboring sites, is one of the current grand challenges in wind energy science. Wind farm wakes can significantly degrade the power performance of downstream wind plants and increase the overall cost of wind energy, and also be difficult to capture with current models. In this talk, we discuss recent work using the DOE’s ExaWind simulation codes to model wakes at both the individual turbine scale and for larger collections of wind farms. Comparisons of individual turbine wake behavior between large eddy simulations and measured data from the Scaled Wind Farm Technology (SWiFT) facility will be presented. At the larger scale, simulations of multiple wind farms performed as a part of the American WAKE Experiment (AWAKEN) will be shown, and the farm wake behavior and upstream wind farm blockage will also be analyzed. Lastly, we will consider recent developments in active wake control strategies using shear flow stability theory to reduce wake length through the introduction of specific periodic perturbations at the rotor.
Speaker: Lawrence Cheung, Sandia National Labs
Natural variation provides insights into the evolution of social behavior - 05/15/2023 04:00 PM
James H. Clark Center (Bldg 340) Stanford
Sarah integrates methods from many different areas of biology to study social behavior and its evolution. She was one of the first graduates of the Integrative Biology program at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign where discovered her love of behavior, genetics, and neurobiology. She went on to study the genetic and physiological underpinnings of queen-worker interactions in honey bees as a graduate student with Christina Grozinger and Trudy Mackay. Later, she wanted to study a group of species that encompassed a full range of social forms and began her work on the socially variable sweat bees as a postdoctoral fellow with Naomi Pierce and Hopi Hoekstra at Harvard. She is now an Assistant Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics at Princeton.
Dynamic Operating Schema for Resilient, Affordable, Decarbonized Water Systems - 05/15/2023 04:30 PM
Stanford University Energy Seminar Stanford
Dynamic operating schema for unit processes, treatment trains, and water systems are critical for accommodating non-steady-state system inputs and water resource demands. This applies equally to small-scale treatment units with fluctuating water production volumes and quality, large desalination plants encountering energy costs that vary as much as 10X over hourly and seasonal time scales, and entire water systems that are subject to multi-year droughts of varying intensity, persistence, and duration. This talk will discuss the paradigm shift from steady state to dynamic system operation over multiple time domains and the resulting demands this shift places on membrane-based water treatment technologies. The talk will then turn to how to leverage native flexibility in both traditional reverse osmosis (RO) technologies and emerging dynamically operated technologies (e.g., batch RO) for maximal system resiliency. Finally, this talk will address open research questions critical to characterizing the financial value of flexibility in process, treatment train and system design and motivating an expanded dynamic operational range across these systems.
Meagan Mauter is Associate Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering and a Center Fellow, by courtesy, in the Woods Institute for the Environment.
Attend in person or online.
Tuesday, 05/16/2023
Quantum computing in the presence of errors - 05/16/2023 03:30 PM
Hewlett Teaching Center Stanford
Quantum computers promise to solve problems that the most advanced supercomputers will never be able to tackle. They range from simple mathematical operations to the simulation of quantum materials or chemical compounds. Spectacular advances in recent years have led to the first prototypes of quantum computers, which can already perform some calculations much more efficiently than any classical device. However, they have imperfections and are not easy to scale up. Still, there is much hope that these prototypes will already be useful in some applications; that is, with them one could gain a (quantum) advantage over existing supercomputers. In this talk I will first discuss how errors may affect quantum computers in optimization problems. Then, I will revisit the problem of solving quantum many-body problems in the presence of errors and the prospects of gaining quantum advantage.
