Hello to the Science Inclined and Science Embracing,
My friends have all heard me say that I still want my winter and all this “great” or “beautiful” weather is really not! I still want my winter and it looks like we might get a small sampling of what we “should” have had. Others who have heard me go on about the wonder of the Foucault Pendulum have heard me talk about how astronomy used to take a long time to do. It took weeks, months or even years, of careful observations and notes about where things were in the sky to notice small changes to figure out that the center of universe was not the earth. Note: Astronomy is still a long and arduous discipline/science! However, this week the Moon and Regulus will be doing a dance in the sky that you will be able to see in just a few nights of sky watching. What is the connection here? Well I might get some of my winter and you might not get to see the dance! I’m not too sorry!-}
Looking a bit farther ahead, you may want to start planning for what you want to be doing in 2 years. It’s time to start planning for the Great North American Eclipse on April 8, 2024! Just five years ago we got to experience the first total solar eclipse in the US in about 40 years. There are stories of eclipses throughout history. I’m not sure how many records there are of any before humans started actively recording history but there are many cases where myths are based in real occurrences. Indigenous peoples around the world tell myths which contain warning signs for natural disasters. Scientists are now listening
It seems like I have been looking up to the sky a lot recently. It looks like the exploration of Mars has taken a hit from Russia. The Rosalind Franklin Rover is ready but will have to wait to look for life on Mars. Thanks to an amazing Ingenuity from NASA flight on Mars will continue!
This week there are many more opportunities to learn than I’m listing here…
Ask a Science Envoy: Animal Behavior; Machine Learning and the Value of Niche Science Mon @ 8:00 (livestream)
How do scientists go from OMG to PhD? Ask the Scientiest Wed @ 2:30 (livestream)
Science Denial: Why It Happens And What To Do About It (livestream) Thu @ 4:00
After Dark: Trees It’s already fire season! (LIVE) Thu @ 6:00
** The Universe in Verse - A charitable celebration of science and nature through poetry Fri @ 7:00
These are days of horror and tragedy as well as joy for our fellow humans and all living/thinking/social animals. You can’t go very far without hearing about the horrors, and threats of worse for our friends and families in Ukraine, even if you don’t think you have any. Western science severs ties with Russia
It appears that for now the ISS remains a place of science, respect, and cooperation, at least on board. I would like to offer up a different item to watch and hopefully give you hope. I have to include this even though it isn’t exactly on subject, it certainly will impact the future of science, technology, education, medicine and much more in the years to come. It really is one of the most joyous things to have happened in the middle of so many horrid things. Watch the whole thing, smile, celebrate, and shed some tears of joy! The Jackson-Booker cheer.
Do you remember the moves of John Travolta? Well now there’s John Travoltage! (Scuff the shoe and move the finger!)
Have a great week learning and marveling at the new and ongoing science humans engage in and if you can afford to find an organization that you can support and send some very needed help to Ukraine and your local informal science education organization of choice. (It is tax time after all.)
herb masters
“Who indeed will set bounds to human ingenuity? Who will assert that everything in the universe capable of being perceived is already discovered and known?” -Galileo Galilei
Upcoming Events:
Click to see the next two weeks of events in your browser.
Monday, 04/11/2022
Being with Bears - Livestream - 04/11/2022 12:00 PM
Sonoma State Biology Colloquium
Speakers: Meghan Walla-Murphy, Santa Rosa Junior College
See link for Zoom information
Finding Solace in the Soil: The Archaeology of the Amache Gardens and Gardeners - Livestream - 04/11/2022 12:00 PM
UC Botanical Garden
During World War II, Americans of Japanese ancestry were removed from their homes and placed into confinement camps throughout the western US. This presentation overviews the methods and results of six seasons of landscape archaeology at one of those sites - Amache - located in southeastern Colorado. The site contains an incredibly well-preserved record of how the people incarcerated there transformed a hostile landscape through strategy and skill. By integrating a program of historical research, community engagement, and intensive garden archaeology, the University of Denver Amache project is expanding the view of what incarceree gardens are, how they were created, and their import, both to those who made them and us today.
Speaker: Dr. Bonnie Clark, University of Denver
Register at weblink to receive connection information
Electronic correlations and topology across Tc in a magnetic Weyl semimetal - Livestream - 04/11/2022 02:30 PM
Physics North Berkeley
Co3Sn2S2 is a magnetic Weyl semimetal below its Curie temperature (Tc) of 177K. I will discuss our recent spatial and temperature-dependent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) studies in this system. Across Tc, we observe signatures of a topological phase transition, but also observe changes in bulk bands which are inconsistent with a simple lifting of exchange interactions, suggesting enhanced electronic correlations in the regime without long-range magnetic order. I will also discuss spatial-dependent microARPES data which quantify the characteristic differences between Sn- and S- terminated surfaces.
