Hello again Science fans!
Let’s start out with something fun, and not truly science-related. It may make you laugh, may make you mad, may make you shrug your shoulders and go “so what?” It is the lowly penny.
Would you be surprised to know that there are about 724 pennies for every person in the US, lying somewhere. A large percentage are sitting in jars, drawers, anywhere but circulation! I confess to having enough of them in a dresser drawer that the weight is causing the whole dresser to sag! I can’t remember the last time I carried pennies in my pocket on purpose.
A penny costs 3.07¢ to make. For that matter, a nickle costs more to make than it is worth too.
Everything you didn’t know you wanted to know about the penny, and other coins, is in this NY Times article from last Sunday’s Times magazine. It is a good read!
My father worked for the company that invented a process to clad layers of metals together to create coins where the metal in the sandwich didn’t show around the edges. The US Mint never used this process, and copper showed around the edge of our dimes and quarters. But Canada did. Canada has also been paid by about 80 other countries to mint their coinage. The US? Zero.
Space
You’ve probably heard about the drama surrounding Boeing’s Starliner capsule as it took two astronauts to the International Space Station on June 5th. Just after midnight on Saturday, the capsule returned to earth, but without the astronauts. What was supposed to be a roughly 1 week test mission will turn into an 8 month mission as the two astronauts won’t return until February…on a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule. What’s next for the Boeing Starliner?
The European Space Agency’s Mars Express spacecraft has been looking at Mars for more than 20 years. It just took a spectacular picture that includes Mars’ larger moon, Phobos and the largest volcano in the Solar System, Olympus Mons.
A long-suspected electric field around the Earth has been detected and measured, more than 60 years since it was hypothesized. A mission called Endurance finally measured the strength of the field. Perhaps we should say the weakness of the field, as it measured just over 1/2 of a volt. But it is real, and scientists have finally proved it.
Nature
The Natural History Museum of London holds a wildlife photography contest each year, and the 2024 results are in. The images will be part of an exhibition running from October 11 through June 29, 2025. Headed to London sometime soon? It might be worth a visit to the museum. Here’s a look at some of them.
We’ve all heard the saying that crossbred dogs are healthier than pure breeds. Umm, maybe not.
If you spend any time at all on social media, you have no doubt seen videos of dogs using soundboard buttons to “talk” with their human family members. A new study debunks the claims that the dogs were responding to subtle cues from their humans and didn’t really understand what the buttons were saying or how to express how they felt. A UC San Diego study concludes that dogs do understand words and use soundboard buttons appropriately.
Efforts have been underway to recreate some extinct, iconic species like woolly mammoths. Have they really thought this through? We may find out soon as we’re closer than you may think to seeing this attempted. Jurassic Park, anyone?
Artificial Intelligence
Why is it that whenever some new technology comes along, such as AI, some people are way ahead of the curve in coming up with novel ways to us these technolgies for devious purposes. Seems a North Carolina man used AI to create hundreds of thousands of fake songs by fake bands, put them on streaming services, and collected at least $10 million in royalties by creating bots that played the songs over and over, each time generating a small payment to him.
Environment
For the second year in a row, the Earth recorded its hottest summer ever.
We’re in the middle of peak hurricane season. Yet, despite dire predictions of a bad season, things in the Atlantic Ocean are relatively calm. Why is that? As you might expect, it is complicated, proving that no matter how detailed the computer models are, there are still forces at work that we don’t really understand fully.
Meanwhile, in the mid-west corn belt, corn is sweating, and may be accounting for why summers in the area are getting more humid. Who would have guessed this?
Universities are back in session, and with the return of students comes the return of more lectures. We have 75 listed in today’s SciSchmooze, and one (or more) of them is bound to interest you.
Have a great week in Science!
Bob Siederer
Upcoming Events:
Click to see the next two weeks of events in your browser.
