Hello again science fans! 科学迷们，大家好！(7 out of 100 Bay Area residents speak Chinese at home.)
ENVIRONMENT
The photo of a Bali beach covered in plastic waste (photo above) is in stark contrast to my mind’s eye image of the renowned Indonesian vacation paradise. If you watch TV with advertisements, you’ve probably seen colorless squashed plastic containers arise into pristine pastel plastic receptacles in an ad from America’s Plastic Makers. It is disingenuous hype from the fossil fuel industry - which is the source of plastic manufacturing. Yes, they are exploring technologies to improve the recycling of plastics, but according to the United Nations Development Programme, less than 10% of plastics are actually recycled. The ad is mainly to help us continue to feel good about using plastic containers. Scientists and activists say the world needs to decrease plastic production to have any hope of managing the waste effectively.
Once upon a time, milk and other drinks came in glass bottles. When empty, people returned them to the grocery store to claim a few cents ‘deposit.’ The bottles then went back to the bottling company to be cleaned and refilled. Cracked or chipped bottles were crushed, fed into furnaces, and molded into new bottles. Then along came plastic. No longer did stores need to deal with ‘heavy dirty old’ bottles and taking time to pay deposits to customers. Also, It was cheaper to use plastic containers than to sort, inspect and sterilize glass bottles at bottling plants. The plastics industry aired advertisements to help wean people off of glass bottles. NPR recently aired a brief discussion of the industry’s efforts to encourage people to use plastics.
Very concerning are the recent findings that today there may be microplastics in all living things. The presence of microplastics in testicles could possibly account for the 50% drop in sperm counts in men and dogs since 1971. Phthalates in microplastics might be the most damaging.
D-DAY, 6 JUNE 1944
This Thursday it will be 80 years since over 350,000 ‘Allied’ soldiers and sailors participated in Operation Overlord to wrest control of Europe from ‘Axis’ nations. World War II raged on for another 15 months before the last Axis nation surrendered in September of 1945. Estimated fatalities of the war: 24 million military personnel and 50 million civilians.
SPACE
Scrubbed again. Last Saturday’s planned launch of the manned (‘peopled’ ?) Boeing Starliner capsule was halted at 3 minutes 50 seconds due to a glitchy computer in the “ground based sequencer.” So this time, Boeing is off the hook for the expensive (and nerve wracking for Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams) glitch.
Putting people into low Earth orbit - LEO - in the International Space Station - ISS - or in the Tiangong Space Station - TSS - is truly bad for their health. Besides losing bone mass, muscle mass, and visual acuity, astronauts, cosmonauts, and taikonauts become anemic - even dangerously so. NASA is continuing to explore ways to create artificial gravity in future space stations and this last week i stumbled onto this 19-year-old overly complicated idea.
“Hubble Tension” “Dark Matter” “Dark Energy” “Cosmological Constant” “WIMPS” “Axions” “Antimatter” “Cosmic Microwave Background” There’s a new PBS NOVA program, “COSMOS Decoding the Universe” that fairly accurately weaves all of the above into an entertaining story. Get your nerd on with a bowl of (unsalted) nuts and enjoy!
RAFFLE
We are offering a perpetual motion desk toy that defies physics! (Until you unplug it.) 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, Bill was the winner of a 450ml caffeine beaker with his guess of 373.
MEDICAL SCIENCE
It’s been a sci-fi trope that human eyes will be enhanced with electronics, if not replaced altogether. That is now becoming reality, in part due to a local research firm in Alameda. It’s pretty cool. Their focus (?) is on people who have lost their light sensitive rods and cones in the retina due to disease. The researchers treat the retinal ganglion nerve cells so that they respond to light. Then an array of tiny LED lights is attached over the retina. An external camera communicates visual information to the LED array which lights up in a pattern corresponding to the camera’s image. The lights trigger retinal ganglion cells which then send impulses to the visual cortex. Compared to normal vision, the result is extremely crude, but far better than being blind.
MY PICKS of the WEEK (Hint: save dates & times to your mobile phone)
When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency 5pm Monday, S.F.
