In principle, we all love to hate political gerrymandering. But how can we learn to deal with it, to manage it, ... to hack it? In the past decade, mathematicians and computer scientists have developed inventive and revealing tools to find all kinds of gerrymanders: from the pretty-but-partisan, to the hidden firewall. Join us to explore some ugly maps and some beautiful ideas about how to hack gerrymandering.
Our speaker, mathematician Dr. Ellen Veomett, is Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of San Francisco. She helped design the nationally-acclaimed GEO metric to analyze redistricting maps created since the 2020 census.
Dr. Ellen Veomett
WHAT: Hacking Gerrymandering
WHO: Dr. Ellen Veomett, Associate Professor of Computer Science, University of San Francisco [https://www.ellenveomett.com]
WHEN: 2024-11-26 — 7pm, Tuesday, Nov 26 (1.5 hour)
HOW:
This event is free and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value does it have for YOU? Accordingly, please use the space below to support Wonderfest in its nonprofit mission to share the scientific outlook.
Darwin’s theory of natural selection sheds light on nearly every aspect of evolutionary biology. However, it does not address the source of varying structures and functions that are subsequently culled or preserved by natural selection. Advances in cellular and molecular biology are now bringing these generative processes to light. Such technical advances hint at processes that are complementary to natural selection (but on which natural selection depends) that can be called Inverse Darwinism — and that are changing our understanding of evolution.
Our speaker, Dr. Terrence Deacon, is Professor of Anthropology at UC Berkeley. He is the author of two particularly influential books: The Symbolic Species: The Co-evolution of Language and the Brain and Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged from Matter.
WHEN: 2024-11-12 — 7pm, Tuesday, Nov 12 (1.5 hour)
HOW:
This event is free and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value does it have for YOU? Accordingly, please use the space below to support Wonderfest in its nonprofit mission to share the scientific outlook.
Is it merely fun to play with the idea of ghosts, or do ghosts truly exist? Naturally, evidence of non-corporeal spirits is hard to come by. Where should we look? Perhaps the ghostly haunt of choice is an abandoned winery in beautiful Napa Valley! Isn't that where many spirits would be dying to go?
Soon after All Hallows' Eve 2024, Wonderfest joins Cameo Cinema for Nightmare on Main Street: Ghosts of Napa Valley. And, immediately following the 90-minute screening of Ghosts of Napa Valley, Dr. Eugenie Scott will help us address the ghost question — and why it is that scary stories are found all over the world among diverse cultures.
Dr. Genie Scott is a physical anthropologist with potent credentials in scientific skepticism. She is the President of the Bay Area Skeptics, and a founding Boardmember of Wonderfest. Dr. Scott has earned high praise as a science communicator, including the Public Welfare Medal of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.
Dr. Eugenie Scott
WHAT: Nightmare on Main Street: Ghosts of Napa Valley
WHO: Dr. Eugenie Scott, President, Bay Area Skeptics
Mathematicians have spent decades wrestling with questions about coloring. Here's one famous example: how many colors do mapmakers need to ensure that no two adjacent regions have the same color? Mathematicians struggled with that for over 100 years! In this colorful presentation, we'll share these coloring problems, the exciting breakthroughs, and the problems which still need to be solved today.
Our speaker isDr. Cornelia Van Cott, Professor of Mathematics (and department chair) at the University of San Francisco. As a geometric topologist, she studies knots, surfaces, and ... the occasional just-colorful-enough map.
Dr. Cornelia Van Cott
WHAT: Color Me Curious: The Mathematics of Coloring
WHO: Dr. Cornelia Van Cott, Professor of Mathematics, University of San Francisco
WHEN: 2024-10-29 — 7pm, Tuesday, Oct 29 (1.5 hour)
HOW:
This event is free and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value do such science events have for you and for society at large? Accordingly, please consider a donation to nonprofit Wonderfest via the Eventbrite box, below.
Ancient and unhurried, long-lived and majestic, turtles — some individuals living longer than 200 years — have a lineage that stretches back to the time of the dinosaurs. In literary terms, turtles are "the perfect conduits for meditations on aging, disability, and chosen family," according to Scientific American. Such meditations suffuse the book Of Time and Turtles: Mending the World, Shell by Shattered Shell. Author Sy Montgomery and illustrator Matt Patterson join BookShop West Portal, the Turtle Survival Alliance, and Wonderfest for this special book event.
