Hello Supporters of Science and Reason
Some recent news has sent me down a new path of questioning what we think we know, how we think we should react and why we should. Can Intellectual Humility Save Us from Ourselves? There is a good chance that you have heard of Nex Benedict. The ability of humans to treat other humans so badly has always stunned me. It has a long history and happens all the time in war, crime, or even daily life. One group for some reason thinks they have a better understanding of right and wrong than some other group they know of. I hope that you have grappled with some of this and not just taken a side if it doesn't involve you directly. Science, Skepticism, and Applied Behavior Analysis So let's dip a toe or maybe a lot more into the subject of gender. (Note: I am not a scientist or qualified to make any significant statement about this. I'm just a straight guy without any expertise in the subject!) Here are some articles that I have recently seen that may help us understand a bit more.
Consider what gender means. Is there a spectrum of gender? Life just doesn't seem to be binary anymore! How Science is Helping Us Understand Gender
The idea that ‘gender is a spectrum’ is supposed to set us free.
Should we should question a mindset that viciously excludes whole groups of people?
Gender Spectrum: A Scientist Explains Why Gender Isn’t Binary
Humane genomics education can reduce racism
I'd like to hear from you about your thoughts on all or part of that!
There are some not so frequent things coming up tha I hope you are prepared for... First up is Pi Day which was conceived of and brought to life at the explOratorium. Long time explO “Loose Canon” Ron Hipschman has been essential to the celebrations since Pi day started... Full-Spectrum Science - It's Pi Day 2024 Ron will be giving a talk about Pi Day at the explO on Pi Day, Mar 14
I hope that you have your plans in place for the upcoming April 8 total solar eclipse. The explOratorium is your eclipse go to place for eclipse experience and viewing. They will have two teams “on site” for the upcoming eclipse, in Junction, Texas and Torreon, Mexico and livestreaming it. NASA works with the explO but has more stuff going on as well. Check out NASA-Funded Science Projects Tuning In to ‘Eclipse Radio’ There's even some citizen science to bed done... Help Measure the Shape of the Sun!, here's more on that... Reveal the True Shape of the Sun Here's another citizen science way to get involved, Eclipse Soundscapes Project Check out Eclipsophile
There are a lot of presentations that intrigue me in the next couple of weeks. Here are a few that I find inspiring...
1- How Social Media Impacts Collective Understandings of War Tue @ 6:00
2- Lighting the Way: The d.light Journey from Stanford Class Project to Impacting 150 Million Lives Wed @ 11:39
3- Pi (π) Day and Pi (π) Night 3.14 @ 11:00 and 6;00
4- COVID Myths: And the Hits Just Keep on Comin’ - Livestream Thu @ 7:00
5- Space for Her: Celebrating Women in Space Science Sat @ 19:99
And for further contemplation on the marvels of science...
‘Doomsday Glacier’ is rapidly melting. Scientists now have evidence
Big Egg Cracked In My Hands - Just as I was about to drill it
The Lasting Impacts Of Scientific Fraud
SWOT Satellite Catches Coastal Flooding During California Storms
How Americans View Science and Scientists
Why It Was Almost Impossible to Make the Blue LED
the most up-to-date real time images of Earth
Fibonacci’s real mathematical legacy
Is it possible to design a shape to roll along any fixed path?
I think that is plenty to ponder this week! Note: There will not be a test.
Have a great week learning cool new things about our amazing universe!
herb masters
“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in.”
ISAAC ASIMOV
Upcoming Events:
Click to see the next two weeks of events in your browser.
Monday, 03/11/2024
Understanding Chromosome Organization and its Implications in Human Disease - 03/11/2024 12:00 PM
Sonoma State University - Biology Colloquium Rohnert Park
Speaker: Lisa Hua, Sonoma State University
The original speaker, Meghan Laturney, UC Berkeley, is unavailable.
An Epistemic Approach to Statistical Fairness - 03/11/2024 12:30 PM
Margaret Jacks Hall (Bldg 460) Stanford
Predictive algorithms are used across a wide variety of settings in order to inform consequential decisionmaking about people’s lives, ranging from pretrial detention decisions in the criminal justice system to surgical intervention decisions in medical contexts. With the increasing deployment of these algorithms comes the risk that they could make unfair predictions along race or gender lines. A popular method to audit these algorithms for such biases employs measures called “statistical fairness criteria.” Strikingly, many of these criteria are impossible to satisfy at once a result sometimes called the “impossibility of fairness,” for it illuminates an apparently tragic choice between honoring different, intuitive conceptions of fairness. In this talk, I present an argument that this interpretation of the impossibility result is, in one sense, too pessimistic, and in another, too optimistic, with both arguments driven by connecting statistical fairness to accuracy-based epistemology.
Speaker: Kara Schechtman, Stanford University
See weblink for information on building access
Charting Technology Development Pathways for a Circular Bioeconomy - 03/11/2024 12:30 PM
Shriram Center Stanford
With population growth, urbanization, and rapidly changing environments, challenges to meeting basic human and societal needs are becoming increasingly complex. In many cases, the 20th century model of environmental technologies and infrastructure systems - often characterized by robust but inflexible components that are energy- and chemical-intensive - is no longer viable. Moving beyond maximizing efficiencies and minimizing cost, industries are seeking technological solutions that will meet societal needs in a way that is financially viable while supporting the pursuit of broader goals for sustainability (e.g., carbon neutrality, resource circularity, equity). This transition has become a catalyst for research and development, but a critical challenge to achieving rapid and transformative innovations has been the expansive landscape of technology development pathways and the lack of a transparent and consistent framework to target investment.