Heat Pumps (Public Health & Environmental Perspectives) Livestream 10am Thursday
After Dark: What Grows Back 6 - 10pm Thursday, ExplOratorium, S.F., $
In Town Star Party 9:30 - 11:30pm Friday, San José
Family Nature Adventure: Birds 10:30am Saturday, Chabot Space & Science Center, $
BIOLOGY
If you are an anglerfish living deep in the ocean where light doesn’t penetrate, you have a problem: ¿How do you find and hold on to a mate? Pheromones likely assist in eventually finding a mate. The male then holds onto the female, literally. In some cases, the male burrows into the female’s side and morphs to become little more than an organ producing sperm.
Over a billion years ago, eukaryotic cells - cells with a distinct nucleus - evolved from nucleus-lacking prokaryotes. Since then eukaryotes have given rise to complex multicellular organisms six times. Those events gave rise to separate lineages: animals, land plants, brown algae, red algae, green algae, and fungi. Prokaryotes, however, have not given rise to complex multicellular organisms. ¿Why? Good question. Biologists are thinking about that.
Eukaryotes have never managed to ‘fix’ nitrogen. That is, remove nitrogen molecules - N2 - and turn them into something biologically useful like NH3. Legumes (e.g. bean plants) fix nitrogen by harboring colonies of prokaryotes, bacteria. Well dang! There’s now an exception. The algae, Braarudosphaera bigelowii, has an organelle that fixes nitrogen. It is believed that organelle is an example of endosymbiosis - where a eukaryotic cell engulfs a prokaryotic bacterium and then uses that bacterium’s physiology to some advantage. As far as we know, all prokaryotes (except a flagellate that lives in the gut of chinchillas!) have endosymbiotic mitochondria. Green plants have endosymbiotic chloroplasts.
FUN (?) NERDY VIDEOS
Edison’s Lightbulb - Show & Tell - Joe Schwarcz - 3.5 mins
Flight Around a Black Hole - NASA - 4 mins
The Hypersonic Arms Race - Sabine Hossenfelder - 6 mins
¿Can spacecraft avoid the hazards of reëntry? - Scott Manley - 12 mins
How the Higgs Field Imparts Mass - Arvin Ash - 13 mins
The Cosmological “Horizon Problem” - Dr. Becky - Becky Smethurst - 13 mins
Why bats live so long - Dr Ben Miles - 15 mins
Why We Are Anti Small EVs - Transport Evolved - Nikki Gordon-Bloomfield - 18 mins
¿What if Gravity is NOT Quantum? - PBS Spacetime - Matt O’Dowd - 18 mins
What Jumping Spiders Teach Us About Color - Veritaseum - Derek Muller - 32 mins
Well, that about wraps up this week’s SciSchmooze. Don’t forget to enter the raffle. Also, keep exercising your empathy muscles.
Dave Almandsmith, Bay Area Skeptics
We do not say that a man who takes no interest in public affairs is a man who minds his own business. We say he has no business being here at all.
Pericles (c. 495 - 429 BCE) Athenian Statesman and General
Upcoming Events:
Click to see the next two weeks of events in your browser.
Monday, 06/03/2024
Electrochemical Wastewater Refining for Circular Chemical Manufacturing - 06/03/2024 12:30 PM
Green Earth Sciences Building Stanford
Energy and water are two critical interdependent systems that impact environmental quality and require urgent innovation. Mining critical materials for energy storage requires large freshwater inputs and introduces pollutants to aqueous environments. Treating wastewater and producing potable require substantial energy inputs. Electrochemical wastewater refining, or the generation of tunable product portfolios from waste streams, can address both of these needs. This approach employs electrocatalysis and electrochemical separations to electrify water treatment, enable on-site wastewater treatment, and capture as much value as possible from waste streams before they are discharged to the environment. This seminar will focus on two case studies: (1) enabling battery recycling via novel lithium-selective electrochemical materials and (2) facilitating on-site ammonia production from wastewater with unprecedented low energy consumption. These examples of electrochemical wastewater refining illustrate the promise of valorizing waste streams to achieve circularity, reduce energy inputs, and sustain both chemical manufacturing and environmental protection.
