Earthlings have been using radio telescopes to search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) since 1960. Despite our continuing failure to strike SETI gold, radio waves remain an excellent medium for hypothetical interstellar communication. Of course, we might be looking for ET in all the wrong places, and perhaps even in all the wrong ways. Are anthropocentric biases misleading us? What new search strategies — and sensitive new technology — can help us finally detect that first alien technosignature that will profoundly change humanity’s self-conception?
Our Wonderfest speaker is Dan Werthimer, Chief Technologist at the Berkeley SETI Research Center. Dan has led some of Earth’s most sensitive and wide-ranging SETI efforts, and he has earned Wonderfest’s Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization.
HOW: This event is free and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value does it have FOR YOU (and, indirectly, for society)? Accordingly, please use the DONATE button (below) to support Wonderfest in its nonprofit mission to share the scientific outlook.
In recent years, people throughout California have witnessed the Northern Lights. Where, when, and why do the different types of Northern Lights and their southern counterpart, the Southern Lights — collectively known as the aurora — appear? What special conditions allowed us to see recent auroras in California? Where and when might we see them again? How are common explanations of the aurora incorrect? And why do auroras look different in photographs than they do when viewed with our own eyes?
Our Wonderfest speaker is Dr. Laura Peticolas, physicist, aurora expert, and Director of EdEon STEM Learning at Sonoma State University. [Golden Gate aurora photo by Hugo Lageneste]
HOW: This event is free and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value does it have FOR YOU (and, indirectly, for society)? Accordingly, please use the DONATE button (below) to support Wonderfest in its nonprofit mission to share the scientific outlook.
Much of what we think we know about outer space comes from film and television, but Hollywood’s job is more often to entertain than to educate. In this fun and informative presentation, Prof. Thomas Targett will sort fact from fiction, taking a tour through the worlds of Star Trek, Star Wars, and much more.
Dr. Thomas Targett is Professor of Physics & Astronomy at the Sonoma campus of California State University. His 2023 Wonderfest presentation, Fast & Faraway: The High-Redshift Universe, was equally far out. 🙂
HOW: This event is free and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value does it have FOR YOU (and, indirectly, for society)? Accordingly, please use the DONATE button (below) to support Wonderfest in its nonprofit mission to share the scientific outlook.
Just for fun (and for bragging rights), how many science facts lie within your grasp, and within the grasp of a few friends? That beautiful word science originates from the Latin word scientia, meaning “knowledge,” so it covers a lot of ground! This particular bit of information — involving the etymology of “science” — might be precisely what your team needs to claim victory in Wonderfest’s Team Science Quiz: a fun contest with questions, music, and visuals from all fields of science. Play solo or join up to three fellow Wondernauts to form a quiz quartet … and earn Wonderfest bragging rights for years to come.
Our science quiz host is Howard Rachelson, Marin’s Master of Trivia and author of the weekly Trivia Cafe column in the Pacific Sun newspaper.
HOW: This event is free and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value does it have FOR YOU (and, indirectly, for society)? Accordingly, please use the DONATE button (below) to support Wonderfest in its nonprofit mission to share the scientific outlook.
The USA has developed ground- and space-based telescopes that have helped revolutionize our view of the cosmos … and of ourselves. In this Commonwealth Club event, astrophysicist John Mulchaey explores current and future developments in telescope innovation, the state of national investment in those developments, the global collaboration on extremely large telescopes such as the Giant Magellan, and the future of American leadership in this particular leg of the modern space race.
Wonderfest joins Commonwealth Club World Affairs to present Dr. John Mulchaey, President of the Carnegie Institution for Science, in conversation with the George Hammond, author of Conversations with Socrates.
This event can be enjoyed in-person only. Pre-register with the Commonwealth Club / World Affairs via the “Tickets” link, below. Use promo code WONDERNAUTS for a $10 ticket discount.
Dr. John Mulchaey
WHAT: Tremendous Telescopes: The Future of US Space Observation
HOW: During the last stage of online ticket purchase from the Commonwealth Club (via the "Tickets" link, below), use promo code WONDERNAUTS to secure a discount of $10.