Speaker: Jeremy Guest, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Unintended Environmental Consequences of Investment Stimulus Policy - 03/11/2024 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. Differences-in-differences estimates show bonus depreciation increased annual emissions by 30%. To quantify aggregate damages associated with the policy we integrate our estimates into a pollution transport model. We estimate overall environmental damages at between $17 and 39 billion per year. These estimates represent between 56 and 125% of the policy’s annual fiscal cost during the period we study. Damages differ by race and were 75% higher for African-Americans compared to the national average. More stringent environmental regulations decreased damages from bonus depreciation by 40%.
Speaker: Eric Ohrn, UC Berkeley
Zooming into the Landscape of Topological States and Collective Excitations - 03/11/2024 02:30 PM
Birge Hall Berkeley
Nanoscale electrodynamics offers a unique perspective on states with bulk-edge correspondence or spatially-dependent excitations. This presentation will introduce our latest advancements in optically coupled microwave impedance microscopy, a technique that enhances our capability to explore electrodynamics at the nanometer scale. I will discuss our recent studies utilizing this technology to extract spectroscopic information on exciton excitations within transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) systems. Additionally, I will share some of our recent findings on probing topological and correlated electronic states, specifically those induced by flat bands in twisted TMD bilayers.
Speaker: Zhurun Ji, Stanford Univerisity
Comparing Leading Carbon Dioxide Removal Technologies - 03/11/2024 03:30 PM
Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC) Colloquium Series Menlo Park
The most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report shows that we will need several gigatons of carbon dioxide removal annually to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. A nascent but rapidly growing private sector is attempting to meet that demand. These companies are deploying a myriad of technologies that capture and store carbon in unique pathways, with their own benefits and tradeoffs. I will discuss these tradeoffs, with an eye to scaling from todays tens of kilotons of removals to the needed gigaton scale.
Speaker: Edward Young, Charm Industrial
Attend in person or online. See weblink for Zoom connection
Mechanisms of co-translational folding and assembly of proteins - 03/11/2024 04:00 PM
Stanley Hall Berkeley
Speaker: Bernd Bukau, ZMBH Heidelberg
Storytelling and the Climate Crisis - 03/11/2024 04:00 PM
Social Sciences Building Room 820 Berkeley
Contemporary writers and activists have described the climate crisis as, in part, a crisis of the imagination, of culture, and of storytelling. In this panel, we’ll hear from writers and scholars of different genres - science fiction, journalism, history, literary fiction, and comedy - about how the climate crisis has impacted their craft and what practices of storytelling have to offer us at this pivotal moment in human history.
Panelists:
Daniel Gumbiner, novelist and editorAnnalee Newitz, science fiction writer and journalistAaron Sachs, Cornell UniversityRebecca Solnit, writer, historian, activistRebecca Herman, UC Berkeley, moderator
Register at weblink to attend
Manipulating the symmetry of charge order with light - 03/11/2024 04:15 PM
Physics North Berkeley
New experimental tools can provide unexpected insights that can resolve `blind men and the elephant’ type issues that we often encounter in the study of complex materials. In this work we use a newly developed instrument that combines laser light with a scanning tunnelling microscope, to obtain crucial insights into the intriguing charge order observed in the Kagome compound RbV3Sb5.
Speaker: Vidya Madhavan, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Electric vehicle green charging with marginal emissions signals - 03/11/2024 04:30 PM
Stanford University Energy Seminar Stanford
Electric vehicles (EVs) are a promising clean transportation option, but they still release CO2 emissions when charging from the electricity grid. Often, EV drivers charge their vehicles when it is cheap or convenient, not when grid carbon intensity is lowest. Green charging, or smart charging control, is a solution to this problem that optimizes to reduce emissions by shifting electricity demand in between and across charging sessions. In this talk, I will present and validate a green charging control strategy based on actual EV driver data and historical grid emissions. The basis for this control is marginal emissions, or the emissions released when a new generator must be dispatched to the grid, which we find performs better than using average grid emissions data.
Speaker: Sonia Martin, Stanford University
Attend in person or online (see weblink)
Three talks: Stanford Energy Seminar Student Lectures - 03/11/2024 04:30 PM
Stanford University Energy Seminar Stanford
Electric vehicle green charging with marginal emissions signals
Electric vehicles (EVs) are a promising clean transportation option, but they still release CO2 emissions when charging from the electricity grid. Often, EV drivers charge their vehicles when it is cheap or convenient, not when grid carbon intensity is lowest. Green charging, or smart charging control, is a solution to this problem that optimizes to reduce emissions by shifting electricity demand in between and across charging sessions. In this talk, I will present and validate a green charging control strategy based on actual EV driver data and historical grid emissions. The basis for this control is marginal emissions, or the emissions released when a new generator must be dispatched to the grid, which we find performs better than using average grid emissions data.