Speaker: William Tarpeh, Stanford University
Economic and Environmental Considerations of Renewable Energy Resources - 06/03/2024 12:30 PM
Shriram Center Stanford
This presentation will first discuss a model, named the Stochastic Wave Energy and Tidal Energy Revenues (SWEATER) model, that simulates the energy revenues for tidal and wave energy resources probabilistically. The findings of SWEATER suggest that tidal energy resources, under certain conditions, could be economically feasible if payments are received for reductions in air pollution. The latter portion of this presentation will expand on the idea of air pollution reductions in the context of the Marginal Carbon Reductions (MaCRe) tool. MaCRe estimates the reduction in carbon emissions as a consequence of the installation of commercial rooftop solar PV systems. The methodology employed by MaCRe allows for a full accounting of emission reduction potential by considering the operational and structural dynamics of the decarbonizing electricity grid.
Speaker: Carlos Ciudad-Real, air quality consultant
Desalination for a Circular Water Economy - 06/03/2024 03:30 PM
Stanford Linear Accelerator (SLAC) Colloquium Series Menlo Park
Today's water systems are enabled by ample fresh water sources, low-cost centralized treatment, and facile wastewater disposal. This linear paradigm delivers low-cost water, but it is increasingly vulnerable to climate change, aging infrastructure, source water contamination, and high energy prices. The National Alliance for Water Innovation, a DOE funded Energy-Water Desalination Hub, was founded with the mission of securing the US water supply for municipal, industrial, and agricultural water users through distributed desalination and fit-for-purpose reuse of nontraditional water sources. This colloquium will highlight recent advances in fundamental science and technology innovation that will help evolve our linear water economy toward a resilient and connected circular water economy.
Speaker: Meagan Mauter, Woods Institute for the Environment
Attend in person or online
How to scale and finance industrial 'hard' technologies: a view from venture capital - 06/03/2024 04:30 PM
Stanford University Energy Seminar Stanford
"Crossing the Chasm" for a new technology into commercialization is difficult, notoriously difficult. This talk will focus on the perspective of one VC firm and the lessons we've learned in supporting and financing early-stage companies in the industrial technology and energy space.
Speaker: Josh Stiling, Anzu
When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car Dependency - 06/03/2024 05:00 PM
SF Planning + Urban Research Assoc. (SPUR) San Francisco
One third of people living in the United States do not have a driver license. The majority of involuntary nondrivers are disabled, lower income, unhoused, formerly incarcerated, undocumented immigrants, kids, young people, and the elderly. They are also largely invisible due to a mobility system designed almost exclusively for drivers. When Driving is Not an Option shines a light on the reality for non-drivers and explains how improving our transportation system with nondrivers in mind will create a better quality of life for everyone. This book is written by a low-vision mom, disability advocate, and fellow non-driver Anna Letitia Zivarts.
During this event, Zivarts will explain that when the needs of involuntary nondrivers are viewed as essential to how we design our transportation systems and our communities, not only will we be able to more easily get where we need to go, but the changes will lead to healthier, climate-friendly communities for everyone.
Moderator: Laura Tolkoff / Transportation Policy Director, SPURAnna Zivarts / Author, When Driving Is Not an Option: Steering Away from Car DependencyJeff Wood / Principal, The Overhead Wire
Clouds and Chemistry of Small Nearby Worlds - 06/03/2024 07:30 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
Astronomers are looking for exoplanets - planets beyond our Solar System - with a goal to one day find Earth 2.0. JWST has provided us with unprecedented amounts of information on the atmospheres of exoplanets and their analogs - brown dwarfs. Brown Dwarfs are unique objects, too massive to be a planet but just too small to be a star, and astronomers can characterize their atmospheres in incredible detail. They range widely in temperature, from as cold as a warm day at the south pole to twice as hot as molten lava! With such a diversity in temperature, these objects have atmospheres very different from our own. In this talk, Dr. Gonzales will discuss how we can learn about the atmospheres for a variety of brown dwarfs and what exciting things we have discovered about them.
