Hello again Science Fans!
Just before 7:52 AM (PDT) this morning, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission returned the sample recovery capsule (SRC) containing material from the asteroid Bennu to a desert area in Utah. This is a remarkable achievement. First, they had to get to Bennu, which involved some complicated orbital mechanics. Then they had to orbit the asteroid, the smallest space object ever orbited by a satellite. Next, they had to successfully obtain a sample of the asteroid’s surface, deposit it in a container, and close the lid. That last part proved tricky, but eventually they were successful. After some more exploring around the asteroid, the spacecraft then had to return to Earth and drop the SRC into the atmosphere, before continuing on to another near-earth asteroid, Apophis. The SRC then was to enter earth’s atmosphere over San Francisco, decelerate, and land in the designated area in the Utah desert at the leasurely speed of roughly 11 miles per hour.
Now the real fun begins as the material returned from Bennu is analyzed. Scientists hope to find ancient, uncontaminated evidence of the early days of our Solar system.
Congratulations to all involved. Here’s a link to a NY Times article on the history of the mission.
There’s much more news from space this week.
On Mars, the Curiosity rover reached the Gedez Vallis Ridge after three failed attempts. This ridge holds proof of Mars’ watery history, which included significant landslides. Curiosity has been on Mars for 9 years now!
And Ingenuity, the intrepid Mars helicopter that landed on Mars with the Perseverance rover, broke an altitude record on its 59th flight, reaching 66 feet above the Martian surface.
The research being conducted using James Webb Space Telescope images continues to surprise scientists, raising questions regarding long-held views of the origin or the universe. Using JWST to look back to just 600 million years after the Big Bang, researchers have determined that early galaxies didn’t follow the same “rules” as later galaxies. The heavy metals they expected weren’t present.
JWST also detected carbon on Jupiter’s moon Europa, moving scientists closer to determining if Europa’s oceans could support life.
Here on Earth, archaeology allows us to examine how ancient civilizations lived their lives. The recent discovery of a 500,000 year old wooden structure has archaeologists rethinking their assumptions about how technologically advanced pre-homo-sapiens may have been.
In Britian, work on a new, high speed railway linking London and Birmingham, dubbed HS2, has archaeologists excited. Numerous discoveries have been made during the pre-construction archaeology survey, including entire settlements.
At 11:50 PM PDT last Friday, September 22, the sun was directly over the equator, marking the autumnal equinox, or the start of fall in the Northern hemisphere. You thought the equinox was always on the 21st? Nope. And despite the name (equinox means equal night), day and night are not the same length on the equinox. Here’s everything you ever wanted to know about the equinox, and more!
I flew back to the Bay Area last Tuesday from Europe. I was a little surprised to see all the smoke in the air as we approached SFO. Apparently it is coming from forest fires near the Oregon border. The first study to examine the effects of the past 20 years of landscape fires across the globe has produced some sobering results. Over 2 billion people are exposed to at least one day a year of health-impacting hazards.
While the Bay Area, and the US as a whole, have made a lot of progress fighting air polution, with PM2.5 polution declining 38%, much of that progress has been lost to wild fire smoke polution, according to a new Stanford University study.
We sometimes reference articles from physicist Sabine Hossenfelder. Here’s an article about her and her adventures in social media.
Lastly, my picks for this week:
Second Chances for Sea Otters - Livestream - 09/25/2023 12:00 PM
The Secret Life of Harbor Porpoises, New Insights into Mating Behavior and Implications for Conservation - Livestream - 09/26/2023 07:00 PM
Imitation and Innovation in AI: What Four-year-olds Can Do and AI Can’t (Yet) - 09/27/2023 12:00 PM
College of San Mateo's Family Science & Astronomy Festival + Makerspace - 09/30/2023 01:00 PM
Have a great week in Science!
Bob
Upcoming Events:
Click to see the next two weeks of events in your browser.