Speaker: Sonia Martin, Stanford Sustainable Systems Lab
Understanding photoreactions across multiple length scales - in situ ETEM and reactor-scale studies of plasmonic photochemistry
Nanoscale metal structures can very strongly interact with light through a phenomenon called a plasmon resonance. These resonances collectively excite electrons which in turn drive chemical reactions in unique ways. The behavior of plasmonic photocatalysts is dictated by their nanostructure. Changing size and shape alters both inherent chemical reactivity and the nature in which light is channeled by the particle. These features, while much smaller than can be resolved by a traditional microscope, have a huge impact on performance.
Speaker: Briley Bourgeois, Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University
Title TBA
Speaker: Dhruv Suri, Energy Resources Engineering, Stanford University
Attend in person or online (see weblink)
Tuesday, 03/12/2024
What I Did On My Fall Vacations - Submersible Research on the Fishes of Southern California Oil/Gas Platforms - Livestream - 03/12/2024 11:00 AM
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Most of us lead drab and colorless lives as drones and cogs in faceless organizations. With his tales of research around southern California oil and gas platforms, Milton (only his wife calls him Dr. Love) will enter your world like a bright and fanciful rainbow, or a swatch of William Morris wallpaper, or perhaps one of those Baratza espresso makers that look like something out of a caffeine-induced fantasy.
Speaker: Milton Love, Marine Science Institute, UC Santa Barbara
Register at weblink to receive Zoom information
The Price Is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won’t Save The Planet - Livestream - 03/12/2024 12:00 PM
UC Berkeley
What if our understanding of capitalism and climate is back to front? What if the problem is not that transitioning to renewables is too expensive, but that saving the planet is not sufficiently profitable? This is Brett Christophers’ claim. The global economy is moving too slowly toward sustainability because the return on green investment is too low. Today’s consensus is that the key to curbing climate change is to produce green electricity and electrify everything possible. The main economic barrier in that project has seemingly been removed. But while prices of solar and wind power have tumbled, the golden era of renewables has yet to materialize. The problem is that investment is driven by profit, not price, and operating solar and wind farms remains a marginal business, dependent everywhere on the state’s financial support. We cannot expect markets and the private sector to solve the climate crisis while the profits that are their lifeblood remain unappetizing. But there is an alternative to providing surrogate green profits through subsidies: to take energy out of the private sector’s hands.
Speaker: Brett Christophers, Uppsala University
Register at weblink to receive Zoom information
Energy Storage at Tesla - 03/12/2024 12:00 PM
History Corner (Bldg 200) Stanford
The Atmosphere/Energy Seminar is an interdisciplinary seminar with talks by researchers and practitioners in the fields of atmospheric science and renewable energy engineering. Addresses the causes of climate, air pollution, and weather problems and methods of addressing these problems through renewable and efficient energy systems.
Speaker: Timothy Hall
Designing Scalable Strategies to Reduce Infectious Disease in Underserved Communities - 03/12/2024 02:00 PM
Environment and Energy Building (Y2E2) Stanford
Enteric infections, including antibiotic-resistant infections, disproportionately impact low-resource communities. Among all global deaths due to antibiotic resistant bacterial infections, 86% occur in low- and middle-income countries. Scalable prevention strategies are urgently needed. In this talk I will present field and lab studies that exploit new tools in molecular microbiology to identify zoonotic and environmental transmission pathways of enteric pathogens and antibiotic resistance. I will also discuss inline chlorination as an approach to reduce exposure to diarrheal and resistant pathogens by reducing the time and cost burden for accessing safe drinking water. Finally I will present work to design a novel chlorine dosing device and strategies to scale inline chlorination across diverse settings to serve the estimated 2 billion people globally using contaminated drinking water.
Speaker:Amy Pickering, UC Berkeley
Muon Colliders: the Next Generation of Particle Accelerators - 03/12/2024 03:30 PM
Hewlett Teaching Center Stanford
Over the last century, the construction and discovery of the Standard Model of particle physics has been one of the greatest accomplishments in physics. To explore this new frontier, we built larger and larger colliders utilizing the two charged particles that are easiest to produce and manipulate, the proton and the electron. As we contemplate the future of high energy colliders, the use of these particles fundamentally limits our potential energy reach: the low electron mass due to synchrotron radiation and the proton due to its composite nature. Luckily, the Standard Model provides an alternative: the muon. In this talk, I’ll discuss the challenges and possibilities of a muon collider, and give an overview of recent progress towards making one a reality.
CFC Birdy Hour - Livestream - 03/12/2024 06:00 PM
San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory
Speaker: Constanza Rampini, San Jose State University
Designing More Equitable Climate Solutions - Livestream - 03/12/2024 06:00 PM
San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory
Whose values and voices are prioritized in climate change solutions? In other words, as different countries, regions, cities, and communities try to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and implement strategies to cope with the impacts of climate change, who will benefit? Who will lose? Who will be left out? This talk will focus on the importance of working with frontline communities to design more equitable climate solutions.
Speaker: Costanza Rampini, San Jose State University
Register at weblink to receive connection information
How Social Media Impacts Collective Understandings of War - 03/12/2024 06:00 PM
Manny's San Francisco
How does the prevalence and ubiquity of social media impact and change perceptions of global conflict in the 21st century?