Synthetic biology — creating new capabilities with life — promises to foster an innovative future for planet Earth in fields as diverse as agriculture, pharmaceuticals, and nanotechnology. As humans move beyond Earth to long duration stays in the International Space Station, and then onward to the Moon and Mars, the challenges of supporting human life will need radical new solutions that synthetic biology can deliver. In turn, those new solutions will facilitate technical, industrial, and social improvements back here on our home planet.
Our Wonderfest speaker is Dr.Lynn Rothschild, Adjunct Professor of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology, and Biochemistry at Brown University. Dr. Rothschild also has a laboratory at NASA Ames Research Center, and teaches Astrobiology and Space Exploration at Stanford University.
Dr. Lynn Rothschild
WHAT: An Innovative Future for Planet Earth ... via Space
HOW: This event is free and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value does it have FOR YOU (and, indirectly, for society)? Accordingly, please use the DONATE button (below) to support Wonderfest in its nonprofit mission to share the scientific outlook.
Wonderfest Science Envoys are early-career researchers with enhanced communication skills and aspirations. Following short talks on provocative modern science topics, these two Science Envoys will answer questions with insight and enthusiasm:
• UC Berkeley geophysicist Caroline Hasler on Measuring Geologic Time with Rock Clocks — In microscopically small crystals within rocks, radioactive elements decay at predictable rates and function as tiny clocks. These “rock clocks” help us to figure out the timing of major events in Earth history — from the moment of Earth’s formation to the asteroid impact that killed the dinosaurs.
• UC Berkeley astronomer Eli Wiston on Seeing Core-collapse Supernovae with Radio Telescopes — At the end of its life, a massive star will contract and explode in spectacular fashion, outshining the light of an entire galaxy. While most astronomers focus on the optical light given off by these stellar explosions, there is a wealth of new information to be gained by observing invisible wavelengths. With radio telescopes, we can study new aspects of supernovae: their stars’ activity in the years before death, their environments, and what they leave behind after the explosion fades.
This interactive science presentation, free and unticketed, is produced by Wonderfest in partnership with Marin Science Seminar.
WHAT: Ask a Science Envoy: RockClocks & Supernovae
HOW: This event is free and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value does it have FOR YOU (and, indirectly, for society)? Accordingly, please use the DONATE button (below) to support Wonderfest in its nonprofit mission to share the scientific outlook.
Wonderfest Science Envoys are early-career researchers with enhanced communication skills and aspirations. Following short talks on provocative modern science topics, these two Science Envoys will answer questions with insight and enthusiasm:
• UC Berkeley astronomer Natalie LeBaron on Origins of the Elements — From the oxygen we breathe to the gold in our jewelry and the calcium in our bones, most periodic table elements are forged by stars. How does the universe transforms simple hydrogen into the rich diversity of atoms that build planets, life, and everything we see around us? Beginning their lives in vast clouds of gas and ending in massive explosions, every star in the night sky creates and scatters ingredients for new worlds.
• UC Berkeley psychologist Colin Jacobs on Children’s Sense of Fairness — Our motivation to enact fairness shapes human behavior across societal and individual levels: from outrage at economic inequalities, to personal protest against not being considered in a discussion. As parents and teachers know, our motivation to insist upon fairness starts early, often through shouts of “that’s not fair,” or very strict regulation of turn-taking. What motivates children to object to unfairness, and how does this moral impulse develop throughout early childhood?
This interactive science presentation, free and unticketed, is produced by Wonderfest in partnership with Marin Science Seminar.
HOW: This event is free and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value does it have FOR YOU (and, indirectly, for society)? Accordingly, please use the DONATE button (below) to support Wonderfest in its nonprofit mission to share the scientific outlook.
Wonderfest comes to San Francisco’s BookShop West Portal for a special author event featuring cosmologist Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein. In her latest book, The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry, and the Cosmic Dream Boogie, Dr. Prescod-Weinstein “embraces cosmic wonder and takes us on a mind-altering journey to the boundaries of the universe, inviting us to spend time at the edge of what we know about space-time and about ourselves.”
Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is Associate Professor of Physics and Core Faculty Member in Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of New Hampshire. She is the author of The Disordered Cosmos, and columnist for New Scientist and Physics World magazines.
Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
WHAT: The Edge of Space-Time
WHO: Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, Assoc. Professor of Physics, University of New Hampshire [https://chanda.science]
WHERE: BookShop West Portal, 80 West Portal Avenue, San Francisco CA 94127
Wonderfest Science Envoys are early-career researchers with enhanced communication skills and aspirations. Following short talks on provocative modern science topics, these two Science Envoys will answer questions with insight and enthusiasm:
• Stanford physicist Mahlet Shiferaw on Learning Cosmology from Galaxies — The Universe is shaped by an invisible “cosmic web” of dark matter that guides where galaxies form. By comparing observations of galaxies to predictions from models, we can probe the nature of dark matter and dark energy. Cosmologists are now developing new modeling and inference techniques to unlock even more information from upcoming galaxy surveys.
• Stanford biologist Sebastian Somolinos on Give Evolution a Chance — When was the last time you watched evolution happen? Evolution is nature’s most powerful problem solver, yet creatures like horseshoe crabs remind us that it can also be slow and stubbornly conservative. To unlock evolution’s full creative potential, and to appreciate evolution more fully, we must learn how to accelerate it. We need to give evolution a chance.
This interactive science presentation, free and unticketed, is produced by Wonderfest in partnership with Marin Science Seminar.
HOW: This event is free and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value does it have FOR YOU (and, indirectly, for society)? Accordingly, please use the DONATE button (below) to support Wonderfest in its nonprofit mission to share the scientific outlook.
Most every page of Andy Weir’s latest sci-fi novel, Project Hail Mary, glows with the promise of science and technology. In Weir’s first novel, 2011’s The Martian, the protagonist endures interplanetary travel, and struggles to survive on a harsh new world. However, in Project Hail Mary, the hero faces a far greater challenge: interstellar travel to collaborate with an ET in hope of saving an imperiled planet Earth! Are the wonderful science and technology of Project Hail Mary realistic? We shall see!
Wonderfest and the SETI Institute join the Commonwealth Club World Affairs to present two wonderful space scientists in conversation about The Science of Project Hail Mary: astrobiologist Dr. Maggie Turnbull and planetary scientist Dr. Pascal Lee.
Two types of tickets are available: in-person and online-only. Pre-register with the Commonwealth Club / World Affairs via the “Tickets” link, below. Use promo code WONDERNAUTS for a $10 ticket discount (which renders the online ticket entirely FREE).
WHERE: The Commonwealth Club, Taube Auditorium, 110 The Embarcadero, San Francisco CA 94105
WHEN: Thursday, March 26 — 6pm (1 hour)
COLLABORATORS: Commonwealth Club World Affairs of California and the SETI Institute
HOW: Get tickets by clicking the "Tickets" box, below. During purchase from the Commonwealth Club, use promo code WONDERNAUTS to secure a discount of $10 for either type of ticket, in-person or online.
The search for life in the universe invites deep exploration of our own world’s 4-billion-year habitability. We begin to see the cosmos as a vast and seamlesss network of relationships — a web that envelops our own Earth and the human heart. In this age of ecological disruption and social fragmentation, the personal journey of one astrobiologist, integrating scientific inquiry with contemplative awareness, can help deepen the capacity for compassion rather than despair. It may even help the next generation to build a healthy, humane, and resilient civilization.
Our Wonderfest speaker is astronomer and astrobiologist Dr.Margaret Turnbull. Maggie does research on planetary habitability at the SETI Institute.
Dr. Maggie Turnbull
WHAT: An Astronomer's View of Life and the Human Heart
WHO: Dr. Maggie Turnbull, Astrobiologist, SETI Institute
HOW: This event is free and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value does it have FOR YOU (and, indirectly, for society)? Accordingly, please use the DONATE button (below) to support Wonderfest in its nonprofit mission to share the scientific outlook.
The most energetic phenomena in the universe tend to reveal themselves through intense, short-lived signals. These violent transient events include novae, supernovae, and mergers of both neutron stars and black holes. Their signals — their natural messages — can span the entire electromagnetic spectrum, and may include gravitational waves as well as bursts of subatomic particles. The burgeoning field of multi-messenger astronomy inspires new technical observing abilities as it challenges our understanding of astrophysics. In so many new ways, however, the glorious cosmos and its contents come into clearer focus.
Our Wonderfest speaker is Raffaella Margutti, Associate Professor of both Physics and Astronomy at UC Berkeley. Dr. Margutti received the 2022 New Horizons in Physics Prize, and she advises three recent Wonderfest Science Envoys.
