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Love in the Time of Facebook

Love in the Time of Facebook

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Facebook is a great way to share news, keep in touch with friends, and make fun of old photos. It’s also a gold mine of information about human relationships. Data scientists have studied the communications of people who change their Facebook relationship status from “Single” to “In a relationship.” We now know how their timeline posts change, and how their use of positive wording (“love,” “nice,” “happy,” etc.) evolve. Aggregate, anonymized Facebook data tells us a lot about the formation of love, its duration, its stages, and the role of other factors like religion and age. Join Facebook scientist Dr. Carlos Diuk as he mines the data to explore love and relationships in the modern era.

  • WHAT:  Love in the Time of Facebook
  • WHO: Dr. Carlos Diuk, Facebook Data Scientist
  • WHEN: 7pm, Wednesday, March 18, 2015
  • WHERE:  Patreon HQ, 230 – 9th Street, San Francisco (close to BART Civic Center) <http://tinyurl.com/lljx2da>
  • HOW:  Purchase $5 tickets via Eventbrite, below. Complimentary snacks & drinks provided by Patreon. Co-produced with Ask a Scientist.
  • WHY:  Because we’re curious creatures.

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. (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.

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Physics of Baseball

The Physics of Baseball

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Physics of Baseball

Spring is no longer in the air, and the grass is worn down. But excitement is building as the boys of summer become the play-off boys of October — with the end of the Major League Baseball season. Please join two veteran physics teachers as they explain — and demonstrate — the physical nuances of the game: how a curve ball curves, why a 550-foot homer is so unlikely, how the half-millisecond collision of ball-on-bat is so beautifully complex. From aerodynamics to energy conservation, and from Magnus force to center of percussion, you be the umpire as simple physics illuminates our national pastime.

  • WHAT:  The Physics of Baseball, dialogue and demonstration
  • WHO: Tucker Hiatt, long-time physics teacher, Stanford Visiting Scholar (emeritus!), and Wonderfest Founding Director *AND* Marc “Zeke” Kossover, long-time physics teacher, Albert Einstein Distinguished Educator Fellow to the National Science Foundation, and Teacher in Residence and Co-Director of the Leadership Program at the Eploratorium
  • WHEN:  7:00 PM, Wednesday, September 24, 2014
  • WHERE:  SoMa StrEat Food Park, 428 – 11th Street, San Francisco <http://goo.gl/maps/u6fVu>
  • HOW:  FREE admission, but please register with Eventbrite. Co-produced with Ask a Scientist.
  • WHY:  Because we’re curious creatures.

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. (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.

Mind Puzzles Wonderfest

Mind Puzzles

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Mind Puzzles WonderfestWhat if our soundest, most reasonable judgments are beyond our control? Are the feelings of being rational and having free will generated by conscious decisions or involuntary brain mechanisms? Is there a way to resolve the conflict between our innate biology and our traditional beliefs? Dr. Robert A. Burton, author of A Skeptic’s Guide to the Mind, reveals what neuroscience can (and cannot) tell us about ourselves.

Burton Wonderfest

WHAT:  Mind Puzzles
WHO:  Dr. Robert A. Burton, former Chief of Neurology, Mt. Zion UCSF http://www.rburton.com
WHEN:  7:00pm (check-in at 6:30), Wednesday, August 13, 2014
WHERE:  Oshman Family JCC, 3921 Fabian Way, Palo Alto, CA http://goo.gl/maps/o8jci
HOW: Produced in collaboration with the Commonwealth Club Silicon Valley. For full “Member” ticket discount, please follow these instructions:

1. Visit http://www.commonwealthclub.org/events/2014-08-13/mind-puzzles.
2. Add General Admission Member tickets into basket (2 tickets, max, per transaction).
3. Proceed to the Check Out page, and enter ticket & credit card information.
4. For the Member ID, enter WONDERFEST.

WHY:  Because we’re curious creatures.

 

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Contribute to Wonderfest when shopping — as you normally do, and with the full selection of merchandise — at Amazon.com.  It doesn’t cost you anything additional, and a percentage goes to us!  Start here: http://amazon.wonderfest.org

 

Image Credit: bobbybobby85 http://ow.ly/zummj

homo erectus - wonderfest

Whatever Happened to Homo erectus?