In the last 20 years, conflict and war have unfolded in real time on our phone screens and across social media. While historically information and images of war were filtered through space and time before winding up in the public eye, today we all are in constant and immediate proximity to conflict through social media. How has this shifted public perception of conflict, warfare, and the governments engaging in it? What impact, personally, does access to this imagery and information have on the average citizen? How has social media given rise to new forms of protest for and partcicipation in decisions around how countries engage in conflict?
Here to unpack this issue and answer your questions is Renee DiResta, the Research Manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory. Renee investigates the spread of narratives across social and media networks, with an interest in understanding how platform algorithms and affordances intersect with user behavior and factional crowd dynamics. She studies how actors leverage the information ecosystem to exert influence, from domestic activists promoting health misinformation and conspiracy theories, to the full-spectrum information operations executed by state actors.
She investigates the spread of malign narratives across social networks, and assists policymakers in understanding and responding to the problem. She has advised Congress, the State Department, and other academic, civic, and business organizations, and has studied disinformation and computational propaganda in the context of pseudoscience conspiracies, terrorism, and state-sponsored information warfare.
The Bureau of Linguistical Reality Performance Lecture - 03/12/2024 07:00 PM
The Interval at Long Now San Francisco
The Bureau of Linguistical Reality is a participatory artwork facilitated by artist Alicia Escott and Heidi Quante which collaborates with the public to create new words for feelings and experiences for which no words yet exist. Recognizing the climate crisis is causing new feelings and experiences that have yet to be named, the project was created with a deep focus on these and other Anthropocenic phenomena. The Bureau views the words created in this process as also serving as points of connectivity: advancing understanding, dialogue, and conversations about the greater concepts these words seek to codify.
This evening will include an intimate sharing of our findings from our decade long social art practice as well as a Word Making Field Session where Escott and Quante will collaborate with participants to collectively coin a term together.
Participants are encouraged to consider in advance their personal unnamed experience(s) of our changing world as well as their unique feelings for which they wish there was a word. Participants are encouraged to bring the diversity of their linguistic backgrounds to this conversation as the Bureau creates neologisms in all languages.
Wednesday, 03/13/2024
Lighting the Way: The d.light Journey from Stanford Class Project to Impacting 150 Million Lives - 03/13/2024 11:30 AM
Mitchell Earth Sciences Building (04-560) Stanford
The Stanford Sustainability Accelerator invites you to a seminar with Ned Tozun, co-founder of d.light, as he shares the transformative journey from a Stanford class project to impacting 150 million lives in Asia and Africa through innovative solar energy solutions.
Speaker: Ned Tozun, d.light
Room 350
Sticking Together: How Bacterial Collectives (Re)Shape Themselves - 03/13/2024 12:00 PM
Stanley Hall Berkeley
Bacteria are arguably the simplest form of life; and yet, as multi-cellular collectives, they perform complex functions critical to environment, food, health, and industry. What principles govern how complex behaviors emerge in bacterial collectives? And how can we harness them to control bacterial behavior? In this talk, I will describe my group’s work addressing these questions using tools from soft matter engineering, 3D imaging, and biophysical modeling. We have developed the ability to (i) directly visualize bacteria from the scale of a single cell to that of an entire multi-cellular collective, (ii) 3D-print precisely structured collectives, and (iii) model their large-scale motion and growth in complex environments.
Speaker: Sujit Datta, Princeton University
AI and Translation - 03/13/2024 05:00 PM
Stephens Hall Berkeley
In a December 2023 op-ed in the New York Times, pioneering artificial intelligence researcher and inventor of the world’s first global-scale online language translator De Kai writes, “You’d be hard pressed to find any arguments against developing translation AIs. Reducing misunderstanding between cultures is probably one of the most important things humanity can do to survive the escalating geopolitical polarization.”
This roundtable on artificial intelligence and translation, part of the ongoing AI and the Humanities series, brings together writers, scholars, and engineers to discuss how AI has impacted literary translation, translation theory, and language instruction. How might AI increase the creative potential of translation? What concerns or anxieties do writers have about translations of their works by AI? Do human translators and AI systems have the same sense of linguistic nuance? How might the digital humanities or cultural analytics draw upon AI for new theories of translation?
Participants: Cathy Park Hong, poet and author; Hoyt Long, University of Chicago
Solar Eclipse program - 03/13/2024 06:00 PM
San Mateo Public Library San Mateo
On April 8, 2024, a total solar eclipse will pass over the United States. The next chance to observe one in the contiguous USA will be in 20 years! Join us for an in-person talk with astronomy professor Mohsen Janatpour to learn about the nature of an eclipse, how eclipses come about, and the way they have been understood throughout history.
Register at weblink
Black Holes and the Technology to Find Them - 03/13/2024 07:00 PM
Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series Los Altos Hills
The population of black holes, objects left over from dead stars, in the Milky Way is almost entirely unexplored. Only about two dozen black holes are confidently known in our Galaxy -- all in “binary systems” where they orbit a living star. As a result, some of the most basic properties of black holes remain unknown, including the true number of black holes in the Galaxy, their masses and sizes, the fraction that are in binary systems, and how the black holes were formed. To understand these properties, we need to find and study a larger population of black holes, both in isolation and in binary systems. Gravitational lensing -- something predicted by Einstein’s work -- is opening a new window onto black holes, and the first free-floating black holes are now being discovered. Astronomers expect that the number of known black holes will increase by a factor of 100 over the next decade.
