2017 Archive

If mind is "what the brain does," how does the brain do it? And how are other parts of the body involved in creating mind? Wonderfest presents two neuroscientists with deep insights into the mind-body connection:

• At 7:30pm, Elissa Epel, presents "A Sweet Story: Stress, Eating, and Mindfulness." Dr. Epel is Professor of Psychiatry and Director of UCSF's Aging, Metabolism, and Emotions Lab.
• At 8:30pm, Howard Fields presents "How the Brain Creates a Virtual Mind-Body Experience." Dr. Fields is Professor of Neurology and Director of UCSF's Wheeler Center for the Neurobiology of Addiction.

Please join in this special Wonderfest contribution to Brain & Body NightLife at the California Academy of Sciences by purchasing tickets via the Cal Academy link below. [Note: The full NightLife experience begins at 6:00pm; only adults 21+ are admitted.]
Elissa Epel & Howard Fields

NASA's Kepler mission has determined that hospitable planets — just in our Milky Way Galaxy — number in the billions! Can we really be alone in this marvelous universe?

The Breakthrough Prize Foundation has committed $100 Million to UC Berkeley and other institutions for the most comprehensive Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) ever conducted. Chief Scientist of Berkeley SETI, Dan Werthimer, will describe the rationale for past and future searches, and will show how new technologies are revolutionizing SETI.

Dan Werthimer

From flip drawings to computer graphics, the magic of animation allows audiences to explore fantastic new worlds. Too much "magic," however, can render animated characters simply unbelievable, spoiling the fantasy. The more closely characters' actions obey the laws of physics, the more believable they become. Ironically, when filmmakers incorporate real scientific principles in animated movies, audiences can better escape reality and enter a fantasy world.

Following a special screening of the highly-praised Secret World of Arrietty (2012), physicist Alejandro Garcia will describe — and answer questions about — the science behind effective animation. Dr. Garcia is Professor of Physics & Astronomy at San José State University where he teaches a course in The Physics of Animation. He has helped DreamWorks Studios to get the physics right in such movies as Trolls, Madagascar 3, and Mr. Peabody and Sherman.

Alejandro Garcia

The dinosaurs (and 75% of all earthly species!) learned the hard way: asteroids can mean trouble — on a planetary scale. From the meteor that exploded over Chelyabinsk injuring 1500 in 2013, to the asteroid/comet that caused a mass extinction 66 million years ago, space "debris" is important. Fortunately, a global team of dedicated astronomers — including Caltech's Carrie Nugent — finds and tracks asteroids throughout the solar system. Come learn about the nature, origin, and global lethality of our solar system's numerous mini-worlds.

Dr. Carrie Nugent discovers and tracks asteroids with a space-based infrared telescope, part of NASA’s NEOWISE mission. She is a 2016 TED fellow, and she hosts and produces Spacepod, a podcast about space exploration. Asteroid 8801 Nugent bears her name(!), and Asteroid Hunters is her first book.

Carrie Nugent

The formation and growth of black holes, the accelerating expansion of the universe, the echo of the Big Bang, the discovery of earth-like exoplanets, and the possibility of other universes — these are some of the intriguing subjects of early 21st-century astronomy and cosmology. Join Yale's Priya Natarajan in exploring the radical ideas and discoveries that have reshaped our understanding of the universe over the past century.

Dr. Priya Natarajan is Professor of Physics and Professor of Astronomy at Yale University. She is particularly noted for her work in mapping dark matter, in gravitational lensing, and in the growth of supermassive black holes. She is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and of the American Physical Society.

Priya Natarajan

Time may be — simultaneously! — both the most mundane and the most mysterious feature of our universe. Wonderfest and Bookshop West Portal present The New Yorker’s Alan Burdick in discussion of his new book, Why Time Flies: A Mostly Scientific Investigation. What is time, really? Do children experience it the same way adults do? Why does it seem to slow down when we’re bored and speed by as we get older? How do scientists measure it, and why is probability involved? How and why does time fly?

Alan Burdick is a staff writer and former senior editor at The New Yorker; he is also a frequent contributor to Elements, the magazine's science-and-tech blog. His writing has also appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Discover, and Best American Science and Nature Writing. His first book, Out of Eden: An Odyssey of Ecological Invasion, was a National Book Award finalist and won the Overseas Press Club Award for environmental reporting. [Photo by Laura Rose]

Alan Burdick

One in a million doesn’t even come close! Not when we’re talking about the odds that you would happen to be alive today, on this particular planet, hurtling through space. Almost 14 billion years of cosmic history, more than 4 billion years of Earth history, and a couple million years of human history, has led to you. Legendary geophysicist Walter Alvarez discusses the "big picture" insights in his latest book, A Most Improbably Journey: A Big History of Our Planet and Ourselves.

Walter Alvarez is Professor of the Graduate School and Professor of Earth & Planetary Science at UC Berkeley. He is perhaps best know for attributing the Cretaceous-ending mass extinction to the impact of a giant asteroid or comet — later verified by discovery of the largest impact crater on Earth.

Walter Alvarez

Why do some 60-year-olds look/feel 40, and some 40-year-olds look/feel 60? Telomeres and telomerase have much to do with it, and they're under our control — at least partly! Please join Nobel biochemist Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn and health psychologist Dr. Elissa Epel as they discuss key elements of their new book The Telomere Effect — A Revolutionary Approach to Living Younger, Healthier, & Longer.

Elizabeth Blackburn is president of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies and winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine. Elissa Epel is founding director of UCSF's Center on Obesity Assessment, Study, and Treatment. Their discussion will be moderated by syndicated talk-show host Angie Coiro.