Hello again, science fans. Glad to have you along with us today.
Hola tu ka'atéen, aficionados ti' le ciencia. ki'imak in wóol in yantal ta wéetel bejla'e'.
[Yucatec Maya]
The Trump Administration shut down over 1,400 scientific medical research projects and public health programs administered by the Department of Health and Human Services. They are listed here. The Administration has ordered mass layoffs of NOAA scientists. They are closing 164 offices of the Department of the Interior. They announced that 50% to 75% of EPA scientists “will not be retained.”
A Department of Justice attorney accused several scientific journals of bias:
“It has been brought to my attention that more and more journals and publications like CHEST Journal are conceding that they are partisans in various scientific debates…”
“Do you accept articles or essays from competing viewpoints?”
“Science” is not determined by “debates.” Scientific journals by their very nature are not partisan nor are they politically biased. Furthermore, “competing viewpoints” in the world of science are code words for creationism, anti-vaxx, and other non-scientific stances.
The Food and Drug Administration Modernization Act of 1997 called for ”the inclusion of women and minorities in clinical trials…” In the last few weeks, the documents providing guidance in following that policy have vanished from the websites of the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. ¿Is the Trump Administration OK with medical research conducted solely on cisgender white adult males as was frequently the case 30 years ago?
On Friday, the Trump Administration launched an investigation into foreign funds received by UC Berkeley. Also on Friday the New York Times published an op-ed titled, “Trump vs. Science.”
Presidents of over 500 colleges and universities have signed a letter that states in part, “[W]e speak with one voice against the unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education.” This was in response to the Trump Administration’s:
Freezing $2.8 billion of multiyear funding for Harvard University when the University President declined to accept federal audits of Harvard’s programs, screening of international students for their beliefs, and other demands. [See initial letter from the Trump Administration]
Freezing $400 million of funding for Columbia University for “continued inaction in the face of persistent harassment of Jewish students.”
Freezing $1 billion of funding for Cornell University “in connection with several ongoing, credible, and concerning Title VI investigations.” The Trump Administration has not yet revealed what investigations they are referring to.
Freezing $790 million of funding for Northwestern University for antisemitism and racial bias.
Revoking $175 million of funding for the University of Pennsylvania for allowing a trans woman swimmer to compete three years ago (as was mandated by the NCAA).
Revoking $800 million of funding for Johns Hopkins University because the funds were channeled through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
Revoking $214 million of funding for Princeton University because their climate researchers promoted “exaggerated and implausible climate threats.”
Of course it reeks of authoritarianism for an Executive Branch to decide what is “exaggerated and implausible” in the sciences.
Let us all concisely and frequently communicate our support for science, public health, and human rights with our elected representatives.
ARCHAEOLOGY
Ok. But can this create musical notes? ¿And if so, what sort of musical scale does it use? This 16-second video answers those questions using a replica of the flute.
Another Denisovan (Homo denisova) fossil has been identified - this time from Taiwan. Slowly, slowly we are learning more about this other species of human that shared the planet with us and Neanderthals. [In case you ever wondered where the name “Denisovan” came from: A religious hermit lived in a cave in Siberia in the 18th century. A 50,000 year old human finger bone was found in that cave in 2008 but its DNA matched neither modern humans nor Neanderthals. The new species was named after Denis the hermit.]
RAFFLE
We are offering a 49x67cm, 1,000 piece “Tree of Life” jigsaw puzzle. Just send an email before noon Friday to david.almandsmith [at] gmail.com with your guess of an integer between 0 and 1,000. Last time, Maritess won a 450ml coffee beaker. Of the 25 contestants, her guess of 637 was closest to the randomly generated 617.
BIOLOGY / ETHOLOGY
A tiny portion of a mouse brain [ 1.3 × 0.87 × 0.82mm] amounting to about 1/500 of its total brain, was analysed in a monumental study lasting 9 years. In this tiny mass they mapped all 5.4 kilometers of 84,000 neurons connected by half a billion synapses! The above image of the tiny brain mass only hints at the complexity that was found.
Generally, a human individual knows their name as does each person in their social group. Recently we’ve discovered the same is true for elephants, dolphins, and some parrots - but no evidence had been found for primates other than ourselves - until now. Marmosets vocally identify each other with ‘names.’
THINGS TO DO THIS WEEK – My Picks
Vaccination and its Historical Discontents - Livestream, Monday 2pm
The Big Open Questions in Science: Junk DNA, the Multiverse, and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence - Livestream, Tuesday 5pm
Studying the Ocean with Floats & Gliders - Livestream, Wednesday 3pm
Searching for Alien Earths - Livestream, Thursday 4pm
After Dark: Fermentation Thursday 6-10pm, explOratorium, San Francisco, $
Mars! Place for Humans to Soon Explore Friday 8pm, College of San Mateo
Investigating Tidepools for Ocean Health Saturday 9am, Bodega Bay
Morning Hike at Wavecrest Sunday 9am, Half Moon Bay
ENVIRONMENT
Many of the little things we buy are mounted on cardboard and covered in cellophane - transparent sheets made from plant cellulose. Although cellophane cannot be recycled, it readily biodegrades. ¿Why don’t we make single-use items like cups and water bottles out of cellophane? Answer: There was no process to create cellophane thicker than 0.05mm - until now. Researchers in Japan developed a process to make cellophane sheets twenty times thicker that can be molded into cups and containers. It’s strong, holds boiling water, and biodegrades in the ocean in less than a year. ¿Will this new super-cellophane compete with plastics derived from fossil fuels? Dunno. Hope so. Depends on how expensive it will be to ramp up production.
Back in the 60’s some sewage treatment plants began to produce thoroughly safe drinking water from waste water. Today there are thousands of sewage treatment facilities around the world supplying drinking water to their communities. Bad news: in the United States, much of the drinking water reclaimed from waste water contains high levels of PFAS - “forever chemicals” linked to cancer and other diseases. Ouch!
¿Supply renewable power to cities by railroad? That’s the plan. The U.S. is critically short of high-voltage electric transmission lines, and expanding the current grid requires - in many cases - haggling over rights-of-way for the towers and lines. Another problem with renewable energy is that wind and sunlight don’t always coincide timewise with needs for electric power. Proposed solution: (1) Power up train-car-loads of batteries when and where renewable energy is available and (2) transport the fully-charged battery-cars to cities needing the power via railway. It may be a temporary solution, but the investors in the “SunTrain” company hope it will be lucrative.
MEDICINE / HEALTH
As a nation, 92% of us have been vaccinated against measles. Unfortunately, it is calculated that herd immunity requires over 95% of us to be vaccinated. Worse, confidence in the safety of the MMR (Measles, Mumps, Rubella) vaccine has fallen. Twenty-two percent of parents are not confident that the MMR vaccine is safe. Among Republican-leaning parents, 31% are not confident in the vaccine’s safety.
¿For better health, should we replace butter, margarine, cream, and mayonnaise with olive oil products? The answer is we would likely be healthier making those replacements with any vegetable oil. Studies have not shown olive oil to be superior healthwise compared to other plant oils like corn, canola, safflower or soybean.
Three States - Mississippi, Florida, and Alabama - have outlawed the sale of lab-grown meats, in spite of that fact there are no lab-grown meats available for sale.