Speaker: Eileen Gonzales, San Francisco State University
Tuesday, 06/04/2024
Under pressure: Gaining insight into magmatic plumbing systems using Raman Spectroscopy and Open-Source codes - 06/04/2024 03:30 PM
Earth and Marine Sciences Building Santa Cruz
Speaker: Penny Wieser, UC Santa Cruz
Expert AI personas: democratizing knowledge access and personalization - 06/04/2024 06:45 PM
Perkins Coie LLP Palo Alto
In the rapidly evolving field of Artificial Intelligence, the creation of AI personas has emerged as a transformative approach to personalization. This talk will delve into the innovative work done at Soopra.ai, where we enable individuals, specifically authors,educators, professors and thought leaders, to create an AI version of themselves (aka Soopra) which they own, control and can monetize. Leveraging our proprietary Soopra Personality Framework, we model knowledge and intelligence, speech and image, and psychology to enable you to create your Soopra. These personas not only enhance the digital experience by providing a 1:1 conversational format but also empower experts to scale their impact. We will discuss our journey, the challenges/problems solved, and the future potential of AI. Join us to explore how AI personas are democratizing access to experts and their knowledge.
Speaker: Praveena Dhanalakota, Soopra.ai
Attend in person or online:
Online on Zoom
Register at weblink
Wednesday, 06/05/2024
Coastal Respiration Quotient and its Limitations - Livestream - 06/05/2024 03:00 PM
Bodega Marine Laboratory
Speaker: Alli Moreno, UC Santa Cruz
Register at weblink to receive connection information
Snow on Venus? Exploring the Origin of the Planet’s Reflective Mountains & The Curious Case of Lightning on Venus - Livestream - 06/05/2024 05:00 PM
Astronomy on Tap - San Antonio
we are excited to hear from The University of Texas at San Antonio’s Dr. Sara Porter: “Snow on Venus? Exploring the Origin of the Planet’s Reflective Mountains” and graduate student Dinesh Radhakrishnan: “The Curious Case of Lightning on Venus”!.
How Resilient is San Francisco? - 06/05/2024 06:30 PM
Manny's San Francisco
With climate change increasing the rate and intensity of natural disasters across the globe, many of us might wonder: how ready is San Francicsco for the next disaster? From sky-rocketing insurance hikes in the face of increased wildfires, the always looming "Big One" that one day will shake our city...it's easy to get a little spooked and have some questions! But luckily, there is a somebody in our city who's entire job it is to think about this day and night so that YOU don't have to! Brian Strong is SF's Chief Resilience Officer and Director of the Office of Resilience and Capital Planning. In laypeople's terms, Brian makes sure our infrastructure is safe, secure, and well-prepared.
Register at weblink
Thursday, 06/06/2024
Heat Pumps: An Emerging Tool to Support Better Health, Cleaner Air, and More Affordable Energy for All - Livestream - 06/06/2024 10:00 AM
Network for Public Health Law
Public health practitioners, policymakers, and community advocates alike will have an opportunity to learn about the compelling evidence of the economic, environmental, and health benefits of heat pumps, which include more affordable energy, reduced greenhouse gas emissions, improved air quality, and avoided adverse health impacts.
Through appropriate laws, policies, and incentives, heat pumps can be an accessible tool for single-family and multi-family homes and other buildings in communities impacted most by poor air quality. Presenters will describe recent initiatives to rapidly expand adoption of heat pumps, including through innovative laws and policies, as well as opportunities for increased advocacy by public health practitioners and community health, and health equity advocates.
By attending this webinar, you will:
Learn about heat pumps and their relevance to public health.Gain an understanding of the evidence regarding the economic, environmental, and health benefits of heat pumps.Learn about resources outlining the evidence of the impact of heat pumps at the national and local levels.Obtain information on the health disparities found in local communities related to air quality, vulnerability to extreme heat and cold, and access to renewable energy.Acquire an overview of emerging law and policy innovations to expand adoption of heat pumps, including through improved access.