Speaker: Inna Vishik, UC Davis
Attend in person or online. See weblink for Zoom information.
What Physicists Do - Livestream - 04/11/2022 04:00 PM
What Physicists Do - Sonoma State University
Speaker:TBA
Chance Hawkins, alluxa Optical Filters and Thin-Film Coatings, originally scheduled to speak today, will not be available.
See weblink for Zoom link
Stanford Energy Seminar: Siva Gunda - Livestream - 04/11/2022 04:00 PM
Stanford Energy Seminar
Commissioner Siva Gunda is serving his first term on the California Energy Commission.
Governor Gavin Newsom appointed Gunda in February 2021 to serve as the Energy Commission’s public member. Gunda was later appointed to Vice Chair in September 2021. He is the lead commissioner on energy assessments.
Gunda served as manager of the Demand Analysis Office and deputy director for the Energy Commission’s Energy Assessments Division. The division forecasts and assesses energy demands and supplies.
Before joining the Energy Commission, he served in a variety of capacities at the Energy Efficiency Institute at the University of California, Davis, including as the director of research, where he directed the institute’s operations and research portfolio.
Mining the transient sky in the new era of Time Domain Multi-Messenger investigations - 04/11/2022 04:15 PM
Physics North Berkeley
Astronomical transients are events that appear and disappear in the night sky, and are signposts of catastrophic events in space, including the most extreme stellar deaths, stellar tidal disruptions by supermassive black holes, and mergers of black holes and neutron stars. Thanks to new and improved observational facilities we can now sample the night sky with unprecedented temporal cadence and depth across the electromagnetic spectrum and beyond. This effort has led to the discovery of new types of stellar explosions, revolutionized our understanding of phenomena that we thought we already knew, and enabled the first insights into the physics of neutron star mergers with gravitational waves and light. In this talk I will review some very recent developments that resulted from our new capability to study the Universe utilizing gravitational waves and light.
See weblink for Zoom information or attend in person
Speaker: Raffaella Margutti, UC Berkeley
Glimmers of Hope: Paths Forward on Climate Change - Livestream - 04/11/2022 07:30 PM
Stanford University
As we approach the 52nd celebration of Earth Day on April 22nd, it is an opportune time to take stock of our collective progress towards addressing human-induced global warming. Fortunately we understand better than ever the causes and consequences of recent climate change, and we are amid a world-wide dawn of renewable energy. In this talk, we summarize the most recent assessments of our global environment from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. These assessments provide strong evidence and ample justification for accelerating a comprehensive transition to carbon-neutral or carbon-free power. Due to delays in starting this transition, the world may also need to weigh more drastic measures to avoid dangerous levels of global warming. The measures include geoengineering to cool the planet as well as carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere and oceans. We discuss some of the major upsides and downsides to these contingency plans, and we conclude with basic research underway at Berkeley Lab on new methods to remove carbon dioxide from the climate system.
Speaker: William Collins, Lawrence Berkeley National Labs
See weblink for Zoom information
Wonderfest Science Envoys are early-career researchers with special communication skills and aspirations. Following short talks on provocative modern science topics, these two Science Envoys will answer questions with insight and enthusiasm:
UC Berkeley zoologist Erin Person on What's the Point? Animal Behavior and the Value of Niche Science - We share our planet with many strange and wonderful animals. As David Attenborough has taught us, their ways of life can be fascinating. But beyond satisfying our curiosity, studying animals can teach us about evolution, ecosystems, and even ourselves.Stanford statistician Ben Seiler on Understanding Machine Learning - Computers automate important decisions across our society. Unfortunately, we cannot always understand how and why complex algorithms and statistical models are making these decisions! How can we make such machine learning more transparent and interpretable?
See weblink for Zoom information
Tuesday, 04/12/2022
How Beavers Mitigate the Impacts of Climate Chance - Livestream - 04/12/2022 10:00 AM
Audubon Canyon Ranch
Dr. Fairfax will share her research finding that beavers are both irrigation managers and firefighters. She will explain how the presence of beavers in riparian habitats benefit other riparian organisms.
Speaker: Emily Fairfax, California State University Channel Islands
Prospects for estimating Transient Climate Response to Greenhouse Gases using the Fluctuation Dissipation Theorem - Livestream - 04/12/2022 03:30 PM
Stanford University
One of the core metrics for climate change is the steady-state increase in global surface air temperature with doubled concentrations of CO2 known as the Equilibrium Climate Sensitivity (ECS). Best estimates of ECS remain uncertain to factors of O(3) despite intensive research since the first comprehensive assessment of global warming due to CO2 over forty years ago (Charney et al., NAP, 1979). The large range in ECS propagates into projections of the future physical state of the climate system, and it introduces considerable incertitude into policy responses designed to mitigate global warming. The uncertainty in ECS stems largely from multiscale and multiphysics feedbacks introduced by components of the climate system, especially by clouds and the cryosphere, for which we lack first-principles theories.
