Science in the City: Lectures at the JCCSF
The Universe Within
Neil Shubin, University of Chicago

Wed January 16th 7pm at the JCCSF
Paleontologist and evolutionary biologist Neil Shubin is famed for discovering the fossilized Tiktaalik roseae, the missing link between ancient sea creatures and land dwellers. Shubin’s bestselling book, Your Inner Fish, shows parallels between human anatomy and the structures of the fish that first wriggled landward 375 million years ago. In his new book, The Universe Within, Shubin goes one step further, explaining how the universe’s 14-billion-year history is reflected in our bodies, right down to our molecules. Neil Shubin is a Professor of Organismal Biology and Anatomy at the University of Chicago and a Fellow of the California Academy of Sciences. Academy Fellows are a distinguished group of eminent scientists recognized for notable contributions to one or more of the natural sciences.

Reservations: Please visit the JCCSF website to learn more and to purchase tickets or contact them at 415.292.1200 The JCCSF is located at 3200 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94118

Brilliant^!Science: Decoding Human Health
The California Academy of Sciences, in partnership with the Gladstone Institutes, will present a series of lectures, events, and opportunities for both families and adults to interact with distinguished scientists during this five-day biosciences festival from January 24-28. Some of the most brilliant minds in science today will be on hand to discuss pioneering research in human health, from new approaches to combating HIV/AIDS to the cutting-edge stem cell research built on a breakthrough that won a Gladstone scientist the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Brilliant!Science is generously supported by Eva and Bill Price and the Koret Foundation.

Brilliant^!Science: Decoding Human Health
Infectious Cures: Hijacking Viruses To Overcome Disease
Dr. Leor Weinberger, Gladstone Institutes
Dr. Shannon Bennett, California Academy of Sciences

Thur, Jan. 24 at 12:00 pm at The Commonwealth Club
We've made substantial progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS over the past three decades, but the epidemic continues to ravage humankind—especially in the developing world. Everywhere, viruses such as HIV compete with their hosts in an evolutionary ‘arms race’—building resistance to the latest therapies in order to maintain their deadly hold on our species. What if we could turn HIV on its head by hijacking the very virus that ravages the body, and transforming it into a cure? Join HIV expert Dr. Leor Weinberger as he reveals his revolutionary approach to halting the global AIDS epidemic. This special lecture will be hosted by Dr. Shannon Bennett, Associate Curator of Microbiology at the California Academy of Sciences.

Reservations: Tickets are $15 adults, $5  Academy and Commonwealth members, $7 students with ID. Academy members should use code: casforweinberger during checkout and please bring your Membership ID to the event. Reserve a seat online or by calling (415) 597-6700. This lecture takes place at the Commonwealth Club, 595 Market Street, 2nd Floor.

Brilliant^!Science: Decoding Human Health
Micro Nightlife

Thursday, January 24 from 6:00-10:00 pm
Every Thursday night, music, creatures and cocktails come together for NightLife at the Academy. As part of Brilliant!Science: Decoding Human Health, in partnership with the Gladstone Institutes, this week’s event features hands-on demonstration stations that will allow guests to use microscopes and learn about microbiomes—the plethora of microbes which colonize our bodies every day. At Academy microbiologist Shannon Bennett’s station, for instance, guests can find out if their faces are home to common but harmless eyebrow mites, and take a closer look at them. Academy exhibits, aquarium displays, and planetarium shows throughout the evening offer a complementary macro perspective.

Reservations: This event is for 21+ with valid ID. Tickets are $12, $10 for Academy members. Reserve online or call 415-379-8000

Brilliant^!Science: Decoding Human Health
Body Art: An Evening Science Mingle
Held at: The Intersection for the Arts

Friday, January 25 from 6:00-9:00 pm
Nosh on free tacos and beer while you mix and mingle with Academy and Gladstone scientists, exploring the human body as an art form—from brain to bone. The evening will feature cutting-edge science displays from the Academy and Gladstone Institutes, U.S. home to research built on a breakthrough that won a Gladstone scientist the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. Pick the brains of Academy and Gladstone scientists, who will don white lab coats as they mingle with guests while you viewing scientific images on exhibit and body systems highlighted through body painting.

Reservations: Tickets are $25 for adults 21+, $20 for Academy members. Refreshments included with admission. Purchase tickets online: members / non-members or by calling (415) 379-8000. Tickets at the door will be available for purchase by credit card only. This event takes place at Intersection for the Arts, 925 Mission Street.