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homo erectus - wonderfestWho’s your (ancient) daddy? Did he walk upright? Could he control fire? Did he have a brow ridge that wouldn’t quit?! Then maybe he was a Homo of the erectus — not so sapient — type. Many new Homo erectus specimens have been added to the global repository in the past decades, and many new interpretations have followed. It is more that most can easily digest. Come join professor Henry Gilbert, discoverer of the Daka Homo erectus cranium, to have the Pleistocene evidence of your ancestors’ evolutionary history explained.

WHAT:  Whatever Happened to Homo erectus?
WHO:  Henry Gilbert, Assoc. Professor of Anthropology, CSU East Bay, and Researcher, Human Evolution Research Center, UC Berkeley
WHEN:  7:00pm, Wednesday, August 20, 2014
WHERE:  SoMa StrEat Food Park, 428 – 11th Street, San Francisco
HOW: Produced in collaboration with Ask a Scientist.
WHY:  Because we’re curious.
ADMISSION: FREE – Please register.

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.

Placebo and the Illusory Nature of Perception

Placebo and the Illusory Nature of Perception

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Placebo and the Illusory Nature of Perception

The word placebo, from Latin “I shall please,” was defined in Quincy’s Lexicon-Medicum (1811) as “[any medicine] adapted more to please than to benefit the patient”. But as you probably know, pharmacologically inert “sugar pills” can do much more than just please — they can bring about very real physical benefits for patients suffering from a range of painful and debilitating conditions. This extraordinary phenomenon is both tangibly promising, in terms of disease management, and intellectually tantalizing. You gotta wonder: Are people really being cured? Do placebos work on children? How about people with cognitive impairments? Are hypnosis, acupuncture, and prayer related to the placebo effect? Are there certain conditions that are completely impervious to placebos? UCSF’s Dr. Howard Fields will answer our questions and share his expertise on the tremendously fascinating placebo (and nocebo) effect.

WHAT:  Placebo and the Illusory Nature of Perception
WHO:  Dr. Howard Fields, Professor of Neurology, UC San Francisco
WHEN:  7:00pm, Monday, June 2, 2014
WHERE:  SoMa StrEat Food Park, 428 – 11th Street, San Francisco, CA 94103
HOW:  Presented in collaboration with Ask a Scientist.
WHY:  Because we’re curious creatures.
ADMISSION: FREE.  Please register.

Please consider making a donation to Wonderfest to help us promote science. Even a modest gift will make more events like this possible.

Mysteries of Sleep

The Mysteries of Sleep

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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. This talk will describe new discoveries suggesting that sleep is a highly active process, essential for improving brain functions including (1) learning, (2) memory, (3) creativity and (4) emotional regulation.

  • TITLE: The Mysteries of Sleep
  • SPEAKERS: Matthew P. Walker, Associate Professor of Psychology, UC Berkeley
  • WHEN:  Wednesday, May 7, 2014; 7:00pm
  • WHERE:   SoMa StrEat Food Park, 428 – 11th Street, San Francisco
  • HOW:  Produced in collaboration with Ask a Scientist.
  • WHY:  Because we’re curious creatures
  • ADMISSION:  FREE!  Register here.  (But Wonderfest needs your support to continue producing these events. Please consider even a small contribution. All donations are put to excellent use and are fully tax-deductible.)
Understanding Pain

Understanding Pain

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Pain speaks as forcefully and as personally as any human experience. While the ability to experience pain is essential for survival, chronic pain is the scourge of sentient existence. As a topic of research, pain presents a formidable challenge for scientists. How does individual perception of pain vary? Why are some chronic pains so difficult to control? How effective are alternative and complementary methods, such as acupuncture and hypnosis, and how do they exert their pain-relieving effects?

WHAT: Understanding Pain
WHO: Allan Basbaum, MD, Professor and Chair, Anatomy Department, UC San Francisco [http://profiles.ucsf.edu/allan.basbaum]
WHEN: 2014-04-15
COLLABORATORS:
Commonwealth Club of Silicon Valley [https://www.commonwealthclub.org/]