FUN (?) NERDY VIDEOS
Lunar Lava Tubes - NASA - 1.5 mins
Slime Mold Smarts - NOVA - 2 mins
Microplastics and Health - New York Times - Nina Agrawal - 2.5 mins
Tattoos and Health - Cup o’ Joe - Joe Schwarcz - 4 mins
Hubble’s 35th Birthday - NASA Goddard - 5 mins
The WEIRDEST Octopus - Bizarre Beasts - Sarah Suta - 8 mins
Rooftop Solar: Best Way Forward - Just Have a Think - David Borlace - 8 mins
Naked Singularities - Dr. Becky - Becky Smethurst - 12 mins
In Defense of Science - Cool Worlds - David Kipping - 13 mins
¿Will That Space Rock Kill Us? - PBS SpaceTime - Matt O’Dowd - 16 mins
Time Travel Is Possible, But… - Sabine Hossenfelder - 17 mins
Math, Conservation Laws, & Relativity - Veritaseum - Derek Muller - 26 mins
Ancient Roman Lead and Theoretical Physics - SciShow - Hank Green - 31 mins
Protactinium - Tales from the Periodic Table - Ron Hipschman - 35 mins
Science Under Siege - Skeptical Inquirer Presents - Michael Mann - 48+ mins
Apes, Men, & Morons: Scopes Centennial - BAS SkepTalk - Paul Lombardo - 49+ mins
Secrets of the Forest - PBS NOVA - 54 mins
The UFO Movie They Don’t Want You to See - Brian Dunning - 91 mins [Editor: The “WOW! signal” referenced in the video now has a likely natural explanation.]
Have a fun, active, and loving week,
Dave Almandsmith, Bay Area Skeptics
“We can no longer let the people in power decide what is politically possible. We can no longer let the people in power decide what hope is. Hope is not passive. Hope is not blah, blah, blah. Hope is telling the truth. Hope is taking action. And hope always comes from the people.”
Greta Thunberg (2003 - ) Autistic Swedish environmental activist
Your friends and loved ones can sign up for the weekly SciSchmooze at https://www.bayareascience.org
Upcoming Events:
Click to see the next two weeks of events in your browser.
Monday, 04/28/2025
Asynchronous Oscillation of the Ca2+-Dependent MLCK-Actomyosin System Defines the Flat Apical Geometry of a Steady State Epithelium - 04/28/2025 12:00 PM
Sonoma State University - Biology Colloquium Rohnert Park
Speaker: Emerson Herrman, Sonoma State University
At the Foothills of an AI Era in Science - 04/28/2025 12:00 PM
Gates Computer Science Building Stanford
Advances in artificial intelligence are rapidly transforming the scientific enterprise, offering powerful new methods for generating hypotheses, designing experiments, and interpreting data. I will discuss the promise of AI to accelerate scientific discovery, sharing examples that illustrate emerging patterns of innovation driven by the rapid scaling of cycles of generation and testing.
I will draw from case studies in materials science and biology to highlight these trends. Finally, I will address growing concerns around dual-use risks, where the same technologies that drive beneficial advances can also lower barriers to the creation of harm.
Speaker: Eric Horvitz
Constraining low-frequency gravitational-wave source populations with cosmological simulations - 04/28/2025 12:10 PM
Campbell Hall, Rm 131 Berkeley
Speaker: Laura Blecha, University of Florida
The Future of Human Vision - 04/28/2025 12:30 PM
Stanford Symbolic Systems Forum Stanford
Rapid advances in computational modeling, such as deep neural networks, applied to brain data and imaging technologies, like functional, quantitative, and diffusion MRI, are revolutionizing our understanding of how the human brain sees.
Dr. Kalanit Grill-Spector, a neuroscientist at Stanford University and expert in how the brain ‘sees’ will give a glimpse of her work on how advances in brain imaging, computing, and deep neural networks are unlocking the secrets of human vision.
See weblink for instructions for entering the building.
Vaccination and its Historical Discontents - Livestream - 04/28/2025 02:00 PM
UC Berkeley
Hesitancy and resistance to vaccination is more common than not in U.S. history. This talk will explain how and why public attitudes toward vaccination have changed over time, with an emphasis on the twentieth and twenty-first-century trends reflected in today’s vaccination debates and controversies.
Speaker: Professor Elena Conis is a writer and historian of medicine, public health, and the environment. Her research focuses on scientific controversies, science denial, and the public understanding of science. She is currently serving as Acting Dean of UC Berkeley Journalism.
Register at weblink to attend
Imaging Quantum Scars in Electronic Graphene Billiards - 04/28/2025 02:30 PM
Birge Hall Berkeley
The harnessing and manipulation of electronic states in quantum materials has the potential to revolutionize computation, sensing, storage, and communications, thus impacting multiple facets of our everyday lives. In this talk I will discuss my group’s recent experiments with graphene, a highly versatile carbon-based quantum material that hosts ultra-relativistic charges. Specifically, I will focus on an experiment that utilizes confinement, nanoscale visualization, and spectroscopy to reveal new properties of the ultra-relativistic states hosted by stadium shaped graphene-based billiards. This structure enables the first imaging of the highly elusive quantum scar states, which provide a bridge between chaotic systems in classical and quantum mechanics. Notably, chaotic systems are sensitive to perturbations and could lead to remarkable devices if they can be harnessed. Therefore, the study of quantum scar states provides a pathway towards the development of novel quantum devices.
Speaker: Jairo Velasco, UC Santa Cruz
Status of Circular Electron Positron Collider in China - 04/28/2025 03:30 PM
Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC) Colloquium Series Menlo Park
After the discovery of Higgs, Higgs factory is now recognized by the community as the highest priority for the future of particle physics. We proposed Circular Electron-Positron Collider in 2012, which is now almost ready for construction. I will describe its design, R&D and the construction planning.
Speaker: Yifang Wang, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Attend in person or online (See weblink)
Reflections on nearly 40 years of SSU Physics & Astronomy - RESCHEDULED - 04/28/2025 04:00 PM
Sonoma State University - What Physicists Do Rohnert Park
Speaker: Lynn Cominsky, Sonoma State University
This event has been rescheduled for May 5, 2025.
New Frontiers of Ultraviolet Photodissociation Mass Spectrometry for Biological Molecules - 04/28/2025 04:00 PM
James H. Clark Center (Bldg 340) Stanford
Speaker: Jenny Brodbelt, University of Texas at Austin
Clark Auditorium
Waves of Topological Origin in the Fluid Earth System and Beyond - 04/28/2025 04:15 PM
Physics North Berkeley
Symmetries and topology are central to our understanding of physical systems. Topology, for instance, explains the precise quantization of the Hall effect and the protection of surface states in topological insulators against scattering from disorder or bumps. However discrete symmetries and topology have not, until recently, contributed much to our understanding of the fluid dynamics of oceans and atmospheres. In this talk I show that, as a consequence of the rotation of the Earth that breaks time reversal symmetry, equatorial Kelvin and Yanai waves emerge as topologically protected edge modes. The non-trivial topology of the bulk Poincaré waves is revealed through their winding number in frequency - wavevector space. Bulk- interface correspondence then guarantees the existence of the two equatorial waves. I discuss our recent direct detection of the winding number in observations of Earth’s stratosphere. Thus the oceans and atmosphere of Earth naturally share basic physics with topological insulators. As equatorially trapped Kelvin waves in the Pacific ocean are an important component of El Niño Southern Oscillation, the largest climate oscillation on time scales of a few years, topology plays a surprising role in Earth’s climate system. We also predict that waves of topological origin will arise in magnetized plasmas. I will describe experiments that we are conducting at UCLA’s Basic Plasma Science Facility (BaPSF). The waves may also arise in the solar system and beyond.