Brilliant^!Science: Decoding Human Health
A Family Celebration
On the Public Floor of the Academy

Sat & Sun January 26 & 27 from 10am to 4pm
Discover more about the fascinating world of human health that lives within us all through informative, interactive programs for the whole family, including live chats with scientists like Kyle Kurpinski and Terry D. Johnson, authors of How to Defeat Your Own Clone: And Other Tips for Surviving the Biotech Revolution and more.The Academy’s public floor will host hands-on demonstrations including a close inspection of brain specimens, creating neurons from pipe cleaners and investigating how humans perceive their surroundings. Guests will also have the opportunity to search the human microbiome of bacteria and harmless mites. Appearances by the Bay Area Children’s Theater and the Kaiser Permanente Community Troupe, along with special guests, will entertain families all weekend long.

Reservations: Free with Academy admission. California Academy of Sciences, 55 Music Concourse Drive, Golden Gate Park. For admission, visit us online or call (415) 379-8000.

Brilliant^!Science: Decoding Human Health
Stroke of Insight: Strengthening the Brain
Jill Bolte Taylor in Conversation with Thomas Goetz

Monday January 28th 7:30pm at the Herbst Theatre
As a Harvard brain researcher, Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D. studied the question of how the brains of people with mental disorders differ from those without. At the age of 37, her study of the brain was changed by a very personal experience. She had a stroke. As she watched her experience unfold, her brain functions -- motion, speech, memory, linear thinking and self-awareness -- shut down one by one. What followed was a transformational experience and a personal study of perception as it differs between left brain processing and right brain experiencing. After a long and successful rehabilitation, she has become a spokesperson for the possibility of coming back from a brain injury stronger than before. She is the best-selling author of My Stroke of Insight and has the second most watched TED talk of all time. Taylor remains the national spokesperson for the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center and has been an active member and supporter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) since 1993. Taylor will be in conversation with Thomas Goetz who serves as the executive editor of Wired Magazine where he oversees all aspects of the publication from story conception to cover packages. Goetz holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of California at Berkeley and is author of The Decision Tree: A Manifesto for Personal Health which was published in February 2010 by Rodale Books. This program is presented in partnership with the Gladstone Institutes.

Reservations: This event is held at the historic Herbst Theatre. Members: $20 Balcony $25 Orchestra/Box, Non Members: $22 Balcony $27 Orchestra/Box Get your tickets online or over the phone at 415.392.4400

Benjamin Dean Lecture
How It All Began
Dr. Christopher Impey,
Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona

February 4th 7:30pm in the Planetarium
Learn about how an iota of space-time 13.7 billion years ago grew into 100 billion galaxies, including everything we know and love. The big bang is the scientific story of creation and it’s supported by a web of evidence pointing to an extremely hot and dense early state for the universe. What if we could look into space and see not only our place in the universe but also how we came to be here? As it happens, we can. Because it takes time for light to travel, we see more and more distant regions of the universe as they were in the successively greater past. Impey uses this concept—"look-back time"—to take us on an intergalactic tour that is simultaneously out in space and back in time. Performing a type of cosmic archaeology, Impey describes the astronomical clues that scientists have used to solve fascinating mysteries about the origins and development of our universe. How It All Began book signing to follow.

Reservations:Adults $12, Seniors $10, Academy Members $8. Seating is limited. To reserve a place today, buy a ticket online or over the phone at 1-877-227-1831

Academy Naturalist Program
San Francisco Bay Area Master Birder Program
Jack Dumbacher, Curator of Ornithology and Mammalogy
Along with Eddie Bartley and Bob Lewis

Feb 6th - Dec 4th 2013 with Classes & Field Excursions
The California Academy of Sciences is very excited to offer a new class, in collaboration with the Golden Gate Audubon Society. The Master Birder program will be taught by experts in ornithology with the objective to develop 20 new master level birders who will acquire enhanced conservation skills and become active volunteers for GGAS or the Academy. This course will take place over the course of the year with 10 classroom sessions held on the first Wednesday of each month and 10 field excursions on the following weekend. Upon completion of the program, the graduate will have developed a field notebook documenting sightings of over 200 bird species, will know how to identify the more difficult bird species and will have an understanding of habitats and bird communities, bird physiology, behavior and taxonomy. Many of the classes will take place at the Academy so instructors can use the Academy’s extensive collections to support the class instructions but a select few classes may take place at another local institution. Field trips will be designed to visit locations that reinforce the previous class’s subject matter and will be held at a variety of locations around the Bay Area and beyond. To enroll in the course, students will have to apply to the Academy’s curator of Ornithology. Interested participants are expected to already be able to identify 100 birds by sight and 25 by sound. Once the prospective student passes the application screening, they will be given access to a URL to enroll in the course. Please read our detailed description and requirements for program completion and download a program application if you are interested in this program.