Monday, 09/09/2024
Ketone Metabolism in Brain Aging - 09/09/2024 12:00 PM
Sonoma State University - Biology Colloquium Rohnert Park
Speaker: Mitsunori Nomura, Buck Institute
UC Berkeley Structural & Quantitative Biology Seminar - 09/09/2024 04:00 PM
Stanley Hall Berkeley
Speaker: Jim Hurley, UC Berkeley
Alien Oceans: NASA's Europa Clipper Mission - 09/09/2024 07:30 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
NASA is launching a spacecraft to Jupiter's ocean moon Europa in October 2024 to learn more about its potential habitability. Scientists describe Europa as an "ocean world" because decades of evidence from analysis of spacecraft observations strongly suggest that an ocean of liquid water is hidden beneath the moon's icy surface. The search for life beyond Earth is one of NASA's primary objectives. If humans are to truly understand our place in the Universe, we must learn whether our planet is the only place where life exists. Life needs a source of energy, the presence of certain chemical compounds, and temperatures that allow liquid water to exist. Jupiter's ocean moon Europa seems to be just such a place! Join us to learn more about Europa and why NASA wants to go there.
Speaker: Dr Kevin Hand, Jet Propulsion Labs
Tuesday, 09/10/2024
UC Berkeley Organic Chemistry Seminar - 09/10/2024 11:00 AM
Latimer Hall Berkeley
Speaker: Yang Yang, UC Santa Barbara
Book Talk: Killed by a Traffic Engineer - Livestream - 09/10/2024 12:30 PM
SF Planning + Urban Research Assoc. (SPUR)
In the US we are nearing four million road deaths since we began counting them in 1899. The numbers are getting worse in recent years, yet we continue to accept these deaths as part of doing business. There has been no examination of why we engineer roads that are literally killing us. Fixing the carnage on our roadways requires a change in mindset and a dramatic transformation of transportation. This goes for traffic engineers in particular because they are still the ones in charge of our streets. In Killed by a Traffic Engineer, civil engineering professor Wes Marshall shines a spotlight on how little science there is behind the way that our streets are engineered, which leaves safety as an afterthought. While traffic engineers are not trying to cause deliberate harm to anyone, he explains, they are guilty of creating a transportation system whose designs remain largely based on plausible, but unproven, conjecture. Thoroughly researched and compellingly written, Killed by a Traffic Engineer shows how traffic engineering "research" is outdated and unexamined (at its best) and often steered by an industry and culture considering only how to get from point A to B the fastest way possible, to the detriment of safety, quality of life, equality, and planetary health. Marshall examines our need for speed and how traffic engineers disconnected it from safety, the focus on capacity and how it influences design, blaming human error, relying on faulty data, how liability drives reporting, measuring road safety outcomes, and the education (and reeducation) of traffic engineers. Killed by a Traffic Engineer is ultimately hopeful about what is possible once we shift our thinking and demand streets engineered for the safety of people, both outside and inside of cars. It will make you look at your city and streets - and traffic engineers - in a new light and inspire you to take action.
Register at weblink to receive connection information
Characterizing and Mitigation Climate-Intensified Exposures Among Agricultural Workers - 09/10/2024 12:40 PM
Berkeley Way West Berkeley
Speaker: Carly Hyland, UC Berkeley
First, this Memorial lecture honors the memories of the victims of the tragic and criminal terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001, as well as pays tribute to the first responders, the firefighters, EMTs, and police officers, who so heroically sacrificed their lives to save others. Second, the lecture focuses on the engineering aspects of the tragic collapse of the World Trade Center. Dr. Astaneh, with a grant from the National Science Foundation flew to New York a week after the tragic 9/11 attacks, when the flights to New York resumed, and conducted the reconnaissance and investigation of the collapsed WTC towers. In May of 2002, he testified before the Committee on Science of the House of Representative as part of World Trade Center Public Hearings. Subsequently provided with unique access to all the plans and structural drawings of the WTC, he worked for the next six years with his team of volunteer engineers and Berkeley students, performing a detailed and extensive nonlinear finite element analysis of the impact of the planes on the towers.
His team’s investigation revealed that the World Trade Center towers were constructed using an unusual structural system called steel "Bearing Walls", where the weight of the building was given to relatively thin stiffened steel plate bearing walls on the outside and steel columns on the inside that were connected to the outside walls with steel truss joists instead of the usual vertical columns and horizontal beams connected to each other with sturdy connections. The investigation showed that from an engineering point of view, the main cause of the collapse was due to the use of this unusual steel "bearing wall" system, very vulnerable to impact and fire. The study also showed that had the structure been designed using a traditional beam and column configuration following the governing design codes instead of the unusual steel bearing wall system, the damage would have been limited to localized failure, and the towers most likely would not have collapsed.