Speaker: Ignacio Cirac, Max Planc Institute for Quantum Optics
A cycle of memory creation, erasure, and phase transitions in granular assemblages sheared by natural faults - 05/16/2023 03:30 PM
Natural Science Annex Santa Cruz
A hallmark of many natural hazards (i.e., avalanches, landslides, and earthquakes) is the phase transition that frictional granular assemblages undergo, from being structurally arrested to creeping to flowing. Shear jamming, in conjunction with several other granular physics theories, predicts that the phase transitions are governed by the assemblage's temperature, disorder, volume fraction, and the shear rate, and makes several phenomenological predictions that would benefit from being tested in natural granular assemblages and in three dimensions. Here, I use x-ray microtomographic image analyses to assess controls on if and how the shear jamming phenomenologies of memory creation, memory erasure, and phase transitions are recorded in the three-dimensional re-arrangement and fracturing of minimally disturbed fault zone grains that experience slow versus fast tectonic shearing. The samples are from Pallett Creek and Ferrum, within the southern San Andreas fault zone (sSAFZ). The analyses reveal that the fault zone assemblages transition between one or more interrelated but geometrically localized and invisible to the naked eye (mesoscopic) deformation phases that change the stability of the assemblages during the seismic cycle. These phases include (1) bulk grain re-arrangement, (2) localized grain re-arrangements, (3) individual grain breakages, (4) bulk fracturing of the assemblage, and (5) localized zones of grain fracturing. One fault core hosts gas bubbles or nematode burrows that record 300 years of tectonic deformation history after the ~Mw 7 ca. 1726 sSAFZ earthquake. Grain re-arrangement is mostly a global versus local feature. Grain size, which represents one level of disorder, exerts control over the phases of breakage and re-arrangements. Higher shear rates lead to greater numbers of fractured grain, erasure of previous memories of slow shear-rate induced preferred azimuthal grain re-arrangement in the direction of fault slip, and introduce shear-hardened zones with grain preferred inclinations near the slip surface instead. Memory creation and erasure are thus controlled by shear rate and elastoplasticity, and thus vary with the distance from a fault. These findings imply that sheared fault zone grains experience a cycle of memory creation and erasure accompanied by varying deformation phase transitions (creeping, flowing, and structural arrest).
Speaker: Vashan Wright, UC San Diego
Popping the Science Bubble: Two talks - 05/16/2023 05:30 PM
Berkeley Public Library Berkeley
Harnessing Nature's Machinery: Taming retroelements for use as a promising gene therapy tool
Speaker: Briana Van Treeck (Molecular and Cell Biology, UC Berkeley)
Unlocking Movement After Paralysis: Enhancing Motor Function Through Brain Computer Interfaces:
Speaker: Yasmin Graham (Bioengineering, UC Berkeley)
Come check out Popping the Science Bubble, a series of short lectures on cutting-edge research directly from Berkeley grad students and postdocs. With new speakers every 3rd Tuesday of the month, come learn about interesting discoveries and science related issues.
Register here to attend via Zoom or attend in person
Cortinarius 101 - Livestream - 05/16/2023 07:00 PM
Mycological Society of San Francisco
Do you love learning about mushrooms but think 'Cortinarius' is too hard?
It doesn't have to be that way! Shannon will help you recognize distinctive features of Cortinarius and how to differentiate them from common 'lookalikes'. She will take you on a rich visual tour to appreciate species diversity.
During the talk you will get to know some of our Cortinarius 'celebrities' and have new resources for ID when you find these diverse and beautiful species.
Speaker: Shannon Adams, User Researcher
See weblink to attend via Zoom
Using mobile predator diets to understand connections between the reef and the open ocean - Livestream - 05/16/2023 07:00 PM
Hopkins Marine Station
Highly mobile predatory fish move between coral reefs and the open ocean and may play a crucial role in linking these near and offshore habitats. In this study, we are using a chemical tracing technique in Palau to estimate how much predatory fishes rely on food from coral reef versus ocean open habitats. We use this information on habitat connections to help guide management and conservation.
Speaker: Natalie Arnoldi
Second speaker and subject TBA
Register at weblink to attend online.
Astronomy on Tap Tucson: Telescope Love letters + Satellite Swarms - 05/16/2023 07:30 PM
Astronomy on Tap
On tap this month, we have optical sciences graduate student Eden McEwen telling us all about the life of an observational astronomer, and Steward Observatory’s Harry Krantz talking about satellites in the night sky! We’ll also be hearing all about the latest Astronomy in the News from Drs. Jackie Champagne and Danny Krolikowski, so please join us to learn about the latest and greatest in the astronomical world.