HOW: This event is free and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value does it have FOR YOU (and, indirectly, for society)? Accordingly, please use the DONATE button (below) to support Wonderfest in its nonprofit mission to share the scientific outlook.
Wonderfest Science Envoys are early-career researchers with enhanced communication skills and aspirations. Following short talks on provocative modern science topics, these two Science Envoys will answer questions with insight and enthusiasm:
• UC Berkeley astrophysicist Daniel Brethauer on Astronomically Rocking Out to Heavy Metals — The gold in jewelry, the uranium in a nuclear power plant, the caesium in atomic clocks: what do these all have in common? It turns out they were likely forged in the fires of a cosmic explosion known as a kilonova. These extremely energetic events reveal the origins of the periodic table’s heaviest elements.
• UC Berkeley ecologist Tyus Williams on Unraveling the Ecology of Domestic Cats — What if one of our greatest companions is potentially one of our greatest threats? When free to roam, domestic cats can severely disrupt wildlife communities. However, understanding cats’ behavior and how they’re influenced by their surroundings can allow us to develop better conservation strategies.
This interactive science presentation, free and unticketed, is produced by Wonderfest in partnership with Marin Science Seminar.
WHAT: Ask a Science Envoy: Kilonova Metals & Cat Ecology
WHO: Daniel Brethauer (UC Berkeley) & Tyus Williams (UC Berkeley), Wonderfest Science Envoys
HOW: This event is free and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value does it have FOR YOU (and, indirectly, for society)? Accordingly, please use the DONATE button (below) to support Wonderfest in its nonprofit mission to share the scientific outlook.
Wonderfest Science Envoys are early-career researchers with enhanced communication skills and aspirations. Following short talks on provocative modern science topics, these two Science Envoys will answer questions with insight and enthusiasm:
• UC Berkeley neuroscientist Stephanie Reeves on The Horizontal Saccade Bias — Humans make eye movements to explore the visual environment. One type of involuntary eye movement, termed a saccade, occurs 2-3 times per second and is one of the fastest movements that the human body can make. New research challenges previous assumptions about how and why saccades arise.
• Stanford astrophysicist Viraj Manwadkar on Tiny Galaxies and Big Cosmic Mysteries — The very smallest galaxies shed light on fundamental questions in physics and astronomy: They play an intriguing role in the formation of cosmic ecosystems, and they even inform our attempt to understand dark matter, the utterly mysterious stuff that constitutes 80% of the material universe.
This interactive science presentation, free and unticketed, is produced by Wonderfest in partnership with Marin Science Seminar.
WHAT: Ask a Science Envoy: Eye Movements & Tiny Galaxies
HOW: This event is free and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value does it have FOR YOU (and, indirectly, for society)? Accordingly, please use the DONATE button (below) to support Wonderfest in its nonprofit mission to share the scientific outlook.
Wonderfest Science Envoys are early-career researchers with special communication skills and aspirations. Following short talks on provocative modern science topics, these two Science Envoys will answer questions with insight and enthusiasm:
• UC Berkeley astrophysicist Natasha Abrams on Black Holes: Discovering the Invisible — Black holes are among the most extreme objects in the universe. They push the boundaries of our knowledge, holding many unsolved mysteries. This talk will explore black holes from “small” to enormous, including how to detect these invisible marvels. In the process, we will probe the very frontiers of astrophysics.
• Stanford marine biologist Will Johnson on The Structure of Kelp Forests — Kelp forests constitute one of the most diverse ecosystems on Earth, and they’re hidden right beneath the waves of our coastline. To research how these ecosystems function, we need to study what lives there. Come learn how scientific diving and modern genetics are helping us unravel the complex structure of kelp forests.
This interactive science presentation, free and unticketed, is produced by Wonderfest in partnership with Marin Science Seminar.
WHAT: Ask a Science Envoy: Black Holes; Kelp Forests
WHO: Natasha Abrams (UC Berkeley) & Will Johnson (Stanford), Wonderfest Science Envoys
HOW: What value does this free science experience have for you and, indirectly, for society? Accordingly, please donate to nonprofit Wonderfest via the Eventbrite box, below.