Presenters
Eric Wilson, M.S., Engineering and Building Systems, Strategic Advisor, U.S. Department of Energy and Senior Research Engineer, National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Talor Gruenwald, M.S., Economics and Environmental Policy, Data Scientist, Rewiring America
Emily Levin, M.S., Environmental Management, Senior Policy Advisor, NESCAUM (Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management)
Jill Krueger, J.D. Director, Climate and Health, Network for Public Health Law, Moderator
Register at weblink
Bay Lexicon - 06/06/2024 12:30 PM
SF Planning + Urban Research Assoc. (SPUR) San Francisco
"Bay Lexicon" - a field guide to San Francisco’s shore - uses drawings, text, and maps to develop vocabulary for thinking and talking about a future made uncertain by sea level rise and the climate emergency. Centered on a walk along the edge of the iconic San Francisco Bay, it documents, deciphers, and classifies the places and phenomena a person encounters - and the forces, histories, and interactions that underlie what is visible. The outcome of a long collaboration with the Exploratorium’s Fisher Bay Observatory, curated by Susan Schwartzenberg, "Bay Lexicon" applies analytical and representational tools based in design and documentary work to findings from the fields of geography, environmental and cultural history, public policy, urban ecology, and landscape studies. Author and illustrator Jane Wolff will talk about how making specialized content available to plural audiences can support public literacy - and discussion - about San Francisco’s changing relationship with the bay.
Jane Wolff / Professor, University of Toronto & Author, Bay Lexicon
Healthy Homes Presentation - 06/06/2024 02:00 PM
San Francisco Public Library San Francisco
Join us to learn about improving indoor air quality and controlling unwanted pests! Attendees will receive safer home cleaning training from City staff. Free cleaning supplies will be available on a first come, first served basis.
Room: Stegner Environmental Center, 5th Floor
NightLife: SpiceLife - 06/06/2024 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
We’re bringing the spice at our hottest event of the year. Hear from spicy savants, sample fiery foods, and more.
After Dark: What Grows Back - 06/06/2024 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
Plants demonstrate incredible resilience and play an essential role in our ecology. Explore the physical connections to plants through our galleries and a special presentation of Between Earth & Sky, an award-winning documentary featuring renowned ecologist and rainforest canopy researcher Nalini Nadkarni. This inspiring story weaves her personal life with lessons learned about ecological vitality.
"Between Earth & Sky" 7:30 PM, Kanbar Forum
Nalini Nadkarni is a world-renowned ecologist who climbs trees in the rainforest canopy to study “what grows back” after an ecological disturbance. In 2015, her rope snapped on a research climb, and she fell fifty feet from a tree and nearly died. After making a miraculous recovery, Nalini begins to explore a new research subject: herself.
Join us for this award-winning documentary, shortlisted for the 2024 Academy Awards. Following the screening, filmmaker Andrew Nadkarni will be joined in conversation with the Exploratorium’s Program Director, Sam Sharkland.
Resilience in Nature and Ourselves 9:00 PM, Kanbar Forum
Share your stories and perspectives on the inspirations you find in nature in this community-centered discussion, guided by filmmaker Andrew Nadkarni.
Through educational events, community screenings, and workshops, filmmaker Andrew Nadkarni brings documentary films to nature-deprived audiences, highlighting connections between nature and human health, and the ubiquity of disturbance and recovery. He integrates sustainability, community care, and trauma-informed practices into his artistic process.
Living Systems - Self-Guided Exhibit Tour 8:00 - 9:00 PM, Moore Gallery 4: Living Systems
Explore our diverse collection of plant exhibits. From sprouts to sequoias, plants shape our culture and our planet and model growth and ecological resilience. Take a look at plants from many angles - food, science, and more. Touch plants, grind them up and smell them and study them under microscopes. Bring your observations back to the group discussion facilitated by Andrew Nadkarni at 9:00 p.m. in the Kanbar Forum.
Ages 18+
Friday, 06/07/2024
First Friday Nights - 06/07/2024 05:00 PM
CuriOdyssey San Mateo
Come together as a family to celebrate Pride and Love! Soar into the weekend with live music, a fantastic food truck, colorful science activities, animal presentations, and with special guest, the San Mateo Pride Center. Join us for all the fun!
In Town Star Party - 06/07/2024 09:30 PM
San Jose Astronomical Association San Jose
Come join San Jose Astronomical Association (SJAA) for an evening of stargazing.