Speaker: Brad Marston, Brown University
What should I do with my life (in sustainability)? - 04/28/2025 04:30 PM
Stanford University Energy Seminar Stanford
You are interested in a career in sustainability. You want to make a difference. Save the planet. Save humankind. How do you figure out what career to pursue, in the vast world of sustainability? Would it be better to work in a climate startup or a Fortune 500 company with a big carbon footprint? Would it be more impactful to be a company’s Chief Sustainability Officer, or be in charge of their supply chain that generates most of the company’s carbon emissions? Can I save the planet, *AND* make a lot of money? In the end, it’s about finding the career that would make you happy. In this seminar, Winnie will share stories from having been in the trenches of sustainability in Fortune 500 companies like Google, non profits like World Wildlife Fund, and clean energy startups.
Attend in person or watch online (see weblink)
Speaker: Winnie Lam, Nike
Tuesday, 04/29/2025
Strain-Release Pentafluorosulfanylation: Strange Molecules Doing Stranger Things - 04/29/2025 11:00 AM
Latimer Hall Berkeley
This presentation details recent progress in our laboratory toward the synthesis and evaluation of historically underemployed fluorinated functional groups that have been made more accessible using the TCICA/KF approach to oxidative fluorination. A major theme will be our recent merging of SF5 radical chemistry with strain-release functionalization of [1.1.1]propellane and [1.1.0]bicyclobutanes. Structural consequences of making these SF5-based “hybrid bioisosteres” and preliminary mechanistic insight will be discussed. Aside from being a topic of fundamental interest, we believe this work affords an unusual and subtle type of flexibility in molecular design that could prove useful in increasing availability of building blocks containing C(sp3) - SF5 bonds to medicinal chemists, agrochemists, and in the materials community.
Speaker: Cody Pitts, UC Davis
Dreaming, Memory Consolidation, and Body - Brain Interactions in Sleep - Livestream - 04/29/2025 12:00 PM
Stanford University
Speaker: Sarah Schoch, Radboud University medical Center
Moho Mission to the Foundation of Continents: The ICDP DIVE Drilling Project - 04/29/2025 12:00 PM
Braun (Geology) Corner (Bldg 320), Rm 220 Stanford
It is more difficult to access the Earth’s interior a few miles below our feet than it is to explore the surface of another planet hundreds of thousands to million miles away. Drilling has made it possible to explore the Earth’s interior and thus, go deep. But the thrill to drill is quickly contrasted by the challenging pressure exerted by the rocks with increasing depth. Since Project Mohole in the 1960s, scientists have worked to reach the boundary between the crust and the mantle known as the Moho. This boundary representing the foundations of continents is usually beyond the reach of our present-day technology. However, in some places on Earth, it is possible to reach the crust-mantle frontier without going as deep. The Ivrea-Verbano Zone in the Italian Alps is the golden target to explore the crust-mantle transition zone in less than 1 mile depth. This is because the collision between tectonic plates that generated the European Alps brought the crust-mantle boundary to a shallow depth and thus, under conditions of low pressure, present-day drilling technology can sustain a borehole to this depth. Based on the collaborative effort led by more than 50 scientists, I will present the major outcomes of Phase 1 of the ICDP DIVE (Drilling the Ivrea-Verbano zonE) project tackling key questions related to the chemistry and architecture of the crust-mantle transition, the geophysical signatures, and insights into the deep biosphere.
Speaker: Mattie Pistone, University of Georgia
Attend in person or online (see weblink)
Artificial General Intelligence and the Future of Physics - 04/29/2025 03:30 PM
Hewlett Teaching Center Stanford
Over the last half decade, the capabilities of large language models (LLMs) have leapt from preschooler to undergraduate and beyond. This talk reviews recent progress in teaching LLMs to do science and reasoning, and speculates as to what it will mean for the future of theoretical physics if these trends continue.
Speaker: Adam Brown, Google
Probing Interfacial Reactivity using Single-Molecule Conductance - 04/29/2025 04:00 PM
Latimer Hall Berkeley
Junctions comprising individual molecules “wired” between nanoscale electrodes approach the limit of miniaturization for electronic circuits used in computation and data storage. While model studies of these atomically precise systems expose molecular structure-charge transport property relationships critical for the development of useful electronic components (e.g., wires, switches, or diodes), the wider application, stability, and capabilities of such junctions, for example, to follow chemical bond forming and breaking processes, remain understudied. Accordingly, we are applying ambient atmosphere and glovebox-based scanning tunnelling microscope-based break-junction (STM-BJ) methods to probe metal-single molecule-metal junctions formed from reactive molecules and functional electrode metals. In this presentation, I will review our recent discovery that junctions generated in situ with Ag-C(sp3) interfacial linkages appear to rapidly react with surface-adsorbed oxygen to provide an unusual Ag-O-C(sp3) (alkoxide) contact chemistry. In addition, I will highlight the ability of gold surfaces, often considered to be “chemically inert,” to function as Lewis acids that can promote interfacial reactions involving carbocation intermediates. This research focus, in combination with our broader program, aims to develop a deeper understanding of molecular assembly and heterogeneous catalysis, as well as charge transport processes through molecular materials from the nanoscale to bulk. Our findings are relevant for the design of new molecular-scale devices and extended ordered polymers with improved properties, towards applications in nanoelectronics, energy storage, and sensing.
Speaker: Michael Inkpen, University of Southern California
Scientists seek to answer humanity’s biggest questions through careful observation and experimentation. Still, such fundamental problems as “Are we alone?”, “What are we made of?”, and “What is the nature of the Universe?” remain unanswered. Our researchers will weigh in on how each of them is chipping away at these mind-boggling mysteries.
Moderated by
Dipti Nayak, Assistant Professor of Genetics, Genomics, and Development
Panel:
Dan Werthimer, SETI Project Director, Space Sciences LaboratoryYasunori Nomura, Professor of PhysicsCraig Miller, Professor of Genetics, Genomics, Evolution, and Development
Register at weblink
Science Friday and the Future of Science Reporting - 04/29/2025 06:00 PM
Commonwealth Club San Francisco
Radio and TV journalist Ira Flatow produced his first science stories back in 1970 during the inaugural Earth Day. Since then, he has worked for Emmy Award-winning science programs and covered science for a number of high-profile news organizations, and has hosted the popular public radio program “Science Friday” for more than three decades. In his career, Flatow has interviewed countless scientists, journalists and other experts about the most exciting developments in science. Now the Commonwealth Club (with Wonderfest!) welcomes Ira in conversation with local journalists to speak about the role of science writing in the current cultural climate.
Ira’s interviewers: Annalee Newitz, science journalist and co-host of the Hugo Award-winning podcast “Our Opinions are Correct” | Ezra David Romero, climate and water reporter for KQED news | Naveena Sadasivam, fossil fuel and climate change writer at Grist independent media organization.
Register at weblink for in person or online tickets. Use promo code WONDERNAUTS for a $10 discount. See weblink for online prices.
Wonderfest Ask a Science Envoy: Kilonova Metals; Cat Ecology - 04/29/2025 07:00 PM
Hopmonk Tavern Novato
Wonderfest Science Envoys are early-career researchers with enhanced 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 astrophysicist Daniel Brethauer on Astronomically Rocking Out to Heavy Metals - The gold in jewelry, the uranium in a nuclear power plant, the caesium in atomic clocks: what do these all have in common? It turns out they were likely forged in the fires of a cosmic explosion known as a kilonova. These extremely energetic events reveal the origins of the periodic table’s heaviest elements.
