Dear reader,
Welcome aboard for a flight aboard this week’s SciSchmooze. {Snacks optional.}
CLIMATE
¿Why is the climate conference taking place called “COP28”? Because it’s easier than calling it the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change Conference Of the Parties #28. ¿And why is it being held in Dubai, a country where fossil fuels account for over 4% of its revenue? [The United States is the world’s largest producer of fossil fuels - Ed.]; a country that denies entry to travelers who ‘might’ protest government policies?; a country that does not confer upon its own citizens the right to protest? However, things change - at least temporarily. Dubai is allowing entry to foreigners expected to protest COP28. Dubai is allowing protests to proceed. Furthermore, fifty oil companies revealed their pledge to reduce the release of methane to the atmosphere. Those fifty companies are responsible for over half of the world production of fossil fuels. [Now if only we can get the world’s 940 million cows to stop belching methane.] Of course much of the promises at COP28 have been ‘hot air’, a.k.a. “Greenwashing”. The Secretary General of the United Nations, António Guterres, addressed greenwashing, the pledge by the 50 oil companies, and situations around the world.
Last week a jumbo jet (Boeing 787) flew from England to New York with carbon neutral fuel - sorta. The SAF (Sustainable Aviation Fuel) itself was totally carbon neutral, meaning that the carbon dioxide released from the jet engines came from carbon extracted from the atmosphere by plants. It used SAF made from maize production waste and fat waste - no fossil fuel was used by the plane. However, the manufacture of the 50 tonnes of SAF on board used processes and electricity partially derived from fossil fuels.
GEOMETRY
Back in 1982, no one got the correct answer to the following question on the SAT:
Since the circumference is directly proportional to the radius, answer B seemed correct - but because no one got it right, then none of the above answers can be correct. Hint: Imagine circle A to be made of paper with the “A” written on it. Put a [mental] mark on circle A where it meets circle B. Now roll circle A around circle B until your ‘mark’ is again touching the big circle. The letter A is no longer upright; it’s tilted (by 120 degrees). It has rotated 1 and a third times. When A gets back to its starting position, it has ‘revolved’ four times, an answer that was not a choice! Let me recommend you watch the entertaining story of this glitch. Similarly, our Moon does not rotate at all from our perspective, but from a non-Earthly perspective the Moon rotates about once a month. Also, we consider a year to be 365.25 days, but from a cosmic perspective, the Earth rotates 366.25 times a year.
GEOLOGY
The town of Grindavik in Iceland is moving around as magma approaches from below. The town has been evacuated as a precaution. Well yeah. The whole town could become a volcano!
MEDICINE / HEALTH
Since the 70’s it’s been known that infants born to mothers who drank alcohol during pregnancy can suffer from Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorders or FASD. It now appears there is a fetal fentanyl syndrome associated with mothers who used fentanyl during pregnancy. While it is known that FASDs negatively affect lifelong learning and health, it is not known whether a person born with fetal fentanyl syndrome will suffer throughout life.
Due to COVID, life expectancy in New York City dropped precipitously in 2020 to 78 years. Now the City has embarked on programs to raise life expectancy to 83. The major issues they are confronting are:
- Heart- and Diabetes-Related Diseases
- Screenable Cancers
- Drug Overdose
- Suicide
- Homicide
- Maternal Mortality
¿Do you know how the U.S. compares to other large, wealthy countries with respect to life expectancy?
My Picks of the Week (put reminders on your mobile phone)
– Energy Innovation in California 4:30PM Monday, Stanford
– Scientific Critical Thinking: A Missing Ingredient in Science Education 4PM Tuesday, UC Berkeley
– NightLife: Santa Claude's Workshop 6 - 10PM Thursday, Cal Academy, S.F., $
– After Dark: Go with the Glow 6 - 10PM Thursday, ExplOratorium, S.F., $
– Down the Rabbit Hole 3 - 5PM Saturday, Sebastopol, $
RAFFLE
Hal B won the JWST pin with his guess of 225. The prize this time is a color-change Solar System coffee mug. Just send an email before noon Friday to david.almandsmith [at] gmail.com with an integer between 0 and 1,000.
NERDY VIDEOS to enjoy!
¿Ginkgo benefits? - Cup o’ Joe - Joe Schwarcz - 3 mins
Future of fossil fuel refining - Just Have a Think - Dave Borlace - 15 mins
The surprising genius of sewing machines - Veritaseum - Derek Muller - 17 mins
Octopus vs Underwater Maze - Mark Rober - 17 mins
The Net Zero Myth - Sabine Hossenfelder - 18 mins
¿Is there life on K2-18b? - PBS Spacetime - Matt O’Dowd - 18 mins
It was a pleasure putting this edition of the SciSchmooze together for you. I hope you found some item(s) of interest.
