Underwater with the SciSchmooze?

Not always

Jun 13, 2022

Greetings Science fans,

It’s been awhile since I did the “Schmooze”. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t been thinking of science and how we deal with it. It does mean that I have read and viewed a lot of sciencey things, more than what I can share here. So this will be a bit different from my usual format.

Here are two takes on life underwater… bubble-net feeding and Icy determination. How about skydiving salamanders? (salamanders that parachute) Compare them to space debris. We have much to learn about just about everything! There will always be challenges that we didn’t anticipate, consider How three Ukrainian scientists are surviving Russia’s brutal war. Even today there are challenges to what we think we know… ‘Huh, That’s Funny’ (note: that took a 4500 ton 4 story tall piece of equipment). Then when you look back at Ancient Technologies...

Some people cringe at the thought of mathematics while others embrace it. Here are two items that you might enjoy sharing with someone who is learning math or avoiding it. You really should watch The Incomprehensible Scale of 52! (Note that’s not an ‘!’!) This might inspire some young Math Magicians

There are so many opportunities to be inspired. Here are a few that I think look interesting…

Games, Stories, and Science for Successful Public Engagement - Livestream

How Do New Birds Species Arise - Livestream Thu 6.16

Family Nature Walks - Baylands Nature Preserve Sat 6.18

Here’s another great opportunity. Check out who’s speaking at SkeptiCal 2022 on July 16/17. You should check it out and register now.

Science is not fixed. We are continually learning new stuff about the universe we share. This requires that we continue to be open to finding out that we are occasionally wrong, either by our mistake, having learned something incorrectly, or new information has presented itself. Here’s an interesting discussion worth some time. (It’s a bit long but worth the listen) The Case for Living Scientifically

If you happen to be flying in or out of Harvey Milk Terminal 1 @ SFO be sure to leave some time to see Curiosity & Discovery: Antique Scientific Instruments, it’s a darned shame that you have to have a boarding pass to see it.

Have a great week learning new and cool stuff.

herb masters

The best science museums inspire inquiry. When someone leaves the museum and recognizes in the world what they saw in the museum, the museum did it's job.

Upcoming Events:
Click to see the next two weeks of events in your browser.

Tuesday, 06/14/2022

Open House: Machine Learning, the mortar of modernization - 06/14/2022 12:00 PM
SEMI Global Headquarters Milpitas

Machine Learning is advancing the civilization and is one of the key drivers of economy today. Machine Learning literacy may one day become essential the way computer literacy is today. This talk intends to explain Machine Learning concepts to wider audiences by using easy to relate real world analogies and serves as a refresher to the already initiated. A fundamental concept in machine learning is similarity. The dot product that is ubiquitously present in machine learning is a measure for similarity. Similarity is key to human learning as well. We learn in delta increments by comparing and contrasting with what we already know. Analogies or similarities help Machine learning is an exciting field for many, but the rigor, math, and its rapid evolution are often found to be formidable, keeping them away from studying and pursuing a career in this area. This talk will use similarity to explain the underpinnings of machine learning to those who want to get insights into machine learning and data science. A number of concepts, techniques, and algorithms in machine learning will be explained relating them to real-world analogies in a way that audiences with little or no background in the area will also be able to appreciate.

Speaker: Vishnu Pendyala, San Jose State University

Games, Stories, and Science for Successful Public Engagement - Livestream - 06/14/2022 05:00 PM
Leaky Foundation

Over the past fifty years, researchers have made extraordinary discoveries that help us to understand For tens of thousands of years, sharing knowledge about the natural world has been part of what makes us human. Indeed, humans have many adaptations for fireside storytelling, shared experiences, artistic imagery, and jokey joke joke jokes. And yet, too many scientists ignore the evidence and continue to inadequately blather dry facts. Such approaches do not improve scientific literacy or inspire public enthusiasm. In this lecture, Dr. Hinde presents insights from studies of human adaptations for story-telling and social learning and highlights the example of March Mammal Madness.

This program features a 45-minute live-streamed lecture by Dr. Katie Hinde followed by a 15-minute Q&A session moderated by Dr. Briana Pobiner featuring live viewer questions.

