The Devil’s Teeth: Obsession & Survival among America’s Great White Sharks by Susan Casey

November 3rd at 6:30 pm

The Farallon Islands, inhospitable and dramatic, are feeding grounds for sharks. The group will discuss Susan Casey’s account of two biologists who have spent years in this underwater lab observing and learning more about the behavior of these creatures.

Reservations: Free. To reserve a place, go online or call 800-794-7576. Meet at the Business Receptio Desk off the Middle Drive entrance.

The Drunkard’s Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives by Leonard Mlodinow

October 13th at 6:30 pm

What role do numbers play in our daily lives? How do we interpret chance events and how do they impact our future behavior in a particular situation? How reliable or unreliable are wine ratings, political polls, and school grades? Physicist Mlodinow’s book on predictability–or the lack thereof–is sure to challenge some of your views.

Reservations: Free. To reserve a place, go online or call 800-794-7576. Meet at the Business Reception Desk off the Middle Drive entrance.

The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science by Natalie Angier

September 15th at 6:30 pm

Join a discussion of Angier’s primer on scientific topics ranging from thinking scientifically to geology, astronomy, and evolutionary biology. A New York Times columnist and Putlizer Prize-winning journalist, Aniger asked scientists, “What do you wish everyone knew about your field?” The results are in The Canon.

Reservations: Free. To reserve a place, go online or call 800-794-7576. Meet at the Business Reception Desk off the Middle Drive entrance.

Citizen scientists began collecting data for our long term monitoring project of the Living Roof plants and animals.

The bird data we collected on Sunday has been submitted to eBird, a project that was launched in 2002 by Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society. The observations made by our citizen scientists join those of an international network of eBird users. eBird shares the bird data with a global community of educators, land managers, ornithologists, and conservation biologists. In time these data will become the foundation for a better understanding of bird distribution across the western hemisphere and beyond. For more information visit: http://ebird.org/content/ebird/about

For those citizen scientists involved in the Living Roof Project you can have access to our eBird account. Just email ahysert@calacademy.org and I will give you the instructions and password.

June 28th, July19th, July 23rd, August 16th, and August 20th, 9:30 a.m. -12:30 p.m.

Participate in a citizen science project by helping the Academy collect data for a long term monitoring project on the Academy’s roof. Learn about the roof’s delicate ecosystem, plants and the diversity of birds and insects that visit the roof daily. For ages 12 and older.

Reservations: Academy admission plus $3 per person. Buy tickets online or call 415-379-8000 (press 0 for a reservation representative). Limited space available (15 people maximum).