Have a wonderful week,
Dave Almandsmith, Bay Area Skeptics
Upcoming Events:
Click to see the next two weeks of events in your browser.
Monday, 12/04/2023
Cheetahs - Conservation and Art - 12/04/2023 09:00 AM
John Muir Laws
Monday, December 4th is International Cheetah Day and a time to celebrate these magnificent animals and their uniqueness. As the fastest land mammal, with the ability to go from 0 to 60mph in 3 seconds, cheetahs are the most unique of the big cats. Their speed, beauty, and grace have won hearts worldwide, and today, we ask you to spread awareness of their plight in the wild. Less than 7500 individuals remain, in only 31 populations around the world. Cheetahs suffer from human-wildlife conflict, genetic instability, habitat and prey loss, climate change, and the illegal wildlife trade. Help us raise funds to save this magnificent animal in the wild, and become an ally for cheetahs.
I will be joined by Jess Sorrentino of the Cheetah Conservation Fund and Marcia Sivek of the BeProvided Conservation Radio PodcastWe will discuss current efforts in Cheetah conservation and what we can do to help the species.
Then we will explore aspects of the cheetah’s anatomy, structure, and patterns to draw these amazing animals in a close-up portrait and a running action pose.
Register at weblink to attend.
Abiotic Factors Affecting Egg Deposition Site Selection & Early Larval Development of Two Local Lotic Amphibians - 12/04/2023 12:00 PM
Sonoma State University - Biology Colloquium Rohnert Park
Speaker: Beth Sabo, Sonoma State University
The dance of the muon - 12/04/2023 03:30 PM
Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC) Colloquium Series Menlo Park
More than eighty years after the muon was discovered it is still a source of mystery. I ndeed, experiments are underway that use muons as a window to search for new particles or forces. The muon's anomalous magnetic moment is a particular focus of these efforts because of a longstanding tension between experiment and theoretical expectations. This quantity is now known with an exquisite precision of 190 parts per billion, thanks to the g-2 experiment at Fermilab, which is on track to reach its precision goal of 120 part per billion in the next couple of years. The theoretical calculations of the muon’s magnetic moment must account for the virtual effects of all particles and forces within the Standard Model, where effects coming from virtual hadrons, governed by the strong interactions, are by far the largest sources of theory uncertainty. Recent estimates of hadronic corrections have created puzzles on the theory side, which are currently being investigated. I will discuss the ongoing interplay between theory and experiment that is essential to unlocking the discovery potential of this effort.
Speaker: Aida El-Khadra, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
Attend in person or online (see weblink)
Leveraging the phyllosphere microbiome for plant health - 12/04/2023 04:00 PM
James H. Clark Center (Bldg 340) Stanford
Britt Koskella is an Associate Professor in the Department of Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Her work explores the importance of the bacteria and viruses making up the microbiome in shaping plant health, ecology, and evolution. She received her BA from the University of Virginia in 2001 and her PhD from Indiana University in 2018, and subsequently held postdoctoral and independent research fellowships in both the US (funded by the NSF) and UK (funded by NERC) at Oxford University and the University of Exeter. Her work combines laboratory experimental evolution with studies of natural diversity to determine how bacteriophage viruses shape bacterial evolution, microbiome diversity, and disease. She works on the phyllosphere (above ground tissues) of both long-lived trees and short-lived, agriculturally relevant systems to better predict microbiome complexity and stability and to understand the role that microbiomes play in plant health and agricultural sustainability.
Speaker: Britt Koskella, UC Berkeley
Room: Auditorium
Energy Innovation in California - 12/04/2023 04:30 PM
Huang Engineering Center Stanford
The California Energy Commission (CEC) invests in a broad set of energy technology innovation and research activities, supporting the development of new products and services that drive progress towards California’s clean energy and climate goals. This includes investments aimed at expanding renewable energy; enhancing the reliability of the electricity grid in a changing climate; decarbonizing buildings and industry; and shifting to zero-emission vehicles. In this seminar, CEC R&D Director Jonah Steinbuck will provide an overview of these energy innovation activities, how they support the transition to a clean energy economy, and remaining innovation needs to reach mid-century climate goals.
Speaker: Jonah Steinbuck, California Energy Commission
Exploring the AI Revolution - 12/04/2023 06:00 PM
Commonwealth Club San Francisco
Where did AI come from? Who created it, why, and where can it lead?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly developing into a world-changer, affecting every industry and being used by hundreds of millions of people - even when they're unaware they're interacting with an artificial intelligence. And we're only at the early stages of AI's growth.