Monday, 09/25/2023
How to Avoid Obliteration: Disability as a Model for First Contact - Livestream - 09/25/2023 10:00 AM
SETI Institute
Because humanity is a young (and presumably vulnerable) technological species, many of the models we use for first contact are decidedly grim. Our most prevalent examples of conflict between civilizations with different military/economic/technological force are the horribly destructive historical encounters between the 'old' and 'new' worlds. Drawing from these examples, it is easy to imagine how humanity will dwindle (if not completely cease to exist) under even the theoretically most benevolent advanced interstellar civilization. There is, however, an existing Earth example for sustained contact between a powerful and a less powerful community on Earth today.
Disabled people are more vulnerable, more divided, and have dramatically less economic and social power than our abled fellows, and although we have experienced intermittent attempts at obliteration, we persist. This is not because we are stronger or more resilient. It is also not because abled people are either kind or empathic. The key to our survival lies in the models of disability that implicitly guide the interactions between the two groups.
This presentation explores these models, how they harm and how they could uplift disabled and abled people, and what might befall humanity if a potential ET decides to adopt one or more of them in a first contact scenario.
Host: Sheri Wells Jensen
Register at weblink
Advising for Biology Majors - 09/25/2023 12:00 PM
Sonoma State University - Biology Colloquium Rohnert Park
Speaker: Dr. Sean Place, Biology Department Chair, Sonoma State University
Second Chances for Sea Otters - Livestream - 09/25/2023 12:00 PM
Marine Mammal Center
As part of The Marine Mammal Center’s Sea Otter Awareness Week celebrations, our experts will be LIVE on Facebook and YouTube sharing their knowledge and experience with the smallest marine mammal. Text JOIN to 65179 to receive a reminder text with an event link. With over 25 years of work with southern sea otters - a threatened species - The Marine Mammal Center has provided many animals with a second chance at life and expanded overall knowledge of threats this species faces, which informs how we can better protect this population From rehabilitating sick and injured animals to monitoring them in the wild, hear from Dr. Cara Field and Dr. Jeff Boehm as they explore the intricacies of sea otter conservation and the potential reintroduction of this population back to their historical range.
Substrate-driven assembly of a translocon for multipass membrane proteins - 09/25/2023 04:00 PM
James H. Clark Center (Bldg 340) Stanford
Bob Keenan is a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at UChicago, where he has been a member of the faculty since February of 2005. He obtained his PhD in Biochemistry and Biophysics from UC San Francisco. His research interfaces biology and chemistry to understand molecular mechanisms that underlie fundamental biological processes, including mechanisms of protein biogenesis and quality control.
Speaker: Robert Keenan, University of Chicago
Room: Auditorium
The Black Hole Information Paradox - 09/25/2023 04:00 PM
Sonoma State University - What Physicists Do Rohnert Park
Stephen Hawking's black hole information paradox is a conflict between gravity and quantum mechanics, and it has been both a crisis and a guiding light for theoretical physicists for over 40 years. I will describe recent work showing that wormholes in quantum gravity lead to a new formula for entropy -- this formula corrects Hawking's and is consistent with both gravity and quantum mechanics. I will end with prospects for quantum cosmology.
Speaker: Dr. Edgar Shaghoulian, UC Santa Cruz
eWEAR Symposium - 09/25/2023 05:00 PM
Braun (Geology) Corner (Bldg 320) Room 105 Stanford
Speakers:
Dr. Chun-cheng Piao“Sensors - Opportunities and challenges in building”
Alastair Grant“DigiLens holographic waveguides - what, how and why?”
Jason Hartloveto be finalized
Tuesday, 09/26/2023
Ion (De)solvation and the Temperature-Dependent Behavior of Li Metal Batteries - 09/26/2023 10:00 AM
Stanford University
Speaker: John Holoubek, Stanford University
Rooted in Sustainability: The Power of Urban Gardening - Livestream - 09/26/2023 04:30 PM
Acterra
Learn about the transformative benefits of gardening and composting in urban settings, and how these activities link to climate action.