In this talk, we discuss the prospects for estimating a related metric, the Transient Climate Response (TCR), using the Fluctuation Dissipation Theorem (FDT). TCR is the global mean temperature change under a hypothetical 1%/year increase of CO2 at the time when atmospheric CO2 concentrations have doubled. TCR and ECS are closely related through the First Law of Thermodynamics. Following concepts first advanced by Goody et al (1998), we explore whether TCR could be reliably estimated by applying the FDT to satellite observations of the Earth’s spectral radiation. The forcing, response, and feedbacks of the climate system can be readily detected and attributed in these spectra, and equator-to-pole gradients in the spectra govern the primary energy transports in the climate system. This estimation process can be tested and validated using a multi-model ensemble of climate simulations recently assessed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Recent theoretical developments have eliminated questionable assumptions that have compromised prior attempts to apply FDT to climate. We show how these developments will reduce uncertainties in the estimation process and discuss the impact of this reduction on climate science going forward
Speaker: William Collins, Lawrence Berkeley National Labs
See weblink for Zoom information
Mary Roach: Packing for Mars for Kids - Livestream - 04/12/2022 06:00 PM
Commonwealth Club - Online Event
Mary Roach is back again and witty as ever in the young readers adaption of her best-selling book Packing for Mars. From the awe-inspiring and curiously gross details, Roach unpacks the facts about space.
A beloved authority on all things science, Mary Roach provides a humorous, accessible, exciting and perfect resource for students and curious minds alike.
Moderator: Kara Platoni, Wired
Wednesday, 04/13/2022
Ask the Scientiest - Ann Vilesis - Livestream - 04/13/2022 02:30 PM
Estuary & Ocean Science Center
How do scientists go from OMG to PhD? How do they turn their passion for science into their profession? What advice do they have for future scientists?
If you are a 5th-12th grade student, undergraduate, teacher or parent, join us to ask these questions and more in a Q&A session with our weekly Seminar speakers.
Ann Vileisis is the award-winning author of three books that explore culture and nature through history. Discovering the Unknown Landscape, a history of America’s wetlands, won two national history awards. Kitchen Literacy, how we lost knowledge of where food comes from was recognized by Real Simple Magazine as one of “50 books that will change your life.” And her latest work, Abalone: the remarkable history and uncertain future of California’s iconic shellfish has been called “a truly marvelous, unexpected joy of a book” by marine conservation biologist Callum Roberts.
Register at weblink
Bioengineered Synthetic Hydrogels for Regenerative Medicine - Livestream - 04/13/2022 03:00 PM
Bechtel Engineering Center Sibley Auditorium Berkeley
Hydrogels, highly hydrated cross-linked polymer networks, have emerged as powerful synthetic analogs of extracellular matrices for basic cell studies as well as promising biomaterials for regenerative medicine applications. A critical advantage of these synthetic matrices over natural networks is that bioactive functionalities, such as cell adhesive sequences and growth factors, can be incorporated in precise densities while the substrate mechanical properties are independently controlled. We have engineered poly(ethylene glycol) [PEG]-maleimide hydrogels for local delivery of therapeutic proteins and cells in several regenerative medicine applications. For example, synthetic hydrogels with optimal biochemical and biophysical properties have been engineered to direct human stem cell-derived intestinal organoid growth and differentiation, and these biomaterials serve as injectable delivery vehicles that promote organoid engraftment and repair of intestinal wounds. In another application, hydrogels presenting immunomodulatory proteins induce immune acceptance of allogeneic pancreatic islets and reverse hyperglycemia in models of type 1 diabetes. Finally, injectable hydrogels delivering anti-microbial proteins eradicate bone-associated bacterial infections and support bone repair. These studies establish these biofunctional hydrogels as promising platforms for basic science studies and biomaterial carriers for cell delivery, engraftment and enhanced tissue repair.
Attend in person or online (registration required for online).
Speaker: Andres J. Garcia, Georgia Institute of Technology
Abalone, the remarkable history and uncertain future of California's iconic shellfish - Livestream - 04/13/2022 03:40 PM
Estuary & Ocean Science Center
Prized for their iridescent shells and delectable meat, abalone have a long and rich cultural history in California; but with increasing stresses to marine ecosystems today, these unique mollusks now face enormous challenges. Join award-winning author Ann Vileisis for a deep dive into the environmental history of abalone, based on her recent book Abalone: the remarkable history and uncertain future of California’s iconic shellfish. Her presentation explores the history of fisheries, marine science, cuisine, and more, including an update on exciting efforts to restore some of the most endangered species of abalone.
