An Evening with Larry Brilliant, Oct 10
Produced in collaboration with the Commonwealth Club Silicon Valley. Purchase discount tickets through THIS LINK with promo code WONDERFEST.

The Man Who Knew Infinity, with Keith Devlin, Oct 9
Freeing us from a measure of captivity will be Stanford mathematician Keith Devlin. He has untangled great ideas on National Public Radio, and he is the author of numerous popular books. Dr. Devlin will help us to understand Ramanujan’s revelations. Central to his insights — and central to the fundamental tension in the movie — is the murky provenance of mathematical truths: Where do math insights come from, and how important is the concept of proof?

Keith Devlin

The Search for Extraterrestrial Technologies Oct 8
Dr. Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer at the SETI Institute, will discuss the scientific rationale behind the search for extraterrestrial intelligence and some of the recent discoveries that are informing and spurring the search.

Dr. Seth Shostak
Map: [http://goo.gl/maps/iRRFR]

Promise and Peril of Gene Editing, Sept 28
Speaker Jeff Sheehy is director for communications at the UCSF AIDS Research Institute, and a former member of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine's governing board. A longtime HIV/AIDS and LGBT human rights activist, Jeff served as HIV/AIDS advisor to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom. Jeff has received the Human Rights Campaign's Leadership Award, the Caped Crusader Award from equality California, and he has been named to OUT magazine's "Out 100" and POZ magazine's "POZ 100."

Jeff Sheehy

Shining Light on the Dark Side, Sept 10
Dr. Holger Müller is Associate Professor of Physics at UC Berkeley. He and his research group develop experimental approaches to fundamental and applied physics questions. His expertise in instrument design was demonstrated at the ripe old age of 14 when he earned his first patent.

Dr. Holger Müller
Map: [http://goo.gl/maps/iRRFR]

The Beating Hearts of Galaxies, Aug 11

Dr. Norbert Werner

Measuring Cosmic Distances with Supernovae, Aug 6
Admission is FREE, but please register below. Bring a flashlight; and, just in case, wear warm clothes in layers. If bad weather threatens, call 415-455-5370 after 4pm. Hang around afterward for a laser-guided tour of the night sky AND for celestial viewing through the big telescopes of the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers (SFAA). This event is co-produced by Wonderfest, the Mount Tam Astronomy Program, Mt. Tamalpais State Park, Friends of Mt. Tam, and the SFAA.

Dr. Xiaosheng Huang
Map: [http://goo.gl/maps/iRRFR]

2010: The Year We (didn’t) Make Contact, July 23
This event is jointly presented by Wonderfest, the Mt. Tam Astronomy Program, Mt. Tamalpais State Park, the Friends of Mt. Tam, and the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers.
Map: [http://goo.gl/maps/iRRFR]

Habitability & Life Beyond Earth – July 9
Our speaker, SETI Institute astrobiolgist Nathalie Cabrol, is presented by: Wonderfest, the Mt. Tam Astronomy Program, Mt. Tamalpais State Park, The Friends of Mt. Tam, and the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers.

Dr. Nathalie Cabrol
Map: [http://goo.gl/maps/iRRFR]
Black Hole (Collision) Blues – June 22
[Black Holes with Einstein image from Discover magazine.]

Dr. Janna Levin
The Curious Science of Humans at War, with Mary Roach – June 21

Mary Roach
Healthy Aging – June 9
Join Dr. Gregory Tranah, CPMC Research Institute and UCSF Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, for this penetrating and FREE exploration of healthy aging. Just kindly register with Eventbrite.

Gregory Tranah, PhD
Sean M. Carroll — Origins of Life & the Universe, May16
- WHO: Sean M. Carroll, Professor of Physics, California Institute of Technology
- WHAT: The Big Picture: On the Origins of Life, Meaning, and the Universe Itself
- WHEN: 7:00 PM, Monday, May 16, 2016
- WHERE: Cubberley Community Theater, 4000 Middlefield Road (at Montrose Avenue)
- HOW: Purchase Wonderfest DISCOUNT tickets through the Commonwealth Club Silicon Valley HERE.
- WHY: Because we're curious creatures.
Searching for Life in Ocean Worlds of the Outer Solar System, May14
NASA has started a new program called "Ocean Worlds" that will focus on the many oceans in the moons of the outer Solar System. Enceladus, Europa, and Titan are of particular interest. Come with us as planetary scientist Dr. Chris McKay explores where and how we will search for evidence of life in these alien seas.

