philosophy

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

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.

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

Every second, we encounter enormous amounts of sensory information. How does the brain extract the most relevant bits from this information firehose? Attention is one important brain mechanism for selecting certain aspects of the environment for enhanced processing. A better understanding of attention’s effect on 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 is Dr. Michael Silver, Professor of Neuroscience and of Optometry & Vision Science at UC Berkeley. Dr. Silver also directs Cal’s Center for the Science of Psychedelics.

Dr. Michael Silver

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.

Dan Werthimer

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.

Dr. Jessica Lu

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.

Dr. Jacob Bien

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.

Alicia Torregrosa

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!

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