Speaker: Albolhassan Astaneh-Asl, Professor Emeritus of Structural Engineering, UC Berkeley
Register at weblink
UC Berkeley Physical Chemistry Seminar - 09/10/2024 04:00 PM
Latimer Hall Berkeley
Speaker: Michael Zuerch, UC Berkeley
You’ve Just Been F$%^#D by Psyops: UFOs, Magic, Electronic Warfare, Mind Control, Artificial Intelligence and the Death of the Internet - 09/10/2024 05:00 PM
David Brower Center Berkeley
As AI-generated content, social media influence operations, microtargeted advertising and ubiquitous surveillance have become the norm on the internet and in the market in general, we have entered an era of PSYOP capitalism. This is an era of generated hallucinations and manipulations designed to transform each of us into a “targeted individual” through the manipulation of perception. This talk explores a history of secret military and intelligence programs that serve as antecedents to a phantasmagoric present.
Speaker: Travor Paglen, artist, filmmaker, investigator, technologist and theorist
Wonderfest: How Attention Affects Perception - 09/10/2024 07:00 PM
Hopmonk Tavern Novato
Every second, enormous amounts of sensory information assault us. How does the brain extract the most relevant bits from this information firehose? Attention is one important brain mechanism for selecting certain aspects of the environment for enhanced processing. A better understanding of attention's effect on perception improves a wide variety of human activities, including making policy for cell phone use while driving, improving performance of airport luggage screeners, and optimizing teaching methods in the classroom.
Speaker: Michael Silver, UC Berkeley
Wednesday, 09/11/2024
Conservation Genomics - Livestream - 09/11/2024 11:00 AM
Monterey Bay Research Institute
Conservation genomics has long operated within a colonial framework of resource extraction: biologists collect specimens from habitats and transport them elsewhere for analysis. Sample collection often occurs in resource-poor but biodiverse regions, with analysis restricted to resource-rich urban areas. This process not only removes samples but also opportunities for local involvement in downstream analyses. Recent upheavals include a global recognition of the colonial legacy in extractive science and the advent of affordable, accurate sequencing technologies. I will discuss how nanopore sequencing supports the Situ Laboratory Initiative, promoting decentralized, community-run One Health labs that generate research outputs locally, from DNA barcodes to reference genomes. This approach allows research to be conducted without samples leaving their country or region of origin, challenging the traditional model of extractive conservation genomics and fostering a more inclusive, equitable approach to biodiversity research.
Speaker: Mrinalini Erkenswick Watsa, Beckman Center for Conservation Research
Register at weblink to receive connection information
Individuals Prefer to Harm Their Own Group Rather Than Help an Opposing Group - 09/11/2024 12:00 PM
Berkeley Way West Berkeley
Previous research finds that group members often prioritize benefiting their in-group over harming out-groups (“in-group love” hypothesis) and typically focus on maximizing positive outcomes for their group. However, real-world decisions often involve choosing between net-negative options, where group members may avoid supporting opponents even at their own group’s expense. In six pre-registered studies, we found that individuals consistently prefer to harm their own group rather than support an opposing group, and this is driven by a desire to protect their group-based identity. This has implications for understanding decision-making in intergroup conflict and developing potential interventions for conflict resolution.
Speaker: Rachel Gershon, UC Berkeley
Parentage based tagging for the study of aquatic species - Livestream - 09/11/2024 03:00 PM
Bodega Marine Laboratory
Speaker: Alicia Abadía, Autonomous University of Baja California
Register at weblink to receive connection information
Coping with Political Stress: Staying Grounded, Engaged and Effective - 09/11/2024 06:00 PM
Manny's San Francisco
In today's dynamic political landscape, it's easy to feel overwhelmed, anxious, and disconnected. In a 2022 study done by the American Psychological Association, more than three-quarters of adults (76%) said that the future of our nation is a significant source of stress in their lives. The constant barrage of news, debates, and social media discussions can take a toll on our mental and emotional well-being. However, it's essential to find healthy ways to navigate this stress while staying informed and engaged in our communities.