Speaker: Ann Vileisis, Author
See weblink for Zoom registration
An Apollo 13 Astronaut Shares His Story - Livestream - 04/13/2022 04:00 PM
Smithsonian Magazine
Fred Haise was set to become the sixth person to walk on the moon. But three days into his voyage on Apollo 13, an oxygen tank exploded, instantly turning a groundbreaking mission into an unprecedented effort to bring three astronauts safely back to Earth. More than half a century later, the successful rescue remains one of NASA’s most celebrated achievements.
Haise’s new memoir, Never Panic Early: An Apollo 13 Astronaut’s Journey, reflects on that extraordinary event as part of a NASA career that spanned 20 years and included flying five space shuttle test flights before his retirement in 1979.
Join us online for an inspiring evening where you’ll hear from Haise himself. Dr. Teasel Muir-Harmony, curator of the National Air and Space Museum’s Apollo spacecraft collection, will kick off the program with a brief lecture on where the Apollo program stood in April 1970. Then, in conversation with Dr. Muir-Harmony, Haise will commemorate the 52nd anniversary of the Apollo 13 crisis by reflecting on cheating death - more than once! - and living through the heady early days of the space program.
After their discussion, Smithsonian magazine journalist Chris Klimek will moderate a Q&A where you can pose your own questions.
Thursday, 04/14/2022
Fire and Flood: A People’s History of Climate Change, from 1979 to the Present - Livestream - 04/14/2022 03:00 PM
Commonwealth Club - Online Event
In his new book, Fire and Blood, Eugene Linden examines the role of business interests in muddying messages from scientists and derailing attempts to galvanize the public. He tells a story of big monied interests doing what they do to protect short-term profits against longer-term threats. One of the through-lines of the book is the insurance industry’s response to climate change, which for a long time was painfully slow, but recently has pivoted quite dramatically. Florida and California are seeing the housing insurance sector retreat from entire regions because of the unmanageable risks of fire and flood - some believe that the housing markets in parts of those two states are another bad season or two away from collapse. In a larger sense, big business, which for so long has been a woeful headwind to needed change, is waking up to the need to act very quickly now, as the long term has become the near term with terrifying speed.
Moderator: Andrew Dudley, Earth
Help Wanted: Scalable Climate Solutions to Feed the Planet and Protect Tropical Forests - Livestream - 04/14/2022 04:00 PM
Stanford Energy
Dr. Dyson is a mission-driven entrepreneur with a passion for creative problem-solving. She will provide her insights on pressing environmental challenges and developing and scaling technologies that will sustainably manage and renew the planet’s resources. There will be opportunities for Q&A from attendees.
Speaker: Dr. Lisa Dyson, Air Protein.
Science Denial: Why It Happens And What To Do About It - Livestream - 04/14/2022 04:00 PM
Skeptical Inquirer
How do individuals decide whether to accept human causes of climate change, vaccinate their children, or practice social distancing during a pandemic? Understanding key psychological explanations for science denial and doubt can help provide a means for improving scientific literacy and understanding - critically important at a time when denial has become deadly. In Science Denial: Why It Happens and What to Do About It, the authors identify the problem and why it matters and offer tools for addressing it.
The authors focus on key psychological issues such as social identity and reasoning biases that limit a public understanding of science and describe solutions for individuals, educators, science communicators, and policy makers. If you have ever wondered why science denial exists, want to know how to understand your own biases and those of others, and would like to address the problem, this book will provide the insights you are seeking.
Speakers: Dr. Barbara Hofer, Middlebury College; Dr. Gale Sinatra, University of Southern California
Register at weblink to attend
Motus - A Worldwide Collaboration to Track Bird Migration - Livestream - 04/14/2022 06:00 PM
San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory
The Motus Wildlife Tracking System is an international collaborative research network that uses automated radio telemetry to track birds, bats, and insects. Join us for an overview of how Motus works, highlights from various research projects that have used Motus, and current and developing initiatives. New research projects, new technological developments, expansion into western North America, and regional collaboration efforts will be included. Ultimately, Motus is about community science �€" combining our efforts for conservation!
Speaker: Amie MacDonald, Birds Canada
NightLife x San Francisco Conservatory of Music - 04/14/2022 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
San Francisco Conservatory of Music returns for an evening of live, acoustic performances and special surprises. More details coming soon!
After Dark: Trees - 04/14/2022 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
Are you a fan of the forest? Whether in remote or urban settings, trees are an essential part of our ecology. They provide habitat, control erosion, and release oxygen into our atmosphere. The complex structures of their communication networks and contribution to resilient landscapes are now beginning to be recognized by Western science, affirming the interdependent relationships humans have had with trees for eons. Tonight, we’ll bring you an array of perspectives from artists, scientists, and Indigenous cultures in admiration of megaflora that sustain our environment.
