Basic physics shapes the natural world. Through evolution, creatures have figured out how to use the laws of physics to make biology flourish. Flamingos generate water vortices to trap food. Various birds and fish use vortex shedding and fluid turbulence to control movement. For small animals, electrostatic forces and/or capillary forces can reign over gravity to affect the critters’ very survival. Nature is a beautiful dance of biology and physics.
Our speaker is biophysicist Victor M. Ortega Jiménez, Assistant Professor in the Integrative Biology Department at UC Berkeley. Dr. Ortega-Jiménez directs Cal’s Ornithopterus laboratory in organismal dynamics.
Dr. Victor M. Ortega Jiménez
WHAT: Flamingo Vortex Traps: How Physics Redefines Nature
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 biologist Kristy Mualim on Genetic Biodiversity Loss in the Anthropocene — In the Anthropocene, the age of planet-wide human impact, activities like habitat destruction, pollution, and resource overuse cause rapid loss of genetic diversity. This loss makes it harder for plants and animals to adapt to changes in the environment, putting entire species at risk of extinction. Protecting genetic diversity is crucial for keeping ecosystems healthy, and for ensuring the survival of life on Earth.
• UC Berkeley demographer Chris Soria on Partisan Differences in the Spread of Disease — Political partisanship significantly influences how different groups respond to public health guidance, affecting their adherence to protective measures against infectious diseases. Understanding partisan-based disparities in acceptance of scientific evidence helps us to predict the population-wide spread of diseases, and to improve public health outcomes.
This interactive science presentation, free and unticketed, is produced by Wonderfest in partnership with Marin Science Seminar.
WHAT: Ask a Science Envoy: Anthropocene Alarm; Partisan Contagion
WHO: Kristy Mualim (UC Berkeley) & Chris Soria (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 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.
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 psychologist Sophia Li on Imperfect Communication — As a communicator, I want to transfer information from my mind into the minds of listeners. Research shows that both listeners and uninvolved observers have overly positive perceptions of any communicator. They believe that the communicator knows more than s/he actually does, and has articulated thoughts better than s/he actually has.
• Stanford physicist Josh Tong on Growth and Form — Living creatures grow and transform their shape, to the awe of many scientists. What does it mean to grow? How do we compare an organism at different stages of its growth? Mathematics can help us find the way to understand this fundamental transformation.
This interactive science presentation, free and unticketed, is produced by Wonderfest in partnership with Marin Science Seminar.
WHAT: Ask a Science Envoy: Imperfect Communication + Growth & Form
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.
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 computer scientist Teddi Worledge on Verifying AI with Attributed Sources — So-called large language models (LLMs) provide information and make judgments nearly everywhere — from online search engines to classrooms and medical clinics. But LLMs do make errors. Language model systems that attribute their sources can address this accuracy problem, as long as the attributions theselves are reliable!
• UC Berkeley physicist Matt Tao on What Ultracold Atoms Reveal — Atoms cooled to billionths of a degree can teach us much about the world. The wave nature of ultracold atoms allows interference experiments (interferometry) with astounding precision. Such tabletop interferometers even allow the study of gravity, nature’s weakest — but most pervasive — force, at minute scales.
This interactive science presentation, free and unticketed, is produced by Wonderfest in partnership with Marin Science Seminar.
WHAT: Ask a Science Envoy: Verifying AI; Ultracold Atoms
WHO: Teddi Worledge (Stanford) & Matt Tao (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.
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.
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.
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 Billie Goolsby on Family Feud: Familial Decision-Making in Poison Frogs — Cooperation between parents tends to ensure family success, especially among poison frogs. Through direct observation, sound recordings, and hormone analysis, researchers test how coordination of parenting happens in nature — and how it predicts offspring survival.
• UC Berkeley physicist Ashwin Singh on Exploring Quantum Chemistry with Earth’s Strongest Laser — Quantum mechanics helps describe cold chemical reactions, like those that occur in outer space. By building the world’s strongest laser to hold molecules in place, we can watch quantum chemistry happen in real time.
WHAT: Ask a Science Envoy: Poison Frogs & Quantum Chemistry
This free, online, science presentation is produced by Wonderfest in partnership with the Berkeley Public Library.
What value do these science insights have for you? Accordingly, please consider making a donation to nonprofit Wonderfest via the Eventbrite box, below. (Note: No "sales" or "tickets" are involved; it's just a thoughtful contribution to help Wonderfest promote science understanding and 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:
• Stanford marine biologist Ceyenna Tillman on A Unique Case Study in Fish Behavior — We don’t often think of fish as individuals with independent minds, making their own decisions about how to react to the world around them. We often study them through important and informative large-scale lenses such as population size and spatial distribution. But what do we lose when we leave out the choices that each individual makes? And, in general, how can humanity benefit from studying such fish behavior?