Reservations:$500 Academy and Golden Gate Audubon Society Members, $600 General Public. Course enrollment closes on January 23rd, so please apply promptly if you are interested. Wednesday evening courses will be 2.5 hours long starting at 6:30pm. Field excursions will take place on a subsequent weekend day and will be 3 hours long plus travel time. Participants are responsible for their own transportation and food during field excursions. Please call Sara Stebick with any questions at 415.379.5378

Conservation Photography Workshop
The Digital Darkroom for the Nature Photographer
Gary Sharlow, Photographer & Education Manager

Sunday, February 10th 1:00pm to 4:00pm
This workshop is designed as an introduction to the digital darkroom and will cover a tour of Adobe Lightroom 4 and the Nik Software plugin suite. The class will mostly focus on the library and develop modules in Lightroom. We will also look at the technical aspects of the digital camera and image files to help you better understand how the image is interpreted by the software. This includes color space, file type and bit depth to name a few of the most important concepts. The digital flow from camera to output will be discussed… leaving time for an interactive session to address your most pressing questions about the process. There will be an additional presentation about using your photos for conservation and how you can effect change and protect the natural world through your passion for nature photography.

Please plan to meet at the Business Reception Desk at the backdoor of the Academy at 12:45pm.

Reservations: Members: $40, Adults: $50 To reserve a place today, buy a ticket online or over the phone at 1-877-227-1831

Pritzker Lecture
“Lucy and Selam” Climbed Trees, So What?!
Zeray Alemseged,
Irvine Chair of Anthropology

Wednesday February 13th 2013 at 7:00pm
Lucy and Selam are famous skeletons that belong to Australopithecus afarensis, a direct ancestor of humans that lived between 4 and 3 million years ago. When the Lucy skeleton was discovered in 1974, it helped establish that this creature was an upright walking species pushing the then accepted date for bipedalism by a million years. Lucy’s foot, the knee and pelvis are all very human-like. However, the upper body told a different story. The features were much more ape-like, including long arms, curved fingers. At the time, scientists split into two groups. One group argued, Yes, A. afarensis has ape-like features, but the species didn’t need them for survival, it’s just ancestral retention or evolutionary baggage. The second group interpreted the ape-like characters for their function: they saw the lower body for bipedalism and the upper body for climbing. This discussion went on for the following 35 years. In this presentation Alemseged discusses the evidence for climbing behavior in A. afarensis based on new evidence coming from his own find “Selam”, currently the most complete and earliest skeleton of a juvenile human ancestor.

Reservations:Adults $12, Seniors $10, Academy Members: free. Seating is limited. To reserve a place today, buy a ticket online or over the phone at 1-877-227-1831

The Brilliance of Sleep
Matt Walker in Conversation with Amy Standen

Wednesday February 27th 7:30pm at the Herbst Theatre
Scientists have long wondered why we power down our brains and enter into a sleeping state then spending countless hours in light dreamless slumber. Professor Matt Walker in the Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory within the Department of Psychology at U.C. Berkeley and his team have found compelling evidence for the purpose of this kind of sleep suggesting that it can solidify newly learned memories by rewiring the architecture of the brain. Bursts of electrical impulse brain waves known as sleep spindles may be networking between the brain's hippocampus – with its limited storage capacity – and the prefrontal cortex's – the storage area– effectively clearing the way for new learning. His team has also found evidence that sleep can associate and integrate new memories together, performing a kind of sleep-dependent alchemy. Beyond learning and memory, Dr. Walker’s lab has discovered recent findings that sleep can refresh emotional brain reactivity, effectively ironing out our prior waking concerns and allowing for well rested rational next day decisions. Sleep benefits us not only in learning and memory but also in many other ways that improve our health. Dr. Walker will be in conversation with Amy Standen from QUEST, an award-winning multimedia science and environment series created by KQED, San Francisco. Her work has been recognized by the National Association of Public Radio News Directors and Northern California's Society of Professional Journalists. Standen has been a producer on Pulse of the Planet, editor of Terrain Magazine and an editor at Salon, and a "roving reporter" for KALW's Philosophy Talk also contributing frequently to NPR.