Ania Korsunska is an advocate for urban gardening and sustainability, blending her background in data science research and health communications with her passion for climate solutions. With over six years of hands-on gardening experience and a consultancy service called Peas of Mind Gardens, Ania aims to empower anyone and everyone to grow their own food, irrespective of their available space or prior experience. Ania will also discuss her experiences with connecting gardening to climate action via several enterprises including Community Consultant for Climate Vine, founder of Zemlia, a startup with the mission to provide individuals with actionable, data-driven tools to facilitate their journey towards sustainability. This free lecture will include time for audience Q&A and will take place virtually via Zoom.
The Secret Life of Harbor Porpoises, New Insights into Mating Behavior and Implications for Conservation - Livestream - 09/26/2023 07:00 PM
American Cetacean Society
Please join us as we hear from acclaimed cetacean expert, Marc Webber, as he reports on the sex lives of Harbor Porpoises. We will be treated to a sneak preview of his chapter in an upcoming book, “Sex in Cetaceans: Morphology, Behavior, and the Evolution of Sexual Strategies”. Marc will focus on the unique lateralized mating behavior of the species and cover the anatomy and the evolutionary processes behind it. He will review what we know about mating behavior and anatomy in all other members of the porpoise family, aka, Phocoenidae, and contrast it to harbor porpoises. Finally, Marc will enlighten us how understanding mating behavior and reproduction in a species can help us in conservation efforts to protect their essential habitat.
Wonderfest: The Sense of Fairness in Chimps and Children - CANCELED - 09/26/2023 07:00 PM
Hopmonk Tavern Novato
Wednesday, 09/27/2023
More than 20 years of zooplankton data from the deep Southern Ocean - Livestream - 09/27/2023 11:00 AM
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Despite playing an important role in the food web and carbon cycle of the Southern Ocean, zooplankton biodiversity and dynamics in subsurface waters remain largely understudied. Our understanding of temporal variability in the zooplankton community is hampered by logistical constraints that come with working in this remote oceanic region of the planet. Here, we present a long-term time-series of zooplankton swimmers intercepted by sediment traps; tools that are usually used to measure time-series in downward carbon flux. Swimmers are organisms that enter the traps and are subsequently preserved. At the Southern Ocean Time Series (SOTS) site (47°S, 140°E) in the subantarctic zone, sediment traps have been deployed in the meso- and bathypelagic zone since 1997, resulting in one of the longest time-series for deep-sea zooplankton. Analysis of the archive from 1997-2020 indicates that the zooplankton community was dominated by copepods, amphipods, and pteropods, and abundance and diversity decreased with depth. For most taxa, no significant seasonal increase in abundance during summer was found. Moreover, large influxes of swimmer biomass were caused by amphipod swarms entering the traps, with a potential negative impact on particulate organic carbon flux that requires further investigation. Finally, we present biases and opportunities for using sediment traps to collect deep-sea zooplankton community data, as well as potential community shifts caused by climate change in the Southern Ocean.
Speaker: Svenja Halfter Zooplankton Ecologist National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research LTD
Register at weblink to receive connection information
The future of Eastern Boundary Upwelling Systems: from observations to management - 09/27/2023 11:00 AM
Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute
Join us for the John & Mary Louise Riley Seminar Series, featuring speakers from within the marine sciences community and beyond.
Please register to join us on Zoom.
Speaker: Francisco Chavez - Researcher, MBARI
Imitation and Innovation in AI: What Four-year-olds Can Do and AI Can’t (Yet) - 09/27/2023 12:00 PM
Sutardja Dai Hall Berkeley
Young children’s learning may be an important model for artificial intelligence (AI). Comparing children and artificial agents in the same tasks and environments can help us understand the abilities of existing systems and create new ones. In particular, many current large data-supervised systems, such as large language models (LLMs), provide new ways to access information collected by past agents. However, they lack the kinds of exploration and innovation that are characteristic of children. New techniques may help to instantiate childlike curiosity, exploration and play in AI systems.