Speaker: Jessica Lu, UC Berkeley
Thursday, 03/14/2024
Pi (π) Day - 03/14/2024 11:00 AM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
Join the 37th annual celebration of our own homegrown holiday! March 14th (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
See weblink for special events schedule
Medium and Heavy-Duty Electric Vehicle Infrastructure - 03/14/2024 01:30 PM
Environment & Energy Building (Y2E2) Stanford
The transition to zero-emission fleets represents an excellent opportunity for transportation decarbonization, especially for medium and heavy-duty (MHD) vehicles, as 75% of the commercial trucks on the road and 98% of Class 8 trucks are currently powered by diesel. From a nationwide perspective, MHD vehicles accounted for only 6% of the total vehicle population in 2020 but contributed to disproportionately high greenhouse gas emissions. Replacing these vehicles with zero-emission technologies poses great challenges due to the lack of infrastructure planning at multiple geospatial scales. In particular, stakeholders are seeking a comprehensive understanding of the infrastructure plans for the projected MHD electric vehicles (EVs), including the type, quantity and location of the charging infrastructure needed. Through the lens of the HEVI-LOAD project, this seminar will discuss the methodologies developed by an LBNL team to project charging infrastructure needs and charging load profiles by the MHD EVs at multiple geospatial resolutions.
Speaker: Bin Wang, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Room 292A
UC Berkeley Astronomy Colloquium - 03/14/2024 03:30 PM
Physics North Berkeley
Speaker: Ashley Villar, Harvard University
NightLife - 03/14/2024 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
Calling all creatures of the night: explore the nocturnal side of the Academy at NightLife and see what's revealed. With live DJs, outdoor bars, ambiance lighting, and nearly 60,000 live animals (including familiar faces like Claude, our alligator with albinism), the night is sure to be wild.
Step inside the iconic Shake House and our four-story Osher Rainforest, where you can explore the Amazon’s treetops surrounded by free-flying birds and butterflies. Reservations for these exhibits are no longer required. However, please note that the last entry into the rainforest is 7:30 pm - our animals need their sleep.
Venture into our latest aquarium exhibit Venom to encounter live venomous animals and learn the power of venom to both harm and heal.
Visit the BigPicture exhibit in the Piazza to marvel at the most recent winners of the BigPicture Natural World Photography competition.
Bask in the glow of one of the largest living indoor coral reef displays in the world: our 212,000-gallon Philippine Coral Reef habitat.
Take in the interstellar views from the Living Roof, then grab a bite from the Academy Café and head to the West Garden outdoor bar to drink and dine under the stars.
After Dark: Pi Night - 03/14/2024 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
Math is everywhere in our lives, from geometric designs to the irrational, transcendental, and non-real numbers that help us make sense of the world. This Pi Day, keep the fun going to infinity at the Exploratorium. Learn the mathematically optimal way to slice a pie. Witness an amazing math phenomenon at Pi Toss, and calculate square roots with some help from gravity.
COVID Myths: And the Hits Just Keep on Comin’ - Livestream - 03/14/2024 07:30 PM
Bay Area Skeptics
The continued onslaught of myths and misinformation surrounding Covid and Covid vaccines has been unrelenting and contributes to the low uptake of this vaccine. I will try to debunk some of these myths and put them in context.
Speaker: Paul Offit, MD, University of Pennsylvania
Friday, 03/15/2024
Precision Sleep Health: Harnessing Technology and the Exposome to Tackle Disparities - Livestream - 03/15/2024 12:00 PM
ChEM-H/Neuroscience Building, James Lin and Nisa Leung Seminar Room (E153) Stanford
Speaker: Azizi Seixas, University of Miami
Designing the Plasmonic Response of Complex Nanoparticle Assemblies - 03/15/2024 02:00 PM
Etcheverry Hall Berkeley
Optoelectronic and biomedical devices harnessing solar energy can be improved by incorporating colloidal soft materials as energy harvesters, waveguides, optical filters, photo- and thermocatalysts, and molecular sensors. Understanding and controlling the light-matter interactions of these components is crucial to improving their performance.
In this talk, I’ll discuss how we use controlled assembly of colloidal nanoparticles to tune their collective optical and mechanical behavior. We have developed a platform where doped semiconductor nanocrystals of tunable size, shape, and chemical composition can be strategically co-assembled into multicomponent superlattices and gels. Using in-house electromagnetic simulations to relate measured optical features to specific structural motifs within the self-assembled materials, we can design self-assembled materials with unique emergent optical features tunable over an enormous range, including epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) behavior, strain-dependent birefringence, and spatially-focused near-field enhancement.
I will also discuss how we formulate optical materials design as an inverse problem, where we first specify target optical behavior and then use numerical optimization to autonomously discover self-assembled nanoparticle materials possessing the desired features.