Wednesday, 05/17/2023
The Promise and Perils of AI-Mediated Political Communication - 05/17/2023 09:15 AM
Gates Computer Science Building Stanford
Smart replies, writing enhancements, and virtual assistants powered by artificial intelligence language technologies have been increasingly integrated into consumer products and everyday experiences. This research explores the potential and risks of AI-mediated communication (AI-MC) technologies such as GPT-4 in the political space through a series of experiments that explore both the potential uses and misuses. The first part of the research evaluates whether human-AI collaboration can increase legislator responsiveness by studying citizen responses to AI-generated tweets and email correspondences. Here the research highlights the importance of disclosure, transparency, and human-in-the-loop accountability for AI-mediated political communication. The second part of the research addresses the plausibility of misuse by actors seeking to influence the democratic process. It reports the results from a field experiment on legislators, shows the challenge these technologies present to democratic representation, and finally suggests potential techniques that elected officials might employ to guard against AI-sourced astroturfing.
Advance permission required to attend in person
Speaker: Sarah E. Kreps, Cornell University
Coastal Walk at Cowell-Purisima Trail - 05/17/2023 10:00 AM
Cowell Purisima Coastal Trailhead Half Moon Bay
Join Peninsula Open Space Trust for a beautiful walk along the Cowell-Purisima trail that POST helped create by protecting adjacent farmland. While it may be foggy, we hope to catch gorgeous views of the ocean, nearby farmland, and glimpses of harbor seals, pelicans, hawks, rabbits, and whales during the winter season.
You will be guided by POST ambassadors who will share details about POST’s work with farmers on the coast, and to create recreational opportunities along one of the most scenic stretches of our state’s coastline!
The walk is moderate at about 5 miles round trip with about 400 feet of gradual elevation gain. It is mostly flat throughout, however, it is quite a long walk.
Register at weblink
Gas Transfer Membranes: Recreating Deep Sea Water at Sea Level - Livestream - 05/17/2023 11:00 AM
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Monterey Bay Aquarium’s newest exhibit, Into the Deep, showcases amazing animals from the deep sea, many of which have never been observable by the public before. Much of the challenge in designing a successful deep sea exhibit stems from two hurdles that must be overcome: the difficulty of finding and collecting these animals, and the difficulty of replicating an environment for these sensitive animals to thrive in. To overcome these challenges, the exhibit leverages MBARI’s expertise in deep sea exploration and new, custom-built holding systems designed in-house at the aquarium.
The workhorses for the exhibit are gas transfer membranes, which provide a highly tunable toolkit for managing total and individual dissolved gas concentrations within seawater. A semipermeable membrane allows molecules to exchange between liquid and gas streams while keeping the two phases physically separated from each other; by modifying conditions in one phase, conditions in the other phase will adjust to move closer towards thermodynamic equilibrium. This talk will focus on what gas transfer membranes are, how they work, and how we’ve used them in this nontraditional application to recreate the deep sea at sea level. After developing a basic understanding of their operating principles, the talk will discuss the robust life support system built around these gas transfer membranes that tailors the water to the specific needs of an animal: temperature, pH, and dissolved oxygen.
Speaker: Kyle Harrigan, Monterey Bay Aquarium
Register at weblink to receive Zoom information
What Would You Do with an Extra 10 Years of Healthy Life? - 05/17/2023 06:00 PM
Commonwealth Club San Francisco
"Healthspan" is the period of life in which an individual is healthy and free from chronic disease. Interventions that promote healthy aging, such as diet and exercise, can help increase healthspan and reduce the burden of age-related diseases. Dr. Eric Verdin will discuss his efforts and those of his colleagues at the Buck Institute in helping to advance our understanding of aging and develop new strategies for promoting healthy aging and extending healthspan.
Speaker: Eric Verdin, Buck Institute for Research on Aging
Human-Centered Design for VR Training - Livestream - 05/17/2023 07:00 PM
SF Bay Association of Computing Machinery
Design for impactful VR training is an incredibly complex challenge. When done well, VR training can result in more efficient workers, decreased injuries, and cost savings. However, if done badly, VR training can result in confused workers, wasted funds, and negative training effects causing more harm than benefit. Whereas limitations of technology can cause bad VR execution, problems are oftentimes caused by a lack of understanding your target audience, illy defined goals, and insufficient feedback.
This talk focuses on designing for training results where VR can add the most value. It discusses the importance of communicating with your target audience, challenges of different types of training, using Kirkpatrick’s model to define and evaluate training, building simple prototypes, gathering feedback, and iterating towards successful training programs. The tutorial is for VR creators and stakeholders that are seeking insight on how to define, design, and evaluate impactful training.