Join us for an in-depth talk with Dr. Fei-Fei Li, whom Wired called "one of a tiny group of scientists―a group perhaps small enough to fit around a kitchen table―who are responsible for AI’s recent remarkable advances.” Dr. Li came to America as an immigrant, enduring a shift from Chinese middle class to American poverty. But a tough upbringing did not stop her from becoming a leading mind in the next big technological development.
Fei-Fei’s adolescent knack for physics endured and positioned her to make a crucial contribution to the breakthrough we now call AI, placing her at the center of a global transformation. Over the last decades, her work has brought her face-to-face with the extraordinary possibilities―and the extraordinary dangers―of the technology she loves. Known as the creator of ImageNet, a key catalyst of modern artificial intelligence, Dr. Li has spent more than two decades at the forefront of the field.
Her work has brought her face-to-face with the extraordinary possibilities―and the extraordinary dangers―of the technology she loves.
Don't miss this opportunity to learn more about a breakthrough science and one of the breakthrough scientists who is making it happen.
Speaker: Fei-Fei Li, Stanford University
Attend in person or online. Register at weblink
The Remarkable Death of A Massive Star - 12/04/2023 07:30 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
The explosion of a massive star can produce ripples through spacetime and drive the creation of the elements needed for life. Their deaths can also give birth to a neutron star or black hole, providing clues into the evolution of galaxies. However, the chaotic nature of massive stars presents a challenge to interpreting their observed properties. Recent technological advancements allow us to now produce state-of-the-art computational simulations of the transient fate of a massive star. These simulations can unlock secrets about the violent nuclear fusion occurring deep within these stars, a region inaccessible to direct observation. In this talk, Dr. Fields will present recent results of hydrodynamic simulations of massive stars in the final moments proceeding and during their catastrophic fates.
Speaker: Carl Fields, Los Alamos National Laboratories
Tuesday, 12/05/2023
Translating Responder Expertise: Enhancing university wildfire management and communications - Livestream - 12/05/2023 12:30 PM
Stanford University
The scale and impact of wildfires in California generates resource needs that can strain the state’s mutual aid system and has fundamentally changed the way responders and agency officials communicate with the public.
Lessons learned from communicating during some of the state’s most complex incidents is a valuable model for informing emergency communications planning for the Stanford community.
California wildfires have also outpaced vegetation management efforts in many areas. Important research can aid in improving these efforts, but is most effective when paired with the agencies and organizations responsible for planning and carrying out vegetation management projects.
Stanford’s fuel reduction efforts in areas such as the Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve are providing a unique opportunity to connect local fire agencies with researchers in a living lab environment. Exploring the methods of fuels reduction and vegetation management used in the project areas will contribute to a better understanding of effective wildfire management.
Speaker: Luisa Rapport, Stanford University
See weblink to join
Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence - Livestream - 12/05/2023 02:00 PM
UC Berkeley
Professor Stuart Russell (UC Berkeley): “I will briefly survey recent and expected developments in AI and their implications. Some are enormously positive, while others, such as the development of autonomous weapons and the replacement of humans in economic roles, may be negative. Beyond these, one must expect that AI capabilities will eventually exceed those of humans across a range of real-world-decision making scenarios. Should this be a cause for concern, as Alan Turing, Elon Musk, Stephen Hawking, and others have suggested? And, if so, what can we do about it? While some in the mainstream AI community dismiss the issue, I will argue that the problem is real and that the technical aspects of it are solvable if we replace current definitions of AI with a version based on provable benefit to humans. This, in turn, raises a host of questions with which the social sciences and humanities have wrestled for centuries.”
See weblink for link to the presentation
Icy insights by bridging models and observations: Antarctic mass loss sensitivity to the thermal state - 12/05/2023 03:30 PM
Earth and Marine Sciences Building Santa Cruz
Speaker: Eliza Dawson.
Ching-Lao Lai was originally scheduled to speak on this date.
Scientific Critical Thinking: A Missing Ingredient in Science Education - 12/05/2023 04:00 PM
Sutardja Dai Hall Berkeley
There is a body of techniques and practices, a language and culture, that is usually implicitly taught by apprenticeship and osmosis to graduate students and postdocs in the sciences. This is the underpinning of an approach to building a credible sense of the “real world” that is shared by scientists, but not much used (or understood) by the rest of society. Equipping future generations with this scientific-style critical thinking could be one of our most reasonable defenses against confused thinking and misinformation, both major challenges to our democratic societies’ ability to make deliberative decisions. Can we make these implicit concepts explicit, and teach them to scientists and non-scientists alike? Could this help our society address difficult issues such as are raised by the global environment and economics? And how could citizen scientists use these tools to help build sources of credibility on the web and in the news? This talk is intended to start a discussion.