Speaker: Alison Gopnik, UC Berkeley
Register to attend in person, or watch online (See weblink)
Beyond Roll Call: Inferring Politics from Text - 09/27/2023 04:30 PM
Sutardja Dai Hall Berkeley
The ideal point model is a staple of quantitative political science. It is a probabilistic model of roll call data - how a group of lawmakers vote on a collection of bills - that can be used to quantify the lawmakers’ political positions, which are called “ideal points.” In this talk, I will discuss two ways to incorporate political texts into ideal point models. One source of text is the collection of bills. The issue-adjusted ideal point model helps capture how a lawmaker’s political position might change depending on the content of the bill under consideration. It helps find sensible multi-dimensional ideal points, which are difficult to estimate from the votes alone. Another source of text comes from the lawmakers. In addition to voting, lawmakers express their political positions through speeches, press statements, and tweets. The text-based ideal point model can be used to analyze a collection of texts to quantify the political positions of their authors. It helps find ideal points for anyone who authors political texts, including non-voting actors like candidates and political commentators.
Speaker: David Blei, Columbia University
Origins and Innovations of Science in the U.S. National Parks - 09/27/2023 05:30 PM
UC Botanical Garden Berkeley
Jerry Emory will recount the origins of scientific management of wildlife in the U.S. national parks through the history of George Meléndez Wright (b. 1904, d. 1936), a wildlife biologist who earned his Bachelor of Science degree from UC Berkeley in 1927. George Wright and colleagues published the first scientific wildlife survey of the western U.S. national parks and established the U.S. National Park Service Wildlife Division, first located on campus in Hilgard Hall from 1931 to 1935.
Alison Forrestel, Ph.D., will illustrate innovations in science for natural and cultural resource management in U.S. national parks today. Many new practices have emerged from a revisiting of the scientific work of A. Starker Leopold (more information below). She currently serves as Chief of Natural Resources and Science for Golden Gate National Recreation Area, a U.S. national park covering 320 square kilometers of land and water in and around San Francisco, California. She leads the implementation of science and management programs for landscape-scale conservation and ecological restoration.
Register at weblink
Peninsula Gem & Geology Society - 09/27/2023 07:00 PM
Peninsula Gem and Geology Society
George Rossman will talk about the quartz crystal mine in Arkansas.
See weblink for non-member information.
Thursday, 09/28/2023
Silicon Valley Leaders Symposium - Lubab Sheet-Davis - 09/28/2023 12:00 PM
Silicon Valley Leaders Symposium San Jose
Speaker: Lubab Sheet-Davis, Expert Advisor at UI Collab
After Dark: College Night - 09/28/2023 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
As back to school season is in full effect, tonight we invite anyone with a college ID to join us for free for a night of cinema and science. Don’t miss a special conversation between soundscape ecologist Bernie Krause and director Vincent Tricon, whose film Bernie Krause: A Life with The Great Animal Orchestra offers a behind-the-scenes look at Krause’s career tracing ecological changes through sound. Learn about their experience in filmmaking and the power of cinema to tell life-changing stories, then explore other one-night-only exhibits with scientists whose research focuses on human impacts on the environment and how to create a more biome-balanced future. A Life was produced by the Fondation Cartier pour l’art contemporain in 2021.
NightLife 1923 - 09/28/2023 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
In honor of Steinhart Aquarium’s 100th anniversary, let's party like it’s 1923 and celebrate a century of aquatic wonder and innovation.
Geothermal Energy Research Within the USGS: Goldilocks to Electricity With Earthquakes in Between - Livestream - 09/28/2023 06:00 PM
US Geological Survey Public Lecture Series
Geologic settings required for a viable geothermal resource depend on a variety of specific conditions to be present and active, hence goldilocks.Geothermal energy has a big role to play in the move to renewable energy, possibly supplying as much as 8% of U.S. electrical needs by 2050.New technology that expands the settings in which geothermal energy can be extracted have made huge advances and might add significantly to renewable energy resources in the future. Earthquakes have been both a benefit in identifying the fluid and heat pathways in geothermal settings and a deterrent by inducing harmful earthquakes that impact public safety nearby.