UC Berkeley ecologist Tyus Williams on Unraveling the Ecology of Domestic Cats - What if one of our greatest companions is potentially one of our greatest threats? When free to roam, domestic cats can severely disrupt wildlife communities. However, understanding cats’ behavior and how they’re influenced by their surroundings can allow us to develop better conservation strategies.
Going the Distance - One Humpback's Journey of Migration - Livestream - 04/29/2025 07:00 PM
American Cetacean Society
Please join us as we embark on a global travel - virtually - along one humpback whale’s migration. You won’t want to miss the journey as chronicled by the marine biologists behind the discovery of this epic cetacean story. Transcending borders and species we will hear from Dr. Aylin Akkaya and Ekaterina Kalashnikova, whose work is centered in the Mediterranean and East Africa, respectively.
Speakers: Aylin Akkaya, Montenegro Dolphin Research; Ekaterina Kalashnikova, Tanzania Cetacean Program
Register at weblink to receive connection information
Wednesday, 04/30/2025
Spring Bird Walk - SOLD OUT - 04/30/2025 09:00 AM
UC Botanical Garden Berkeley
Against the Odds: Navigating Deep-Sea Research in Developing Countries - Livestream - 04/30/2025 11:00 AM
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Deep-sea research presents formidable challenges globally, but these are amplified in developing countries where financial constraints, limited infrastructure, and bureaucratic hurdles often hinder scientific exploration. In the Philippines, a nation surrounded by some of the world’s most biodiverse yet understudied deep-sea environments, researchers must navigate these obstacles with innovation and resilience. This lecture explores the realities of conducting deep-sea research in the Philippines, highlighting the creative solutions employed to develop low-cost technologies, foster international collaborations, and engage local stakeholders. From resourceful adaptations of existing tools to leveraging community-driven initiatives, we will discuss how Philippine researchers are forging a path toward greater accessibility in deep-sea exploration. Despite the odds, progress is being made - driven by determination, ingenuity, and the urgent need to understand and protect the deep waters of the region. This session aims to inspire dialogue on overcoming barriers and building capacity for deep-sea research in developing nations.
Speaker: Titus Canete, Large Marine Vertebrates Research Institute, Philippines
Register at weblink to receive Zoom information
Whole Earth Seminar - 04/30/2025 12:00 PM
Earth and Marine Sciences Building Santa Cruz
Speaker: Eyal Rahav, Isreal Oceanoghraphic and Limnological Research Institute
Presenting the 2025 AI Index - 04/30/2025 12:00 PM
Gates Computer Science Building Stanford
The AI Index, currently in its eighth year, tracks, collates, distills, and visualizes data relating to artificial intelligence. The Index provides unbiased, rigorously vetted, and globally sourced data for policymakers, researchers, journalists, executives, and the general public to develop a deeper understanding of the complex field of AI. Led by a steering committee of influential AI thought leaders, the Index is the world’s most comprehensive report on trends in AI. The 2025 report will cover AI trends related to research and development, technical performance, technical AI ethics, the economy, education, policy and governance, diversity and public opinion.
Attend in person or online (see weblink)
Energy Transition Leadership Seminar: International Motors CEO, Mathias Carlbaum - 04/30/2025 01:30 PM
Paul G Allen Building Stanford
In conjunction with the launch of the new Sustainable Mobility Center at Stanford University, Energy Transition Leadership Seminars presents Mathias Carlbaum, President and CEO of International Motors (formerly Navistar), who will share his perspectives on decarbonizing the trucking industry, covering both technological solutions and market developments. Attendees will gain insights into the current state of decarbonization strategies in both light and heavy-duty trucking from an industry leader who has implemented science-based climate goals and developed strategies across North America, Europe, and Latin America.
International Motors, LLC (formerly Navistar International Corporation), headquartered in Lisle, Illinois, is a global leader in the development of commercial medium-and heavy-duty vehicles, including trucks and buses. As of 2019, International Motors employs approximately 13,000 people and operates a distribution network spanning 1,000 dealer outlets across the United States, Canada, Brazil, and Mexico, in addition to more than 60 dealers in 90 other countries. Since 2021, the company has been a subsidiary of Traton, the heavy-vehicle division of the Volkswagen Group, which includes the brands Scania, MAN, International, and Volkswagen Truck & Bus.
Room 101X
Attend in person or online (See weblink)
Observing the open to coastal ocean with profiling floats and underwater gliders - Livestream - 04/30/2025 03:00 PM
Bodega Marine Laboratory
Join us for the UC Davis Bodega Marine Laboratory Seminar Series, featuring speakers from within the marine sciences community and beyond.
Speaker: Yui Takeshita, Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Register at weblink to receive connection information
Panning for evolutionary gold in threespine sticklebacks: why are there nuggets and why do the nuggets recur? - 04/30/2025 03:30 PM
Genetics and Plant Biology Building Berkeley
The genetic and molecular mechanisms that underlie the amazing diversity of living species have long been uncertain and contentious. We have developed stickleback fish as a model system to reveal how new traits evolve in natural populations. Our genetic studies show that dramatic changes in morphology, color, and disease susceptibility can be mapped to major chromosomal loci. Detailed genomic studies reveal how nature can either add or subtract the anatomical structures seen in wild organisms by gains and losses of the coding or regulatory regions of key developmental control genes. In the first lecture, I will focus on principles of evolutionary recurrence: Why do we find particular loci being used to evolve major changes, and why does evolution tend to use the same genes repeatedly to evolve similar traits in many different species? In the second lecture, I will focus on evolution and disease susceptibility. Our recent work in sticklebacks has identified surprising connections between herpes viruses, pox viruses, novel host resistance mechanisms, and evolution of new host defense loci. The mechanisms involved appear common to many other host-pathogen interactions, including those affecting both aquaculture and human disease.
Speaker: David Kingsley, Stanford University
Crash and Learn? Revising the conservation status of Antarctic fur seals in the South Shetlands - 04/30/2025 03:30 PM
Estuary & Ocean Science Center Tiburon
Speaker: Doug Krause, Leader, United States Antarctic Marine Living Resources Program, NOAA Fisheries
Attend in person or click here to watch on Zoom
Applying single cell genomics to microbial communities at the JGI - 04/30/2025 03:30 PM
Estuary & Ocean Science Center Tiburon
Speaker: Bob Bowers, Research Scientist, LBNL, Joint Genome Institute
Attend in person or click here to watch on Zoom
Misclassification: The Hidden Source of Hallucinations in Language Models - 04/30/2025 04:00 PM
Evans Hall Berkeley
Pretrained Language Models (LMs) generate plausible-sounding errors, so-called hallucinations, at surprisingly high rates in certain domains. We cast the problem of generating valid responses as a binary classification task: distinguishing acceptable outputs from plausible but erroneous ones. Even in standard supervised learning with both positive and negative examples, some errors are inevitable. LMs pretrained on positive examples alone should be at least as error-prone (though LM posttraining may mitigate these errors).
Drawing on familiar concepts from statistics and machine learning (e.g., sample complexity, computational constraints, and noisy data), we show that these classical causes of misclassification likewise drive hallucinations. Formally, we prove two results. First, we establish a lower bound: the hallucination rate is nearly twice the misclassification rate. Second, we apply this bound to the case of “independent facts” and show that the hallucination rate is at least the fraction of facts that appear exactly once in the training data. Both theorems assume only a minimal “weak calibration” property that pretrained LMs should satisfy (posttraining mitigations reducing errors will therefore also violate calibration).