Top Tourist Sights in the Solar System - Livestream - 04/14/2022 07:00 PM
Ferguson Observatory
Get a free virtual ticket at: https://www.simpletix.com/e/rfo-speaker-series-the-top-tourist-sights-tickets-100742
In this illustrated, non-technical program, we will explore the most intriguing future “tourist destinations” among the planets and moons in our cosmic neighborhood. Our stops will include the 4,000-mile lava channel on Venus, the towering Mount Olympus volcano on Mars (three times the height of Mount Everest), the awesome Verona Cliffs on the moon Miranda (which are the tallest “lover’s leap” in the solar system), and the recently discovered salt-water steam geysers on Saturn’s intriguing moon Enceladus (nicknamed “Cold Faithful.”).
Andrew Fraknoi retired in 2017 as the Chair of the Astronomy Department at Foothill College, and now teaches non-credit astronomy courses for older adults at The Fromm Institute at the University of San Francisco and the OLLI program at SF State.
The Confidence Men: How Two Prisoners of War Engineered the Most Remarkable Escape in History - Livestream - 04/14/2022 07:30 PM
Bay Area Skeptics
Imprisoned in a remote Turkish POW camp during World War I, having survived a two-month forced march and a terrifying shootout in the desert, two British officers, Harry Jones and Cedric Hill, join forces to bamboozle their iron-fisted captors. To stave off despair and boredom, Jones takes a handmade Ouija board and fakes elaborate séances for his fellow prisoners. Word gets around, and one day an Ottoman official approaches Jones with a query: Could Jones contact the spirit world to find a vast treasure rumored to be buried nearby? Jones, a trained lawyer, and Hill, a brilliant magician, use the Ouija board - and their keen understanding of the psychology of deception - to build a trap for their captors that will ultimately lead them to freedom. A con game played for a good cause, the incident provides Fox an opportunity for reflections on the psychology of deception and how in the beginning of the 20th century, speaking to dead spirits seemed less implausible: the world was full of almost unbelievable miracles of magnetism, electricity, radio, and other wonders.
Speaker: Margalit Fox, Journalist
See weblink for registration details
Friday, 04/15/2022
Observing the Upper-Atmosphere with Satellite Stellar Occultation Measurements - Livestream - 04/15/2022 07:30 PM
Tri-Valley Stargazers
In this talk we will investigate measurements from an orbiting nanosatellite and upcoming measurements from an instrument Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) is adding to the International Space Station in 2023. We will discuss how well we can retrieve the atmospheric profile (temperature, density, pressure) and extract atmospheric gravity waves under both instruments.
Speaker: Dana McGuffin, Lawrence Livermore National Lab
See weblink for instructions to obtain access.
Saturday, 04/16/2022
13th Annual California Cognitive Science Conference - 04/16/2022 09:00 AM
Hearst Memorial Mining Building Berkeley
The California Cognitive Science Conference at UC Berkeley is an annual all-day symposium bringing together hundreds of students, researchers, and members of the general public from around the world who are passionate about the interdisciplinary field of Cognitive Science for a day of talks and research presentations. We feature talks given by prominent scientists and thinkers from a wide variety of disciplines, and our acclaimed poster session provides undergraduates with the opportunity to present their original research alongside graduate students and professional researchers.
The theme for our annual conference is "Construing Reality: The Distortions of the Mind." Through this event, our speakers will explore the realm of perception, navigating between actuality and deception. The conference provides attendees with a glimpse into the latest research in all the fields that comprise Cognitive Science, including but not limited to Psychology, Neuroscience, Computer Science/Artificial Intelligence, Linguistics, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences.
To learn more about the speakers presenting and all the conference has to offer, visit: cogscicon.berkeley.edu.
Construing Reality: The Distortions of the Mind - California Cognitive Science Conference - 04/16/2022 09:00 AM
Hearst Memorial Mining Building Berkeley
The California Cognitive Science Conference at UC Berkeley is an annual all-day symposium bringing together hundreds of students, researchers, and members of the general public from around the world who are passionate about the interdisciplinary field of Cognitive Science for a day of talks and research presentations. We feature talks given by prominent scientists and thinkers from a wide variety of disciplines, and our acclaimed poster session provides undergraduates with the opportunity to present their original research alongside graduate students and professional researchers.
The theme for our annual conference is "Construing Reality: The Distortions of the Mind." Through this event, our speakers will explore the realm of perception, navigating between actuality and deception. The conference provides attendees with a glimpse into the latest research in all the fields that comprise Cognitive Science, including but not limited to Psychology, Neuroscience, Computer Science/Artificial Intelligence, Linguistics, Philosophy, and the Social Sciences.