Wonderfest Science Envoys are early-career researchers with special communication skills and aspirations. Following short talks on provocative modern science topics, these three Science Envoys will answer questions with insight and enthusiasm:
• Stanford ecologist Chinmay Sonawane on How Scavenging Animals Protect Human Health — Wildlife is rapidly disappearing globally. But why should we care? The loss of scavengers (consumers of already-dead animals) provides an intriguing example of how biodiversity loss has had, and will continue to have, profound consequences for human health.
• UC Berkeley physicist Bethany Suter on Direct Detection of Dark Matter — Ubiquitous, yet deeply mysterious, dark matter constitutes 85%(!) of the material universe. What do we know — and not know — of elusive dark matter particles? Novel laboratory materials may allow us to detect dark matter directly, shining light into the pervasive cosmic shadows.
• Stanford biophysicist Sean Waterton on Making Biomolecules from Electricity — Solar panels produce ever-more clean electricity. At the same time, human activity produces copious amounts of CO2. Modern research in synthetic biology allows us to use electricty and CO2 to create valuable molecules like fats and proteins — and, hopefully, more specialized molecules like medications.
This interactive science presentation, free and unticketed, is produced by Wonderfest in partnership with Marin Science Seminar.
WHAT: Ask a Science Envoy: Scavengers + Dark Matter + Biomolecules
What value does this free science experience have for you and, indirectly, for society? Accordingly, please consider making a donation to nonprofit Wonderfest via the Eventbrite box, below.
Naturalist Craig Foster has explored and studied some of Earth’s wildest environments. He has also experienced the demands of professional life in our big cities — experiences that might tend to deaden a capacity to appreciate natural beauty. Foster’s latest book, Amphibious Soul: Finding the Wild in a Tame World, vividly addresses the challenge of staying open to the wonders of nature. Of the book, Jane Goodall wrote, “[It] will transform how we think about being human … [and] inspire hope.” In this Commonwealth Club conversation, Foster will help us understand how to attend to earthly beauty and deepen our love for all living things.
Craig Foster is one of Earth’s leading nature filmmakers. Foster’s My Octopus Teacher won the 2021 Academy Award for Best Documentary. We can participate in this Commonwealth+Wonderfest event either in person or online.
Sci-Fi movies often depict hibernation as the secret to long-duration human spaceflight. (Note: Even with ideal starship acceleration and deceleration — AND with the benefit of relativistic effects — the nearest exoplanet is 3.6 years away!) Of course, the boundary between science fiction and science fantasy is hazy. Advances in anesthesia may facilitate hibernation. Physiologically, however, general anesthesia is detrimental in the short term, and worse in the long term. Will long-spaceflight medical advances ever be able to deal with this sobering hibernation fact: roughly half of naturally-hibernating animals never revive!
Our speaker is Dr. Art Wallace, Professor and Vice-Chair of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care at UC San Francisco. He is also Chief of Anesthesia at San Francisco's Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
Dr. Art Wallace, MD, PhD
WHAT: Anesthesia and Hibernation: Enduring Deep-Space Travel
This event is FREE and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value does it have for YOU? Accordingly, please consider a donation to nonprofit Wonderfest via the Eventbrite window, below.
In astronomy, the redder a galaxy appears, the faster it is fleeing, and the older a tale its light can tell. Such “redshifts” in the spectra of galaxies (symbolized with the letter “z”) allow compelling cosmic insights. The recently-launched James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has allowed astronomers to study the properties of high-z galaxies in existence only 250 million years after the Big Bang, when the universe was only 2% of its current age! How are these objects detected in such very “deep” space, and what are the early science results from this JWST research?
Our speaker is Dr. Thomas Targett, Associate Professor of Physics & Astronomy at the Sonoma campus of California State University. Dr. Targett’s Wonderfest history includes an eye-opening talk entitled Popular Myths of Astronomy, presented as part of the Mt. Tam Astronomy Program.
Dr. Thomas Targett
WHAT: Fast & Faraway: The High-Redshift Universe
WHO: Dr. Thomas Targett, Assoc. Professor of Physics & Astronomy, Sonoma State University
WHEN: 2023-11-28 — 7:00pm, Tuesday, Nov 28 (1.5 hour)
HOW:
This event is FREE and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value does it have for YOU? Accordingly, please consider a donation to nonprofit Wonderfest via the Eventbrite window, below.