Speaker: Zach Sherman, University of Washington
Room 3108
Saturday, 03/16/2024
Space for Her: Celebrating Women in Space Science - 03/16/2024 10:00 AM
Chabot Space and Science Center Oakland
In November of 2024, NASA’s Artemis 2 is set to launch their first crewed mission of the Orion Spacecraft, which will land the first woman on the moon. Meanwhile, women have been making monumental advancements in space science for decades. This Women’s History Month, come hear from some phenomenal women and gender minorities working in space science today!
Intended for 21+
Buzzing Through Nature: Palo Alto Pollinator Walk - 03/16/2024 10:00 AM
Lucie Stern Theatre Palo Alto
This unique experience invites participants to explore hidden pockets of greenery within the urban landscape and uncover the diverse array of pollinators that call the city home. In partnership with Theatre Works Silicon Valley’s production of “Queen”, our guides will share fascinating insights into the unique adaptations and behaviors of urban pollinators, as well as their importance for pollination and ecosystem health in urban environments. Come connect with nature in the heart of the city and gain a deeper appreciation for the vital role that pollinators play in sustaining urban ecosystems. Whether you’re a city dweller eager to explore your local environment or a nature enthusiast curious about urban biodiversity, this immersive nature walk promises an enlightening and enriching experience for all.
Led by knowledgeable guides with a passion for nature, participants will explore local Palo Alto gardens and urban green spaces near Lucie Stern Theatre, discovering the surprising abundance of daytime pollinator species thriving amidst the bustle of city life. From bees and butterflies to moths and birds, explore how each pollinator plays a crucial role in sustaining urban ecosystems and supporting native plant populations.
Register at weblink to attend
Spring flowers at Bouverie Preserve - 03/16/2024 10:00 AM
Bouverie Preserve Glen Ellen
Join us for a 3-hour docent-led nature walk at the 535-acre Bouverie Preserve in Glen Ellen. You will be in small groups while strolling through and appreciating the unique beauty of our oak and riparian woodland habitats.
The trails are wide, unpaved, uneven, and some have steps or inclines. Wear sturdy shoes and long pants. Bring drinking water in a resealable container.
Possible hazards include poison oak and ticks. Rain or high wind cancels. No dogs allowed.
Register at weblink
Foothills Family Nature Walk - 03/16/2024 11:00 AM
Foothills Nature Preserve Los Altos
Join us at Foothills Nature Preserve for a family-friendly nature walk, guided by EV docents. Please click the link above to register via EventBrite. Participation is free, but space is limited.
City Public Star Party - 03/16/2024 07:00 PM
City Star Parties - Tunnel Tops Park San Francisco
Come join the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers for free public stargazing of the Moon, planets, globular clusters and more!
The event will take place in Tunnel Tops National Park, parking is located adjacent to Picnic Place (210 Lincoln Blvd for GPS) with the telescopes setup in the East Meadow.
Dress warmly as conditions can be windy or cold in the Presidio. Rain, heavy fog or overcast skies cancel the event. Check the SFAA website for a cancellation notice before leaving for the star party.
SFAA members with telescopes are encouraged to attend and share their views of the stars with the general public.
Jazz Under the Stars - 03/16/2024 08:00 PM
College of San Mateo Bldg 36 San Mateo
Jazz Under the Stars is a FREE monthly public stargazing event! Occurring on the Saturday nearest the 1st quarter moon (check our Events Page), join us in building 36 on the 4th floor observatory for a night of smooth jazz, bright stars, and a lot of fun! We play our jazz from CSM's own KCSM 91.1. Founded in 1964, KCSM has grown to become one of the top 35 most listened to non-commercial stations in the US. With their help, the Astronomy department at CSM opens its observatory doors and balcony, for a night of science and fun! We operate for public viewing 8” dobsonian telescopes, prefect for viewing the planets Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn. We also have a 140mm refractor, with which we view the craters on the moon. Finally, our 11’ schmidt-cassegrain is for our deep sky needs. It can peer deep into globular clusters, and nebulae. Occasionally we even have the chance to image galaxies on our 20" telescope. Our astronomers will also be available for questions and conversation, which you wouldn’t get anywhere else! Feel free to ask us your questions about the cosmos. Don't miss out, join us at our next Jazz Under the Stars!!
Weather in the bay area is notoriously hard to predict, and often the sources we use don't get it correct. Before leaving you home, be sure to checkthiswebpage. If we are to cancel it will be posted here at least a few hours before the start of the event.
Sunday, 03/17/2024
Morning Hike at Rancho Cañada del Oro - 03/17/2024 09:30 AM
Rancho Cañada Del Oro Open Space Preserve Morgan hill
Join Peninsula Open Space Trust for an excursion where you’ll explore the Mayfair Ranch �€" Longwall Canyon trails of Rancho Cañada del Oro! You will be guided by POST Ambassadors who will share with you the history of the preserve, the region, and the importance of conservation in the area.
The hike is moderate to strenuous at about 4 miles round trip with about 700 feet of gradual elevation gain.
This wonderful preserve is a hub for wildlife, such as deer, bobcats, mountain lions, and more! In the Spring, you can expect a colorful array of wildflowers adorning the hillsides, and you may get a chance to see a beautiful little creek running through Llagas meadow.
Register at weblink. Weather dependent.