Speaker: Adam Kalai, OpenAI
The Nuts and Bolts of Teaching Astronomy - Livestream - 04/30/2025 05:00 PM
Astronomical Society of the Pacific
In this 90-minute introductory workshop, join experienced teachers who have taught astronomy in grades K-12 to cover the “nuts and bolts'' of what an astronomy unit or class could look like. From creating a curriculum map, to selecting resources, and sample lab activities and experiments to consider, this workshop will prepare you to teach astronomy. This workshop is perfect for those teaching astronomy for the first time this fall, as well as experienced astronomy teachers who are interested in discovering new resources and connecting with peers. Follow-up content specific workshops during summer 2025 will extend and expand on this workshop. Completion of the entire suite of workshops will allow you to earn graduate credit to go along with clock hours of professional development.
Participants will gain the following through participation in the workshop:
Classroom-tested resources and activities that facilitate student-centered learning
Strategies for engaging learners at different grade levels
See a sample astronomy unit and course syllabus
Learn about free online textbooks
Access to astronomy education experts who will facilitate the workshop
A certificate of completion for participating in 2 clock hours of professional development
Register at weblink
Science on Tap: Exploring Ice Age ecosystems with sedimentary ancient DNA - 04/30/2025 07:00 PM
Museum of Art and History Santa Cruz
What did Ice Age environments look like? Sedimentary ancient DNA is increasingly becoming a powerful tool for studying ancient plants, animals, and even microbes. In this presentation, we will travel back in time to the Ice Age environments of Alaska and Yukon Territory and explore what sedimentary ancient DNA can tell us about this extinct habitat. We will learn about how DNA can be extracted from old mud, how mammoths responded to volcanic eruptions, and what species coexisted with the first humans to cross the Bering Land Bridge into North America. Join us to peek back in time to the world of woolly mammoths, North American horses, and giant bison.
Speaker: Ciara Wanket, UC Santa Cruz
Healthcare Simulation Lab! Empowering future medical providers through healthcare simulation - 04/30/2025 07:30 PM
Marin Science Seminar San Rafael
The ever-popular VAMC SF Healthcare Simulation Lab returns! After a short presentation on the use of simulator technology, basic life support, and team dynamics in healthcare simulation, we will dive right into a simulated scenario to work as a team and save a life!
Speaker: Derrick Duarte and Karrina Mock, VA Medical Center, San Francisco
Editor's Note: This event was originally scheduled for April 2, 2025
Thursday, 05/01/2025
SETI Live: Tiny Asteroids, Big Threats - Livestream - 05/01/2025 11:00 AM
SETI Live
JWST Reveals a Hidden World of Mini Asteroids
One significant threat to life here on Earth is the possibility that a massive asteroid will collide with our planet and destroy life as we know it. To understand the possibilities, large surveys of the sky have found around 95% of potentially hazardous asteroids larger than a kilometer. Smaller asteroids, however, can also cause massive amounts of damage. Estimates range from 40 to 60 percent when it comes to asteroids over 100 meters in diameter, which would be considered city-killers. Even smaller asteroids, such as the 20-meter one that exploded over Chelyabinsk in 2013, can cause destruction and injury. The more asteroids we can find, the better our predictions and future protections will be. In light of this threat, scientists have used the JWST to detect 138 of the smallest asteroids (as small as 10 meters) ever observed in the asteroid belt. These tiny asteroids are important because they can become near-Earth objects (NEOs), posing a risk to Earth through possible impacts, including powerful explosions. By analyzing the size and frequency of asteroids, researchers found a significant change in the population of asteroids around 100 meters in size, likely due to collisions breaking larger asteroids into smaller ones. The observed asteroids originated from known asteroid families and were detected using advanced tracking and infrared imaging techniques. This research enhances our understanding of asteroid behavior and may aid in predicting and mitigating future asteroid threats. Join planetary astronomer Franck Marchis in a conversation with lead authors Artem Y. Burdanov and Julien de Wit as they discuss these smaller asteroids and what they can reveal about potential threats to our planet.
Plant-pollinator-microbe interactions and initial efforts toward two-eyed seeing at Stanford’s biological preserve - 05/01/2025 12:30 PM
Valley Life Sciences Building Berkeley
Many plant species host a small number of bacterial and yeast species in floral nectar. Initially sterile, the nectar of a new flower gets these microbial inhabitants via pollinators and other flower-visiting animals. This seminar will tell a story of “flowers as islands,” where microbial communities in flowers alter nectar chemistry, pollinator attraction, and seed production. Beyond the specific understanding of the plant-pollinator-microbe interactions at the main study site, Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve (‘Ootchamin ‘Ooyakma), this research has also helped to elucidate general principles of ecological community assembly. The seminar will also discuss recent initial steps taken at JRBP (‘O’O) toward “two-eyed seeing,” the multi-cultural approach to understanding and caring for the land.
Speaker: Tadashi Fukami, Stanford University
Recent adventures in evolution and disease - 05/01/2025 03:30 PM
Genetics and Plant Biology Building Berkeley
The genetic and molecular mechanisms that underlie the amazing diversity of living species have long been uncertain and contentious. We have developed stickleback fish as a model system to reveal how new traits evolve in natural populations. Our genetic studies show that dramatic changes in morphology, color, and disease susceptibility can be mapped to major chromosomal loci. Detailed genomic studies reveal how nature can either add or subtract the anatomical structures seen in wild organisms by gains and losses of the coding or regulatory regions of key developmental control genes. In the first lecture, I will focus on principles of evolutionary recurrence: Why do we find particular loci being used to evolve major changes, and why does evolution tend to use the same genes repeatedly to evolve similar traits in many different species? In the second lecture, I will focus on evolution and disease susceptibility. Our recent work in sticklebacks has identified surprising connections between herpes viruses, pox viruses, novel host resistance mechanisms, and evolution of new host defense loci. The mechanisms involved appear common to many other host-pathogen interactions, including those affecting both aquaculture and human disease.
Speaker: David Kingsley, Stanford University
Searching for Alien Earths - Livestream - 05/01/2025 04:00 PM
Skeptical Inquirer
The detection of thousands of exoplanets orbiting other stars has revolutionized our view of the cosmos. Even our closest star, Proxima Centauri, harbors a small planet in its habitable zone. With the James Webb Space Telescope, we have started to peer into the atmospheres of rocky planets and get a glimpse into other rocky worlds.
Join us for a Skeptical Inquirer Presents live stream with author and astrophysicist Lisa Kaltenegger. The questions of what makes a planet habitable and how to detect signs of life are lively and long-running ones. Kaltenegger will highlight some of the latest results and discuss the opportunities and challenges of identifying and characterizing such habitable worlds.
Register at weblink to attend
Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control Humanity's Fate - 05/01/2025 05:30 PM
Commonwealth Club San Francisco
Astrophysicist and science journalist Adam Becker has his eye on the dreams of Silicon Valley’s billionaire elite - and he’s unimpressed. He says Silicon Valley’s “heartless, baseless, and foolish obsessions” - with escaping death, building AI tyrants, and creating limitless growth - pervert public discourse and distract us from real social problems.
He argues that tech billionaires have decided that they should determine our futures for us, and that the only good future for humanity is one powered by technology: trillions of humans living in space, functionally immortal, served by superintelligent AIs.
In More Everything Forever, Becker investigates what he calls wildly implausible and often profoundly immoral visions of tomorrow - and shows why, in reality, there is no good evidence that they will, or should, come to pass. Nevertheless, these obsessions fuel fears that overwhelm reason - for example, that a rogue AI will exterminate humanity - at the expense of essential work on solving crucial problems like climate change. What’s more, these futuristic visions cloak a hunger for power under dreams of space colonies and digital immortality. The giants of Silicon Valley claim that their ideas are based on science, but Becker says the reality is darker: they come from a jumbled mix of shallow futurism and racist pseudoscience.
