2022 Archive

The stars beckon. But humans evolved on Earth, not to hurtle through space. For long-duration travel — interplanetary and, even, interstellar — what spacecraft accomodations are necessary? Is on-board human hibernation an option? Might we overcome the problems of space radiation and prolonged weightlessness? Finally, scientists may argue that the ideal craft for fast human interstellar travel is the constantly-accelerating "1-g starship," but what do engineers say?

Our two speakers are Dr. Pascal Lee, Planetary Scientist at the SETI Institute and the Mars Institute, and Tucker Hiatt, Director of Wonderfest. This Wonderfest event is part of The Bay Area Science Festival.

What does it mean to be happy, and what can one do to be happier? Scientific research is yielding a heartwarming picture: Happiness is linked to feelings and behaviors that are prosocial — that contribute to a greater good. Happy people routinely report having strong, supportive social connections; they find common humanity with others, and assume trust and good intent. Despite popular assumptions about competitiveness, self-reliance, and self-interest, evidence indicates that dedicated psychological systems (for nurturance, affiliation, and shared joy) incline humans toward cooperation and generosity. Increasing happiness, it seems, hinges largely on prioritizing interpersonal belonging and genuine kindness — both towards ourselves and other people.

Our speaker, Dr. Emiliana Simon-Thomas, is Science Director at UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center. She is a leading expert on the neuroscience and psychology of prosocial skills that boslter human happiness.

Wonderfest joins St. Helena's Cameo Cinema to present Q&A with Dr. Melanie Gilbert immediately following a special screening of 2021's CODA (95% "Fresh" at Rotten Tomatoes). Peter Travers of ABC News calls CODA (children of deaf adults) "an emotional powerhouse ... one of the year's best." This Science on Screen event  promises to be a lively journey deep into sound and silence — exploring the adaptive power of the brain and the impact technological advances can have on individuals with hearing loss.

Our guest speaker, Dr. Melanie Gilbert, is cochlear implant research audiologist in the Music and Sound Perception Lab at UC San Francisco.

The human immune system is complex — so complex and dynamic that it can actually adapt to a changing environment; i.e., it can evolve. Accordingly, we call the immune system a complex adaptive system. Within biology, species are complex adaptive systems whose environmental fitness tends to improve over time; species evolve. Sometimes, a species population divides, and each part evolves in isolation. Genetic mismatches may then arise that make hybrid creatures sterile and prevent re-mixing of the two populations. Similar processes operate in other complex adaptive systems, where isolation leads to crucial mismatches — in biological systems (such as the immune system and the brain) and in cultural systems (such as language and technology). Understanding cultural mismatches, in particular, may have large-scale consequences: informing humanity’s attempt to mitigate xenophobia.

Our speaker, Dr. David Queller, is Professor of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. His research explores the evolution of cooperation both experimentally (among microbes) and theoretically (using population genetics and game theory).

Marine scientist Dr. Stephen Palumbi answers our questions about whales (and other marine life) in this online encore presentation of Wonderfest's in-person February-6th event in St. Helena. With an easy-to-procure library card number, begin by watching 2021's The Loneliest Whale. [It's streaming via the FREE Kanopy service, associated with many public libraries.] The Loneliest Whale (88% "Fresh" at Rotten Tomatoes) is a cinematic quest to find "the 52-hertz whale," apparently condemned to a life of solitude by the unique frequency of its call to other whales. Time magazine's Sephanie Zacharek says that "this lonely seafaring fellow ... has become a metaphor for our need to connect and communicate with others." In contrast, Professor Palumbi has a wondefully rich life in science communication — with his students at Stanford and with the public in general. Even if you can't watch The Loneliest Whale beforehand, join Wonderfest to explore the marine world via Zoom with Prof. Palumbi.

Dr. Stephen Palumbi is Professor of Marine Biology at Stanford University. He does research at Hopkins Marine Station, and he is Senior Fellow at Woods Institute for the Environment. Steve is the author of 2014's The Extreme Life of the Sea with his son, Anthony Palumbi.

Many of us are captivated by the behavior of wild animals: a pride of lions fighting off a clan of hyenas, a honeybee dancing to communicate the location of food, the crazy acrobatic courtship displays of male lance-tailed manakins. What is it like to be a biologist who studies the behavior of such creatures? What are the implications for the study of human behavior? Using examples drawn from her work with rodents known as tuco-tucos, tojos, and tokoros (pictured above), Dr. Eileen Lacey will describe the types of questions, concerns, and sometimes astounding solutions that field biologists employ in their quest to understand why animals do what they do.

Dr. Eileen Lacey is Professor and Co-Chair in the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley. She also leads the Vertebrate Social Behavior and Population Biology Laboratory at Cal's Museum of Vertebrate Zoology.

In 2017, astronomers detected an elongated object swinging past Earth on its way out of the solar system. The size, shape, and motion of Oumuamua (roughly "scout" in Hawaiian) suggested to a few scientists that an interstellar spaceship had paid a visit. Perhaps the most outspoken of these scientists is Harvard astronomer Dr. Avi Loeb. Of Professor Loeb's new book, Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth, Caltech physicist Sean Carroll says, "Avi Loeb's sumptuously written book will provoke you to think about the possibility of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe in new and stimulating ways." Via this live online interview with Prof. Loeb, Wonderfest joins the Commonwealth Club in facilitating the stimulation!

Dr. Abraham (Avi) Loeb is Professor of Science and Chair of the Astronomy Department at Harvard University. He is the author of four books and over 700 scientific papers. Dr. Loeb is also director of the Institute for Theory and Computation at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics.

Modern physics provides a stunning view of the universe on scales both vast and miniscule, and, of course, on the scale of our everyday lives. In his new book, This Way to the Universe: A Theoretical Physicist's Journey to the Edge of Reality, Dr. Michael Dine describes humanity's — and his own — attempts to face profound mysteries like Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and (even) why the universe consists of something rather than nothing! Prof. Dine describes the danger of falling in love with math as he shows how our arcane-but-essential approaches to understanding the stuff of reality — like String Theory — may be experimentally testable.

Dr. Michael Dine is Distinguished Professor of Physics at the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics, UC Santa Cruz. During this online Commonwealth Club interview, audience Q&A will take place in the virtual chat bar.

Wonderfest joins St. Helena's Cameo Cinema to present a special screening of 2021's The Loneliest Whale documentary followed by Q&A with Stanford marine scientist Dr. Stephen Palumbi. The Loneliest Whale (88% "Fresh" at Rotten Tomatoes) is a cinematic quest to find "the 52-hertz whale," apparently condemned to a life of solitude by the unique frequency of its call to other whales. Time magazine's Stephanie Zacharek says that "this lonely seafaring fellow ... has become a metaphor for our own need to connect and communicate with others." In contrast, Professor Palumbi has had a wonderfully rich life in science communication — with his students at Stanford and with the public in general. His post-screening presentation (with audience Q&A) will shine light on the "secret life of whales," in general.

Dr. Stephen Palumbi is Professor of Marine Sciences at Stanford University. He does research at Hopkins Marine Station, and he is Senior Fellow at the Woods Institute for the Environment. Steve is the author of 2014's The Extreme Life of the Sea with his son, Anthony Palumbi.

Dr. Daniel Kammen is Professor of Energy and founding director of the Renewable & Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL) at UC Berkeley. He has recently returned from the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow (COP26) where he served as USAID's Senior Advisor for Energy, Climate, and Innovation.