End of Daze, with Chris McKay (Steve Carell & Keira Knightley), Dec 1

If doomsday is coming in 2012, it had better hurry! On December 1st, with just one month to meet the legendary “End of Days” before 2013, Wonderfest invites you to a more rational examination of doomsday. End of Daze: Does Hollywood Get Doomsday Right? presents uber-droll planetary scientist Chris McKay introducing a special screening of 2012′s Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. Get the explosive truth — as best we know it — about how days might reallyend if a monster asteroid comes to town. Don’t miss the rapture of this fundraising event for Wonderfest and Variety Children’s Charity. It’ll be a blast!

Speaker: Dr Chris McKay

Physics Circus, with Zeke Kossover @ AT&T Park

The circus is coming to town!  

Wonderfest presents The Physics Circus, an exhibition in the Bay Area Science Festival, Discovery Days at AT&T Park. With equipment generously donated by PASCO Scientific, physics teachers Zeke Kossover and Tucker Hiatt will guide you in the use of over a dozen wondrous devices: bicycle gyroscope, marshmallow blowgun, compression igniter, inertia wand, ultrasonic motion detector, etc. Come learn some deep principles of physics while having a blast!

This is a fantastic event for inquisitive minds of all ages.  Don’t miss this!

Discovery Days at AT&T Park

AT&T Park will become a science wonderland when the Bay Area Science Festival concludes again with this FREE science extravaganza on Saturday November 3rd 11AM-4PM. Last year, more than 21,000 people enjoyed a non-stop program chock-full of interactive exhibits, experiments, games, and shows, all meant to entertain and inspire. With more than 150 exhibits, there is something for everyone to unleash their inner scientist.  (see more…) 

Physics Circus performances throughout the day

When Worlds Collide & Star Gazing, with NASA’s Dr. Kevin Zahnle

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Watch: Does a Scientific Approach to Cooking Kill the Joy? McGee & Zare

Does a Scientific Approach to Cooking Kill the Joy? from Wonderfest on FORA.tv As a cookbook, Joy of Cooking has sold over 18 million copies. As a philosophy, it has enriched countless fine meals. Author Harold McGee (On Food & Cooking: The Science & Lore of the Kitchen) and professor Richard Zare (Stanford chemistry) contend that science intensifies the joy of cooking. From boiling water to baking a soufflé, scientific insights can inform and enhance most every kitchen experience

Wonderfest presents McGee and Zare in spirited conversation about the joy of a scientific approach to cooking.  Presented as part of the Bay Area Science Festival.

Is Nature or Man the Most Effective Bioterrorist? Falkow & Relman

Since at least the beginning of the written record, epidemics of infectious disease have swept through plant and animal populations, including humans, and altered the course of history. The unexpected, diverse, and seemingly sophisticated composition and behavior of these naturally-occurring epidemic agents has prompted many to proclaim Mother Nature to be a far more effective bioterrorist than Man could ever be. Yet, recent developments in the ongoing biology and biotechnology “revolution” may force us to reconsider this conclusion. New insights and capabilities in the life sciences, as illustrated by the recent creation of novel transmissible and virulent bird flu viruses in the laboratory, suggest that humans might rival Mother Nature for this dubious distinction.

BBQ with the Stars

Join world-renowned astronomers for an end-of-summer picnic on Mt. Hamilton! Event begins with outdoor catered BBQ (with vegetarian options) and live 1970s music from Silicon Valley’s Dr. West. Mingle, chat, and ask your cosmic questions of UC astronomy professors Alex Filippenko, Geoff Marcy, and Sandra Faber.

UC professor emeritus Timothy Ferris, author of a dozen books and producer of three PBS documentary films will also be joining us to chat and answer questions. Come and hobnob with the “best popular science writer in the English language!”

Later we’ll move indoors to enjoy the classical guitar duo Equilibrium (watch video here), followed by talks by Ferris, Filippenko, Marcy, and Faber about the universe. Finally, view the night sky through the Great Lick Refractor and Nickel reflecting telescope.

Watch: COSMOS Reconsidered with Alex Filippenko

Renowned researcher-teacher (and co-discoverer of dark energy) Alex Filippenko will present key video excerpts from Carl Sagan’s legendary COSMOS television series, offer up-to-date commentary, and invite audience questions.

Do you remember when Carl Sagan urged us to explore beyond the “shores of the cosmic ocean” and to search for other planetary voices in the “cosmic fugue” of life? How about when Sagan helped us to imagine the fourth dimension by using cute little cut-outs scurrying around Flatland? Or when he gently debunked alien-abduction claims while explaining and encouraging the SETI efforts of real scientists?

Since the COSMOS television series aired in 1980, it has become the most watched science documentary of all time — seen by more than half a billion people! Ann Druyan (Sagan’s widow) and Neil deGrasse Tyson will release a remake of COSMOS in 2014. Until then, we in the Bay Area are lucky to have astronomy legend Alex Filippenko shining his insight and enthusiasm onto our favorite COSMOS episodes.

Please join Wonderfest and Ask a Scientist for “COSMOS Reconsidered, with Alex Filippenko.” Get your questions answered about the profound revelations of that landmark PBS series.

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Watch: Hunting the Elements – PBS-NOVA Special Screening

April 4, 2012 David Pogue, host for PBS-NOVA and columnist for Scientific American & the NY Times (bio) Co-presented with Bay Area Science Program Description Where do nature’s building blocks, called the elements, come from? They’re the hidden ingredients of everything in our world, from the carbon in our bodies to the metals in our smartphones. To unlock their secrets, David Pogue, the lively host of NOVA’s popular “Making Stuff” series and technology correspondent of The New York Times, spins viewers through the world of weird, extreme chemistry: the strongest acids, the deadliest poisons, the universe’s most abundant elements, and the rarest of the rare—substances cooked up in atom smashers that flicker into existence for only fractions of a second. Why are some elements like platinum or gold inert while others like phosphorus or potassium violently explosive? Why are some vital to every breath we take while others are lethal toxins that killed off their discoverers such as Marie Curie? As he digs for answers, Pogue reveals the story of the elements to be a rich stew simmering with passion, madness, and obsessive scientific rivalry. Punctuated by surprising and often alarming experiments, this program takes NOVA on a roller-coaster ride through nature’s hidden lab and the compelling stories of discovery that revealed its secrets. Watch the Program

Watch: Incomplete Nature: Consciousness, and Purpose? Terrence Deacon