Free Talk on a North American Eclipse of the Sun April 8 - Livestream - 03/17/2024 03:00 PM
San Francisco Public Library
Learn about how solar eclipses come to be, what scientists discover during eclipses, exactly when and where the upcoming eclipse will be best visible, and how to observe the eclipse and the Sun safely.
A rare and dramatic eclipse of the Sun is coming to North America on Apr. 8, 2024. 32 million people living in a narrow path from Western Mexico, through Texas, parts of the Midwest, upstate New York, and a slice of New England will see a magnificent total eclipse, where the Moon completely covers the Sun. Everyone else (an estimated 500 million people, including all of us in the Bay Area) will see a nice partial eclipse, where the Moon covers a good part of the Sun. Fraknoi will also explain why eclipses are total only on Earth.
Register at weblink
Andrew Fraknoi, who is sometimes called the “Bay Area’s Public Astronomer,” retired a few years ago as the chair of the astronomy department at Foothill College and still teaches short, noncredit courses on astronomy at the University of San Francisco and SF State.
Monday, 03/18/2024
ab initio thermodynamics and beyond - 03/18/2024 02:30 PM
Birge Hall Berkeley
A central goal of computational chemistry is to predict material properties using first-principles methods based on the fundamental laws of quantum mechanics. However, the high computational costs of these methods typically prevent rigorous predictions of macroscopic quantities at finite temperatures.
In this talk, I will demonstrate how to enable such predictions by combining advanced statistical mechanics with machine learning interatomic potentials. I will show toolkits that facilitate the application of machine learning to chemical systems. I will show example applications on computing the phase diagram of water and superionic water, chemical potentials of liquid mixtures, adsorption isotherms of gas in porous materials, and the heat conductivities of fluids.
Speaker: Bingqing Cheng, IST Austria
The Age of Human-Robot Collaboration: Deep-Sea Robotic Exploration - 03/18/2024 03:30 PM
TBD Stanford
OceanOne is a robotic diver with a high degree of autonomy for physical interaction with the marine environment. The robot’s advanced autonomous capabilities for physical interaction in deep-sea are combined with the cognitive abilities of a human expert through an intuitive haptic/stereo-vision interface. OceanOne was deployed in several archeological expeditions in the Mediterranean with the ability to reach 1000 meters and more recently the robot was tested in challenging tasks at Deep Dive Dubai. Distancing humans physically from dangerousand unreachable spaces while connecting their skills, intuition, and experience to the task promises to fundamentally alter remote work. These developments show how human-robot collaboration-induced synergy can expand our abilities to reach new resources, build and maintain infrastructure, and perform disaster prevention and recovery operations - be it deep in oceans and mines, at mountain tops, or in space.
Speaker: Oussama Khatib, Stanford University
Attend in person or register at weblink to attend online
Lessons from sleep in the deep: seal sleep at sea reveals clues to sleep's function and evolution - 03/18/2024 04:00 PM
James H. Clark Center (Bldg 340) Stanford
Speaker: Jessica Kendall-Bar, UC San Diego
What Physicists Do Seminar - CANCELED - 03/18/2024 04:00 PM
Sonoma State University - What Physicists Do Rohnert Park
Speaker: TBA
Programmable control of indistinguishable particles: from clocks to qubits to many-body physics - 03/18/2024 04:15 PM
Physics North Berkeley
Quantum information science seeks to exploit the collective behavior of a large quantum system to enable tasks that are impossible (or less possible!) with classical resources alone. This burgeoning field encompasses a variety of directions, ranging from metrology to computing. While distinguished in objective, all of these directions rely on the preparation and control of many identical particles or qubits. Meeting this need is a defining challenge of the field. There are several promising platforms that are targeting these capabilities, and I will focus on one such platform - optically-trapped neutral atoms. We have been developing a new suite of tools, based on the use of more exotic atomic species, new trapping architectures, and new control methods. I will provide an overview of these developments and a few specific examples of our recent scientific directions, which range from the use of bosonic atoms for sampling problems, a new kind of atomic clock, and a different kind of qubit.
Speaker: Adam Kaufman, University of Colorado, Boulder
Gaming and Inclusivity - 03/18/2024 05:30 PM
swissnex San Francisco San Francisco
Join us for a captivating exploration into the intersection of gaming and inclusivity at our upcoming event on Monday, March 18, 2024 and engage in a thought-provoking conversation with diverse figures from the vibrant gaming world, with the spotlight on storytelling.
Our panelists, including developers immersed in empowering storytelling through their artistic projects and a researcher delving into the societal potentialities of games, will share their experiences of inclusivity and empowerment within the gaming realm.
This event is an opportunity to gain insights from the creators shaping the narrative landscape and understand the broader social impact of gaming.
Experience a dynamic mix of testimonials and game showcases, providing a comprehensive exploration of how gaming serves as a powerful force for historically and socially invisible communities. Discover the hidden potential of storytelling in gaming and its ability to open new avenues for understanding diverse experiences.
In a world where video games have become integral to the entertainment industry, the recent spotlight on the gaming community during the pandemic has revealed its creativity and diversity. Gamers have demonstrated a strong sense of belonging and societal engagement, evident in actions such as those supporting the Black Lives Matter movement and LGBTQIA groups within online gaming communities like Discord or Twitch.
