So much Science so little Schmooze 9.10.18

by Herb Masters

Hello Science Fans,

Normally I’d write about some problems with how science is addressed in our communities. This week I want to highlight some end of the season opportunities that are going on as vacations come to an end and kids go back to school. There is a rather large conference going on this week, the Global Climate Action Summit has many well-known and popular people coming to SF. There are many events and presentations for the public that are linked to it… (so many in fact, over 300! that we aren’t listing most of them on our calendar! Granted, a lot are not open to the public.)

Here are a few that I hope to get to and think they might interest you to…
The U.S. premiere of COAL + ICE
Green Film Fest
Gravity of Today: Visions of Tomorrow
BiodiverseCity Summit (Note that this is Mon 9.10 @ 1:00!)
Cooking to Cool the Planet (Note that this is Mon 9.10 @ 6:30)
Tue 9.11 Climate Friendly Cuisine
Tue 9.11 Losing Earth
Wed 9.12 Long View Polar Bear
Wed 9.12 From Field to Fashion
Wed 9.13 Being Human in the Anthropocene
Thu 9.13 The Cost of Coal Film Festival

Here are several articles that I think are worth your attention as well…
How climate change affects young Californians
Farms Are Going Carbon-Neutral—and Cows Are Leading the Way
2020—an Urgent Milestone for the Planet

Needless to say this is a week of many unusual offerings. Of course there are many that aren’t necessarily related to the GCAS. Here are few that look every bit as cool and interesting.

Calaveras Dam Fossils: a Whale of a Tale Tue 7:00 Albany
Innovation and Climate Adaptation In San Francisco Bay Wed 6:00 SF
Climate Change: After Dark Thu 7:00 SF

Sometimes writing this gives me a brain cramp trying to choose just three! So… Hardy Californians: The Life of Lester Rowntree, Human Exploration to Mars: Becoming Interplanetary, Searching for Aliens, Finding Ourselves, Marine Science Sunday: Sea Otter Spectacular

Other thoughts and ruminations…

I never had kids and I don’t borrow them from others. I do think that we need to let them explore and take risks. Did you experience or try any of these this summer? On raising kids… yours or someone elses! You might also want to consider What adults can learn from kids. (more from Adora.)

Why the Tiny Weight of Empty Space Is Such a Huge Mystery
Worshiping the False Idols of Wellness
Have women scientists made greater strides in biology than in physics?
The Nastiest Feud in Science

There’s something really enthralling about how we use gravity (along with explosives) sometimes.
So on that thought, I hope you have a great week exploring the many ways we are learning about this amazing place we call everywhere!

herb masters
ScienceSchmoozer and a shameless promoter of:
the SciSchmooze email list: www.BayAreaScience.org

“The history of acceptance of new theories frequently shows the following steps: At first the new idea is treated as pure nonsense, not worth looking at. Then comes a time when a multitude of contradictory objections are raised, such as: the new theory is too fancy, or merely a new terminology; it is not fruitful, or simply wrong. Finally a state is reached when everyone seems to claim that he had always followed this theory. This usually marks the last state before general acceptance.” – Kurt Lewin, German-American psychologist (born 9 Sep 1890).

Virtual Skeptics in the Pub

WHAT: Virtual Skeptics in the Pub

FOCUS: Becoming better consumers of information

This is a casual night of socializing with fellow skeptics who live in various locations around the oblate spherical planet Earth.

Please join us! This is a free event brought to you by Bay Area Skeptics. All are welcome.

WHEN: Wednesday December 25, 7-9pm Pacific (GMT-8)

HOW: Online. Join HERE. Passcode: 1023

SkepTalk

Ann Gibbons

WHAT: Lone Survivors: Neanderthals, Denisovans, and Us

In the past decade, new studies of ancient DNA from fossils have shown that, until as recently as 40,000 years ago, our ancestors shared the planet with two close relatives, the Neanderthals and a mysterious group called the Denisovans. Both of those groups became extinct, but traces of their DNA remain in the genomes of modern humans. Meanwhile, researchers are discovering diverse types of human ancestors who were living at the same time in the same fossil sites millions of years ago, suggesting that we were never alone—that there were always other types of hominins alive in Africa and elsewhere on the planet until recently. Join us for a discussion with Ann Gibbons about new research that has changed perceptions of the Neanderthals, shed new light on the mysterious Denisovans, and our place in the human family tree.

WHO: Ann Gibbons is a contributing correspondent for Science magazine and the author of The First Human: The Race to Discover Our Earliest Ancestors, which was a finalist for the LA Times best science and technology book. She also has taught science writing at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and written about human evolution for National Geographic, SLATE, Smithsonian magazine and other publications. A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, she was also a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a science writing fellow at the Marine Biological Laboratory.

She was awarded the 2019 American Geophysical Union’s Perlman Award for Excellence in Science Journalism, the 2018 and 2013 National Academy of Sciences Communication Awards for best magazine/newspaper article; the 2014 Society of American Archaeology Gene S. Stuart Award; and the 2012 Anthropology in Media Award from the American Anthropological Association (AAA) for a decade’s worth of stories on human origins and evolution.

WHEN: Thursday January 9 at 6:30PM PT (GMT -8)

HOW: (details coming soon)