Speaker: Dr. katie Hinde, Arizona State University

How the National Science Foundation Supports and Translates Innovation - Livestream - 06/14/2022 05:30 PM
Commonwealth Club San Francisco

This program will give background on how technology research, innovation and transformation occurs from discoveries and research supported by the National Science Foundation.

The National Science Foundations supports deep, early and foundational research across a wide range of fields and is funded by the American taxpayer. However, bringing those discoveries and technologies into use in the marketplace demands connections with universities, venture investors, entrepreneurs and start-ups.

Join us for a program that will explain this process and how people can connect with the various programs the NSF provides.

Attend in person or online

Wednesday, 06/15/2022

Carbonate Systems in Continental Extreme Environments of South America - 06/15/2022 03:30 PM
Earth and Marine Sciences Building Santa Cruz

Speaker: Leo Cury, Universidade Federal do Parana

Towards the Direct Imaging of Habitable Exoplanets with Extremely Large Telescopes - 06/15/2022 05:30 PM
UC Santa Cruz Silicon Valley Campus Santa Clara

Fifty-three years ago, 600 million people watched the Apollo 11 astronauts take the first human steps on another world. In 1969, the number of worlds worth walking on was small: just the few dozen planets and moons that make up the Earth’s siblings orbiting the Sun. Today, astronomers know that our galaxy is teeming with planets, more numerous than the stars themselves. However, detecting signs of life, or biosignatures, on another world requires separating the light of the planet from that of its sun and dispersing that planet’s light into a spectrum -- a technique called "direct imaging and spectroscopy." So far, only extremely young, massive worlds have been directly imaged, while older, smaller objects like the Earth remain hidden in the glare of their suns. In this talk, I will describe a variety of avenues for advancing the state-of-the-art in exoplanet imaging, taking advantage of diverse tools ranging from computer simulations, to laboratory demonstrations, to observations at the world's largest telescopes.

Nerd Nite SF #126: Hey Girl! Bingo + DNA Sequencing + Nuclear Energy - 06/15/2022 07:00 PM
Rickshaw Stop San Francisco

Join us for Nerd Nite SF, the Pride month party edition!

We’re very excited to announce that we’ll be partnering with the bearded bingo babe herself, Shelix, for Hey Girl! Bingo before the talks begin. Come early to kick off the evening with a drink and a bingo card! Nerdy prizes and drink tickets are up for grabs!

The evening will continue with another kind of helix, the DNA kind! Other talk topics TBA, but word on the street is that they pertain to private investigation and San Francisco drag history. Stay tuned, but in the meantime, the early nerd gets the worm! Or, the free bingo square.

How to Sequence a Genome with Jess McLaughlin

Ever wonder exactly how you get DNA from, say, a fruit fly, a lizard, your dog, or even yourself, and actually turn it into something we can read? Would you have guessed it includes weird chemistry, magnets, fluorescent colors, and some very fancy dish soap? Jess McLaughlin, an evolutionary biologist, will explain how DNA sequencing is basically tech-wizardry, turning molecules in your cells into light and then into computer bytes.

Jess is a postdoc at UC Berkeley, where they study the evolution of anole lizards in the Caribbean. They also research how new species of birds develop, and they have a passion for telling folks about just how weird biology can be.

Powering the Nerdtropolis: Why we need to save Diablo Canyon, our last nuclear power plant with Guido D. Núñez-Mujica

California is facing not a only a climate crisis, but an energy crisis. Despite all our talk about renewables, we continue building natural gas plants and asking for emission limits to be increased. Even worse, we plan to close our largest zero emissions power plant in 2 years. In this talk, Guido will tell us what we can do about it and why it needs to stay open.

Guido is data scientist working in environmental issues, with a background in computational biology. He’s a TED Fellow, a Cornell Alliance for Science Fellow and does volunteer work about immigration and human rights.

Measuring the Beginning of Time From the Bottom of the World - 06/15/2022 07:00 PM
San Francisco Amateur Astronomers

Measurements of the afterglow of the Big Bang, the cosmic microwave background, have allowed physicists to piece together much of our modern understanding of the origin, composition, and evolution of the Universe. Future measurements hope to answer tantalizing questions ranging from the transient nature of the radio sky to the earliest moments of the Universe itself. I will give a brief introduction to the cosmic microwave background and what we can learn from it. I will then describe some of the telescopes we build to make these measurements and the premiere astronomical observing sites we use to house our experiments.