Reservations: This event is held at the historic Herbst Theatre. Members: $20 Balcony $25 Orchestra/Box, Non Members: $22 Balcony $27 Orchestra/Box Get your tickets online or over the phone at 415.392.4400

The Power of Language
Lera Boroditsky in Conversation with Roy Eisenhardt

Wednesday March 20th 7:30pm at the Herbst Theatre
There are over 7,000 languages around the globe and each one may shape a given culture’s conception of time, space, color, or even justice. Lera Boroditsky, who conducts groundbreaking research on how language shapes thought says that “each language is its own universe”. Boroditsky is a professor of psychology, neuroscience, and symbolic systems at Stanford University who pays attention to what a speaker of a given language thinks, perceives, and remembers about an event. She makes the claim that “different languages invite speakers to develop different cognitive skills.” This idea that language shapes thoughts puts her at ends with linguists such as Noam Chomsky who contend that thought and perception are universal entities expressed but not shaped through language. The connection between language and thought has long captivated poets, philosophers, linguists, and thinkers of many sorts, but the modern debate has its roots in the work of the early-20th-century American linguist Benjamin Whorf and his Yale mentor, Edward Sapir. They believed that the structure of language was integral to the formation of thought and the evolution of cultural. The Whorf-Sapir theory of language was all but abandoned after about the 1930s. Boroditsky is often called a “neo-Whorfian” cognitive scientist as she is bringing this theory back to the forefront of discussion. She is “one of the first to show truly convincing evidence for the effects of language on cognitive processes,” including mental imagery, reasoning, perception and problem solving. Lera Boroditsky will be in conversation with Roy Eisenhardt who practiced law for twelve years in San Francisco and has taught at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law. He previously served as the Executive Director for the California Academy of Sciences. Some of his numerous interviews for City Arts & Lectures include Stephen King, Gene Wilder, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Desmond Tutu, David Remnick and Isabella Rosselini.

Reservations: This event is held at the historic Herbst Theatre. Members: $20 Balcony $25 Orchestra/Box, Non Members: $22 Balcony $27 Orchestra/Box Get your tickets online or over the phone at 415.392.4400

Unlocking the Mysteries of Neuroscience
David Eagleman in Conversation with Dr. Kiki Sanford

Wednesday April 10th 7:30pm at the Herbst Theatre
David Eagleman is a neuroscientist and a New York Times bestselling author. He directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action at the Baylor College of Medicine, where he also directs the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law. He is best known for his work on time perception, synesthesia, and neurolaw. His work of fiction, SUM, is an international bestseller published in 27 languages. Wednesday is Indigo Blue explores the neurological condition of synesthesia, in which the senses are blended. His latest book, the New York Times bestseller Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, explores the neuroscience of the conscious mind. Eagleman is a Guggenheim Fellow, a Next Generation Texas Fellow, a council member on the World Economic Forum, a research fellow in the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, and a board member of The Long Now Foundation. He is an academic editor for several scientific journals, and has been named one of 2012's Brightest Idea Guys by Italy's Style magazine. He is the scientific advisor for the television drama Perception, and has been profiled on the Colbert Report, NOVA Science Now, the New Yorker, CNN's Next List, and many other venues. He appears regularly on radio and television to discuss literature and science. Eagleman will be conversation with Kirsten Sanford popularly known as Dr. Kiki. She holds a doctorate in Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology (emphasis in Neurobiology) and a Bachelors degree in Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology from the University of California, Davis, and is a specialist in learning and memory. She is the founder and host of the popular This Week in Science podcast and radio show. Dr. Kiki is dedicated to making science accessible. She has produced and hosted programs featuring scientific luminaries such as James Watson, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Brian Green, Lisa Randall, Leonard Susskind, and Michio Kaku among others. David Eagleman is the 2013 Claire Matzger Lilienthal Distinguished Lecturer.

Reservations: This event is held at the historic Herbst Theatre. Members: $20 Balcony $25 Orchestra/Box, Non Members: $22 Balcony $27 Orchestra/Box Get your tickets online or over the phone at 415.392.4400

