2014 Archive

We spend one third of our lives asleep, yet doctors and scientists still have no complete understanding as to why. It is one of the great scientific mysteries. Sleep researcher and UC Berkeley Professor, Matthew Walker, will describe new discoveries suggesting that sleep is a highly active process, essential for improving brain functions including learning, memory, creativity, and emotional regulation.

Wonderfest works every day to promote the scientific outlook. For as little as $1/month, why not become a Wonderfest Patron? As the Medici family were patrons of popular art in old Italy, you can become a patron of popular science and rationality in the modern Bay Area. http://patreon.com/wonderfest (And you’ll get that tax-deduction that the Medici never did!) Please become a regular supporter of Wonderfest, and help enlarge the concept of scientific community.

This Christmas, shop on Amazon Smile. It doesn’t cost you a dime extra, a small percent will go to support Wonderfest and science!  http://amazon.wonderfest.org.

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Jared Diamond, UCLA Professor of Geography, is a scientist known for drawing from a variety of fields: from anthropology to evolutionary biology. He has published several very popular science books, including Pulitzer Prize-winning Guns, Germs and Steel and, most recently, The World Until Yesterday. Diamond’s conclusions are critical and provocative, exploring concepts such as how humans evolved to be so different from other animals (despite sharing over 98 percent of our DNA with chimpanzees), and why Eurasian peoples conquered Native Americans and Africans instead of vice versa. Diamond yet again challenges the way we think in “The World Until Yesterday” as he chronicles tribal peoples and what they can teach us about the shortcomings of modern society. Join Wonderfest and the Commonwealth Club for an hour of intellectual stimulation with one of the world’s most celebrated polymaths.

• WHAT:  An Evening with Jared Diamond
• WHEN:  6:30-7:30 PM, Tuesday, December 9, 2014
• WHERE:  The Castro Theater, 429 Castro Street, San Francisco CA 94114
• HOW:  Presented in collaboration with the Commonwealth Club San Francisco.
• WHY:  Because we’re curious creatures.
• Purchase DISCOUNT TICKETS:

  Go to this special link: <bit.ly/diamond-eb>. Then, follow these steps:

  Near the bottom of the ticketing page, click on the orange ‘Enter promotional code’ option (near the green “Order Now” button), type in wonderfest, and click ‘Apply.’ Three discounted ticket types will appear created especially for the Wonderfest community. Enter your ticket needs, and proceed with the purchase process.

Wonderfest works every day to promote the scientific outlook. For as little as $1/month, why not become a Wonderfest Patron? As the Medici family were patrons of popular art in old Italy, you can become a patron of popular science and rationality in the modern Bay Area. http://patreon.com/wonderfest (And you’ll get that tax-deduction that the Medici never did!) Please become a regular supporter of Wonderfest, and help enlarge the concept of scientific community.

This Christmas, shop on Amazon Smile. It doesn’t cost you a dime extra, a small percent will go to support Wonderfest and science!  http://amazon.wonderfest.org.

Watch more videos: http://videos.wonderfest.org

Join us on:
http://facebook.com/wonderfest
http://twitter.com/wonderfest

“Not too hot, not too cold” reads the prescription for a world that’s just right for life as we know it. Finding evidence of life beyond Earth is one of the primary goals of science agencies in the United States and abroad. The goal looms closer as a result of discoveries made by NASA’s Kepler Mission. Launched in March 2009, Kepler is exploring the diversity of planets and planetary systems orbiting other stars in the galaxy. Finding inhabited environments is a path of exploration that stretches decades into the future. It begins by determining if Goldilocks planets abound. Dr. Batalha will describe the latest discoveries of NASA’s Kepler Mission and the possibilities for finding inhabited environments in the not-so-distant future.

When science fiction portrays the galaxy as an arena of interstellar commerce and, occasionally, of star wars, could it be accurate? We now know that billions of hospitable, Earth-like planets are sprinkled throughout our Milky Way Galaxy. Yet billions of short-term searches for ET have turned up nothing. Where is everybody?!  Premier planet hunter Geoff Marcy and expert alien detective Dan Werthimer will debate this most fascinating of scientific questions: Are We Alone in the Cosmos?

After the debate, Paul Salazar, the Urban Astronomer, will be present a brief laser-guided tour of the night sky.

Image: “Invasion of the Saucer Men” movie poster, 1957

Particle Fever is the remarkably popular account of humankind’s deepest exploration into the structure of matter. According to Kenneth Turan of the L.A. Times, Particle Fever is “so mind-bending you can almost feel your brain cells growing,” and it has earned a 95% “Fresh” rating at RottenTomatoes.com. After the screening, UC Berkeley physicist Dr. Surjeet Rajendran will provide insights into the making of the movie AND into the making of … everything else in the universe!

About the image: “The silicon strip tracker of the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) nears completion. Shown here are three concentric cylinders, each comprised of many silicon strip detetectors (the bronze-coloured rectangular devices, similar to the CCDs used in digital cameras). These surround the region where the protons collide.” http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/11/large_hadron_collider_ready_to.html

Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Wonderfest to help us promote the scientific outlook. Even a modest gift will make more events like this possible. 

Come laugh with Dr. Norm Goldblatt, physicist and laser engineer. He’ll take you on a tour of his crazy world that unites left and right brain. Come one come  all, young or old. NOT for geeks only. Everyone will enjoy thinking and giggling. Laugh AT him or WITH him; he doesn’t care.

Norm divides his time between working with light and making light of his work. He has performed at all the local comedy clubs as well as conferences and corporate events. His quips have been published in the San Francisco Chronicle, both in the late great Herb Caen and Leah Garchik columns. His work has been published in prestigious journals such as the ever-popular Physics Today and the Journal of Irreproducible Results. He has appeared on Public Radio’s Science Friday as well as at Wonderfest and the US Science and Engineering Festival in Washington DC. Norm has written jokes for several comics, most notably Jay Leno.

Planet Earth is constantly being struck by interplanetary debris: fine dust, rocks, boulders (big enough to outshine the Sun when they die), asteroids, comets, and even small stray planets. Some of these events offer glorious night-time views, others can cause planetary annihilation. Please join Dr. Zahnle as he explores the glories and the threats … when worlds collide.

Wonderfest and the Mt. Tamalpais Astronomy Program present Planetologist Kevin Zahnle from the NASA-Ames Research Center for a talk on Earth’s status as a “rock star” for powerful impacts from space.  

After Dr. Zahnle’s presentation, the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers (SFAA) will provide big telescopes for wonderful close-up views of the heavens.