Event details:
Events are held at the parking lot of our headquarters, Houge Park San Jose. The event duration is 2 hours. SJAA volunteers will share night sky views from their telescopes.Please refrain from bringing your own telescopes (Binoculars are welcome). If you like to be a volunteer with or without a telescope please email at "itsp@sjaa.net".SJAA as an all volunteer-nonprofit org depends on the City of San Jose to use facilities at Houge Park. To maintain this relationship, we must provide facility-use data to the city. Therefore, we ask you to sign in (no traceable personal data collected) when you arrive at the event.
Saturday, 06/08/2024
Family Nature Adventures: Birds - 06/08/2024 10:30 AM
Chabot Space and Science Center Oakland
Learn about local birds and how to identify them from their looks and sounds. Afterwards, we’ll provide binoculars for a short bird watching walk in the forest.
Intended for families with children, ages 3+
Monday, 06/10/2024
Morning Hike at Bear Creek Redwoods - 06/10/2024 09:30 AM
Bear Creek Redwoods Los Gatos
Join us for this beautiful hike! A POST volunteer will share a few words about POST’s decades of conservation success before the hiking group explores a moderately strenuous but mostly shaded 5.4 mile hike with ~900 feet of elevation gain.
In one of the county’s best preserved, second-growth coastal redwood forests, we’ll also pass extensive areas of Douglas fir and oak woodland, as well as a few remaining old-growth redwoods. The proximity to the San Andreas fault results in a unique geology and landscape, while there are many remnants of a rich cultural history of the region. The park is also home to a wide variety of mammals, birds and reptiles, some of which might be spotted along the trails.
Register at weblink to receive meet-up locations and details.
June LASER Event - 06/10/2024 07:00 PM
Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge Stanford
Program (the order of the speakers might change):
Shane Denson (Stanford/ Film and Media) on "How is Human Embodiment Transformed in an Age of Algorithms?"
Virginia San Fratello (San Jose State Univ) on "3D Printing the Future"
Fiorenza Micheli (co-director of Stanford’s Center for Ocean Solutions) on "Harnessing the data revolution for ocean and human health"
Tom Mullaney (Stanford/ History) on "The Audacity of Chinese Computing"
Room LK120
Tuesday, 06/11/2024
Two talks: Blockchain Innovations: AI Integration and Security Trust - Livestream - 06/11/2024 04:00 PM
IEEE Consumer Technology
Wonderfest: The Science of Healthy Muscle, Strength, and Aging - 06/11/2024 07:00 PM
Hopmonk Tavern Novato
Wednesday, 06/12/2024
Addressing Asian American and Critical Race Issues - Livestream - 06/12/2024 11:00 AM
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Advancing Global Science Equity Through Multi-Sectoral Partnerships - Livestream - 06/12/2024 03:00 PM
Bodega Marine Laboratory
Thursday, 06/13/2024
NightLife x Make History - 06/13/2024 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
After Dark: ExtraOrdinary Opening - 06/13/2024 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
Declining Shorebird Populations - Livestream - 06/13/2024 07:00 PM
Marin Audubon Socitey
Are Americans Really Anti-Science? - Livestream - 06/13/2024 07:00 PM
Bay Area Skeptics
Friday, 06/14/2024
A Cosmic shadow theater: How galaxy silhouettes reveal their dark side - SOLD OUT - 06/14/2024 08:30 PM
Lick Observatory Mt. Hamilton
Saturday, 06/15/2024
Foothills Family Nature Walk - 06/15/2024 11:00 AM
Foothills Nature Preserve Los Altos
ExtraOrdinary! Festival - 06/15/2024 11:00 AM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
A Journey Through the Universe of Galaxies, Black Holes, Gravitational Waves, and Schrödinger’s Cats - SOLD OUT - 06/15/2024 08:30 PM
Lick Observatory Mt. Hamilton
City Public Star Party - 06/15/2024 08:30 PM
City Star Parties - Tunnel Tops Park San Francisco
Sunday, 06/16/2024
ExtraOrdinary! Festival - 06/16/2024 11:00 AM
ExplOratorium San Francisco