Speaker: Jason Jerald, NextGen Interactions
Thursday, 05/18/2023
Innovation and Progress in Concentrating Solar Power - Livestream - 05/18/2023 12:00 PM
Acterra
We’ll explore the role of renewable energy in decarbonizing industrial heat with Steve Anglin, CEO of WeSolar CSP, Inc. Concentrating solar power (CSP) to thermal energy - paired with long-duration energy storage - has the potential to reduce climate pollution in hard-to-decarbonize areas of industry, including green hydrogen production, water desalination, industrial heat, and more. Learn about the developments in this promising area of renewable energy generation.
Steve Anglin is the CEO and founder of WeSolar CSP Inc.
NightLife Says Who? Volume 1 Culture - 05/18/2023 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
Nature has always been a source of inspiration and fascination for humans, but mainstream Western dialogue surrounding our connection with the natural world often overlooks the experiences of people of color. To shift this narrative and uplift these previously overshadowed voices, the first volume of our NightLife: Says Who? series delves into the intersection of cultural identity and nature. Hear how communities of color are redefining their place in the natural world in spite of the dominant and often exclusionary narrative.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
Candid Conversations African Hall*Featured talks will be held in both English and ASL.
At 7:30 PM, Join artist and Osher Fellow Walter Kitundu and Academy head librarian Rebekah Kimin an honest and open conversation about the layered history of the Academy’s iconic African Hall. At 8:30 PM, What happens when we center the voices and experiences of systematically excluded communities in outdoor spaces? Find out in a roundtable discussion and live podcast recording moderated by Sarah Shimazaki, host of the podcast Outside Voices, featuring Aurora Cortes of Latino Outdoors, Christine Cordero of Asian Pacific Environmental Network, and Deniss Martinez of the Environmental and Climate Justice Hub.
Collaboration Station Swamp6 - 10 PM
Immerse yourself in the world of zines with Rock Paper Scissors Collective, create your own, and explore zines from other local creators. Get hands-on with take-home Make Art Kits from the Museum of Craft and Design created to help you rewrite old narratives by infusing personal experience with artistic expression. Continue the story and chat with community partners from Latino Outdoors, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, and the Environmental and Climate Justice Hub.
Academy Story Time Science Today8:00 PM
Gather ‘round to hear Drag Story Hour readers VERA! and Jota Mercury read all about standout moments from the Academy’s history as one of the oldest scientific institutions in the West.
Vignettes Curiosity Grove6 - 10 PM
Snap your story with a portrait from film photographer Holiday Hagan. Grab the narrative by the horns and record your own story with Sarah Shimazaki, host of the podcast, Outside Voices.
Says Who? Series Essentials
While partners and panels will change with each event, every Says Who? will feature these activations:
Tell: Grab the narrative by the horns and record your own story with Sarah Shimazaki, host of the podcast, Outside Voices. Craft: Get hands-on with take-home MakeArt Kits from the Museum of Craft and Design created to help you rewrite old narratives by infusing personal experience with artistic expression. Capture: Snap your story with a portrait from film photographer Holiday Hagan. Design: Immerse yourself in the world of zines with Rock Paper Scissors Collective, create your own, and explore zines from other local creators. Listen: Gather ‘round to hear Drag Story Hour readers Panda Dulce, VERA!, and Jota Mercury read all about standout moments from the Academy’s history as one of the oldest scientific institutions in the West. Plus, discover the untold stories of some incredible Academy scientists of the past told by passionate Academy scientists of the present.
Ages 21+
After Dark: Plants and Place - 05/18/2023 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
All kinds of plants populate our local landscape - but which ones originated here? Tonight, explore the importance of growing and maintaining native plants. Hear from members of Indigenous communities in Mexico who care for native maize and who advocate for community farming practices that protect biodiversity. Learn about the Bay Area’s own native species and how they support ecosystems - and find out how you can help native plants thrive.
Astronomy on Tap Santa Cruz: How to take a picture of an exoplanet - 05/18/2023 06:30 PM
Humble Sea Brewing Co Santa Cruz
We know of thousands of planets that orbit stars beyond our solar system. With the largest telescopes in the world, we can now take pictures of planetary systems and study the light from extrasolar planets directly. But how do we take these pictures and what can we learn about exoplanets?