We are excited to welcome Dr. Elissa Epel and Professor Rhonda Magee as hosts for this workshop. They will guide us through a space designed to provide participants with practical strategies and tools to manage political stress effectively, maintain mental and emotional balance, and stay actively involved in the issues that matter most.
Together we'll experience simple, accessible awareness practices, and explore how they can enhance our capacity to:
cultivate and maintain a regular mindfulness practice;
center and de-stress in the face of conflicting views;
communicate for connection across lines of real and perceived difference;
maximize our personal and collective resilience over the sustained stress of this political season, and beyond.
Peninsula Gem & Geology Society meeting - 09/11/2024 07:00 PM
Peninsula Gem & Geology Society Los Altos
Speaker: Dan Evanich gives a program on the mineralogy and history of Gold Hill, Tooele County, Utah
Thursday, 09/12/2024
Enhancing Cybersecurity and Resilience for Transnational Dissidents - Livestream - 09/12/2024 12:00 PM
Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity
Join the UC Berkeley Center for Long-Term Cybersecurity for an exciting webinar featuring Citizen Lab(opens in a new tab) researchers Noura Aljizawi, Gözde Böcü, and Nicola Lawford to present their report, "Enhancing Cybersecurity Resilience for Transnational Dissidents."
The report examines the cybersecurity challenges faced by grassroots transnational advocacy groups in the United States. that are targeted by authoritarian regimes. These organizations play a crucial role in supporting vulnerable populations like asylum seekers and refugees, but often lack the resources to protect themselves from cyberattacks. This webinar discussion will explore the specific threats these groups encounter, with a focus on exiled women dissidents who navigate issues of gender, politics, and digital repression.
Moderated by Ron Deibert, Director of Citizen Lab, the discussion will cover key findings on the cybersecurity threat landscape, safeguarding strategies, and areas for action and improvement to enhance the cybersecurity of transnational activists in the U.S.
Register at weblink
UC Berkeley Integrative Biology Seminar - 09/12/2024 12:30 PM
Valley Life Sciences Building Berkeley
Speaker: Rachel Carlson, UC Berkeley
From data to insight: expediting the discovery process in modern astronomy using data science techniques - 09/12/2024 03:30 PM
Physics North Berkeley
Speaker: Dalya Baron, Carnegie Observatories
Science on Tap: Nuclear Testing Impacts and Resilience - 09/12/2024 05:30 PM
Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History Pacific Grove
Nuclear testing has had long-lasting and serious impacts on our environmental and human communities, shifting, distorting, and creating new and often difficult landscapes, needs, and stories. During our next Science on Tap after a happy half-hour sponsored by our wonderful friends at Peter B’s Brewpub, we will talk with three distinguished scientists: Dr. Barbara Rose Johnston, Senior Fellow at UCSC's Center for Political Ecology, Jean Du Preez, Senior Scholar at the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at Middlebury, Dr. Ferenc Dalnoki-Veress, Scientist in Residence and professor at Middlebury's Center for Nonproliferation Studies, who will share their work with impacted communities, and the stories of those who don’t get heard as often as they should. There is a world of knowledge on this topic that often isn’t shared, and deep beauty in the human and wild stories of resilience and community support. This is not one to miss, and we hope we’ll see you at this impactful and important discussion.
Register at weblink
After Dark: See For Yourself - 09/12/2024 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
Summer might be almost over, but the fun is always going strong at After Dark. Come play with 700+ interactive exhibits that explore the wonderful scientific phenomena all around us, and dive deeper with some of our most iconic exhibits. Feel your way through the Tactile Dome guided by your non-visual senses. Take in over 16 million distinct colors at our world-famous Buckyball, and hear secrets transmitted across the room at the listening vessels.
Ages 18 +
Vagrancy in Birds - Livestream - 09/12/2024 07:00 PM
Marin Audubon Socitey
Do you chase rare birds that accidentally occur in our area outside of their normal migration range? If so, you enjoy finding vagrant birds, a phenomenon many Marin County birders pursue at the Outer Point within Point Reyes National Seashore and other California coastal areas. This presentation will highlight the reasons for vagrancy in birds, noting how birds navigate during migration and reasons for their orientation errors that result in their unexpected presence primarily from mid-August through October in west Marin County. In addition, the discovery of vagrancy at the Outer Point by Rich Stallcup and David DeSante will be discussed, along with the role vagrancy may play in colonization and eventual speciation of birds.