Speaker: Cyndia Yu, Stanford University

See weblink for links to watch on Zoom, YouTube, or Facebook

This event was originally scheduled for May 24, 2022.

Thursday, 06/16/2022

The Dirt on Soil - Part 1 - Online - 06/16/2022 11:00 AM
Post Carbon Institute

Healthy soil plays a vital role in the nutrient density of our food, can help prevent agricultural runoff and erosion, and has a direct impact on our changing climate. And yet, by ignoring what’s directly beneath our feet, we can expect to lose all of the world’s topsoil within a single generation and see a needless rise in the accumulation of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere.

In the first part of the series, we'll learn why soil matters and how the health of our soil has a direct correlation to the worsening climate crisis.

Speaker: David Montgomery, geologist and author

Science at Cal - Can We Make Green Hydrogen Fuel a Reality? - Livestream - 06/16/2022 12:00 PM
Science at Cal

Hydrogen gas plays an important role in the future of clean energy with the potential to replace fossil fuels for many daily and essential applications, from making fertilizers to producing chemicals for plastics. In this Midday Science Cafe, we’ll be hearing from scientists who study different processes working toward the same goal: to make hydrogen fuel a clean, affordable reality. UC Berkeley scientist Dr. Julie Fornaciari studies the process of creating hydrogen - that is, how to optimize hydrogen production through a process that uses electricity and water. But once we have the hydrogen, how can it be turned into energy? Well, Dr. Arthur Dizon of Berkeley Lab uses mathematical modeling to optimize energy production through a process that uses oxygen alongside hydrogen. Come hear about how we can get to a future with green hydrogen fuel!

Speaker: Julie Fornaciari and Arthur Dizon, Berkeley Lab

Virtual Talk: Leaves with Sori: The Ferns (online) - 06/16/2022 01:00 PM
UC Botanical Garden

Our "Year of Leaves" theme continues this month as we focus on the fascinating plants that shed spores from their leaves, the wonderful world of ferns. For this Zoom presentation, the Garden is pleased to host Dr. Susan Fawcett, research botanist and fern curator at the University and Jepson Herbaria, as she explains the botany behind these plants, which first appear in the fossil record about 360 million years ago. She'll feature many of the species found in the UC Botanical Garden collection, which holds 310 different taxa from around the world, with an emphasis on leaf morphology. This is an online lecture via Zoom.

NightLife - 06/16/2022 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco

Calling all creatures of the night: explore the nocturnal side of the Academy at NightLife and see what's revealed. With live DJs, outdoor bars, ambiance lighting, and nearly 40,000 live animals (including familiar faces like Claude the albino alligator), the night is sure to be wild.

Step inside the iconic Shake House and our four-story Rainforest, where you can explore the Amazon’s treetops surrounded by free-flying birds and butterflies. Reservations for these exhibits are no longer required. However, please note that the last entry into the rainforest is 7:30 pm - our animals need their sleep.

Venture into our latest aquarium exhibit Venom to encounter live venomous animals and learn the power of venom to both harm and heal.

Visit the BigPicture exhibit in the Piazza to marvel at the most recent winners of the BigPicture Natural Photography competition.

Bask in the glow of one of the largest living coral reef displays in the world: our 212,000-gallon Philippine Coral Reef tank.

Take in the interstellar views from the Living Roof, then grab a bite from the Academy Cafe and head to the West Garden outdoor bar to drink and dine under the stars. For adults 21+.

After Dark: See for Yourself - 06/16/2022 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco

Spark your curiosity at After Dark! As the Sun sets, we’ll hit the rainbow lights, turn the music up, and open our doors, inviting you to take your imagination out to play. Fuel up with a cocktail and prepare to roam free. Plus, excavate underground histories and discover the past with the team behind San Francisco’s Buried History, a new project from the Exploratorium.