Moving beyond the typical debates surrounding harassment and gender violence, this event aims to offer a fresh perspective on inclusivity in gaming. Our discussion focuses on opportunities for empowerment within the gaming world and how storytelling creates a space for societal reflection.
Discover what it truly means to be part of the gaming community today and explore the evolving role gaming can play in society. Through the lens of game storytelling, gain insights into the hidden power of video games to address social issues and envision alternative realities. Don’t miss this chance to be part of a dialogue that goes beyond the surface, exploring the profound impact of gaming on our perceptions and experiences.
Register at weblink
Tuesday, 03/19/2024
CRISPR: Opportunities and Challenges - Livestream - 03/19/2024 02:00 PM
UC Berkeley
Building the Next Era of the Internet - 03/19/2024 06:00 PM
Commonwealth Club San Francisco
The Essential Task of Documenting Fungal Diversity - 03/19/2024 07:30 PM
Randall Museum San Francisco
Wednesday, 03/20/2024
Toward Holistic Bioimaging to Elevate Human Health - 03/20/2024 12:00 PM
Stanley Hall Berkeley
New Directions in Greening Infrastructure - 03/20/2024 12:00 PM
Social Sciences Building Room 820 Berkeley
Conservation Priorities and Environmental Offsets: Markets for Florida Wetlands - 03/20/2024 12:10 PM
Giannini Hall Berkeley
Virtual Tour: Caltrain Electric Trains Deep Dive - 03/20/2024 12:30 PM
SF Planning+Urban Research Assoc. (SPUR)
Berkeley Geographers’ multifaceted perspectives on California’s environmental change - 03/20/2024 03:30 PM
McCone Hall Berkeley
Policy Advocacy for the Environment - Need, Progress, and Challenges - Livestream - 03/20/2024 03:40 PM
Estuary and Ocean Science Center
How Outdoor Adventure Improves Our Lives as We Age - 03/20/2024 05:30 PM
Commonwealth Club San Francisco
Communicating Algorithmic Science to the Public - 03/20/2024 05:45 PM
Calvin Laboratory Berkeley
The Crossroads of Security, Privacy and AI Technologies - 03/20/2024 06:45 PM
Hacker Dojo Mountain View
Beware of the Aliens! Studies on invasive plant pathogens at the Dominican University - 03/20/2024 07:30 PM
Marin Science Seminar San Rafael
Thursday, 03/21/2024
Silicon Valley Leaders Symposium - Roger Crockett - 03/21/2024 12:00 PM
San Jose State University San Jose
UC Berkeley Astronomy Colloquium - 03/21/2024 03:30 PM
Physics North Berkeley
At the Tipping Point: Promise to Our Planet 2024 - 03/21/2024 05:00 PM
Cooley Landing Education Center East Palo Alto
Science on Tap: Ancient Ecology - Paleontology of California's Centeral Coast - 03/21/2024 05:30 PM
Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History Pacific Grove
Current and future sinkhole susceptibility in karst and pseudokarst areas of the conterminous United States - Livestream - 03/21/2024 06:00 PM
US Geological Survey Public Lecture Series
Why It's Not Too Late: Rebecca Solnit and John King on the Climate Stories we Tell - 03/21/2024 06:00 PM
David Brower Center Berkeley
NightLife is a Drag - 03/21/2024 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
After Dark: Illumination - 03/21/2024 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
Historic Women of Mycology - Livestream - 03/21/2024 06:30 PM
Sonoma County Mycological Association
What an Owl Knows - RESCHEDULED - 03/21/2024 07:00 PM
Golden Gate Bird Alliance
The Importance of Islands to Avian Evolution - Livestream - 03/21/2024 07:00 PM
Golden Gate Bird Alliance
Friday, 03/22/2024
Designing Advanced Nanocatalysts by Looking at Atoms and Molecules on Reactive Surfaces - 03/22/2024 02:00 PM
Etcheverry Hall Berkeley
Can Psychedelics Catalyze Genius in the Sciences and Arts? - 03/22/2024 07:00 PM
The Berkeley Alembic Berkeley
Saturday, 03/23/2024
Morning Hike at Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve - 03/23/2024 09:00 AM
Skyline Ridge Open Space Preserve Los Altos
Rocketfest - 03/23/2024 10:00 AM
Chabot Space and Science Center Oakland
Native vs. Non-native at Vasona - 03/23/2024 10:30 AM
Youth Science Institute Los Gatos
Junipers Junior Naturalist Family Flower Day - 03/23/2024 10:30 AM
Bouverie Preserve Glen Ellen
Twilight Marsh Walk - 03/23/2024 06:30 PM
Don Edwards Refuge Headquarters & Visitors Center Fremont
Very Small Interplanetary Spacecraft - Crazy and Crazier - Livestream - 03/23/2024 07:30 PM
East Bay Astronomical Society Oakland
Sunday, 03/24/2024
Coastal Walk at Pillar Point Bluff - 03/24/2024 10:00 AM
Pillar Point Bluff Parking Lot Moss Beach
Monday, 03/25/2024
Sonoma State University Biology Colloquium - 03/25/2024 12:00 PM
Sonoma State University - Biology Colloquium Rohnert Park
What Physicists Do Seminar - CANCELED - 03/25/2024 04:00 PM
Sonoma State University - What Physicists Do Rohnert Park