• UC Berkeley biological anthropologist Gustav “Tavi” Steinhardt on Primate Behavior and Microhabitat — Tamarins are squirrel-size Amazonian monkeys with big ecological impacts. Known for their ability to survive (and even thrive) in disturbed areas, Tamarins help the forest recover from damage by spreading seeds. Now, using aerial laser scans, machine learning, and countless hours trekking through jungle mud, we are beginning to understand the important ecological “business” of these tiny primates in exquisite detail.
WHAT: Ask a Science Envoy: Fishy Ways & Monkey Business
This free, online, science presentation is produced by Wonderfest in partnership with the Berkeley Public Library.
What value do these science insights have for you? Accordingly, please consider making a donation to nonprofit Wonderfest via the Eventbrite box, below. (Note: No "sales" or "tickets" are involved; it's just a thoughtful contribution to help Wonderfest promote science understanding and 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 seismologist Sarina Patel on Earthquake Science Using Crowdsourced Data from Smartphones — MyShake is a free citizen-science smartphone app which has been downloaded globally 2.5 million times. MyShake delivers earthquake early warnings(!) to users in California, Oregon, and Washington. It also uses the vibration sensor built into all smartphones to record earthquake motion for scientific analysis. How can the gadget in your pocket contribute to earthquake early warning, shake-hazard mapping, and structural-health monitoring?
• Stanford biophysicist Kevin Aris on Genetic Engineering Refined with Single-Molecule Microscopes — CRISPR enzymes allow precise genetic engineering, cleaving DNA molecules to improve the health and function of organisms. However, naturally compact and twisted pieces of DNA, under stress due to mechanical deformation, are tough to cut precisely. Single-molecule microscopy helps us design novel CRISPR enzymes that become highly-accurate molecular scissors — new tools for beneficial gene modification.
WHAT: Ask a Science Envoy: Earthquake Warning & Genetic Engineering
WHO: Sarina Patel & Kevin Aris, Wonderfest Science Envoys
This free, online, science presentation is produced by Wonderfest in partnership with the Berkeley Public Library.
What value do these science insights have for you? Accordingly, please consider making a donation to nonprofit Wonderfest via the Eventbrite box, below. (Note: No "sales" or "tickets" are involved; it's just a thoughtful contribution to help Wonderfest promote science understanding and 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:
• Stanford paleobiologist Dr. Maria Viteri on Exhuming the Dead to Save the Living — Earth is experiencing a crisis in biodiversity. Surprisingly, the fossil record offers key insights for understanding this crisis, and one scientist’s lifelong fascination with dinosaurs — leading to a career in conservation biology — is helping to combat the biodiversity challenge of the present … and of the future.
• 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: Ask a Science Envoy: Biodiversity & Cosmic Maps
WHO: Maria Viteri & Tyler Cox, Wonderfest Science Envoys
This free, online, science presentation is produced by Wonderfest in partnership with the Berkeley Public Library.
What value do these science insights have for you? Accordingly, please consider making a donation to nonprofit Wonderfest via the Eventbrite box, below. (Note: No "sales" or "tickets" are involved; it's just a thoughtful contribution to help Wonderfest promote science understanding and 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 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.
• Stanford physicist Jyotirmai “Joe” Singh on Exploring the Dark Side of the Universe — Deeply mysterious dark matter constitutes a staggering 85% of the material universe. What is the evidence for dark matter’s ubiquitous existence, yet why has it been so difficult to detect in the laboratory? Cutting-edge theories and experiments within modern physics do give us hope that we can understand dark matter, unlocking key mysteries of the cosmos.
WHAT: Ask a Science Envoy: Spider Love & Dark Matter
WHO: Trinity Walls & Joe Singh, Wonderfest Science Envoys
This free, online, science presentation is produced by Wonderfest in partnership with the Berkeley Public Library.
What value do these science insights have for you? Accordingly, please consider making a donation to nonprofit Wonderfest via the Eventbrite box, below. (Note: No "sales" or "tickets" are involved; it's just a thoughtful contribution to help Wonderfest promote science understanding and the scientific outlook.)
Prof. Deacon's presentation will focus on the central idea of his new book, "Incomplete Nature," namely that key elements of consciousness (values, feelings, meanings, etc.) emerge from specific CONSTRAINTS on the physical processes of a nervous system. "Incomplete Nature" is the inaugural selection of the brand new Wonderfest Book Club. As physicists work toward completing a theory of the universe and biologists unravel the molecular complexity of life, a glaring incompleteness in this scientific vision becomes apparent. The "Theory of Everything" that appears to be emerging includes everything but us: the feelings, meanings, consciousness, and purposes that make us (and many of our animal cousins) what we are. These most immediate and incontrovertible phenomena are left unexplained by the natural sciences because they lack the physical properties—such as mass, momentum, charge, and location—that are assumed to be necessary for something to have physical consequences in the world. This is an unacceptable omission. We need a "theory of everything" that does not leave it absurd that we exist.
WHAT: Incomplete Nature: How Mind Emerged From Matter
WHO: Terrence Deacon, Professor of Anthropology at UC Berkeley