Speakers: Isabel Kain and Andy Skemer
Pushing Back Plants: The Invasive Spartina Project - Livestream - 05/18/2023 07:00 PM
Golden Gate Audubon Society
San Francisco Bay is more than just the geographic feature that defines our region, it is a major global biodiversity hotspot. The largest estuary on the west coast of North America, it is a critical stopover along the Pacific Flyway migration route for millions of shorebirds and waterfowl. At a time when the world’s biodiversity is under increasing pressure, we have a golden opportunity to protect the treasure at the heart of the Bay Area. Rimming the Bay between freeways, airports, and landfills remain precious tidal wetlands and opportunities to return salt evaporator ponds to functioning ecosystems. After more than a century of destruction, restoration projects are reversing the trend. However, restoring these saltwater marshes may be for naught if we cannot stop another threat that we unleashed in the last century. Atlantic cordgrass planted to stabilize dredge spoils in the 1970s has since hybridized with Pacific cordgrass to create a highly fertile hybrid swarm that crowds out native marsh vegetation and colonizes mudflats to the detriment of foraging shorebirds. Since 2005, the Coastal Conservancy’s Invasive Spartina Project has used airboats, genetic testing, sophisticated GIS, and a lot of hard, muddy work to push back the invasive plants that threaten habitat for shorebirds, waterfowl, and the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse. Learn about how hometown heroes are doing their part to address the global biodiversity crisis.
Speakers: Robias Rohmer, Olofson Environmental; Lindsay Faye Domecus, Olofson Environmental
See weblink for Zoom information
Nerd Night SF #132 Urine, Minerals, & a Botanical + Legal History of Abortion! - 05/18/2023 08:00 PM
Rickshaw Stop San Francisco
Urine is not sterile: Taking advantage of a golden opportunity by Krystal Thomas-White, PhD The human microbiome includes all the bacteria that live in and on you. These bugs live in our gut, on our skin, and yes, in your bladder. Even though doctors will tell you, “of course urine is sterile”, the latest research shows us that (just like every other body site) it’s alive with microorganisms. Krystal will tell you the story of this discovery, and what that means for your health.
Chandra’s Abortion: A history of female friendship, plants, and the law in 19th-century colonial India by Tara Kola Abortion pills have been in the news recently, but long before abortion was a moral dilemma fought over by men in the Supreme Court, and even before then since the invention of the uterus, women have been experimenting with medicine from plants to make choices about their bodies. Hear about the long botanical and legal history of abortion through the short story of Chandra Chashani, a woman who had an abortion in 1849 in colonial India.
We Can’t Mine Metals Without Digging… Or Can We? by Dr. Seaver WangIn the eyes of many environmentalists, mining is the original environmental sin of industrial-age humanity, far predating more modern concerns like climate change, depletion of the ozone layer, or plastic pollution. At the same time, it is no exaggeration to say that the metals that we mine from the earth have driven tremendous technological progress, vastly improved human well-being, and form the basis for our modern, advanced society today. But what if we could keep all of the societal benefits associated with producing important metals while dramatically reducing the environmental and social risks associated with traditional mining? Newer technologies, including some that are already in widespread use today, have opened the possibility of sourcing metals like lithium, copper, or rare earth elements from non-traditional sources like underground brine or waste materials, without even having to dig a pit or mine shaft. In this talk, Dr. Seaver Wang will explore a number of exciting innovations in metal extraction and recycling that could help support our raw material needs while reducing the environmental costs of the many technologies essential to modern society today.
Friday, 05/19/2023
Hypersomnolence in Psychiatric Disorders - Livestream - 05/19/2023 12:00 PM
ChEM-H/Neuroscience Building, Gunn Rotunda (E241) Stanford
Speaker: David Plante, University of Wisconsin - Madison
Attend in person or online.