The Social Network Effect
Nicholas Carr in Conversation with Thomas Goetz

Tuesday May14th 7:30pm at the Nourse Theatre
Our brains, the historical and scientific evidence reveals, change in response to our experiences. Is it possible that the popular social networks of the modern day net are having profound impacts on the neural networks of our brains and on our psychological functioning? How are our virtual, social worlds changing our capacity to relate and communicate with one another in the physical world? Is Google making us stupid? When bestselling author and 2011 Pulitzer Prize finalist Nicholas Carr posed that question in a celebrated Atlantic essay, he tapped into a popular question of how the Internet is changing us. Carr expands his thoughts into the most compelling exploration of the Internet’s intellectual and cultural consequences as he describes how human thought has been shaped through the centuries by “tools of the mind” from the alphabet, to maps, to the printing press, the clock, and the computer. Carr makes a convincing case that every information technology carries an intellectual ethic — a set of assumptions about the nature of knowledge and intelligence. He explains how the printed book served to focus our attention, promoting deep and creative thought. In stark contrast, the Internet encourages the rapid sampling of small bits of information from many sources. Its ethic is the ethic of the industrialist, of speed and efficiency, of optimized production and consumption and now the Net is remaking us in its own image. Nicholas Carr will be in Conversation with Thomas Goetz who is the executive editor of WIRED magazine and author of The Decision Tree: Taking Control of Your Health in the New Era of Personalized Medicine. A journalist for more than 15 years, Goetz has reported on media and business for the Village Voice, the Wall Street Journal, and The Industry Standard. He holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Reservations: This event is held at the historic Nourse Theatre. Members: $20 Balcony $25 Orchestra/Box, Non Members: $22 Balcony $27 Orchestra/Box Get your tickets online or over the phone at 415.392.4400

The Science of Love & Attraction
Helen Fisher in Conversation with Michael Krazny

Tuesday June 4th 7:30pm at the Nourse Theatre
Helen E. Fisher, PhD biological anthropologist, is a Research Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers University. She has written five books on the evolution and future of human sexuality, monogamy, adultery and divorce, gender differences in the brain, the chemistry of romantic love, and most recently, human personality types and why we fall in love with one person rather than another. Fisher maintains that humans have evolved three core brain systems for mating and reproduction: 1. Lust (the sex drive or libido) 2. Romantic attraction (romantic love) 3. Attachment (deep feelings of union with a long term partner). “Love can start off with any of these three feelings,” Fisher maintains. “Some people fall head over heels in love, but the sex drive evolved to encourage you to seek a range of partners; romantic love evolved to enable you to focus your mating energy on just one at a time; and attachment evolved to enable you to feel deep union to this person long enough to rear your infants as a team.” But, these brain systems can be tricky. Having sex, Fisher says, can drive up dopamine in the brain and push you over the threshold toward falling in love. And with orgasm, you experience a flood of oxytocin and vasopressin--giving you feelings of attachment. “Casual sex isn’t always casual” Fisher reports, “It can trigger a host of powerful feelings.” In fact, Fisher believes that men and women often engage in “hooking up” to unconsciously trigger these feelings of romance and attachment. What happens when you fall in love? People can list what they don’t like about their sweetheart, but they sweep these things aside and focus on what they adore. Intense energy, elation, mood swings, emotional dependence, separation anxiety, possessiveness, a pounding heart and craving are all central to this madness. Helen Fisher will be in conversation with Michael Krasny who is the host of the KQED radio program Forum. He is also a professor of English at San Francisco State University and the author of Spiritual Envy: an Agnostic’s Quest and Off Mike: A Memoir of Talk Radio and Literary Life. His many stage interviews include Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, Norman Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, and Brian Greene.

Reservations: This event is held at the historic Nourse Theatre. Members: $20 Balcony $25 Orchestra/Box, Non Members: $22 Balcony $27 Orchestra/Box Get your tickets online or over the phone at 415.392.4400

Conversations On Science

In this series, the Academy has partnered with City Arts & Lectures, Inc. to present distinguished scientists, professors, writers, thinkers, photographers and artists who discuss important and timely scientific and environmental issues. These conversations are held downtown at San Francisco's beautiful Herbst Theatre at 401 Van Ness Avenue and at the Nourse Theatre at 275 Hayes Street.

The Science of Yoga: A Mind-Body Practice
Jon Kabat-Zinn in Conversation with Kelly McGonigal

Wednesday, January 9th, 7:30pm at the Herbst Theatre
Yoga has been shown to effectively improve over 50 medical conditions including stress induced injuries and illnesses. By combining the mindfulness techniques of meditation with physical movement of yoga, people all over the world have witnessed reductions of stress and physical ailments in their bodies. Jon Kabat-Zinn is Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He combined the practices of mindfulness meditation and Hatha yoga in his world renowned Mindfulness – Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) program. MBSR helps patients cope with stress, pain, and illness by using moment-to-moment awareness and is now being taught at over 200 top medical centers around the world, and is offered at hospitals, schools, prisons and in professional sports. Kabat-Zinn will be in conversation with Kelly McGonigal a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University. She is the author of Yoga for Pain Relief, which translates recent advances in neuroscience and medicine into mind-body strategies for relieving chronic pain, stress, depression, and anxiety. McGonigal is passionate about translating cutting-edge research from psychology, neuroscience, and medicine into practical strategies for personal health and happiness.