Speaker: Daniel Edelstein, Consulting Biologist
Register at website to receive link to the event.
Bots vs Ballots: AI and the 2024 Election - 09/12/2024 07:30 PM
KQED, The Commons San Francisco
How worried should we be about AI and the election? As advances in generative artificial intelligence stand to disrupt elections, we ask what the latest developments mean in 2024 and for the future of democracy. AI has been used to doctor photos, create deep fakes, manipulate candidates' voices and seed false information about voting among targeted groups - and will only ramp up as Election Day approaches. How are AI companies, elections officials, and the media preparing? And is it all just risk or can AI also be used to improve democracy?
In conversation with guests across technology, media and the law, Rachael Myrow ('95), senior editor of KQED's Silicon Valley News Desk and Rachel Leingang, a democracy reporter focused on misinformation for Guardian US will explore what's happening right now and what ramifications it will have on campaigns, journalists, voters, national security and democracy.
Attend in person or online. Register for either at the weblink.
Skepticism or Denial? The Erosion of Trust in Scientific Expertise - Livestream - 09/12/2024 07:30 PM
Bay Area Skeptics
How do individuals decide whether to get vaccinated, consume genetically modified foods, or vote to support climate change mitigation efforts in their neighborhood? Democracies depend on educated citizens who can make informed decisions about scientific issues. In, “Science Denial: Why It Happens and What to Do About It”, Sinatra and co-author Barbara Hofer examine the psychological factors contributing to science denial, doubt, and resistance. The themes from the book including the role of psychological constructs such as misconceptions, cognitive biases, emotions, identity, epistemic cognition, and motivated reasoning in (mis)understanding science. This presentation will focus on how skepticism, a cornerstone scientific value, can lead some to mistrust, doubt, and denial of consensus science and what this means for the health and well being of the people and the planet.
Speaker: Gale Sinatra, University of Southern California
See weblink for connection information
Friday, 09/13/2024
Next level two-dimensional quantum materials - 09/13/2024 04:00 PM
Latimer Hall Berkeley
Two-dimensional (2D) materials have received widespread attention over the past 20 years due to their remarkable physical, mechanical and chemical properties, and our ability to integrate them into devices. In this seminar, I will detail our recent work in the development of the next generation of 2D materials. I will begin by introducing the synthesis and electronic properties of CeSiI, the first van der Waals (vdW) metal with a heavy fermion ground state. Conceptually, our synthetic design takes a traditional 3D intermetallic structure and slices it into atomically-thin vdW sheets by incorporating iodine into the structure. The resulting material is cleavable and effectively electronically 2D. I will then discuss a new approach for realizing long-sought electronic structures of geometrically frustrated lattice models (e.g. kagome and pyrochlore), by "decorating" un-frustrated, primitive lattices with a particular set of atomic orbitals. In the process, we identify the vdW intermetallic compound Pd5AlI2 as the first material to realize the electronic structure of the 2D Lieb lattice - featuring Dirac-like bands intersected by a flat band - persisting in ambient conditions down to the monolayer limit. I will discuss how this unique electronic structure gives rise to compact localized states and bound states in continuum (BICs), which could provide a platform for lossless and topologically protected electronic processes.
Speaker: Xavier Roy, Columbia University
Saturday, 09/14/2024
Kits Cubed STEM Fair 2024 - 09/14/2024 10:00 AM
Oakland Technical High School Oakland
Kits Cubed is back and excited for our fourth annual STEM Fair presented by California Life Sciences. The fair will feature a wide range of STEM booths to introduce Oakland youth to the wonders of science.
Come enjoy energy filled games, hands-on science activities, and live music. This event will kick off the school year with STEM fun as we prepare for future programming and events for Bay Area scientists.
We are partnering with California Life Sciences, the Golden State Warriors, Chabot Space and Science Center, the Lawrence Hall of Science, the Crucible, Hidden Genius Project, StreetCode Academy and many more to ensure an amazing STEM-filled day!
Additionally, we will be giving away 1000 kits to elementary school students! Come find our giveaway station at the STEM Fair for your child's kit, and be sure to sign up for our raffle to receive awesome prizes!
Come and stay as long as you'd like! Please register here!
We hope to see you there!