Planet Mixology: Stirring the Mantle of Water Worlds - 05/19/2023 12:00 PM
Earth and Marine Sciences Building Santa Cruz
Water worlds are exoplanets ranging in size between Earth and Neptune that are predicted to be rich in water. The interior structure of a water world is assumed to have distinct layers: (1) iron core, (2) rocky mantle, and (3) water. This 3-layer model may work in smaller planets where water and rock form differentiated layers with limited incorporation of water into silicates. However, in larger planets water and silicates may interact differently due to greater interior pressures and temperatures found at the rock-ice boundary. Determining the dynamics of these two materials at extreme conditions is necessary for understanding a water world's growth and evolution. In this work, we use density functional molecular dynamics (DFT - MD) simulations to investigate the miscibility and dynamics a major end-member silicate phase bridgmanite (MgSiO3), and water (H2O) at the conditions pertinent to the rock-ice boundary layer within water worlds. We use a heat-until-it-mixes approach to explore pressures ranging from 30 - 120 GPa and temperatures from 500 - 8000 K. When temperatures exceed the melting point of bridgmanite, we show that MgSiO3 and H2O mix in all proportions. To provide proof of concept that these conditions are met during the collisional growth of these water-rich bodies, we ran smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations. We simulated the collisional growth of water worlds via giant impacts between water rich planetesimals of 0.7 - 4.7 Earth masses. This work provides theoretical evidence that many massive water worlds have mixed mantles.
Speaker: Tanja Kovacevic, UC Berkeley
NASA's New Horizons Mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt - 05/19/2023 07:30 PM
Tri-Valley Stargazers Livermore
With its 2015 flyby and first up-close look at a new class of small icy planet, the New Horizons mission ushered in a new era of planetary geology for the Pluto system. A second flyby of the small Kuiper belt object Arrokoth at the start of 2019 did the same for the much smaller planetesimals at the edge of the solar system, leftovers from the era of planet formation. This talk will introduce the spacecraft, instruments, and mission profile and describe some of the scientific highlights.
Speaker: Dr. Will Grundy, Lowell Observatory, Flagstaff, AZ
Attend in person or online
Saturday, 05/20/2023
NextGen Hackathon - 05/20/2023 08:00 AM
Nextgen Hackathon Palo Alto
Join us for the NextGen Hackathon and tap into the cutting-edge power of Generative AI tools! This is your chance to build practical projects that enhance business productivity and enable data-driven decision-making. With a $15,000+ prize pool and additional investment opportunities up to $25,000, you won't want to miss this incredible opportunity to showcase your skills and learn from the best in the field. Participate in challenges like Rapid Prototyping for Creators and AI for Business Applications and utilize resources from Open AI and Generative AI to create innovative solutions.
Once participants register and RSVP, we will share the event location details and all the information you will need to participate!
Click here to register on the official hackathon website.
5th Annual Tinkerfest - 05/20/2023 10:00 AM
Chabot Space and Science Center Oakland
Tinkerfest is a one-day event that celebrates the creative, curious, and inventive spirit in all of us. Tinkerfest will bring together makers, artists, and tinkerers to showcase their work and invite attendees of all ages to join in on the DIY fun. Activities are geared towards a family audience, but we welcome all visitors to experiment and learn with guest speakers, demonstrations, and fun hands-on activities!
See weblink for tickets
East Bay Green Home Tour - Livestream - 05/20/2023 10:00 AM
Ecology Center
Green Home Tours are free, virtual tours of Bay Area homes. They are a chance to learn from your Bay Area neighbors what they are doing with their homes to combat climate change, improve air quality, generate clean energy, and move towards a safer, healthier, greener future. Green Home Tour extras include short presentations by experts and live discussions with homeowners.
RSVP at weblink
Easy Morning Walk at Wavecrest - 05/20/2023 10:00 AM
Wavecrest Open Space Preserve Half Moon Bay
Enjoy a refreshing morning hike along the bluffs of the Wavecrest Trail! This family-friendly hike is an easy 2-mile walk and great for all ages and levels of hikers.
This serene space is surrounded by POST-protected agricultural land and open space. Many people enjoy this scenic hike because of the great bird watching opportunities. There is also a chance to head down to the beach for a quiet place to relax or to catch a gorgeous summer sunset.
On this walk, closed-toed shoes are required and we recommend bringing plenty of water and a light snack. Minors are welcome to attend as long as they are accompanied by a parent or guardian. Please leave the pups at home!
Register at weblink
Family Nature Walks - Baylands Nature Preserve - 05/20/2023 10:30 AM
Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve Palo Alto
Environmental Volunteers’ Family Nature Walks program is designed to help students and their families get to know our local open space areas. Small family 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!
The nature walks are intended for children aged 6 to 11.