Dr. Chris McKay
Map: [http://goo.gl/maps/iRRFR]
Admission is FREE, but please register below. Bring a flashlight; and, just in case, wear warm clothes in layers. If bad weather threatens, call 415-455-5370 after 4pm. Hang around afterward for a laser-guided tour of the night sky AND for celestial viewing through the big telescopes of the San Francisco Amateur Astronomers (SFAA). This event is co-produced by Wonderfest, the Mount Tam Astronomy Program, Mt. Tamalpais State Park, Friends of Mt. Tam, and the SFAA.
Wonderfest’s “ORIGINS NightLife” at the California Academy of Sciences, May12
TICKETS: Get general NightLife info, and purchase tickets here.7:00pm – Eliot Quataert (Director, UC Berkeley Theoretical Astrophysics Center) on "How the Universe Evolved from Smooth to Lumpy" — The infant universe was remarkably uniform, with only tiny differences in its properties from one part to another. By contrast, the present universe exhibits enormous differences: some regions host planets, stars, and galaxies (and even humans!) while others do not. Prof. Quataert will describe how the universe evolved from its smooth beginnings to its current state, emphasizing how gravity reigns supreme and builds up the planets, stars, and galaxies required for biological evolution to proceed.
8:00pm – Dave Deamer (Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, UC Santa Cruz) on "Salty Sea or Darwin's Pond: Where Did Life Begin?" — Many undersea hydrothermal vents are loaded with bacteria, so scientists propose that life could have begun in similar sites four billion years ago. But science works best when there is competition between ideas. Prof. Deamer will describe field studies in the hydrothermal fields of Hawaii, Iceland, Kamchatka, and Mt. Lassen’s Bumpass Hell. He’ll discuss lab simulations that argue in favor of life’s origin in the fresh water environment suggested by Charles Darwin in 1871.
9:00pm – Henry Gilbert (Associate Professor of Anthropology, Cal State East Bay) on "Human Civilization from a Paleoanthropologist's Perspective" — Webster’s defines civilization as “the condition that exists when people have developed effective ways of organizing a society and care about art, science, etc.” Is civilization a useful term in academia? … in geopolitics? Does the term unite or divide humanity? Using numerous visual presentations of artifacts, excavations, and prehistoric societies, Prof. Gilbert will address the archaeological origins of intelligence, art, and other aspects of modern human behavior that may constitute civilization.
- WHAT: Wonderfest's "ORIGINS NightLife" at the Cal Academy
- WHO: Eliot Quataert (UC Berkeley); Dave Deamer (UC Santa Cruz); Henry Gilbert (Cal State East Bay)
- WHEN: 6:00 PM, Thursday, May 12
- WHERE: California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco
- HOW: Purchase tickets via the Cal Academy.
- WHY: Because we're curious creatures.
Viruses: Ancestors or Aliens? May10

Lauren Popov
BAD PHYSICS: Five Common Errors in Our Grasp of Reality, Mar 24
- The Earth moves through space.
- "Now" has universal meaning.
- Nature loves all energies equally.
- Mass becomes energy via E=mc^2.
- God does not play dice.
Map: [http://bit.ly/1X1hJTf]
Co-produced with the Marin JCC. Please register ($10) by calling 415-444-8000. [http://www.marinjcc.org]
The Quest to Discover How Life Works, Mar 23

Sean B. Carroll
Map: [http://bit.ly/1L7RkTj]
Co-produced with the Commonwealth Club Silicon Valley
MISSION: MARS — Toward the First Human Journey to the Red Planet, Mar 18
The first human mission to Mars will be our greatest 21st-century adventure. 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 to Near-Earth Asteroids, and exploring extreme terrestrial environments as Mars “analogs.” Dr. 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 that first interplanetary journey.

Dr. Pascal Lee
Map: [http://bit.ly/1L7RtG6]
Co-produced with Chabot Space & Science Center
What If “Intelligent Design” Had Won? Feb 8

Dr. Eugenie Scott
Map: [https://goo.gl/maps/v2mEaE4ZV6r]