Lucy and the Taung Child: A Century of Science - Livestream - 09/14/2024 10:00 AM
The Leakey Foundation
A century ago, a small skull discovered at a South African quarry challenged what we thought we knew about human origins. Fifty years later, the discovery of Lucy in Ethiopia further transformed our understanding of how we became human.
Join experts from Ethiopia, South Africa, and North America for a free online event that examines a hundred years of challenges and progress in paleoanthropology.
The speakers will explore the historical context and lasting significance of the Lucy and Taung Child discoveries. They will discuss what these fossils meant at the time and how they impacted the African scientific community. Looking to the future, they will address the vital need for funding African scholars and strengthening African scientific collaboration.
Register at weblink
Designing Tomorrow - Livestream - 09/14/2024 10:30 AM
California Section American Chemical Society
The half-century history of environmental protection is, at best, mixed and the approaches of the past will need to be significantly changed if we are going to realize a sustainable future. While there have been improvements since the 1960's in the most obvious and egregious problems such as air and water pollution in certain parts of the world, these advances have been uneven. The approaches to environmental protection of the past have been marked by characteristics including:
A win-lose framework;
Reductionist, fragmented, analytic-only thinking;
Risk assessment;
Narrow metrics of success; and
Near-term vision.
The elements of a future approach that would allow for a pathway to sustainability include:
Alignment rather than conflict between environment/human health and economic goals;
Integrated systems thinking coupled with reductionist analysis;
Sustainable design as a goal rather than risk management;
Design for a dynamic world;
A focus on what to invent, create and innovate rather than simply what to reduce, limit, and minimize; and
Addressing inherent nature rather than circumstantial factors.
Speaker: Julie Beth Zimmerman, Yale University
Register at weblink
Family Nature Adventure: The Amazing World of Butterflies, Insects, and Helpful Pollinators - 09/14/2024 10:30 AM
Chabot Space and Science Center Oakland
Through fun, engaging activities, experiments, and crafts, children will discover the diverse and extraordinary characteristics of native pollinators. Learn about the butterflies, bees, birds, and others that pollinate our favorite flowers, then embark on a short exploration walk to spot some in the local redwood forest. Our knowledgeable and enthusiastic instructors will guide you through a memorable hands-on exploration, encouraging their curiosity and nurturing a deeper appreciation for the natural world.
What to Expect:
Fun Interactive Workshops: Dive deep with hands-on activities and scientific tools! Yummy Snacks: Enjoy a tasty treat to keep your energy up! Nature Walk: Discover the forest's secrets on a guided stroll!
Admission to Chabot is not included
Foothills Family Nature Walk - 09/14/2024 11:00 AM
Foothills Nature Preserve Los Altos
Join us at Foothills Nature Preserve for a family-friendly nature walk, guided by EV docents. See weblink to register via EventBrite. Space is limited.
City Public Star Party - Observe the Moon Night - 09/14/2024 07:30 PM
City Star Parties - Tunnel Tops Park San Francisco
Join us for a special edition of the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers city star party where together with thousands of people around the globe will all observe the moon for International Observe the Moon Night. For more information on ways to participate and to learn more about our nearest celestial body be sure to visit the NASA website.
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.
Observe The Moon Night at Foothill - 09/14/2024 07:30 PM
Foothill College Los Altos Hills
In partnership with the Peninsula Astronomical Society, the Foothill College Astronomy Department is hosting an event as part of NASA's Observe the Moon night.
We will have a variety of telescopes next to the Foothill College Observatory, to enjoy views of Earth's moon and other fun objects on the sky (like Saturn!).
Observatory in parking lot 4 (next to the Krause Center for Innovation). Parking is free!
Sunday, 09/15/2024
Solar Observing - 09/15/2024 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.
We're also planning station for your get a better feel for a huge scale of our solar system! And you'll get a solar system you can fold up and carry in your pocket.
You may bring your own telescope. If you have a properly filtered white light or H-alpha telescope and want to share views with others, please arrive at 1:30 or earlier, so you have time to set up before the event officially starts.