Speaker: Ole Kaven, Research Geophysicist, USGS Earthquake Science Center
Science is a Piece of Cake: A Geology Bake-Off - 09/28/2023 07:00 PM
KQED Headquarters San Francisco
Do you know your Bay Area geology? Learn about all the bizarre, gorgeous and really freaking old formations via ... cake! KQED's Check, Please! Bay Area Producer Cecilia Phillips, in partnership with the California Academy of Sciences and local bakeries, will host a cake bake-off where rocks serve as visual prompts. Enter the competition as a beginner, intermediate or advanced baker, or participate as a member of the audience, eat delicious cake and learn about the ground beneath you.
Presented by KQED Live
Friday, 09/29/2023
Cyber Defending Taiwan: Lessons from Ukraine - 09/29/2023 10:00 AM
Bancroft Hotel Berkeley
Deepening Taiwan’s defense and resilience in the cyber domain is key to advancing diplomatic solutions to the rising geopolitical tensions with China in the region.
This one-day conference engaging private, public, and academic leaders will focus on increasing the resilience of Taiwan to threats and vulnerabilities in the cyber domain and beyond. In the process, the workshop engages with the lessons learned from recent history - drawing on the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine.
See weblink for list of speakers.
Cooling cracks and the origin of Enceladus' tiger stripes - 09/29/2023 12:00 PM
Earth and Marine Sciences Building Santa Cruz
Speaker: Max Rudolph, UC Santa Cruz
StorageX Tech Talk - Two Talks - 09/29/2023 12:00 PM
Environment and Energy Building (Y2E2) Stanford
Impact of fixed-resistance thin films on improved lithium-metal battery performance
Speaker: Kenzie Marie Sanroman Gutierrez, Ph.D. Student, Stanford University
Enabling In-the-Field Operation of Second-Life Battery Energy Storage: Analysis and Algorithms
Speaker: Aadil Khan, Ph.D. Student and Xiaofan Cui, Postdoc, Stanford University
Attend in person or online
Nanomaterials in 3D Functional Mesosystems: From Neural Interfaces to Environmental Monitors - 09/29/2023 02:00 PM
Physics North Berkeley
Complex, three dimensional (3D) micro/nanostructures in biology provide sophisticated, essential functions in even the most basic forms of life. Compelling opportunities exist for analogous 3D structures in man-made devices, but existing design options are highly constrained by comparatively primitive capabilities in fabrication and growth.
Recent advances in mechanical engineering and materials science provide broad access to diverse, highly engineered classes of 3D architectures, with characteristic dimensions that range from nanometers to centimeters and areas that span square centimeters or more. The approach relies on geometric transformation of preformed two dimensional (2D) precursor micro/nanostructures and/or devices into extended 3D layouts by controlled processes of substrate-induced compressive buckling, where the bonding configurations, thickness distributions and other parameters control the final configurations.
This talk reviews the key concepts and focuses on the most recent developments with example applications in areas ranging from mesoscale microfluidic/electronic networks as neural interfaces, to bio-inspired microfliers as environmental sensing platforms.
Speaker: John Rogers, UIUC and Northwestern University
Saturday, 09/30/2023
Young Birders Club: McClellan Ranch - 09/30/2023 08:30 AM
McClellan Ranch Preserve Cupertino
Join the Young Birders Club to bird the babbling Stevens Creek and mature riparian habitat of McClellan Ranch. We will visit the feeders to observe birds such as the Chestnut-backed Chickadee, Oak Titmouse and Downy Woodpecker, and stroll along the Stevens Creek Trail for the Anna’s Hummingbird, California Scrub-Jay, California Towhee, and more!
This trip is designed for young birders, but parents and siblings are welcome to attend. We welcome birders of all skill levels - whether you’ve been birding for years, or never picked up a pair of binoculars before, we’d love to bird with you! Young birders can socialize and have fun birding together. Loaner binoculars are available for participants.