Adam Becker says that powerful and sinister ideas are alive in Silicon Valley. Now he comes to the heart of the global tech world to challenge us to see how these visions of the future are foolish and dangerous.
In coversation with Annalee Newitz, Author; Journalist; Co-Host, "Our Opinions Are Correct" Podcast
NightLife - 05/01/2025 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
When the lights dim, the museum comes alive at NightLife. With live DJs, craft cocktails, glowing lights, and 60,000 live animals (including familiar faces like Claude, our alligator with albinism), the night is sure to be wild.
Plus, you can:
Explore our two newest exhibits, Dino Days and Unseen Oceans: Roam among 13 life-size animatronic dinosaurs in our outdoor gardens then embark on a journey to the deep sea with interactive activations and glowing supersized models.Step inside the iconic Shake House earthquake simulator and our four-story Osher Rainforest, where you can explore the Amazon’s treetops surrounded by free-flying birds and butterflies.Venture into our aquarium exhibit Venom to encounter live venomous animals and learn the power of venom to both harm and heal.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 to drink and dine under the stars.
Ages 21+
After Dark: Fermentation - 05/01/2025 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
We’re bubbling with excitement about fermentation and the amazing microbes that are capable of this process. You probably already know about alcoholic beverages, cheese, or kimchi, but you might be surprised to learn about the enormous variety of foods that are fermented. Discover the history and diversity of fermented foods from fermentation scientists, find out how to care for and feed your microbe friends, and try a sample of something tasty that they helped produce.
Friday, 05/02/2025
Morning Hike at Rancho Cañada del Oro - 05/02/2025 09:00 AM
Rancho Canada 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 to receive exact starting location
Geophysical and Planetary Physics Lecture - 05/02/2025 12:00 PM
Earth and Marine Sciences Building Santa Cruz
Speaker: Thom Chaffee, Stanford University
First Friday Nights at CuriOdyssey - 05/02/2025 05:00 PM
CuriOdyssey San Mateo
Come together as a family, visit early, and stay late!
Swing into the weekend with music, food trucks, animals, and fun! On the first Friday of every month, from 5 pm until 8 pm, parents and kids celebrate together at CuriOdyssey.
Enjoying animal presentations, science activities, and dance to some of your favorite hits.
First Friday: A GALAXY (NOT SO) FAR AWAY - 05/02/2025 06:00 PM
Chabot Space and Science Center Oakland
This First Friday, join our team of cosmic rebels to celebrate “May the Fourth” early in our galaxy not so far away! Craft your own glowing sword, get a glimpse of distant planets through our historic 8” refractor telescope known as “Leah,” and discover the mechanics of robotics alongside a familiar sassy android. Then, don’t forget to snap a pic in our Galaxy Photobooth, enjoy a themed cocktail, and discover the fact behind the fiction in your favorite intergalactic fantasy movies. Perfect for fans of all ages, this is one sci-fi inspired adventure you won’t want to miss.
Staying the Course on Climate: Navigating Uncertainty with Energy and Optimism - 05/02/2025 07:00 PM
Stanley Hall Berkeley
Speaker: Mary Nichols, UC Los Angeles Law School, former chair of California Air and Resources Board; Carla Peterman, PG&E
The Moon & Mars: Amazing Places for Humans to Soon Explore, Part 2: Mars! - 05/02/2025 08:00 PM
College of San Mateo Bldg 36 San Mateo
The Moon and Mars are humanity’s destinations in space this century. Why and how will we explore these worlds? When will we go? Where will we land, what will we see, and what will we do? And who will go?
Dr. Pascal Lee is a leading planetary scientist working on planning the future human exploration of the Moon and Mars. In Part 1 of this talk in March, we learned about humanity’s return to the Moon. In this Part 2 of his Moon and Mars talk, he will guide us through current and emerging new plans to journey on to Mars, the challenges we face, the wonderful opportunities ahead, and the amazing places humans will soon explore.
Speaker: Dr. Pascal Lee, Planetary Scientist, SETI Institute, Mars Institute, and NASA Ames Research Center
Saturday, 05/03/2025
Spring BioBlitz at the Palo Alto Baylands - 05/03/2025 09:00 AM
Environmental Volunteers EcoCenter Palo Alto
Join the Environmental Volunteers, in partnership with Nuestra Casa, for a Spring BioBlitz in the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve and Byxbee Park. Spring is a wonderful time for flowers, pollinators, as well as courting or nesting birds. Join us to learn about some of our native and non-native species, become a community scientist and help us collect scientific data. Please bring a digital camera or smartphone. Download the free iNaturalist smartphone app prior to the program and create a free account prior to the event. Instructions on the Bioblitz and how to join the 2023 project will be sent prior to event, and will also be available a printed guide for the day of. You can view our past BioBlitz findings for 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024. Help us document the biodiversity of this great preserve. We will have families check in at the EcoCenter and then embark to record as many plants and animals as possible. Volunteers will be on site to take small groups/families who would like to learn more about plants, insects, birds, or how to use iNaturalist. Download the app on your smartphone, and join the 2025 Project, in advance if at all possible. Participation is free, but advance registration is requested. Please use this Online Registration Form to sign up or register through EventBrite.
Stewardship Saturday: Investigating Tidepools for Ocean Health - 05/03/2025 09:00 AM
Shell Beach Bodega Bay
Join Latino Outdoors, Greater Farallones, and The Marine Mammal Center as we head to the shore to study tidepools and adventure along one of our local beaches. Through this event you will have the opportunity to explore tidepools with experts in the field, learn more about the value tidepools have for our marine mammals and community, and take some time to traverse other coastal areas to understand how all components of this ecosystem are interconnected. We hope by the end of this event you will have a deeper understanding of the value and importance of all components of our coastal ecosystem, and will have some goals for next steps to take on your conservation journey.
We can sign for Community Service hours if you need us to!
Free breakfast, lunch, and snacks will be provided
Accessibility notes:
Working and communicating in small groups with youth you may not know Walking on uneven ground (ex: stairs down to the beach, sand, rocks around the tidepool) Limited access to bathrooms on the beach (bathroom available at parking lot) Entire event outdoors - exposure to weather (sun, wind, etc.)
This event may be cancelled due to weather conditions. We will notify you the week of the event if this happens.
Register at weblink
Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour and Green Home Features Showcase - 05/03/2025 10:00 AM
Various
Bayside cities garden tours are open for touring on Saturday, May 3. Inland cities are open on May 4.
See weblink for locations and descriptions, as well as to register.
First Saturday: Free Tour at the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum - 05/03/2025 11:00 AM
UC Santa Cruz Arboretum Santa Cruz
Around the World in 60-90 Minutes!
On the first Saturday of each month, the Arboretum offers a docent or staff-led tour of the Arboretum.
Sometimes you will see New Zealand, South Africa, California, and Australia. Sometimes you might see combinations of several gardens or the developing World Conifer Collection or Rare Fruit Garden. Tour length varies depending on what's in bloom and what the participants request.
Meet your tour guide(s) at 11:00 am at the entrance to the visitor parking lot. (Tours are canceled when the weather isn't suitable.)