Monday, 09/16/2024
Regenerating Nature: Reweaving the Web of Life One Species at a Time - The Extinct Xerces Blue Skies Project - 09/16/2024 12:00 PM
Sonoma State University - Biology Colloquium Rohnert Park
Speaker: Durell Kapan, California Academy of Sciences
Butterfly Walk in the Garden - SOLD OUT - 09/16/2024 01:30 PM
UC Botanical Garden Berkeley
Theory of Coulomb driven nematicity in a multi-valley two-dimensional electron gas - 09/16/2024 02:30 PM
Physics North Berkeley
The properties of a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) in a semiconductor host with two valleys related by an underlying C4 rotational symmetry are studied using Hartree-Fock (HF) and various other many-body approaches. A familiar artifact of the HF approach is a degeneracy between the valley polarized - “Ising nematic” - and spin polarized - ferromagnetic - phases, which is inconsistent with recent variational Monte Carlo (VMC) results. Correlation effects, computed either within the random phase approximation (RPA) or the T-matrix approximation, enhance the valley susceptibility relative to the spin susceptibility. Extrapolating the results to finite interaction strength, we find a direct first-order transition from a symmetry-unbroken state to a spin unpolarized Ising nematic fluid with full valley polarization, in qualitative agreement with VMC. The RPA results are also reminiscent of experiments on the corresponding 2DEG in AlAs heterostructures.
Speaker: Erez Berg, Weizmann Institute of Science
UC Berkeley Structural & Quantitative Biology Seminar - 09/16/2024 04:00 PM
Stanley Hall Berkeley
Speaker: Richard McKenney, UC Davis
Understanding Excitons in Heterogeneous Metal-Halide Semiconductors with First Principles Computational Modeling - 09/16/2024 04:30 PM
Physics North Berkeley
Semiconductors power almost every aspect of modern life, from our mobile phones and computers, to how we light our homes, how we store and transform energy, or how we can access renewable energy. Understanding the complex quantum mechanical processes that make some semiconductors more useful than others in the context of our societal demand, is a challenging fundamental science task. My research focuses on developing this understanding from a theoretical and computational perspective, using first principles methods. In this talk, I will focus primarily on the excited state properties of semiconductors, and specifically on excitons, quasiparticles generated through photoexcitation. I will also speak primarily about a particular novel family of semiconductors, the organic-inorganic metal-halide perovskites. I will start by introducing some basic concepts of Semiconductor Physics, including some simple textbook models for excitons, which are widely used in current literature. I will then show how state-of-the-art first principles methods can be used to go beyond empirical modeling of excitons. Finally, I will give some examples from recent studies of different metal-halide perovskites performed in my group, together with our collaborators. I will show how exploring the vast chemical landscape of the halide perovskite materials family unlocks new insights into how chemical composition can impact the photophysics of excitons, and possibly lead to new material functionalities.
Speaker: Marina Filip, Oxford University, UK
Jane Goodall: Celebrating 90 - 09/16/2024 06:00 PM
Sydney Goldstein Theater San Francisco
Environmental icon Jane Goodall returns to Climate One in person to reflect back on her life’s work and offer a look forward to how we can heal our relationship with nature by better understanding ourselves. The indefatigable Goodall is now focused on three intertwined crises: biodiversity loss, climate change and environmental inequity.
Dr. Goodall will be in conversation with Climate One Founder Greg Dalton and Rhett Butler, founder of Mongabay, a nonprofit media organization that delivers news and inspiration from nature's frontline via a network of more than 900 journalists in about 80 countries. Mongabay covers forests, wildlife, oceans, and other conservation topics in six languages and is celebrating its 25th birthday this year.