To learn more about the speakers presenting and all the conference has to offer, visit: cogscicon.berkeley.edu.
#NoToPlastic Community Clean-Ups - 04/16/2022 09:45 AM
Oakland Zoo Oakland
Be part of the solution! Join other wildlife enthusiasts to help our local wildlife by cleaning up important habitats in Oakland.
Meet at the Lower Entrance to Oakland Zoo (in front of the Zimmer Auditorium) at 9:45am; shuttle departs at 10:00am sharp for cleanup site.
Location of cleanup will be a different urban watershed habitat in Oakland.
Participants will return to Oakland Zoo between 12:30pm and 1:00pm.
We will provide gloves and safety equipment. Bring a water bottle, snack, and sunscreen. Dress in comfortable layers.
18th Annual Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour - Online - 04/16/2022 10:00 AM
Bringing Back the Natives
See weblink for additional information
In-person tours will be held April 30 and May 1
Family Nature Walks - Baylands Nature Preserve - 04/16/2022 10:00 AM
Environmental Volunteers EcoCenter 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!
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.
Register at weblink
Investigating Space: Spacecraft of SpaceX - 04/16/2022 01:00 PM
Chabot Space and Science Center Oakland
As part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, the fourth SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket is preparing to launch from Kennedy Space Center later in April! This mission will carry 4 astronauts to the International Space Station.
Chabot welcomes former SpaceX Dragon and Falcon Quality Supervisor Erik Li to give an insider’s viewpoint and discuss the spacecraft that will launch the Crew-4 team. Program host and Museum Educator Maxwell Edmonds-Drati will join the conversation with Erik Li to discuss more about the upcoming launch. Learn more in the latest installment of Investigating Space!
The Universe in Verse - A charitable celebration of science and nature through poetry - 04/16/2022 07:00 PM
Quarry Amphitheater Santa Cruz
Join us for The Universe in Verse an annual charitable celebration of science and nature, winged with poetry and music, created and hosted by Maria Popova (The Marginalian) in collaboration with astronomer and UC Santa Cruz Director of Astrobiology Natalie Batalha.
In the majestic Quarry Amphitheater in the redwoods, we will explore the marvel and mystery of life, from the creaturely to the cosmic, with stories from the history of science and our search for truth, illustrated with poems about entropy and evolution, trees and mushrooms, consciousness and dark matter, the birth of flowers and the death of stars, performed by a constellation of extraordinary humans: pioneering astronomers Jill Tarter and Natalie Batalha, writers Rebecca Solnit and Roxane Gay, musicians Zoë Keating and Joan As Police Woman, artists Debbie Millman and Wendy MacNaughton, poet Diane Ackerman, cosmologist and jazz saxophonist Stephon Alexander, cognitive scientist and writer Alexandra Horowitz, physicist and writer Alan Lightman, and On Being creator Krista Tippett. There will be live music and stargazing, and some thrilling surprises.
To make The Universe in Verse maximally open to all, tickets are available on a pay-what-you-can basis at three levels. Please contribute the maximum you are able, knowing that it would make the experience possible for someone else of humbler means, knowing too that all proceeds from the show are split halfway between The Nature Conservancy and a new scholarship at UCSC honoring the life and legacy of astronomer and search-for-life pioneer Frank Drake.
See event link for further information
Starship Reality-Check: The Science of Deep Space Travel - 04/16/2022 07:30 PM
Cushing Memorial ('Mountain') Amphitheater Mill Valley
The stars beckon. But humans evolved to survive on Earth, not to hurtle through space. For long-duration travel - interplanetary and, even, interstellar - what spacecraft accommodations are necessary? Is on-board human hibernation an option? Might we overcome the problems of space radiation and prolonged weightlessness? Finally, scientists may argue that the ideal craft for fast human interstellar travel is the "1-g starship" (perhaps similar to the Bussard Ramjet, artist's impression above), but what do the engineers say?
Speakers: Dr. Pascal Lee, SETI Institute; Tucker Hiatt, Wonderfest
See weblink for additional information
Sunday, 04/17/2022
18th Annual Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour - Online - 04/17/2022 10:00 AM
Bringing Back the Natives
See weblink for additional information
In-person tours will be held April 30 and May 1
Monday, 04/18/2022
Current Research in the Hua Lab: Understanding Chromosome Organization and its Implications in Human Disease - Livestream - 04/18/2022 12:00 PM
Sonoma State Biology Colloquium
Speaker: Lisa Hua, Sonoma State University
Editor's Note: Shona Mookerjee, Tuoro University & Buck Institute for Reserach on Aging, was originally scheduled to talk on this date.
