biology

All known lifeforms rely on the same molecular mechanism to translate information carried by DNA and RNA into proteins. This translation is accomplished by an incredibly complex system involving many dozens of very large and precisely interacting molecules. All viruses, bacteria, plants, and animals ultimately inherited this common molecular machinery from our Last Universal Common Ancestor (LUCA). But all of this — and much more — had to evolve prior to LUCA. Without this translation machinery, the “genetic code” isn’t information about anything! So, origins-of-life theories can’t just assume that DNA and RNA intrinsically have information. Even the most widely accepted “RNA-World” origin-of-life theory begs the question: What is the origin of life’s information?

Our speaker, Dr. Terrence Deacon, is Professor Emeritus 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.

Dr. Terrence Deacon

It’s a classic question of color perception: Is my red the same as your red? Using special optical systems that bypass normal visual processes in the eye (optical blur, eye movements), researchers are able to send sensory information to the human brain that it has never experienced before. The BIG question is: If you give novel sensory experiences to the adult brain, will it invent new subjective perceptions to attribute to them?!

Our speaker is neuroscientist Austin Roorda, Professor of Vision Science and Optometry at UC Berkeley. Dr. Roorda’s lab at Cal explores how human brains convert two-dimensional images on the retina into such a rich perceptual experience.

Dr. Austin Roorda

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.

Dr. Terrence Deacon

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

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 is Dr. 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