2019 Archive

Scientists know with certainty that California will experience large earthquakes in the future. Earthquakes are often depicted in the media and popular culture, but which aspects of these depictions are factual, and which are fictitious? We cannot yet predict earthquakes, so what can we do? How can we prepare?

Our speaker, Dr. William Hawley, is a geophysicist and a National Science Foundation Postdoctoral Scholar at Columbia University. He is also a Wonderfest Science Envoy.

Image: SarahRichterArt

Sharks exhibit an incredible sensitivity to their watery environment, including an extra sensory advantage: the ability to detect tiny electric signals. This sixth sense can help them locate meals, identify mates, and even, we believe, navigate the oceans. Hundreds of "electrosensors" sit embedded within a shark's head; in concert, they can discern changes as small as a billionth of a single volt. This talk will bring together physics, chemistry, and biology to reveal how a creature can "see" the world electrically.

Our speaker, Dr. Brandon Brown, is professor and chair in the Physics Department at the University of San Francisco.

Human minds love to discover patterns, to find intuitive explanations, and, most of all, to be certain. Yet our world is complicated and filled with randomness. Statistical thinking provides us with practical tools for making sense of an uncertain world. It can lead us to make surprising conclusions from the data of everyday life. And it also teaches us useful humility in the face of uncertainty.

Our speaker, Dr. Jacob Bien, is Associate Professor of Statistics at the University of Southern California. He is also a founding member of Wonderfest's Board of Directors.

Genetic engineering and editing allow us to modify plants in various ways. Questions have been raised about the environmental and human-health effects of these technologies to modify the genetic information in crops and foods. What is the history of genetic modification of plants, and what impact might these technologies have on the future of foods?

Our speaker, Dr. Peggy Lemaux, is Cooperative Extension Specialist at UC Berkeley. She, also, was the chair of UC's Agricultural and Natural Resources Biotechnology Workgroup.

Our understanding of stem cells has exploded in recent years, promising transformative therapies — and even cures — for a myriad of diseases. Come learn about the many types of stem cells in the human body, and how they are being used to develop treatments for diseases including immune deficiencies, sickle cell disease, thalassemia, diabetes, kidney disease, osteoarthritis, and eye diseases. See how these groundbreaking therapies have changed the course of so many lives.

Both of our speakers hail from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine (CIRM). Dr. Lisa Kadyk is CIRM's Associate Director of Therapeutics, and Yimy Villa is CIRM's Marketing Communications Manager.

In 1931, Winston Churchill declared: "We shall escape the absurdity of growing a whole chicken in order to eat the breast or wing, by growing these parts separately under suitable medium." What suitable medium is that?! Beyond chicken, can the tissues of cow, pig, and fish really be grown in the laboratory? These are questions being tackled by scientists at companies in the US and abroad. Further: How do these cultured meats taste, and how much do they cost? Alongside the enormous animal welfare issue, does in vitro meat have health implications for humans AND for the planet at large?

Our speaker, Dr. Nicholas Legendre, is Director of Biological Research at New Age Meats in San Francisco.

Quantum mechanics, the physics of the very small, is the most accurate and far-reaching theory in science. (Bear in mind: theory is as good as it gets in science!) Still, physicists themselves admit that they don't fully understand the quantum world. Caltech physicist and New York Times best-selling author Sean Carroll suggests that we do have a very promising way to understand the mysteries of the quantum world ... of quantum worlds.

Sean M. Carroll is Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology. His most recent book is "Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime."

Quantum mechanics, the physics of the very small, is the most accurate and far-reaching theory in science. (Bear in mind: theory is as good as it gets in science!) Still, physicists themselves admit that they don't fully understand the quantum world. Caltech physicist and New York Times best-selling author Sean Carroll suggests that we do have a very promising way to understand the mysteries of the quantum world ... of quantum worlds.

Sean M. Carroll is Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology. His most recent book is "Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime."

The first human mission to Mars will be our greatest adventure of the 21st-century. As with all expeditions, its success will depend on planning. The first steps are already under way: achieving longer spaceflight missions, planning for deep space journeys beyond the Moon, and exploring extreme terrestrial environments as Mars “analogs.” NASA'S Pascal Lee will discuss progress made around the world — from the Arctic to Antarctica, from basement labs to the International Space Station — to achieve the first human voyage to Mars. He will explore the what, why, how, when, and who of our first journey to the Red Planet.

Dr. Pascal Lee is a planetary scientist at the Mars Institute and at the SETI Institute. He also directs the Haughton-Mars Project at NASA Ames Research Center.

Humanity's quest to understand matter has led to society-shaping technological breakthroughs. For example, the solid-state transistor underlies virtually all of modern computation. In complex quantum systems, exotic properties emerge which do not simply follow from the physical laws governing individual particles. A classic example is the phenomenon of superconductivity, which took scientists nearly 50 years to explain. Beyond useful applications, the study of quantum mechanical properties of crystalline materials — i.e., “condensed matter physics" — is a rich playground for exploring nature's deepest laws.

Our speaker, Arielle Little, is a PhD candidate in the UC Berkeley Physics Department.

Planet Earth is regularly being struck by interplanetary debris: fine dust, rocks, boulders (big enough to outshine the Sun as they streak through the atmosphere), asteroids, comets, and even small stray planets. Some of these collision events offer glorious night-time views; others can cause planetary annihilation. Infall of secondary debris ("shrapnel" from the original impact) can raise atmospheric temperatures by hundreds of degrees, globally.

Our speaker, Dr. Kevin Zahnle, is Planetary Scientist at NASA Ames Research Center.

Illustration (above) by Mark Garlick, Science Photo Library/Alamy