Speaker: Saul Perlmutter, Nobel Laureate in Physics, Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
The Impact of Generative AI: Contrasting Technology Innovations and Societal Adoptions between Asia and the West - 12/05/2023 04:30 PM
Paul G Allen Building Stanford
Shixiang Shane Gu is a researcher and manager at Google DeepMind. His research spans deep learning, reinforcement learning, natural language processing, probabilistic machine learning, and robotics. Shane was an ex-Research Scientist at Google Brain and OpenAI, and a Visiting Associate Professor (Adjunct Professor) at the University of Tokyo. Shane holds PhD from the University of Cambridge and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, and B.ASc. in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto. Shane previously was also a visiting scholar at the Department of Computer Science at Stanford University. Shane’s academic work received Best Paper Award at CoRL 2019, Google Focused Research Award, Cambridge-Tübingen PhD Fellowship, and NSERC Scholarship, and was featured in Google Research Blogpost and MIT Technology Review. Shane is a Japan-born Chinese Canadian, and he speaks, reads, and writes in three languages.
Shane's seminar is our keynote in our series on Topics in International Technology Management: The Emerging Digital Economy in Context: US - Asia Cooperation and Competition. We'll examine ways in which new digital technologies, business models, and data governance frameworks are addressing problems and opportunities at the interface between the digital economy and the external world, with special attention to new patterns of competition and cooperation between Asia and the U.S.
Speaker will be via Zoom but moderator will be in person. Register to attend in person or online at weblink.
The Hotstate Machine - A runtime loadable microcoded algorithmic state machine - Livestream - 12/05/2023 06:00 PM
IEEE Computer Society of Silicon Valley
This talk will be about the heart of a NoISA processor, the Hotstate machine. The Hotstate machine is an advanced runtime loadable microcoded algorithmic finite state machine. Unlike other FSMs the Hotstate machine includes many CPU-like features. It supports subroutines and single cycle interrupts. The Hotstate machine is programmed in a subset of C that supports all C control statements and can be debugged using any C debugger. The Hotstate machine is heavily parametrized and is written in SystemVerilog. The compiler will generate parameters from the program and size the machine to fit the program.
Speaker: Steve Casselman, HotWright Inc
See weblink for streaming information
Wednesday, 12/06/2023
Cybersecurity Futures 2030: New Foundations - Livestream - 12/06/2023 09:00 AM
UC Berkeley
Join the UC Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity (CLTC), CNA’s Institute for Public Research (CNA), and the World Economic Forum Centre for Cybersecurity (C4C) for the public launch of Cybersecurity Futures 2030.
The global cybersecurity landscape is constantly and rapidly changing - and by 2030, it will once again be radically transformed. To better understand how technological, political, economic, and environmental changes are impacting the future of cybersecurity for governments and organizations, CLTC, CNA, and C4C have collaborated on a foresight-focused research initiative that aims to inform cybersecurity strategic plans around the globe.
The product of this collaboration is a report, “Cybersecurity Futures 2030: New Foundations,” that considers how cybersecurity is set to transform over the next five- to seven years. The report includes insights from six global workshops that aim to help decision-makers in government, industry, academia, and civil society seize opportunities, address challenges, and mitigate risks just over the horizon.
This webinar will include panel discussions with the report authors and key industry stakeholders sharing and discussing the implications of the reports findings, with opportunities for Q/A with the panelists. More information on the confirmed panelists to be announced.
Register at weblink to receive streaming information
Deploying ROVs to assess deepwater fisheries, corals and MPAs - 12/06/2023 03:30 PM
Estuary & Ocean Science Center Tiburon
Speaker: Dirk Rosen, Marine Applied Research & Exploration
Astronomy on Tap San Antonio: Two Talks - Livestream - 12/06/2023 05:00 PM
Astronomy on Tap
A Flight Over the Mysterious Hydrocarbon Lakes on Saturn’s Moon Titan
Speaker: Xinting Yu, University of Texas at San Antonio
Sherlock Holmes and the Mystery of the Phase Changing and Stretching Phenomenon
Speaker: Adolfo Santa Fe Dueñas, University of Texas at San Antonio
Watch on Youtube or Facebook. See weblink
Thursday, 12/07/2023
Recent Trends in AI - 12/07/2023 09:30 AM
Philosophy Hall Berkeley
At the occasion of the visit of the Minister-President of Flanders (Belgium) to the Berkeley campus, a roundtable conversation on recent trends in AI will be organized by the Institute of European Studies. Speakers will include Prof. Pieter Abbeel (Co-Founder Covariant, Prof. UC Berkeley, Podcaster The Robot Brains, Investment Partner AIX Ventures), Shaun Johnson (Founding Partner at AIX Ventures), Han Vanholder (Director of Product Management, Compute at Google), and Prof. Jan Rabaey (Prof. UC Berkeley, CTO STCO at imec, Co-Founder Cortera Neurotechnologies).