Sy Montgomery is the author of 16 non-fiction nature titles, including The Soul of an Octopus, a National Book Award finalist. She has been honored with a Sibert Medal, three honorary degrees, and two Science Book and Film Prizes from the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
WHAT: Turtle Rescue, Enlarged
WHO: Sy Montgomery & Matt Patterson, Author & Illustrator, "Of Time and Turtles"
WHEN: 2024-10-18 — 7pm, Friday, October 18 (1 hour)
HOW:
Advance event registration is required (link below), and such registration is FREE for Wondernauts with promo code WONDERTURTLE. Simply add "General Admission for 1 (NO BOOK)" to your cart. [Book purchase and author signing are still available at the event.] During "CheckOut," within "Order Details," apply WONDERTURTLE as a "coupon" to transform the ordinary admission fee from $20 to $0.
Despite implications of the prefix "uni," many scientists now think that there might be more than a single universe! Our universe may be just one example in a far larger "multiverse," but an unusually complex one that is conducive to the existence of life. Come learn — and inquire — about the relevant lines of reasoning and their profound implications.
Our speaker, Dr. Alex Filippenko, is one of Earth's most highly cited astronomers. He was the only person to serve on both teams that simultaneously discovered the Nobel-worthy accelerating expansion of the universe. Alex earned Wonderfest's Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization, and he was voted UC Berkeley's "Best Professor" a record nine times!
Dr. Alex Filippenko
WHAT: A Universe of Universes? — Reflections on Life and the Cosmos
WHEN: 2024-10-01 — 7pm, Tuesday, October 1 (1.5 hour)
HOW:
This event is free and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value do such science events have for you and for society at large? Accordingly, please consider a donation to nonprofit Wonderfest via the Eventbrite box, below.
Every second, we encounter enormous amounts of sensory information. How does the brain extract the most relevant bits from this information firehose?Attentionis one important brain mechanism for selecting certain aspects of the environment for enhanced processing.A better understanding ofattention's effecton perception improves a wide variety of human activities, including making policy for cell phone use while driving, improving performance of airport luggage screeners, and optimizing teaching methods in the classroom.
Our speaker isDr. Michael Silver, Professor of Neuroscience and of Optometry & Vision Science at UC Berkeley. Dr. Silver also directs Cal'sCenter for the Science of Psychedelics.
This event is free and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value do such science experiences have for you and for society at large? Accordingly, please consider a donation to nonprofit Wonderfest via the Eventbrite box, below.
Since 1950, when physicist Enrico Fermi casually posed the question, the mystery has only deepened: Why hasn't ET visited us? Current evidence and reasoning suggest that life has been evolving in the cosmos for billions of years. Moreover, low-speed interstellar travel requires relatively modest technology. So why is the UFO evidence so poor, and the success of SETI so ... negative? This special Wonderfest event will feature more "audience participation" than usual. Bring your questions — and possible answers — to address Fermi's fabulous question.
Our host and speaker is Dan Werthimer, Chief Technologist at the Berkeley SETI Research Center. Dan is a SETI pioneer who has earned Wonderfest's Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization.
WHEN: 2024-08-27 — 7pm, Tuesday, August 27 (1.5 hour)
HOW:
This event is free and unticketed ... and valuable. But what value do such FREE science experiences have for you and, indirectly, for society? Accordingly, please consider making a donation to nonprofit Wonderfest via the Eventbrite box, below.
The nearest black hole lurks 1,500 light-years from Earth (~ 10 quadrillion miles!), and it neither emits nor reflects light. How can we possibly detect — far less investigate — such wondrous holes in the fabric of spacetime? High-precision astrometry is the key: adaptive optics allow ground-based telescopes to see through our turbulent atmosphere using ordinary light, and space telescopes provide high-resolution images in other parts of the electromagnetic spectrum. Today, high technology affords astronomers many ways to discover and explore the intriguing space around black hole singularities.
Our speaker, Dr. Jessica Lu, is Associate Professor of Astronomy at UC Berkeley. She also runs Cal's Moving Universe Lab, and she chairs the Astronomy Department.
What value do such FREE science experiences have for you and, indirectly, for society? Accordingly, please consider making a donation 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.
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 Professor of Statistics at the University of Southern California. He is also a founding member of Wonderfest's Board of Directors.