Ticketing Information Below

Brilliant!Science: Decoding Human Health

Stroke of Insight: Strengthening the Brain
Jill Bolte Taylor in Conversation with Thomas Goetz

Monday January 28th 7:30pm at the Herbst Theatre
As a Harvard brain researcher, Jill Bolte Taylor, Ph.D. studied the question of how the brains of people with mental disorders differ from those without. At the age of 37, her study of the brain was changed by a very personal experience. She had a stroke. As she watched her experience unfold, her brain functions -- motion, speech, memory, linear thinking and self-awareness -- shut down one by one. What followed was a transformational experience and a personal study of perception as it differs between left brain processing and right brain experiencing. After a long and successful rehabilitation, she has become a spokesperson for the possibility of coming back from a brain injury stronger than before. She is the best-selling author of My Stroke of Insight and has the second most watched TED talk of all time. Taylor remains the national spokesperson for the Harvard Brain Tissue Resource Center and has been an active member and supporter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) since 1993. Taylor will be in conversation with Thomas Goetz who serves as the executive editor of Wired Magazine where he oversees all aspects of the publication from story conception to cover packages. Goetz holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of California at Berkeley and is author of The Decision Tree: A Manifesto for Personal Health which was published in February 2010 by Rodale Books. This program is presented in partnership with the Gladstone Institutes.

Ticketing Information Below

The Brilliance of Sleep
Matt Walker in Conversation with Amy Standen

Wednesday February 27th 7:30pm at the Herbst Theatre
Scientists have long wondered why we power down our brains and enter into a sleeping state then spending countless hours in light dreamless slumber. Professor Matt Walker in the Sleep and Neuroimaging Laboratory within the Department of Psychology at U.C. Berkeley and his team have found compelling evidence for the purpose of this kind of sleep suggesting that it can solidify newly learned memories by rewiring the architecture of the brain. Bursts of electrical impulse brain waves known as sleep spindles may be networking between the brain's hippocampus – with its limited storage capacity – and the prefrontal cortex's – the storage area– effectively clearing the way for new learning. His team has also found evidence that sleep can associate and integrate new memories together, performing a kind of sleep-dependent alchemy. Beyond learning and memory, Dr. Walker’s lab has discovered recent findings that sleep can refresh emotional brain reactivity, effectively ironing out our prior waking concerns and allowing for well rested rational next day decisions. Sleep benefits us not only in learning and memory but also in many other ways that improve our health. Dr. Walker will be in conversation with Amy Standen from QUEST, an award-winning multimedia science and environment series created by KQED, San Francisco. Her work has been recognized by the National Association of Public Radio News Directors and Northern California's Society of Professional Journalists. Standen has been a producer on Pulse of the Planet, editor of Terrain Magazine and an editor at Salon, and a "roving reporter" for KALW's Philosophy Talk also contributing frequently to NPR.

Ticketing Information Below

The Power of Language
Lera Boroditsky in Conversation with Roy Eisenhardt

Wednesday March 20th 7:30pm at the Herbst Theatre
There are over 7,000 languages around the globe and each one may shape a given culture’s conception of time, space, color, or even justice. Lera Boroditsky, who conducts groundbreaking research on how language shapes thought says that “each language is its own universe”. Boroditsky is a professor of psychology, neuroscience, and symbolic systems at Stanford University who pays attention to what a speaker of a given language thinks, perceives, and remembers about an event. She makes the claim that “different languages invite speakers to develop different cognitive skills.” This idea that language shapes thoughts puts her at ends with linguists such as Noam Chomsky who contend that thought and perception are universal entities expressed but not shaped through language. The connection between language and thought has long captivated poets, philosophers, linguists, and thinkers of many sorts, but the modern debate has its roots in the work of the early-20th-century American linguist Benjamin Whorf and his Yale mentor, Edward Sapir. They believed that the structure of language was integral to the formation of thought and the evolution of cultural. The Whorf-Sapir theory of language was all but abandoned after about the 1930s. Boroditsky is often called a “neo-Whorfian” cognitive scientist as she is bringing this theory back to the forefront of discussion. She is “one of the first to show truly convincing evidence for the effects of language on cognitive processes,” including mental imagery, reasoning, perception and problem solving. Lera Boroditsky will be in conversation with Roy Eisenhardt who practiced law for twelve years in San Francisco and has taught at UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law. He previously served as the Executive Director for the California Academy of Sciences. Some of his numerous interviews for City Arts & Lectures include Stephen King, Gene Wilder, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Desmond Tutu, David Remnick and Isabella Rosselini.