Lead: Jiwoo Lee
Meet: outside the SCVAS Nature Shop
Stewardship Saturday: Studying Marine Mammals in Elkhorn Slough - 09/30/2023 09:00 AM
Kayak Connection Moss Landing
Traverse Moss Landing’s Elkhorn Slough with The Marine Mammal Center, Kayak Connection, and the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Sea Otter Rehabilitation Team! Through this event you will learn more about The Marine Mammal Center and Monterey Bay Aquarium’s work along the California coast, the different types of marine mammals present in the slough, and how to work to safely view and protect these important animals. We will be starting our morning with a free team breakfast and then heading to the water for a kayaking lesson and exploration of the slough waters. We hope that by the end of this event you will feel empowered to share your experience with others to increase understanding and respect for marine mammals in their natural environment.
Open to all high school students. See weblink for more information.
Science Saturday: Pollinator Palooza! - 09/30/2023 10:00 AM
Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History Pacific Grove
Did you know that California has a holiday just to celebrate biodiversity? Let’s celebrate by having a month long BioBlitz through iNaturalist to help scientists document our local pollinators. Come learn about local pollinator species and how you and your family can contribute to scientific research and conservation!
Small-group walk with two goals: search for fall birds, learn about leaf galls and miners along Cerrito Creek - 09/30/2023 10:00 AM
Creekside Park Albany
Our nature-observation walks using free citizen-science apps resume Sat., Sept. 30, with an easy stroll along Cerrito Creek at the foot of Albany Hill. We'll look for birds returning for fall or gathering in flocks for migration or winter -- and for strange bumps and tracks on leaves and branches. The free app Merlin will help you ID birds by their calls. We'll use the free app iNaturalist for the galls and miners --tracks on leaves and branches. A Sept. 27 free webinar can help!
Numbers are very limited.Please email usif you would like to join this walk. Please also email if you'd like early notice of other small-group walks observing nature.
Walks will be 2-2.5 hours, but distances are short and you can leave any time. All ages welcome -- kids should be old enough to take an interest; adults should be able to handle slight slopes and uneven terrain. Detail sent when you RSVP.
Los Cenzontles Mexican American Music Performance at the Lawrence Hall of Science - 09/30/2023 12:30 PM
Lawrence Hall of Science Berkeley
Join us to celebrate Mexican music and culture featuring Los Cenzontles, a Bay Area-based arts academy and band that amplifies Mexican American culture through education, performance, and production. Los Cenzontles will perform music, teach visitors about various musical instruments, and discuss how music relates to immigrant traditions, cultural identity, and more.
https://lawrencehallofscience.org/events/los-cenzontles-performance/
CSM's Family Science & Astronomy Festival + Makerspace - 09/30/2023 01:00 PM
College of San Mateo San Mateo
CSM's Family Science & Astronomy Festival + Makerspace (formerly Family Science Day) brings the wonders of science to our community! Future scientists-in-the-making are welcomed to campus to participate in fun makerspace activities, watch Chef Ed make comets, visit fascinating biology, chemistry, geology, and math stations for hands-on demos hosted by CSM instructors and staff, attend our live keynote speaker presentation, stargaze with astronomy faculty, and more!
Keynote Lecture:“Forward to the Moon” Greg Schmidt, Director of the Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institute (SSERVI) at NASA Ames Research Center, discusses NASA’s historical journeys to the Moon, from Apollo to upcoming Artemis missions, emphasizing global collaboration and the broader impact on science, technology, and economy.7:30 pm • CSM Theatre (Building 3)Reception:8:30 pm • Theatre Lobby (Building 3)Jazz Under the Stars/Telescopic Observation9:15 pm • CSM Rooftop Observatory (Building 36) Makerspace Activities (see listings) Family Science Day Activities (see listings) MULTIPLE LOCATIONS ON CSM CAMPUSScience Building 36, Library Building 9, and Theatre Building 3
The Peril and Profit of Near-Earth Objects; Is Asteroid Mining Possible and Practical? - 09/30/2023 07:30 PM
East Bay Astronomical Society Oakland
Near-Earth objects present both an existential threat to human civilization and an extraordinary opportunity to propel our exploration and expansion across the solar system. While the risk of a sudden, civilization-altering collision with an asteroid or comet has markedly diminished in recent decades due to diligent astronomical surveys, a significant level of danger persists. Concurrently, remarkable strides have been made in advancing technologies that pave the way for a transformative vision of space exploration.