WHERE: Berkeley Public Library, 2090 Kittredge St. (at Shattuck), Berkeley, CA 94704
WHEN: 2024-07-13 — 10am, Saturday, July 13 (1.5 hr)
HOW:
What value does this FREE event have for YOU? Accordingly, please consider using the Eventbrite space (below) to help nonprofit Wonderfest in its mission of science outreach.
As poet Carl Sandburg observed: "The fog comes on little cat feet. It sits looking over harbor and city on silent haunches, and then moves on." What is the nature of The City's renowned Karl the Fog? Do those super-fine droplets consist of more than just water? Why does our beloved(?) Karl creep over the Bay Area so often, and will that creeping continue in light of climate change?
Our speaker, Alicia Torregrosa, knows Karl inside and out. As Program Officer at the U.S. Geological Survey, Alicia is a physical scientist who led the USGS Pacific Coastal Fog Project, yielding an international and interdisciplinary expansion of coastal fog research.
What value do such free science experiences have for you and, indirectly, for society? Accordingly, please consider making a donation to nonprofit Wonderfest via the Eventbrite box, below.
What can we do, today, to improve muscle strength and, accordingly, to increase healthy longevity, i.e., healthspan? It starts by understanding the science of strength and of muscle function, and then appreciating how muscle changes with aging. Ultimately, we find that healthspan increases with simple and effective evidence-based strategies for improving muscle health and function.
Our speaker, Dr. Greg Tranah, PhD, is Professor of Epidemiology & Biostatistics at UC San Francisco, and Scientific Director of Biobanking at Sutter Health.
Dr. Greg Tranah
WHAT: The Science of Healthy Muscle, Strength, and Aging
WHO: Dr. Greg Tranah, Professor of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, UCSF
What value do such free science experiences have for you and, indirectly, for society? Accordingly, please consider making a donation 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 two Science Envoys will answer questions with insight and enthusiasm:
• UC Berkeley plant biologist Enrico Calvanese on The Interpreters of Life's Code — Proteins are molecular machines that enable all cellular life. How proteins are produced infuses our understanding of microbiology. New research proposes a novel understanding of how proteins come to exist, promising to open an entirely new dimension of cellular life.
• Stanford biophysicist Rachel Porter on The Bacterial Space Age — Like human communities, bacterial communities are shaped by the available food, water, and space. Researchers largely understand the importance of food and water for bacteria in the human digestive system. However, only now are we discovering the importance of spatial organization for bacteria within our gut microbiome.
This interactive science presentation, free and unticketed, is produced by Wonderfest in partnership with Marin Science Seminar.
WHAT: Ask a Science Envoy: Life's Code + Gut Feeling
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.
Do spiders deserve much better press? Modern media tend to portray spiders as eight-legged, multi-eyed terrors. With deeper exposure, and open minds, can we come to see the beauty and benefits of our arachnid aquaintances? UC Berkeley scientist Trinity Walls thinks so. Her life-long journey — from curious child to rigorous researcher — reveals spider science to be an avenue of creative self-expression that offers rich insights into nature and society.
Our speaker, arachnologist Trinity Walls, is a PhD candidate in UC Berkeley's Laboratory of Animal Communication and Behavior. She is also a Wonderfest Science Envoy!
WHAT: Creepy or Captivating: A Spider Scientist's Perspective
WHO: Trinity Walls, Arachnologist, UC Berkeley
WHERE: ONLINE, via Zoom with the S.F. Public Library
WHEN: 2024-05-07 — 5pm, Tuesday, May 7 (1 hour)
HOW:
Via the "Register" link, below, please let the SF Public Library know that you intend to join this Zoom. You will receive this event's Zoom URL upon completion of registration with the Library.
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:
• Stanford biologist Mila Pamplona-Barbosa on Biological Rhythms: From Ants to You — How can ants possibly organize their behavior? An ant colony can have hundreds to millions of individuals and, even with all that complexity, the colony still manages to get work done. How does this time-dependent self-organization happen? And what does this have to do with the internal timings of the human body?
• UC Berkeley climate policy scientist Ari Ball-Burack on Complexity in Controlling Greenhouse Gases — Social, technological, and economic systems are complex: they exhibit both balancing and reinforcing feedbacks, and they strongly interact. Wise policy can use this very complexity to advance the "decarbonization" of the atmosphere. Complexity-aware decarbonization policy addresses climate change at local, national, and global scales.