See link for Zoom information
Kitaev materials and time-dependent Majorana mean-field theory - Livestream - 04/18/2022 02:30 PM
Physics North Berkeley
As a rare example of an exactly solvable 2D quantum spin system, the Kitaev model has generated considerable theoretical interest as a playground for anyonic, neither fermionic nor bosonic, physics. Engineering the peculiar bond-dependent Ising interactions in a material initially seemed challenging, but today there is a collection of “Kitaev materials” known to host significant Kitaev interactions. In all such materials, however, other spin-spin interactions remain significant and whether or not the Kitaev spin-liquid is found in some region of their phase diagram remains an open question. In this talk, we will discuss our approach using time-dependent Majorana mean-field theory to compute the results of inelastic neutron scattering experiments in models near, but beyond, the Kitaev model. We find that features in the exact model are more robust than previously thought, perhaps implying that the materials are farther from the Kitaev model than expected.
Speaker: Tessa Cookmeyer, UC Berkeley
Attend in person or online
Experimental demonstration of continuous quantum error correction - Livestream - 04/18/2022 03:00 PM
Physics North Berkeley
Given the inherent fragility of quantum systems, quantum error correction (QEC) promises to be a powerful tool in performing quantum computations. QEC traditionally consists of discrete rounds of error detection, where errors are detected using entangling gates and projective measurement. However, physical measurements consist of finite coupling strengths and are inherently continuous rather than instantaneously projective. By constructing direct parity measurements of superconducting qubits, we implement a QEC protocol using the continuous nature of measurement. We constantly monitor the system for bit-flip errors and actively correct them when detected.
Speaker: William Livingston, UC Berkeley
See weblink for Zoom information
How have galaxies grown over the last 10 billion years? - Livestream - 04/18/2022 04:00 PM
What Physicists Do - Sonoma State University
Speaker: Kalina Nedkova, Tufts University
See weblink for Zoom link
BUDDI-MaNGA: a statistical spectroscopic survey of galaxy bulges and discs - Livestream - 04/18/2022 04:00 PM
What Physicists Do - Sonoma State University
Speaker: Boris Haeussler, European Southern Observatory
See weblink for Zoom link
A Dean's Life - 04/18/2022 04:00 PM
Sonoma State University - What Physicists Do Rohnert Park
Speaker: Jeremy Qualls, University of Southern Maine
Stanford Energy Seminar: Matt Svrcek - Livestream - 04/18/2022 04:00 PM
Stanford Energy Seminar
Mainspring was founded in 2010 by three Stanford engineers seeking a new approach to generating clean, resilient, affordable electricity. Their research into high-efficiency methods of converting fuel to electricity led to the founding of the company and the development and prototype of their first linear generator. They also built a culture of collaboration and innovation.
Today Mainspring brings together a diverse, talented team of individuals who share the vision to address the growing threat of climate change and the need for affordable electricity for all. Our executive team brings deep expertise from leading clean energy companies and is backed by top-tier venture, strategic, and financial investors.
Speaker: Matt Svrcek, Mainspring Energy
See weblink for Zoom information
Tuesday, 04/19/2022
Weekday Morning Hike at Rancho Cañada del Oro - 04/19/2022 10:00 AM
Rancho Canada Del Oro Open Space Preserve Morgan hill
How Pluto Got Kicked out of the Planet Club - Livestream - 04/19/2022 11:00 AM
Osher Livelong Learning Institute
Two Talks: Popping the Science Bubble - Livestream - 04/19/2022 05:30 PM
Berkeley Public Library
Wednesday, 04/20/2022
Got Metal? Life and Metals, The Unexpected Connection - Livestream - 04/20/2022 10:00 AM
SETI Institute
Response of the Delta and Estuary to a major change in wastewater nutrient loading - Livestream - 04/20/2022 03:40 PM
Estuary & Ocean Science Center
April LASER Event - Livestream - 04/20/2022 06:00 PM
LASER Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous
A-1: Alone in the Milky Way - Livestream - 04/20/2022 07:00 PM
San Francisco Amateur Astronomers
Making neural content meaningful and truthful - Livestream - 04/20/2022 07:00 PM
SF Bay Association of Computing Machinery
Nerd Nite SF #124: Songs & Psychedelic Assisted Therapy! - 04/20/2022 07:00 PM
Rickshaw Stop San Francisco