Ticketing Information Below

Unlocking the Mysteries of Neuroscience
David Eagleman in Conversation with Dr. Kiki Sanford

Wednesday April 10th 7:30pm at the Herbst Theatre
David Eagleman is a neuroscientist and a New York Times bestselling author. He directs the Laboratory for Perception and Action at the Baylor College of Medicine, where he also directs the Initiative on Neuroscience and Law. He is best known for his work on time perception, synesthesia, and neurolaw. His work of fiction, SUM, is an international bestseller published in 27 languages. Wednesday is Indigo Blue explores the neurological condition of synesthesia, in which the senses are blended. His latest book, the New York Times bestseller Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain, explores the neuroscience of the conscious mind. Eagleman is a Guggenheim Fellow, a Next Generation Texas Fellow, a council member on the World Economic Forum, a research fellow in the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies, and a board member of The Long Now Foundation. He is an academic editor for several scientific journals, and has been named one of 2012's Brightest Idea Guys by Italy's Style magazine. He is the scientific advisor for the television drama Perception, and has been profiled on the Colbert Report, NOVA Science Now, the New Yorker, CNN's Next List, and many other venues. He appears regularly on radio and television to discuss literature and science. Eagleman will be conversation with Kirsten Sanford popularly known as Dr. Kiki. She holds a doctorate in Molecular, Cellular and Integrative Physiology (emphasis in Neurobiology) and a Bachelors degree in Wildlife, Fisheries, and Conservation Biology from the University of California, Davis, and is a specialist in learning and memory. She is the founder and host of the popular This Week in Science podcast and radio show. Dr. Kiki is dedicated to making science accessible. She has produced and hosted programs featuring scientific luminaries such as James Watson, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Brian Green, Lisa Randall, Leonard Susskind, and Michio Kaku among others. David Eagleman is the 2013 Claire Matzger Lilienthal Distinguished Lecturer.

Ticketing Information Below

The Social Network Effect
Nicholas Carr in Conversation with Thomas Goetz

Tuesday May14th 7:30pm at the Nourse Theatre
Our brains, the historical and scientific evidence reveals, change in response to our experiences. Is it possible that the popular social networks of the modern day net are having profound impacts on the neural networks of our brains and on our psychological functioning? How are our virtual, social worlds changing our capacity to relate and communicate with one another in the physical world? British researchers have found a direct link between the number of “friends” a person has on their social network and the size of certain brain regions that play a role in memory, emotion and social interaction but the conclusions one draws from these correlation is not clear. Studies reveal that our brains release chemicals when we simply go online to see if people have posted or responded to a request to enter our virtual friend networks. Studies show that the technologies we use to find, store, and share information can literally reroute our neural pathways. Is Google making us stupid? When bestselling author and 2011 Pulitzer Prize finalist Nicholas Carr posed that question in a celebrated Atlantic essay, he tapped into a popular question of how the Internet is changing us. Carr expands his thoughts into the most compelling exploration of the Internet’s intellectual and cultural consequences as he describes how human thought has been shaped through the centuries by “tools of the mind” from the alphabet, to maps, to the printing press, the clock, and the computer. Carr makes a convincing case that every information technology carries an intellectual ethic — a set of assumptions about the nature of knowledge and intelligence. He explains how the printed book served to focus our attention, promoting deep and creative thought. In stark contrast, the Internet encourages the rapid sampling of small bits of information from many sources. Its ethic is the ethic of the industrialist, of speed and efficiency, of optimized production and consumption and now the Net is remaking us in its own image. Nicholas Carr will be in Conversation with Thomas Goetz who is the executive editor of WIRED magazine and author of The Decision Tree: Taking Control of Your Health in the New Era of Personalized Medicine. A journalist for more than 15 years, Goetz has reported on media and business for the Village Voice, the Wall Street Journal, and The Industry Standard. He holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

Ticketing Information Below

The Science of Love & Attraction
Helen Fisher in Conversation with Michael Krazny