This vision entails missions and outposts within the inner solar system fueled by resources extracted from asteroids, starting with the most accessible near-Earth objects. These objects provide a cost-effective approach because they contain exploitable extraterrestrial resources delivered to the inner solar system by gravitational perturbations from the planets, they have been naturally preprocessed into objects the ideal size for industrial operations, and they contain critical materials for cost-effective self-sustaining activities in space.
Speaker: Robert Jedicke, University of Hawaii
How to Photograph an Eclipse - 09/30/2023 07:30 PM
San Jose Astronomical Association San Jose
This talk will focus on how to take pictures of the eclipse while still allowing you to enjoy the experience. It is based on a series of talks I gave in 2016-17 prior to the last US eclipse and has been updated for the latest information. Taking photos of eclipses is harder than you think. It discusses equipment, photographic techniques, and weather prospects. For those that cannot attend the talk a more complete version is available on https://fpoa.net/eclipse/
Speaker: Rob Hawley, astronomer
Monday, 10/02/2023
Meiosis is a Primary Cause of Death in Young Plants and Animals - 10/02/2023 12:00 PM
Sonoma State University - Biology Colloquium Rohnert Park
Speaker: Dr. Dan Levitis, Sonoma Ecology Center
Building an equitable, inclusive, and welcoming culture in science - 10/02/2023 04:00 PM
James H. Clark Center (Bldg 340) Stanford
Charla is the inaugural Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (DEI) Officer at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) in New York, and the elected President of SACNAS (Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science). At CSHL, she is an academic administrator who guides DEI-motivated institutional change initiatives; on the SACNAS Board of Directors, she works collaboratively with staff and membership to enable programs, services, and spaces for marginalized groups in science. She was an NIH IRACDA postdoctoral fellow in Genetics at the University of Pennsylvania and earned a PhD in Genome Sciences from the University of Washington.
Room: Auditorium
Optical Physics for Brain Imaging - 10/02/2023 04:00 PM
Sonoma State University - What Physicists Do Rohnert Park
Speaker: Dr. Na Ji, UC Berkeley
Carbon Dioxide Removal to Solve the Climate Crisis - 10/02/2023 04:30 PM
Stanford University Energy Seminar Stanford
In 1977, the physicist Freeman Dyson1 proposed the burial of biomass, as a scalable, economical solution to the CO2 problem. Today we know2 that the harvested vegetation should be buried in an engineered dry Environmental Chamber. Plant biomass can be preserved for thousands of years by burial in a dry environment with sufficiently low thermodynamic “Water Activity”, which is the relative humidity in equilibrium with the biomass. A “Water Activity” <60% will not support life, suppressing anaerobic organisms, thus preserving the biomass for millenia. Current agriculture costs, and burial costs indicate US$60/tonne of sequestered CO2 which corresponds to $0.53/gallon of gasoline. If scaled to the level of a major crop, existing CO2 can be extracted from the atmosphere and sequester a significant fraction of prior historical CO2 emissions.
Speaker: Eli Yablonovitch, UC Berkeley
Alzheimer's Disease: recent advances and practical tips for prevention - Livestream - 10/02/2023 06:00 PM
San Mateo Public Library
A third of dementia cases worldwide are estimated to be at least partly attributable to seven modifiable factors. At this virtual event, hear Dr. Irina Skylar-Scott discuss practical strategies you can put into place in your daily life to improve and maintain cognitive function. Also hear about current treatments, and opportunities to participate in clinical research trials focused on prevention as well as trials for individuals with diagnoses of Alzheimer's disease. Program will be followed by Q&A.