Cell Phone Miniscope 6:00 - 10:00 p.m. Crossroads

We invite you to open your eyes to the amazing world of the ultra-tiny! Be sure to grab a miniscope kit and directions - then convert your cell phone into a portable, picture-taking miniscope using a simple plastic lens from a laser pointer. Use it to see the Exploratorium at its smallest scale, then take it home to continue exploring new environments!

San Francisco’s Buried History 6:30 - 9:30 p.m. Osher Gallery 1

Uncover the history beneath our feet! Join the team behind the Exploratorium’s Buried History project to discover San Francisco’s hidden past. You’ll learn more about this new online audio walking tour, which uses interviews, photos, and augmented reality to showcase amazing underground sites in downtown San Francisco. Each of these sites provides fascinating clues about how human activity impacted the local landscape over time, and teaches us more about the people who used to live in the area. What stories will you unearth?

How Do New Birds Species Arise - Livestream - 06/16/2022 07:00 PM
Golden Gate Audubon Society

In the evergreen forest of the Pacific Northwest, two species of wood warbler that hybridize are on the brink of forming a new species. A more northern species, the Townsend’s Warbler Setophaga townsendi and a more southern species, the Hermit Warbler Setophaga occidentalis, overlap in range and hybridize. This provides a natural laboratory for understanding the process by which new species arise. By leveraging genomic sequencing, field behavior experiments, and climate and color pigment analyses, we have uncovered the evolutionary genetic basis of speciation in these very precious wood warbler species. I will also discuss why we should treasure existing wildlife species, as speciation is a reversible and treacherous process.

Speaker: Silu Wang, UC Berkeley

See weblink for Zoom information

NightSchool: Snails of Land and Sea - Livestream - 06/16/2022 07:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences

Calling all future gastropod enthusiasts: We're exploring the wide world of snails, from venomous ocean-dwellers to garden-loving city inhabitants.

Featuring:

Dr. Manda Holford, Associate Professor in Chemistry at CUNY Hunter College and The CUNY Graduate Center Chrissy Piotrowski, Collections Manager of Invertebrate Zoology, California Academy of Sciences Dr. Jann Vendetti, Associate Curator & Twila Bratcher Chair in Malacology, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County

See weblink for YouTube and Facebook links

Friday, 06/17/2022

Astro 101: Sights of the Cosmos, Intro to Astronomy - 06/17/2022 08:15 PM
San Jose Astronomical Association San Jose

This event provides a different introduction to astronomy than our Intro to the Night Sky talks. During this hour, you'll gain an appreciation for the size and scale of the cosmos and our place within it. You'll see many examples of the beautiful objects visible in the night sky, learn something about how we see them through our telescopes and what we can deduce about them through the light they send us. And then you can make your own prediction of whether we're alone in the universe.

This talk is free of charge. Just come and enjoy the show. After the talk, you can check out telescopes that will be set up as part of our In-Town Star Party.

The talk will be presented by Wolf Witt.

In Town Star Party - 06/17/2022 09:30 PM
San Jose Astronomical Association San Jose

Come join San Jose Astronomical Association (SJAA) for an evening of stargazing.

We plan to have a short introduction to night sky of the day followed by an observing session where SJAA volunteers will share night sky views from their personal 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".

Just before this star party, there's a separate introduction to astronomy talk starting at 8:15 at the same location. See Astro 101: Sights of the Cosmos, Intro to Astronomy (https://www.meetup.com/sj-astronomy/events/286366930/).

Saturday, 06/18/2022

Family Nature Walks - Baylands Nature Preserve - 06/18/2022 10:00 AM
Environmental Volunteers EcoCenter Palo Alto

Environmental Volunteers Family Nature Walks program is designed to help students and their families get to know our local open space areas. Small family groups will be guided by a knowledgeable environmental educator during an exploration of a local open space. These small groups will be introduced to fun nature-based activities, and a chance to learn more about the plants and animals all around us. Join us for some fun, outdoor learning!

Each group will have a maximum limit of 12 participants.

Families/groups are welcome to sign up for as many as they like. The nature walks are intended for children aged 6 to 11, and we ask that each group is accompanied by an adult.