Thursday, 04/21/2022
Science at Cal - Recyclable Plastics - Livestream - 04/21/2022 12:00 PM
Science @ Cal
Being a Radiologist - Learn to read X-rays! - Livestream - 04/21/2022 04:00 PM
UC San Francisco Radiology and Biomedical Imaging
What is a Radiologist? - Livestream - 04/21/2022 04:30 PM
UC San Francisco Radiology and Biomedical Imaging
Rockin’ Around Stanford - 04/21/2022 04:30 PM
Braun Corner (Bldg 320) Stanford
NightLife: Buzzzed - 04/21/2022 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
After Dark: Discover the Wonder - 04/21/2022 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
“Catios” Protect Cats, Birds and Wildlife - Livestream - 04/21/2022 07:00 PM
Golden Gate Audubon Society
California Condors - Livestream - 04/21/2022 07:00 PM
Peninsula Open Space Trust
NightSchool: City Nature - 04/21/2022 07:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences
Friday, 04/22/2022
Bair Island Interpretive Walk - 04/22/2022 10:00 AM
Bair Island Wildlife Refuge & Trail Redwood City
STEM Storytime: Teen Inventors - Livestream - 04/22/2022 10:30 AM
Bay Area Science Festival
DNA Day - 04/22/2022 11:00 AM
Jack Baskin Engineering Santa Cruz
Interactive tour at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory - Livestream - 04/22/2022 12:00 PM
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Explore Physics at UC Berkeley - 04/22/2022 01:00 PM
Physics North Building Berkeley
Interactive tour at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory - Livestream - 04/22/2022 03:00 PM
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory
Saturday, 04/23/2022
How Synthetic Biology can help with Biodiversity Conservation - 04/23/2022 08:30 AM
San Bruno Mountain State & County Park Daly City
Science of Bubbles - 04/23/2022 10:00 AM
Stockmen's Park Livermore
The Natural Wonders of Glen Canyon Park - 04/23/2022 10:00 AM
Glen Canyon Park San Francisco
Presidio Archaeology: Behind the Scenes Tour - 04/23/2022 10:30 AM
Presidio of San Francisco San Francisco
STEM Storytime: Teen Inventors - Livestream - 04/23/2022 10:30 AM
Bay Area Science Festival
Forests in Focus - 04/23/2022 11:00 AM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
Nature & History Walk at Cooley Landing - 04/23/2022 11:00 AM
Cooley Landing East Palo Alto
Defeating Neurodegeneration: Virtual Career Panel and Tour - Livestream - 04/23/2022 12:00 PM
Denali Therapeutics
STEM Careers & Society - Livestream - 04/23/2022 12:30 PM
American Association of University Women
Introduction to PyGame Game Development - Livestream - 04/23/2022 01:00 PM
TeenTechSF
San Francisco Math Circle Math Festival - 04/23/2022 01:00 PM
San Francisco Math Circle San Francisco
Virtual Earth Day Celebration: The Buzz about Bugs: Insect Chemistry - Livestream - 04/23/2022 02:00 PM
California Section American Chemical Society
Protecting and Rehabilitating Local Raptors - Livestream - 04/23/2022 02:00 PM
Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley
Wild & Scenic Film Festival 2022 - Livestream - 04/23/2022 07:00 PM
Peninsula Open Space Trust
Sunday, 04/24/2022
Wild & Scenic Film Festival 2022 - Livestream - 04/24/2022 07:00 PM
Peninsula Open Space Trust
Introduction to Rocketry - 04/24/2022 10:00 AM
Dwinelle Hall Berkeley
Discovery Day @ Oracle Park - 04/24/2022 11:00 AM
Oracle Park San Francisco
Nature Expo at Daniels Nature Center - Skyline Ridge Preserve - 04/24/2022 01:00 PM
Russian Ridge Preserve Parking Redwood City
Monday, 04/25/2022
Wild & Scenic Film Festival 2022 - Livestream - 04/25/2022 07:00 PM
Peninsula Open Space Trust
Building Climate Resilience in the Bay Area - Livestream - 04/25/2022 10:00 AM
Save the Bay
Do Pinnipeds have Personalities? Investigating Mechanisms Behind Individual Behavior in Seals and Sea Lions - Livestream - 04/25/2022 12:00 PM
Sonoma State Biology Colloquium
Emergent electronic and excitonic physics in TMD moiré superlattices - Livestream - 04/25/2022 02:30 PM
Physics North Berkeley
A study of nearly-magnetic metals - Livestream - 04/25/2022 02:30 PM
Physics North Berkeley
Stanford Energy Seminar: Nancy Skinner, CA State Senate - Livestream - 04/25/2022 04:00 PM
Stanford Energy Seminar
Oh Behave! Changing the Way We React to Bias & Discrimination - Livestream - 04/25/2022 05:00 PM
Unsonscious Bias Project
The Quantum Origins of Gravity - 04/25/2022 05:30 PM
International House Berkeley
Changing Shorelines and the Future of San Francisco - 04/25/2022 06:00 PM
Candlestick point State Recreation Area San Francisco
Wonderfest: Starship Reailty Check - 04/25/2022 07:00 PM
Hopmonk Tavern Novato