Police Technology Experiments - 12/07/2023 12:00 PM
Social Sciences Building Room 820 Berkeley
To be a modern local police force means embracing new surveillance technologies that promise to amass the ever-enlarging universe of data around us and to produce actionable inferences about it. Whether described as using algorithms, artificial intelligence, or automated decision-making, all of these surveillance technologies involve some degree of computational analysis of data that creates new forms of knowledge and permits new types of policing. The usual way we discuss the use of these technologies, however, is limiting. Not only is it limiting, but it also obscures the human costs that are an inevitable consequence.
We should reconsider how we approach these new policing tools. This article makes one straightforward claim: algorithmic surveillance tools piloted by the police function as technology experiments on communities. These police technologies are experiments in the sense that they pose potential harms on those subject to the technology in the service of a theoretical but typically unproven benefit: more effective policing. With this framework, two observations follow. First, the model of technological experimentalism provides a more nuanced and comprehensive framework for understanding the use of algorithmic surveillance tools in policing. Second, experimentalism foregrounds both ethical considerations and group harms that are ill-suited to traditional legal analysis.
Speaker: Elizabeth Joh, UC Davis
Geophysics Seminar: Gen Z - 12/07/2023 12:00 PM
Mitchell Earth Sciences Building (04-560) Stanford
Speaker: Roberta Katz, Stanford University
Attend in person or on like (see weblink)
Room 350/372
The Mechanics of Animal Survival in an Ever-Changing World - 12/07/2023 12:30 PM
Valley Life Sciences Building Berkeley
Motions of animals are most often unsteady. Indeed, unpredictability arising from unsteady motion is likely an important aspect of predator avoidance for many organisms. However, our experimental and computational approaches have historically been inadequate to capture the behavioral nuances of such motions. As a result, the literature is replete with information on steady-state locomotion, in stark contrast with the reality of animal motion. The work presented in this talk seeks to address this imbalance by establishing novel tools to examine the kinematics and dynamics of unsteady locomotion. By synthesizing between laboratory-based and field-based studies of animal motion, I seek out biomechanical conclusions that are more relevant to evolution and ecology.
Speaker: Talia Moore, University of Michigan
Smart Grid Seminar: Grid Enhancing Technologies (GETs) - 12/07/2023 01:30 PM
Environment & Energy Building (Y2E2) Stanford
The Smart Grid Seminar invites speakers from industry and academia to discuss energy and smart grid topics, including energy decarbonization, grid management, and energy sustainability. Students are welcome to attend in person. Nonstudents are welcome to join via Zoom webinar.
Julia Selker is Executive Director at WATT Coalition. The Working for Advanced Transmission Technologies (WATT) Coalition advocates for policy that supports wide deployment of Grid-Enhancing Technologies (GETs), to accelerate the clean energy transition and lower energy costs.
Hui Zhang is Director for Power System Insights at AES Corporation.
Attend in person or register at weblink to watch online
Room 101
The Navigational Circuitry of the Fly - 12/07/2023 03:30 PM
Weill Hall Berkeley
Navigation requires orienting oneself relative to landmarks in the environment, evaluating relevant sensory data, remembering goals, and convert all this information into motor commands that direct locomotion. I will present models, highly constrained by connectomic, physiological and behavioral data, for how these functions are accomplished in the fly brain.
Speaker: Larry Abbott, Columbia University
NightLife: Santa Claude's Workshop - 12/07/2023 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
Santa Claude is comin’ to town! Shop your heart away at our merry marketplace of gift-worthy treasures.
After Dark: Go with the Glow - 12/07/2023 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
Forget about happy lamps - beat the winter blues with Glow, our seasonal exhibition at the Exploratorium After Dark! Spontaneously create music with giant light cubes. Feel human again as you look at yourself in mechanical mirrors, and practice mindfulness by playing LED dungeon crawlers. For an even more delightful evening, investigate how the human eye receives light with Exploratorium educator Zeke Kossover, and build a working light bulb model with our Explainers.
8:00 PM: Light Investigations with Zeke Kossover
Tonight, become a detective of light! When our eyes are open, we are constantly receiving light. Can you describe how you are receiving that light, and how the images you see are formed? Join our staff educator, Zeke Kossover, as he invites you to join in a series of interactive investigations that break apart the how of light to wondrous - and perhaps surprising - effect.