Investigating Space: The Peregrine Has Landed - 06/18/2022 01:00 PM
Chabot Space and Science Center Oakland

You might have heard of the Peregrine Falcon, but have you met its robotic counterpart? Inspired by the fastest animal on Earth, the lunar lander code-named Mission Peregrine will experiment on the Moon this summer and deposit the remains of science fiction legend Arthur C. Clarke, the author of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Hang out with the Peregrine team as you learn more about this exciting mission!

Binocular Stargazing at Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve - 06/18/2022 09:30 PM
Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve Morgan Hill

Binocular Stargazing is hosted by the Santa Clara County Open Space Authority with help from members of the San Jose Astronomical Association.

Want to learn the night sky? Want to see the Milky Way and the stars contained in it? Did you know that you don’t need to spend a ton of money on a telescope to do so? All you need is a decent pair of binoculars.

Come out and attend the Binocular Stargazing event on Saturday June. 18th at 9:30pm at Coyote Valley Open Space Preserve. (Binoculars are required for this event) You will learn all about how the night sky changes by the hour, month, and year.

Our astronomy docents will lead you through the night sky so you can learn how to use your binoculars to find and view asterisms, open and globular clusters, nebulae, and planets. (You will need to have binoculars to attend this event. This is an interactive program in which you will need binoculars to follow along with the program)

Monday, 06/20/2022

Identification of Shorebirds with a Focus on Calidris - Livestream - 06/20/2022 06:00 PM
San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory

The shorebirds are always an exciting yet vexing group for birders. Join us for a talk by Jon Dunn and Lara Tseng to learn about identification of a subset of, certain Calidris sandpipers of the families in this group. In addition to identification, other important aspects will be covered, like plumages, structure, molts, behavior, status and distribution, and how to look at and study shorebirds. Learning shorebirds requires some memorization but more importantly patience, a love, and understanding of the many varied species in these families.

Tuesday, 06/21/2022

Weekday Morning Hike at Rancho Cañada del Oro - 06/21/2022 09:00 AM
Rancho Canada Del Oro Open Space Preserve Morgan hill

Free Live NSN Webinar Series: An Overview of the 2020 Decadal Survey in Astronomy and Astrophysics - Livestream - 06/21/2022 06:00 PM
Astronomical Society of the Pacific

Animal Queendom - 06/21/2022 06:00 PM
Commonwealth Club San Francisco

Wednesday, 06/22/2022

Using SPUR as a Testbed for Decarbonization In San Francisco - Livestream - 06/22/2022 09:00 AM
SF Planning + Urban Research Assoc. (SPUR)

Propagation Techniques for Herbs and Perennials - 06/22/2022 12:00 PM
UC Botanical Garden Berkeley

Thursday, 06/23/2022

The Dirt on Soil - Part 2 - Online - 06/23/2022 11:00 AM
Post Carbon Institute

Time Domain Astronomy - Making A Movie of the Universe - Livestream - 06/23/2022 05:00 PM
Cafe Scientifique Silicon Valley

Pride NightLife - 06/23/2022 06:00 PM
California Academy of Sciences San Francisco

After Dark: Pride in Our Work - 06/23/2022 06:00 PM
ExplOratorium San Francisco

Friday, 06/24/2022

Bair Island Interpretive Walk - 06/24/2022 10:00 AM
Bair Island Wildlife Refuge & Trail Redwood City

Walk on the Cowell-Purisima Trail - 06/24/2022 11:00 AM
Cowell Purisima Coastal Trailhead Half Moon Bay

Evening with the Stars at Lick Observatory - Sold Out - 06/24/2022 07:30 PM
Lick Observatory Mt. Hamilton

Saturday, 06/25/2022

BubbleFest - 06/25/2022 10:00 AM
Chabot Space and Science Center Oakland

STEM Saturday Summer Science Series - 06/25/2022 10:00 AM
NexGeneGirls San Francisco

Power in the Field - Livestream - 06/25/2022 08:00 PM
San Jose Astronomical Society

Music of the Spheres: Galactic Archaeology: Uncovering the construction of the Milky Way - 06/25/2022 08:30 PM
Lick Observatory Mt. Hamilton

Monday, 06/27/2022