This interactive science presentation, free and unticketed, is produced by Wonderfest in partnership with Marin Science Seminar.
WHAT: Ask a Science Envoy: Biorhythms; Decarbonization
WHO: Mila Pamplona-Barbosa (Stanford) & Ari Ball-Burack (UC Berkeley), Wonderfest Science Envoys
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.
Do non-human animals possess a sense of fairness? In particular, do non-human individuals react negatively when they get fewer resources than others? New evidence suggests that the sense of fairness is a human-unique adaptation to our cooperative lifestyles, typically developing in children by age 8. Further, a new theory suggests that, maybe surprisingly, fairness is not about resources, but about social respect.
Our speaker, Dr. Jan Engelmann, is Assistant Professor of Psychology at UC Berkeley. He runs Cal's Social Origins Lab, dedicated to the study of human cognition and behavior from an evolutionary perspective.
Dr. Jan Engelmann
WHAT: The Sense of Fairness in Chimps and Children
WHEN: 2024-02-20 — 7pm, Tuesday, Feb 20 (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.
One of the defining features of all mammals is, surprisingly, the set of bones that form the hearing system. Those bones evolved from jaw components in our mammalian ancestors. In the evolutionary process of repurposing them for hearing, mammals came to possess a jaw configuration different from all other jawed vertebrates. Here is the story of how the unique jaws of mammals fundamentally changed the form and function of how we bite.
Our speaker is Dr. Jack Tseng, Associate Professor of Integrative Biology at UC Berkeley, where he directs the Functional Anatomy and Vertebrate Evolution (FAVE) Laboratory. Dr. Tseng's specialties include the evolution of humanity's best friend, the dog.
Dr. Jack Tseng
WHAT: Jaws of Life: The (R)evolutionary Story of the Mammalian Bite
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.
Next Scientist is a new Wonderfest series of online presentations. Every Next Scientist Zoom consists of two 30-minute presentations (including 10 minutes of Q&A), each featuring a young researcher describing next-level science:
UC Berkeley arachnologist Trinity Walls on Creepy or Captivating: A Spider Scientist's Perspective — How have recent discoveries about spiders changed beliefs that have been passed down for generations? Can we see that the study of spiders is beneficial to society? One person's life-long journey — from curious child to rigorous researcher — reveals spider science to be an avenue of creative self-expression that offers rich insights into nature.
UC Berkeley astrophysicist Tyler Cox on Creating the Largest-Ever Maps of the Universe — New datasets from the James Webb Space Telescope have begun to reveal some of the oldest known galaxies in the universe. But what lies beyond these extremely remote objects, and what more can we learn by going deeper? Next-generation experiments are working to map the most distant regions of the universe to help explain the origins of the first galaxies.
WHAT: Next Scientist: Spider Love & Deep Cosmic Maps
WHO: Trinity Walls & Tyler Cox, Wonderfest Next Scientists
WHEN: 2023-11-07 — 7:30pm, Tuesday, Nov 7 (1 hour)
HOW:
This free, online, science presentation is produced by Wonderfest in partnership with the Castro Valley Educational Foundation and Castro Valley Science.
What value does this experience — and these insights — have for YOU? Accordingly, please support nonprofit Wonderfest, the Bay Area Beacon of Science, by donating via the Eventbrite space, below.
How far off are the "goldilocks" worlds? These are the planets, orbiting other stars, that have just the right environmental traits to make life possible — not too hot, not too cold, etc. Will we be able to detect the chemical signals of alien life from so far away? In her new book, Life on Other Planets: A Memoir of Finding My Place in the Universe, Dr. Aomawa Shields discusses these questions alongside the personal challenges she's encountered on the path to success in the thrilling field of astrobiology. Dr. Shields is in conversation with author and journalist Julia Flynn, and in touch with the online audience via the chat bar.
Dr. Aomawa Shields is Associate Professor of Physics & Astronomy at UC Irvine. She is also founding director of Rising Stargirls, dedicated to encouraging girls to explore the universe using theater, writing, and visual art.
Please pre-register with the Commonwealth Club (via the URL below) to receive a link — via email — to this live-stream event. Use discount code WonderfestPromo for $10 off the ticket price, rendering that ticket completely FREE.