Friday, 12/08/2023
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics Seminar - 12/08/2023 12:00 PM
Earth and Marine Sciences Building Santa Cruz
Speaker: TBA
Public Tours of Bodega Marine Laboratory - 12/08/2023 02:00 PM
UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory Bodega Bay
These tours are led by our wonderful crew of ocean-loving docents, and visitors will learn about ongoing marine and coastal science research at Bodega Marine Laboratory and its history on the Sonoma Coast. Plus, you'll get to meet a variety of colorful and diverse ocean creatures.
The front gates will be open to allow visitors in from 1:45 until 3:45pm on Fridays. Please plan to arrive no earlier than 15 minutes prior to your tour start time.
Public tours are only available by reservation on Eventbrite. If your preferred tour time is already full, you can place your name on a waitlist through Eventbrite to claim a spot if one becomes available.
Saturday, 12/09/2023
NOAAS Okeanos Explorer - 12/09/2023 10:00 AM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
The deep sea is pitch black, freezing cold, and with crushing pressures - so how does an exploration vessel go there safely? Join us for an exciting weekend at the Exploratorium, where the Okeanos Explorer - the only federal vessel dedicated to ocean exploration - will be docked from December 9 - 10. Hear from scientists and explorers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): what technology enabled them to collect data from the deep sea? What lifeforms did the Okeanos encounter? And just how did they get their exploration careers started?
Exploring the Deep Sea
11:00 AM, Fisher Bay Observatory Gellery 6, Terrace
How and why do we explore the ocean? Join scientists returning from a deep-sea exploration expedition and others as we discuss the intriguing world of the deep sea.
Educator Talk
1:00 PM, Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery 6
Learn more about NOAA educational resources that are available to teachers at no cost. This talk will be geared towards teachers and informal educators, but anyone interested is welcome.
Meet the Explorers
All day, Fisher Bay Observatory, Gallery 6
Come talk to ocean explorers and others about the deep sea, ocean careers, teacher resources, community science, national marine sanctuaries, and more.
Family Nature Adventures: Fantastic Fungi Fun - 12/09/2023 10:30 AM
Chabot Space and Science Center Oakland
Join us on an exciting journey into the enchanting world of fungi! Our hands-on workshop is specially designed for young children who are curious about the magical organisms that can be found all around us. Through interactive activities and captivating stories, children will discover the fascinating wonders of fungi and their incredible role in nature.
For Families with Children
Bioplastic Holiday Ornament Workshop - 12/09/2023 11:00 AM
Lawrence Hall of Science Berkeley
Get into the holiday spirit with a festive activity in our Hands-on Biotech exhibit! Merry makers will craft eco-friendly holiday ornaments using bioplastic - a cutting-edge material that’s as sustainable as it is fun. Let your creativity shine as you decorate your ornaments with festive flair, and when you’re done, take home a personalized masterpiece. Unleash your inner artist, embrace sustainability, and celebrate the holidays like never before - all at our one-of-a-kind bioplastic ornament workshop!
AIAA Banquet and Mars Ingenuity Presentation - 12/09/2023 12:00 PM
Oakland Aviation Museum Oakland
Come join AIAA-SF for food and fun at our 2023 Annual Banquet. Help us celebrate with this year’s Section Awards winners. Your ticket includes lunch, admission to the Oakland Aviation Museum and its exhibits, and a presentation from our special guest Shannah Withrow-Maser about the Mars Helicopter.
Ingenuity has shown that flying in the Martian atmosphere is possible, and that helicopters can provide critical insight and support to ground-based assets. Though Ingenuity was designed for five flights, to date, 66 flights have been completed with ~119 min of flight time and ~9 miles flown. What would it take for an Ingenuity-class helicopter to help return the first samples from Mars to Earth? The smallest robotic arm ever flown on Mars, more capable rotors, a driving system, and flight software upgrades to start. The Mars Sample Recovery Helicopters are in development to provide back up to the Perseverance rover as part of the Mars Sample Return mission concept. Come hear about the work required to quickly transition a helicopter design from a technology demonstrator to a flying, driving, sample collecting capable vehicle and the potential future of rotorcraft on Mars!
Speaker: Shannah Withrow-Maser, NASA Ames
Prices increase 12/5.