CuriOdyssey Weekend Workshop: Nature Art - 05/03/2025 01:00 PM
CuriOdyssey San Mateo
We will be going out and about using natural materials to create your own unique art pieces. Through unique projects and outdoor exploration, you’ll learn how to transform leaves, rocks, and other natural elements into beautiful works of art.
Ages 5 to 10 years old
City Public Star Party - 05/03/2025 08:00 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.
Jazz Under the Stars - 05/03/2025 08:30 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, join us 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.
*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 check this webpage. If we are to cancel it will be posted here at least a few hours before the start of the event.*
Sunday, 05/04/2025
Morning Hike at Wavecrest - 05/04/2025 09:00 AM
Wavecrest Open Space Preserve Half Moon Bay
Join Peninsula Open Space Trust for a very easy 2-mile walk at Wavecrest Open Space in Half Moon Bay! We’ll walk through groves of trees and fields where we’ll have a great chance to spot a variety of birds, especially raptors! We’ll also walk along the coastal bluffs where we may see whale spots and other sea life.
You’ll hear from POST representatives about how we have been working for years to protect a variety of properties that make up this beautiful open space. We will proceed at a very slow and easy pace so this hike is great for all ages and ability levels.
Register at weblink to receive exact starting location
Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour and Green Home Features Showcase - 05/04/2025 10:00 AM
Various
Bayside cities garden tours are open for touring on Saturday, May 3. Inland cities are open on May 4.
See weblink for locations and descriptions, as well as to register.
Solar Observing - 05/04/2025 02:00 PM
San Jose Astronomical Association San Jose
It’s there for us year round, lighting our days and providing energy for our lives, so maybe it’s time to give it a closer look. Join SJAA for amazing and detailed views of the Sun, and be assured that we’ll be using special telescopes that will keep your eyeballs perfectly safe.
We’ll have white-light telescopes with dense solar filters that reveal sunspots. Further, we’ll show you hydrogen-alpha telescopes that isolate a very specific color of red that reveals prominences (often thought of as solar flares) and intricate texture within the Sun’s chromosphere (its atmosphere).
We can also share with you a little about how the Sun works and how complex magnetic fields drive the number of sunspots and prominences that we’ll see on a given day.
Around 2:15, we'll have a short, informal introductory talk, and at other times, you can enjoy the views and ask questions about the Sun, telescopes, or astronomy in general.
Monday, 05/05/2025
SynBioBeta 2025: The Global Synthetic Biology Conference - 05/05/2025 07:00 AM
San Jose McEnery Convention Center San Jose
Reunite with 2,500+ Innovators and Recreate the Magic!
Save the date for SynBioBeta 2025: The Global Synthetic Biology Conference, taking place from May 5-8, 2025, in the heart of California's Silicon Valley, San Jose. This event promises to be a transformative experience with over 180 content-rich sessions, 20+ diverse networking opportunities, 200+ sponsors and exhibitors, and an anticipated gathering of 2,500+ attendees.
Explore the forefront of synthetic biology through our four overarching conference themes and delve into specific topics with our 18 designated tracks. SynBioBeta 2025 is not just a conference; it's a catalyst for expanding conversations and driving innovation in synthetic biology.
Using Single Cell RNA-seq to Identify Genes that Regulate Zebrafish Ovary Development and Function - 05/05/2025 12:00 PM
Sonoma State University - Biology Colloquium Rohnert Park
Speaker: Bruce Draper, UC Davis
What have we actually learned after a decade of observing gravitational waves? - 05/05/2025 12:10 PM
Campbell Hall, Rm 131 Berkeley
Observationsl gravitational-wave astronomy initiated in 2015 when the LIGO detectors heard sounds of spacetime from two colliding black holes. A decade later, over 100 gravitational-wave signals have been observed, originating from all of the combinatorics of merging black holes and neutron stars. Ten years ago, most astronomers expected that by this point in time gravitational-wave observations would have provided novel and robust insights into the evolution of massive stars in our universe. But today, many of the questions that were expected to be answered still loom in uncertainty. What have we really learned so far from gravitational-wave observations?
Speaker: Michael Zevin, Adler Planetarium, Chicago
Is Dark Energy Evolving? What We’re Learning from DES and DESI - 05/05/2025 03:30 PM
Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC) Colloquium Series Menlo Park
Over the last 25 years, the Lambda-Cold Dark Matter model (LCDM) - with 70% of the universe in the form of vacuum energy or equivalently Einstein’s cosmological constant, Lambda---has become the standard paradigm for cosmology. Until recently, it has proven consistent with an array of increasingly precise measurements of cosmic structure and expansion history. However, the latest results from large supernova surveys and baryon acoustic oscillation measurements suggest that evolving or dynamical dark energy models may provide a better fit to the data than LCDM. In this talk, I will discuss these results, focusing on the latest measurements from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), describe their interpretation in terms of physically motivated dark energy models, and show how near-future experiments such as the Vera Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST) should provide definitive judgment on the current hints for evolving dark energy.
Speaker: Joshua Frieman, SLAC
Attend in person or online (See weblink)
Reflections on nearly 40 years of SSU Physics & Astronomy - 05/05/2025 04:00 PM
Sonoma State University - What Physicists Do Rohnert Park
Speaker: Lynn Cominsky, Sonoma State University
This event was originally scheduled for April 28, 2025
Matrix Factorizations and their applications in Genomics - 05/05/2025 04:00 PM
James H. Clark Center (Bldg 340) Stanford
Speaker: Matthew Stephens, University of Chicago
Room: Auditorium
Stanford Energy Seminar - Four Speakers - 05/05/2025 04:30 PM
Stanford University Energy Seminar Stanford
Membrane-based lithium recovery: Composition and driving force effects in ion-selective separations
The rapid growth of the electric vehicle market is driving a substantial increase in lithium demand, and with it, efforts to selectively recover lithium from unconventional sources such as lithium-ion battery waste and oilfield brines. Ion-selective membranes are of particular interest in these lithium recovery applications due to the benefits of scalability, low energy consumption, and low chemical input. Unfortunately, current polymeric membranes are incapable of selective lithium recovery from these complex wastewaters. While investigations have been performed to relate membrane structural properties like water content and ion-coordinating ligand chemistries to ion-ion separation performance, few systematic studies investigate the effects of membrane composition beyond monomer chemical identity and the effects of driving force beyond diffusion. In this work, we synthesized a library of polymeric membranes with varying percentages of ion-coordinating ligand to investigate the influence of ligand content on separation performance. Given the recent interest in process electrification, we also compare trends in membrane performance under electrodialysis conditions to assess driving force effects on separation performance. We demonstrate that both ligand content and electric potential driving force can be used to enhance ion-specific membrane separations, exemplified with lithium/nickel separation in pyridine-functionalized membranes.
Speaker: Kristen Abels, Stanford University
Techno-economics of Enhanced Geothermal Systems across the Continental United States
Conventional geothermal systems are geographically limited because they require the natural co-occurrence of high temperatures, in-situ fluid for heat transport, and permeable or fractured rock for fluid flow. Recent technological advancements and field implementations have successfully demonstrated Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS), where heat transport and fluid flow are supplemented artificially by water injection and rock stimulation. EGS are applicable across diverse geographies, as naturally and sufficiently elevated subsurface temperatures are always present at certain depths. We conducted a comprehensive techno-economic analysis to evaluate EGS potential across the contiguous United States. Our approach involved developing a nationwide temperature-at-depth model for depths of 0-7 km with a spatial resolution of 18 km². We integrated accurate techno-economic data and models, including geothermal resource characteristics, capital and operational costs, weather patterns, and proximity to transmission lines, among other factors. The majority of EGS supply potential was found in the Western and Southwestern regions of the United States, with Texas, California, Oregon, and Nevada showing the greatest EGS capacity potential. We identified various EGS targets with a competitive levelized cost of electricity of less than $50/MWh.