Tuesday June 4th 7:30pm at the Nourse Theatre
Helen E. Fisher, PhD biological anthropologist, is a Research Professor in the Department of Anthropology at Rutgers University. She has written five books on the evolution and future of human sexuality, monogamy, adultery and divorce, gender differences in the brain, the chemistry of romantic love, and most recently, human personality types and why we fall in love with one person rather than another. Fisher maintains that humans have evolved three core brain systems for mating and reproduction: 1. Lust (the sex drive or libido) 2. Romantic attraction (romantic love) 3. Attachment (deep feelings of union with a long term partner). “Love can start off with any of these three feelings,” Fisher maintains. “Some people fall head over heels in love, but the sex drive evolved to encourage you to seek a range of partners; romantic love evolved to enable you to focus your mating energy on just one at a time; and attachment evolved to enable you to feel deep union to this person long enough to rear your infants as a team.” But, these brain systems can be tricky. Having sex, Fisher says, can drive up dopamine in the brain and push you over the threshold toward falling in love. And with orgasm, you experience a flood of oxytocin and vasopressin--giving you feelings of attachment. “Casual sex isn’t always casual” Fisher reports, “It can trigger a host of powerful feelings.” In fact, Fisher believes that men and women often engage in “hooking up” to unconsciously trigger these feelings of romance and attachment. What happens when you fall in love? People can list what they don’t like about their sweetheart, but they sweep these things aside and focus on what they adore. Intense energy, elation, mood swings, emotional dependence, separation anxiety, possessiveness, a pounding heart and craving are all central to this madness. Helen Fisher will be in conversation with Michael Krasny who is the host of the KQED radio program Forum. He is also a professor of English at San Francisco State University and the author of Spiritual Envy: an Agnostic’s Quest and Off Mike: A Memoir of Talk Radio and Literary Life. His many stage interviews include Toni Morrison, Salman Rushdie, Norman Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates, and Brian Greene.

Ticketing Information Below

Ticketing Information:

Reservations:
Call 415-392-4400 or visit: City Box Office
(Academy discounts applied during checkout.)

Members: $20 Balcony $25 Orchestra/Box
Non Members: $22 Balcony $27 Orchestra/Box

Pritzker Lectures 

Free to Academy members, the Pritzker lecture series features engaging speakers from the Bay Area and beyond. Topics cover a wide range of subjects related to the Academy's mission to "explore, explain and protect the natural world."

Pritzker Lecture
“Lucy and Selam” Climbed Trees, So What?!
Zeray Alemseged,
Irvine Chair of Anthropology

Wednesday February 13th 2013 at 7:00pm
Lucy and Selam are famous skeletons that belong to Australopithecus afarensis, a direct ancestor of humans that lived between 4 and 3 million years ago. When the Lucy skeleton was discovered in 1974, it helped establish that this creature was an upright walking species pushing the then accepted date for bipedalism by a million years. Lucy’s foot, the knee and pelvis are all very human-like. However, the upper body told a different story. The features were much more ape-like, including long arms, curved fingers. At the time, scientists split into two groups. One group argued, Yes, A. afarensis has ape-like features, but the species didn’t need them for survival, it’s just ancestral retention or evolutionary baggage. The second group interpreted the ape-like characters for their function: they saw the lower body for bipedalism and the upper body for climbing. This discussion went on for the following 35 years. In this presentation Alemseged discusses the evidence for climbing behavior in A. afarensis based on new evidence coming from his own find “Selam”, currently the most complete and earliest skeleton of a juvenile human ancestor.

Reservations:Adults $12, Seniors $10, Academy Members: free. Seating is limited. To reserve a place today, buy a ticket online or over the phone at 1-877-227-1831

Benjamin Dean Lectures

This series of talks for the general public is given by noted scientists in the fields of astronomy and space science. It is held in the Morrison Planetarium, home of the most accurate and interactive digital Universe ever created, which is shown on the world's largest all-digital dome.

Benjamin Dean Lecture
How It All Began
Dr. Christopher Impey,
Department of Astronomy, University of Arizona

February 4th 7:30pm in the Planetarium
Learn about how an iota of space-time 13.7 billion years ago grew into 100 billion galaxies, including everything we know and love. The big bang is the scientific story of creation and it’s supported by a web of evidence pointing to an extremely hot and dense early state for the universe. What if we could look into space and see not only our place in the universe but also how we came to be here? As it happens, we can. Because it takes time for light to travel, we see more and more distant regions of the universe as they were in the successively greater past. Impey uses this concept—"look-back time"—to take us on an intergalactic tour that is simultaneously out in space and back in time. Performing a type of cosmic archaeology, Impey describes the astronomical clues that scientists have used to solve fascinating mysteries about the origins and development of our universe. How It All Began book signing to follow.

Reservations:Adults $12, Seniors $10, Academy Members $8. Seating is limited. To reserve a place today, buy a ticket online or over the phone at 1-877-227-1831