Saturday Cinema: The Art + Science of Luminous Animations - 12/09/2023 01:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
Celebrate the Exploratorium’s winter exhibition Glow: Discover the Art of Light with radiant animations, both meditative and kinetic. Five short films capture the holiday spirit, the translucent elements of nature, the radiance of winter’s starry skies and ancestral stories, and the science of salt crystals shaped like jeweled snowflakes.These films shine light on the creative and diverse ways that individuals draw gleaming inspiration from nature, chemistry, manufactured materials, and mathematical forms.Running time: 30 minutes Wâhkôhtowin (All My Relations) by Barry Bilinsky (2022, 6 min.)The filmmaker, of Cree Metis and Ukrainian descent, explores the power of stories as they are shaped over many nights and many years, through all languages across the world. This beautifully animated story unfolds in an intimate tipi setting between a grandmother and her children’s children on a clear winter night. Through an Indigenous worldview we learn of our relation to the stars and the spirit world and of our connection to our ancestors. Co-presented with the American Indian Film Institute. The Arctic by Wenting Zhu (2018, 3 min.)This film captures crystallization, revealing radiant growth patterns of different salts. It serves as a reminder of the “stunning beauty of the ice worlds.” Produced by Yan Liang, founder of Beauty of Science. Co-presented with Beauty of Science.
White Out by Jeffrey Scher (2007, 3 min.)More than two thousand individual watercolor paintings animate a celebratory world of winter play. Colorful images shimmer against the brightness of snow while capturing the frivolity of humans slipping and sliding in frosty cold. Jeffrey Scher is an Emmy Award winning animator who has made music videos for Bob Dylan, Graham Nash, Joan Baez, Paul Simon, and others.
Attraction by Emily Scaife (2017, 4 min.)Take a peek into an alluring world of insect and plant life animated in a field of translucent colors, giving view to the dust and desires of an alternative tiny universe. Painting directly on film, the artist conjures an imagined landscape that shimmers with pulsating, lustrous forms such as erupting fungal fantasies and bursting botanicals.
Let Your Light Shine by Jodie Mack (2014, 4 min.)In this exuberant handmade animation, optical polyrhythms and a thousand rainbows explode off the screen. The artist Jodie Mack’s playful nature is captured in this prismatic celluloid experience.
Screenings at 1:00 and 3:00
Down the Rabbit Hole - 12/09/2023 03:00 PM
Masonic Hall Sebastopol
"Down the Rabbit Hole"is a fun and educational presentation covering an assortment of mycological topics and ideas based on Tradd's previous and future work. Come listen to the latest research and what may be on the horizon involving fungi and civilization. Open your mind and heart to the Kingdom Fungi!
From cultivation to building materials and mycoremediation to psychedelic mushroom research, Tradd has explored almost every application with fungi. Other topics in the presentation will include antibiotic research, advancing mycopesticide opportunities to replace chemical pesticides and astromycology.
Speakers: Tradd Cotter and Irene Dubin
Talk is followed by the annual Holiday Dinner, which is open to members only. The talk is open to the general public.
Starry Nights Star Party - 12/09/2023 06:45 PM
Rancho Canada Del Oro Open Space Preserve Morgan hill
The San Jose Astronomical Association (SJAA), working with the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority (OSA), is glad to co-host a public star party at Rancho Canada del Oro (RCDO) Open Space Preserve. This site, just 30 minutes south of downtown San Jose, features dark skies. It's dark enough to see the band of our Milky Way galaxy in the summer.
Do not bring your own telescope (binoculars are welcome, but please no tripods). SJAA club members will set up their telescopes to help star party guests get the most knowledge and enjoyment out of the dark night sky.
In addition to traditional telescopes, the SJAA has incorporated Electronically Assisted Astronomy (EAA) into the Starry Nights Program. We will be using an automated telescope with a camera-like sensor to show live images on an iPad.
See weblink for additional details. Registration required and attendance is limited to 75 people.
Sunday, 12/10/2023
NOAAS Okeanos Explorer - 12/10/2023 10:00 AM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
The deep sea is pitch black, freezing cold, and with crushing pressures - so how does an exploration vessel go there safely? Join us for an exciting weekend at the Exploratorium, where the Okeanos Explorer - the only federal vessel dedicated to ocean exploration - will be docked from December 9 - 10. Hear from scientists and explorers from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA): what technology enabled them to collect data from the deep sea? What lifeforms did the Okeanos encounter? And just how did they get their exploration careers started?
Exploring the Deep Sea
2:00 PM, Fisher Bay Observatory Gellery 6, Terrace
How and why do we explore the ocean? Join scientists returning from a deep-sea exploration expedition and others as we discuss the intriguing world of the deep sea.
Meet the Explorers
All day, Fisher Bay Observatory, Gallery 6
Come talk to ocean explorers and others about the deep sea, ocean careers, teacher resources, community science, national marine sanctuaries, and more.