Speaker: Irina Skylar-Scott is a board-certified, fellowship-trained cognitive and behavioral neurologist and clinical assistant professor at Stanford University. She is a site principal investigator for Alector/AbbVie and Biogen clinical trials for Alzheimer's disease, and a co-investigator with the Stanford Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and the Stanford Aging and Memory Study.
Mapping Cosmic Magnetism in the Space Between the Stars - 10/02/2023 07:30 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
The Universe is magnetic. From stars to galaxies to intergalactic space, magnetic fields thread the cosmos. Our home galaxy, the Milky Way, hosts a magnetic field that helps to sculpt the interstellar medium: the “stuff between the stars” out of which new stars are born, and into which some old stars explode. Join us on a tour of magnetism in the Milky Way galaxy and beyond, and learn how we measure magnetic fields in interstellar space.
Speaker: Susan Clark, Stanford University
Tuesday, 10/03/2023
IEEE Day Panel Discussion on Ethical AI: Shaping the Future Responsibly - Livestream - 10/03/2023 11:00 AM
IEEE Computer Society of Silicon Valley
Clearview AI, Facial Recognition Technology, and Threats to Our Privacy - 10/03/2023 06:00 PM
Commonwealth Club San Francisco
Wednesday, 10/04/2023
Innovating Solutions at the Ocean-Climate Nexus - Livestream - 10/04/2023 11:00 AM
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Climate change in the coastal zone: social and ecological interactions at the land-ocean interface - Livestream - 10/04/2023 11:00 AM
Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute
AI Agents That Do What We Want: Progress and Open Challenges - 10/04/2023 12:00 PM
CITRIS at UC Berkeley Berkeley
The John and Mary Louise Riley Seminar Series at Bodega Marine Laboratory - 10/04/2023 12:00 PM
Coastal and Marine Sciences Institute
Thursday, 10/05/2023
Fair Machine Learning for Education - An Information Theorist’s Perspective - 10/05/2023 04:00 PM
Sonoma State Dept. of Engineering Science Rohnert Park
Leading the Circular Revolution - 10/05/2023 05:30 PM
swissnex San Francisco San Francisco
After Dark: Users - 10/05/2023 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco
NightLife: The Art of Nature - 10/05/2023 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco
CFC Birdy Hour: Burrowing Owls of the Bay Area - Livestream - 10/05/2023 06:00 PM
San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory
Friday, 10/06/2023
Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics Seminar - 10/06/2023 12:00 PM
Earth and Marine Sciences Building Santa Cruz
Block Party on the Bluff - 10/06/2023 05:30 PM
Seymour Marine Discovery Center Santa Cruz
First Friday: Light & Dark - 10/06/2023 06:00 PM
Chabot Space and Science Center Oakland
Getting Started with Astronomical Spectroscopy - RESCHEDULED 10/06/2023 08:00 PM
College of San Mateo Bldg 36 San Mateo
Studying Exoplanets with The James Webb Space Telescope - 10/06/2023 08:00 PM
College of San Mateo San Mateo
Saturday, 10/07/2023
Young Birders Club: Cuesta Park - 10/07/2023 08:30 AM
Cuesta Park Mountain View
Critter Search at Sanborn - 10/07/2023 10:30 AM
Sanborn Science and Nature Center Saratoga
Bioethics Past and Present - Livestream - 10/07/2023 03:00 PM
Bay Area Humanists
Sunday, 10/08/2023
Five Dollar Day at The Lawrence Hall of Science - 10/08/2023 10:00 AM
Lawrence Hall of Science Berkeley
Solar Observing - 10/08/2023 02:00 PM
San Jose Astronomical Association San Jose
Monday, 10/09/2023
Choanoflagellate Transcriptional Networks: Towards the Origin of Animal Cell Types - 10/09/2023 12:00 PM
Sonoma State University - Biology Colloquium Rohnert Park
The role of the rhomboid superfamily: Guardians of membrane-related processes and homeostasis - 10/09/2023 04:00 PM
James H. Clark Center (Bldg 340) Stanford
Scientific Computing - 10/09/2023 04:00 PM
Sonoma State University - What Physicists Do Rohnert Park