Attend in person or online
Tuesday, 09/17/2024
Exploring and Manipulating Materials with Ultrafast Linear and Nonlinear Scattering and Spectroscopy Techniques - 09/17/2024 04:00 AM
Latimer Hall Berkeley
World Transitioning to Hydrogen Economy: How prepared are we in the USA? - Livestream - 09/17/2024 12:00 PM
Stanford Alumni Groups
Human Spaceflight: An Evolving Process - Livestream - 09/17/2024 06:00 PM
American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics
Pitching the Future in AI - 09/17/2024 06:00 PM
swissnex San Francisco San Francisco
Fei-Fei Li's AI Journey - 09/17/2024 07:00 PM
Computer History Museum Mountain View
Habitats, Life Cycles and Ecology of Mushrooms - 09/17/2024 07:30 PM
Mycological Society of San Francisco San Francisco
Wednesday, 09/18/2024
Muscle Stem Cells Get a New Look: Dynamic Cellular Projections As Sensors of the Stem Cell Niche - 09/18/2024 12:00 PM
Stanley Hall Berkeley
Archaeology in Space: The Sampling Quadrangle Assemblages Research Experiment (SQuARE) on the International Space Station - 09/18/2024 12:00 PM
Archaeology Research Facility Berkeley
Geography and Inequity: Key Structural Determinants of Health in the US - 09/18/2024 01:15 PM
James H. Clark Center (Bldg 340) Stanford
Research in support of conservation - managing invasions in South African MPAs - 09/18/2024 03:00 PM
Bodega Marine Laboratory
The Language of Climate Politics - 09/18/2024 05:30 PM
Commonwealth Club San Francisco
No Justice Without Climate Justice - 09/18/2024 06:00 PM
Commonwealth Club San Francisco
Design of Holographic Display Systems based on Artificial Intelligence - Livestream - 09/18/2024 07:00 PM
SF Bay Association of Computing Machinery
Work Life at the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory - Livestream - 09/18/2024 07:00 PM
Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society
Nerd Nite #146: Psychedelic Science, Geysers, and the New Science of Learning - 09/18/2024 07:00 PM
Rickshaw Stop San Francisco
September LASER Event - 09/18/2024 07:00 PM
LASER Leonardo Art Science Evening Rendezvous Stanford
Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT): Protecting and Stewarding Marin's Working Lands - 09/18/2024 07:30 PM
Marin Science Seminar San Rafael
Thursday, 09/19/2024
Lunch Break Science - Livestream - 09/19/2024 11:00 AM
The Leakey Foundation
UC Berkeley Integrative Biology Seminar - 09/19/2024 12:30 PM
Valley Life Sciences Building Berkeley
Exoplanets Dead or Alive - 09/19/2024 03:30 PM
Physics North Berkeley
The Coming 6th Generation of Mobile Wireless - 09/19/2024 04:00 PM
Sonoma State Dept. of Engineering Science Rohnert Park
Microgrid-Based Smart Grids: Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things for Improved Resilience/Self-Healing - RESCHEDULED - 09/19/2024 04:00 PM
Sonoma State Dept. of Engineering Science Rohnert Park
Birdy Hour: Drawing Wilson's Phalaropes - Understanding Feather Groups - Livestream - 09/19/2024 05:00 PM
San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory
After Dark: Listen - 09/19/2024 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
NightLife: Falastin - 09/19/2024 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
The Backyard Bird Chronicles - Livestream - 09/19/2024 07:00 PM
Golden Gate Bird Alliance
Friday, 09/20/2024
Transforming Transportation: Bringing Science to Policy - 09/20/2024 03:00 PM
Sutardja Dai Hall Berkeley
InSight Mars Lander - Instrument Deployment System - 09/20/2024 03:00 PM
Etcheverry Hall Berkeley
UC Berkeley Inorganic Chemistry Seminar - 09/20/2024 04:00 PM
Latimer Hall Berkeley
Saturday, 09/21/2024
40th Annual Coastal Clean-up Day 2024 - 09/21/2024 09:00 AM
Varies
Critter Search at Sanborn Park - 09/21/2024 10:30 AM
Sanborn Science and Nature Center Saratoga
Sunday, 09/22/2024
Family Hikes Youth 3 - 12 (first session) - 09/22/2024 10:00 AM
Chabot Space and Science Center Oakland
FAMILY PROGRAM: Beautiful Succulents - 09/22/2024 10:00 AM
UC Botanical Garden Berkeley
Family Hikes Youth 3 - 12 (second session) - 09/22/2024 03:00 PM
Chabot Space and Science Center Oakland
Monday, 09/23/2024
The Effects of Anthropogenic Global Changes on Plant-Pollinator Mutualisms in California Grasslands - 09/23/2024 12:00 PM
Sonoma State University - Biology Colloquium Rohnert Park
UC Berkeley Structural & Quantitative Biology Seminar - 09/23/2024 04:00 PM
Stanley Hall Berkeley
UC Berkeley Physics Colloquia - 09/23/2024 04:30 PM
Physics North Berkeley