Bioplastic Holiday Ornament Workshop - 12/10/2023 11:00 AM
Lawrence Hall of Science Berkeley
Get into the holiday spirit with a festive activity in our Hands-on Biotech exhibit! Merry makers will craft eco-friendly holiday ornaments using bioplastic - a cutting-edge material that’s as sustainable as it is fun. Let your creativity shine as you decorate your ornaments with festive flair, and when you’re done, take home a personalized masterpiece. Unleash your inner artist, embrace sustainability, and celebrate the holidays like never before - all at our one-of-a-kind bioplastic ornament workshop!
Monday, 12/11/2023
AGU23 Wide. Open. Science. - 12/11/2023 07:00 PM
Moscone Center West San Francisco
For more than 100 years AGU has been opening science - opening pathways to discovery, opening greater awareness to address climate change, opening greater collaborations to lead to solutions and opening the fields and professions of science to a whole new age of justice equity, diversity, inclusion and belonging.
This year, as we convene >25,000 attendees from 100+ countries in San Francisco for AGU23, our theme is: Wide. Open. Science. 2023 might be the official year of Open Science but we also see it as an opportunity to affirm AGU’s overarching values and beliefs. It is a message for all of us to carry as we come together to share, inspire, collaborate, engage and most of all rededicate ourselves as a united community grounded in wide open science.
See weblink for registration information. Attend in person or online
Schedules vary day to day. See weblink for costs. A wide variety of discounts are available, as well as single day admission.
Exploring the Universe with Gravitational Waves - 12/11/2023 03:30 PM
Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC) Colloquium Series Menlo Park
A new era in astrophysics was inaugurated with the 2015 discovery of gravitational waves from the collision of two black holes in data from the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). Since then, LIGO and its sister project Virgo have observed several more gravitational waves from the collision of black holes and neutron stars. These discoveries have effectively opened a new observational window on the Cosmos, with a rich science potential ranging from astronomy to cosmology to nuclear physics. This talk will present a selection of the latest results from LIGO and Virgo, summarize what we have learned so far from gravitational waves about black holes, neutron stars and the history of the Universe, and outline future prospects for the exploration of the Universe with gravitational waves.
Speaker: Laura Cadonati, Georgia Institute of Technology
Attend in person or online (see weblink)
Tuesday, 12/12/2023
AGU23 Wide. Open. Science. - 12/12/2023 07:00 PM
Moscone Center West San Francisco
Wednesday, 12/13/2023
AGU23 Wide. Open. Science. - 12/13/2023 07:00 PM
Moscone Center West San Francisco
Addressing Microfiber Pollution through Cross-Sector Publication - Livestream - 12/13/2023 11:00 AM
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Science Uncorked: How is Climate Change Impacting California Kelp Forests? A Focus on the Purple Sea Urchin - 12/13/2023 06:00 PM
Gourmet au Bay Bodega Bay
Deploying a LLM Chatbot using BigDL-LLM and Llama2 on an Intel Laptop - 12/13/2023 07:00 PM
Hacker Dojo Mountain View
NASA X Nerd Nite! - 12/13/2023 08:00 PM
Rickshaw Stop San Francisco
Geminids Meteor Shower Viewing - 12/13/2023 11:45 PM
Chabot Space and Science Center Oakland
Thursday, 12/14/2023
AGU23 Wide. Open. Science. - 12/14/2023 07:00 PM
Moscone Center West San Francisco
'The Geek Way' - A Handbook for a New Culture - 12/14/2023 05:30 PM
Computer History Museum Mountain View
NightLife - 12/14/2023 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
After Dark: Art x Climate @ the Exploratorium - 12/14/2023 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
Skepticism’s Time Warp. Are we winning or losing? - Livestream - 12/14/2023 07:30 PM
Bay Area Skeptics
Friday, 12/15/2023
AGU23 Wide. Open. Science. - 12/15/2023 07:00 PM
Moscone Center West San Francisco
Public Tours of Bodega Marine Laboratory - 12/15/2023 02:00 PM
UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory Bodega Bay
Saturday, 12/16/2023
Albany Bulb Birding Bioblitz - 12/16/2023 09:30 AM
Albany Bulb Albany
Fungus Among Us at Sanborn - 12/16/2023 10:30 AM
Sanborn Science and Nature Center Saratoga
Foothills Family Nature Walk - 12/16/2023 11:00 AM
Foothills Nature Preserve Los Altos
Saturday Cinema: The Art + Science of Luminous Animations - 12/16/2023 01:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
City Public Star Party - 12/16/2023 05:00 PM
City Star Parties - Parade Grounds at the Presidio San Francisco
Sunday, 12/17/2023
WONKA and Loving Chocolate - 12/17/2023 01:00 PM
Cameo Cinema St. Helena