Register at weblink
Biomedical scientists making their mark in clinical research: Experience on a journey without a map - Livestream - 05/20/2023 10:30 AM
California Section American Chemical Society
Life is full of challenges at each stage. Rajan will describe challenges he faced from his graduate school career, along with the skills he developed to overcome them. Moving to the US for his postdoctoral work presented a new set of challenges with the opportunity to develop new solutions, both technical and non-technical. One of his technical contributions involved understanding the cellular and molecular defects in interstitial cells of Cajal (ICCs), and enterochromaffin (EC) cells in the pathogenesis of gut motility disorders and diabetes. He characterized gene knockout mice for gut dysmotility and diabetes. On the non-technical side, since Rajan started taking responsibility for his family members very early, he learned how important it is to cooperate and show mutual understanding and respect, which eventually produces stronger relationships. His relationship management skill was reinforced and strengthened through academic/clinical collaborations with fellow researchers. He will discuss the advances in understanding the pathogenesis and therapeutics of Gastroparesis, a disorder of Gut-Brain Interaction. In his role as research professor, he provides his students with skills needed for the modern scientific lab.
Speaker: Rajan Singh, University of Nevada, Reno
Register at weblink to attend
Family Nature Walks - Foothills Nature Preserve - 05/20/2023 11:00 AM
Foothills Nature Preserve Los Altos
Environmental Volunteers’ Family Nature Walks program is designed to help students and their families get to know our local open space areas. Small family 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.
Families/groups are welcome to sign up for as many as they like. The nature walks are intended for children aged 6 to 11, and we ask that each group is accompanied by an adult.
Living with Wildlife on Oona-pa’is (Sonoma Mountain) - 05/20/2023 11:00 AM
Jack London State Historic Park Glen Ellen
Meet the wildlife that lives around us on Sonoma Mountain and throughout Sonoma County. Did you know that wildlife has habitat and migration/movement corridors? Who are these animals and why should we care?
Meet representatives from 13 bay area nature, environmental and rescue organizations to learn about our wildlife, their lives, and challenges for survival. Plus learn how we can all successfully coexist with hands-on demonstrations.
Bring family, neighbors, and friends to this fun, kid-friendly, free wildlife fair: speakers education and opportunity booths live birds exhibit wildlife kids activities wildlife photo gallery presented by local wildlife photographers and organizations
Workshop with Susan Gerbic - 05/20/2023 12:45 PM
Berkeley Public Library Berkeley
Are you having difficult discussions with people on the edge of falling into magical thinking rabbit holes? This workshop will provide you some skills to help with this problem that so many of us have experienced. We will discuss the concepts of debunking vs prebunking (also called inoculation theory). We will start with a case study and use that to further the discussion on how to have difficult discussions. This is a workshop, not a lecture! Join us!
Speaker: Susan Gerbic, Guerrilla Skepticism on Wikipedia
Sunday, 05/21/2023
Presidio: Changes Through Time - 05/21/2023 11:00 AM
The Presidio San Francisco
Join the National Park Service and celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the GGNRA!
This half-mile, level walk shows the historical changes to the Presidio, from the Spanish fort all the way to the new Tunnel Tops. Who benefitted from these changes, and who did not?
Learn about the people who lived here, and who now occupy these buildings, and how the landscape has been transformed over the years. Afterward take advantage of the food trucks nearby and the stunning views of the Golden Gate.
Finding Joy & Justice in the Outdoors: Special Event with NatGeo Explorer James Edward Mills - 05/21/2023 03:00 PM
Hillsdale High School San Mateo
Are you interested in outdoor recreation and environmental conservation? Join us for an evening with James Edward Mills, a National Geographic Explorer and photographer with over 20 years of experience. He’ll be discussing his book, The Adventure Gap: Changing the Face of the Outdoors, which was named by Outside Magazine as one of the 10 “Outdoor Books that Shaped the Last Decade.” As a freelance journalist and an independent media producer with a career that spans more than 20 years, he specializes in sharing stories about outdoor recreation, environmental conservation, acts of charitable giving, and practices of sustainable living. He has worked in the outdoor industry since 1989 as a guide, outfitter, independent sales representative, writer, and photographer. This event is co-hosted by Latino Outdoors and Justice Outside.
James will also provide a preview of his upcoming project titled The Black American Traveler’s Guide to Our National Parks - an illustrated tour through America’s historic sites and monuments, highlighting the role that people of color have always played in the formation of the United States.
