3rd Monday of Every Month

Monday, July 21st, 2008 7-9 PM
Where:Atlas Cafe
What:The Toxicology of Everyday Products
Who: Dr. Paul Blanc, UCSF
The Deets:There are hidden health dangers in many of the seemingly innocent products we encounter every day - a tube of glue in a kitchen drawer, a bottle of bleach in the laundry room, a rayon scarf on a closet shelf, a brass knob on the front door, a wood plank on an outdoor deck. This is not a matter of one exceptional or corrupt industry, but rather of how run-of-the-mill manufacturing processes and consumer marketing expose workers and the general public alike to toxic hazards. More troubling still, even when such hazards are recognized, calls for their control are routinely ignored.

Dr. Blanc, Professor of Medicine and Chief of the Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine at the University of California San Francisco, is a physician with extensive experience in public health and medical toxicology. He is the author of How Everyday Products Make People Sick

Monday, August 18th, 2008 7-9 PM
Where:Atlas Cafe
What: Power to the People: Robots and Representational Democracy
Who: Dr. Ken Goldberg, UC Berkeley
The Deets: Is there decision-making strength in numbers? Professor Goldberg and his students are looking into questions raised by robots and social networks -- and working on a new class of interfaces and games based on networked robots and cameras that quantify a measure of "leadership" to bring about group discovery and decision-making based on the power of crowds.

Ken will report on experiments and questions raised by robots and social networks, ranging from Ouija boards to human "tele-actors,"and tell a true story about how invasions of privacy led him and his students to study how robots can assist in monitoring the natural environment. Ken will describe a robotic system they've deployed to assist the search for the Ivory Billed Woodpecker, a bird of extreme interest to birdwatchers, ornithologists, and conservationists whose last confirmed sighting was in 1944. Ken will also describe the Berkeley Center for New Media, a highly cross-disciplinary center with over 110 affiliated faculty from 30 Cal Departments.


Science in Action Events
Science in Action is a series of tours, trips, and hikes intended to put you in the middle of active science in the Bay Area.

If you're interested in attending, send me an email.

The SF Recycling Tour is now full...Please email if you'd like to be added to the wait list
Saturday, July 19th 10 AM - 12 Noon

What: SF Recycling & Garbage Disposal Tour - including Sculpture Garden
Cost: FREE
Spend a sunny Saturday morning @ the dump! We'll learn about recycling & waste management.

Details: During the tour we will spend 45 minutes in the classroom watching a video, talking about recycling and environmental topics and the Artist in Residence Program. Then we will go to the studio to meet the current artist, then visit the Hazardous Waste Facility, the Transfer Station, the Sculpture Garden and finally walk through the Public Disposal Area. This part of the tour takes about one hour.