Speaker: Mohammad Aljubran, Stanford University
Unveiling the stability of encapsulated Pt catalysts
Platinum exhibits desirable catalytic properties, but it is scarce and expensive. Optimizing its use in key applications like emission control catalysis is important to reduce our reliance on such a rare element. Supported Pt nanoparticles used in emission control systems deactivate over time because of particle growth in sintering processes. In this work, we shed light on the stability against sintering of Pt nanoparticles supported on and encapsulated in Al2O3 using a combination of nanocrystal catalysts and atomic layer deposition (ALD) techniques. We find that small amounts of alumina overlayers created by ALD on pre-formed Pt nanoparticles can stabilize supported Pt catalysts, significantly reducing deactivation caused by sintering, as previously observed by others. We correlate this behavior to the decreased propensity of oxidized Pt species to undergo Ostwald ripening phenomena because of the physical barrier imposed by the alumina overlayers. The enhanced stability significantly improves the Pt utilization efficiency after accelerated aging treatments, with encapsulated Pt catalysts reaching reaction rates more than two times greater than a control supported Pt catalyst.
Speaker: Gennaro Liccardo, Stanford University
Dual-function materials for integrated carbon capture and utilization
Carbon capture, utilization and sequestration consists of multiple challenging steps. From CO2 capture to compression and transportation, each step is energy and cost intensive. Dual function materials (DFMs) can reduce energy and cost demands by coupling CO2 adsorption and conversion processes into a single material with multiple functionalities, most commonly an adsorbent phase and a metal for CO2 conversion. For optimal DFMs, the interaction between the capturing and converting component is crucial and has relevance in engineering DFMs for better performance and stability. In this talk, I will share the results of our recent work on using colloidal catalysts to understand these adsorbent-catalytic phase interactions. By controlling these interactions at the molecular level, we demonstrate the critical role of each component, shedding light on the possible mechanism and paving the way to design DFMs with maximum CO2 capture and conversion efficiency.
Speaker: Shradha Sabru, Stanford University
Attend in person or watch online (see weblink)
Finding and Understanding Exoplanets - 05/05/2025 07:30 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
In the past 30 years the study of exoplanets, or planets orbiting stars other than the Sun, has grown from an obscure area of science to one that now has engages thousands of astronomers, planetary scientists, geologists, chemists, and biologists and holds top billing in national and international conferences. Exoplanet research now commands a significant fraction of time on US and international ground-based and space-based observatories and is driving the design plans for NASA’s and Europe’s next multi-billion dollar missions. In this talk, we will discuss the tremendous growth in exoplanet research as witnessed by Dr. Caldwell through his work on missions that discovered more than two-thirds of the currently known planets. We will learn about the techniques used to find exoplanets, what scientists are learning about them as we move from an era of discovery to one of understanding, and about future plans to search for life on these small worlds.
Speaker: Douglas Caldwell, SETI Institute
Tuesday, 05/06/2025
SynBioBeta 2025: The Global Synthetic Biology Conference - 05/06/2025 07:00 AM
San Jose McEnery Convention Center San Jose
UC Berkeley Chemistry Lecture - 05/06/2025 04:00 PM
Latimer Hall Berkeley
Wednesday, 05/07/2025
SynBioBeta 2025: The Global Synthetic Biology Conference - 05/07/2025 07:00 AM
San Jose McEnery Convention Center San Jose
Diverse Voices in Fisheries Science - 05/07/2025 10:30 AM
Ocean Health Building Santa Cruz
Understanding changing ocean ecosystems through the lens of marine predators - Livestream - 05/07/2025 11:00 AM
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Moving Away from Large Clusters: Grid-Aware AI Data Center Planning - Livestream - 05/07/2025 11:00 AM
Stanford University
Whole Earth Seminar - 05/07/2025 12:00 PM
Earth and Marine Sciences Building Santa Cruz
Lagrangian observations of the biological carbon pump - Livestream - 05/07/2025 03:00 PM
Bodega Marine Laboratory
Thursday, 05/08/2025
SynBioBeta 2025: The Global Synthetic Biology Conference - 05/08/2025 07:00 AM
San Jose McEnery Convention Center San Jose
Energy Sustainability Policies - 05/08/2025 01:30 PM
Environment and Energy Building (Y2E2) Stanford
SETI Live: How Rain Shaped the Martian Landscape - Livestream - 05/08/2025 02:30 PM
SETI Live
The Fundamental Universe, Looking for Zebras, and the World’s Largest Demolition Derby - 05/08/2025 05:00 PM
The Dutch Goose Menlo Park
Professor of Insects and Worms: Jean-Baptiste Lamarck and his Life-Made World - 05/08/2025 05:00 PM
Seymour Marine Discovery Center Santa Cruz
Our Wild Watershed: Herons and Egrets - 05/08/2025 05:30 PM
Laguna de Santa Rosa Foundation Heron Hall Santa Rosa
After Dark: Kinematic/Kinesthetic - 05/08/2025 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
NightLife x Carnaval SF - 05/08/2025 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
The Future of Food and the Buzz of Science (18+) - 05/08/2025 06:00 PM
Lawrence Hall of Science Berkeley
Flycatchers - Livestream - 05/08/2025 07:00 PM
Marin Audubon Society
How Intelligent Design Nearly Won - Livestream - 05/08/2025 07:30 PM
Bay Area Skeptics
Scratching the surface of North American truffle diversity - 05/08/2025 07:30 PM
Bay Area Mycological Society Berkeley
Friday, 05/09/2025
Geophysical and Planetary Physics Lecture - 05/09/2025 12:00 PM
Earth and Marine Sciences Building Santa Cruz
Saturday, 05/10/2025
Family Nature Adventures: Let’s Chat About Scat - Tracking Animals of the Redwood Forest! - 05/10/2025 10:00 AM
Chabot Space and Science Center Oakland
Robo Lab at CuriOdyssey - 05/10/2025 10:00 AM
CuriOdyssey San Mateo
Tinker, Code & Create! - 05/10/2025 10:00 AM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
NSF STEM Day - 05/10/2025 10:00 AM
Lawrence Hall of Science Berkeley
Family Nature Adventures: Mother’s Day Tea Party & Flower Workshop - 05/10/2025 10:30 AM
Chabot Space and Science Center Oakland
From the Laboratory to the Marketplace: The Development of a New Drug - Livestream - 05/10/2025 10:30 AM
American Chemical Society California Section
Kinematic/Kinesthetic - 05/10/2025 12:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
Birding New Zealand - Rescheduled - 05/10/2025 07:30 PM
Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History Pacific Grove
Sunday, 05/11/2025
World Migratory Bird Day: The Role of Community Science - 05/11/2025 11:30 AM
Don Edwards Refuge Environmental Education Center Alviso
Monday, 05/12/2025
Symbolic Systems Forum - 05/12/2025 12:30 PM
Stanford Symbolic Systems Forum Stanford
AI (R)evolutions in Observational Astronomy - 05/12/2025 03:30 PM
Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC) Colloquium Series Menlo Park
Chromatin-Mediated Regulation of Metabolic and Genomic Stability - 05/12/2025 04:00 PM
James H. Clark Center (Bldg 340) Stanford
Measuring the most important figure of merit in a lithium metal battery - 05/12/2025 04:30 PM
Stanford University Energy Seminar Stanford