This event will also feature panelist and moderator, Jose Gonzalez, Founder of Latino Outdoors and Co-Founder of the Outdoorist Oath. Panelist Kim Moore Bailey, President and CEO of Justice Outside, will provide a perspective on bringing racial equity to the outdoors through the organization’s outdoor education, training, and grantmaking work in the Bay Area and beyond.
Register at weblink to attend in person or online
Monday, 05/22/2023
Stanford Energy Seminar: Thomas Rutherford - 05/22/2023 04:30 PM
Stanford University Energy Seminar Stanford
Thomas Rutherford is an applied economist working on issues in trade, energy and environmental economics. His methodological focus involves the use of mathematical programming methods to better understand economic policy choices. Rutherford's current projects include work on the economics of climate change policy, including carbon tariffs, as well as the impacts of international trade agreements.
Attend in person or online.
Ethernet @ 50 - 05/22/2023 06:30 PM
Computer History Museum Mountain View
On May 22, 1973, a young researcher at Xerox PARC named Bob Metcalfe sent a memo outlining his concept for connecting the research center’s computers. He called it Ethernet and teamed up with hardware wizard Dave Boggs to make it real. Fifty years later, Ethernet connects us all - to each other and to the global internet. We take for granted how much Ethernet and its offshoot Wi-Fi have transformed our world.
So, how exactly did Ethernet come to life? And how did an unorthodox standard for local connections triumph over competitors backed by IBM and other leading firms? Ethernet’s path was far from smooth, and it offers lessons for innovation and entrepreneurship today. We’ll also explore the impact of Ethernet and look at what’s next as ever-higher bandwidths and multiplying connections unlock future opportunities. Join us to celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of the defining technologies of our time.
What You’ll Experience
Hear stories from coinventor of Ethernet Bob Metcalfe and networking pioneers about the creation and development of Ethernet Discover how entrepreneurs and executives turned Ethernet into a dynamic global industry Attend a special live recording of The Vergecast, the flagship podcast of The Verge, focused on key contemporary network issues from net neutrality to closing the digital divide.
Tuesday, 05/23/2023
Stanford Applied Physics/Physics Colloquium - 05/23/2023 03:30 PM
Hewlett Teaching Center Stanford
Whole Earth Seminar - 05/23/2023 03:30 PM
Natural Science Annex Santa Cruz
Stanford Symbolic Systems Forum: Joshua O'Rourke - 05/23/2023 04:30 PM
Margaret Jacks Hall (Bldg 460) Stanford
Nutritional Epigenetics - 05/23/2023 06:00 PM
San Mateo Public Library
Destination: Moon - Livestream - 05/23/2023 06:00 PM
Night Sky Network
Svalbard: Wild Land, Wild Ice, Wild Life - Livestream - 05/23/2023 07:00 PM
American Cetacean Society
Wednesday, 05/24/2023
Coastal Walk at Cowell-Purisima Trail - 05/24/2023 10:00 AM
Cowell Purisima Coastal Trailhead Half Moon Bay
How to Boost U.S. Productivity in the AI Era - 05/24/2023 06:00 PM
Commonwealth Club San Francisco
Thursday, 05/25/2023
Harnessing Our Greatest Life Force - Livestream - 05/25/2023 05:00 PM
US Geological Survey Public Lecture Series
Jurassic NightLife - 05/25/2023 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
After Dark: Elemental - 05/25/2023 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
Faster! Catching up to Electrons on the Move - 05/25/2023 07:00 PM
Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC) Public Lecture Series Menlo Park
Friday, 05/26/2023
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics Seminar - 05/26/2023 12:00 PM
Earth and Marine Sciences Building Santa Cruz
Saturday, 05/27/2023
Science Saturday: Native Plant Party - 05/27/2023 10:00 AM
Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History Pacific Grove
Morning Hike at La Honda Open Space Preserve - 05/27/2023 10:00 AM
La Honda Creek Open Space Preserve La Honda
Stewardship Saturday: Experiencing Fish Kitchen - 05/27/2023 11:00 AM
Marine Mammal Center Sausalito
City Star Party - Presidio - 05/27/2023 08:00 PM
City Star Parties - Parade Grounds at the Presidio San Francisco