exploratorium

Lab and Lunch

Check upcoming programs for dates and times

Exploratorium, Pier 15, Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery

Free, RSVP required for lunch. (Email reserve@exploratorium.edu, or call 415.528.4444, and choose option 5.)

Lab and Lunch is a free lunchtime lecture series that explores new work by visiting scientists, educators, and artists who are collaborating with Exploratorium staff. Spend your lunch break in the Exploratorium’s beautiful Fisher Bay Observatory Gallery, enjoy a free catered lunch, and learn about ongoing research and new discoveries.

The Lab and Lunch series is funded by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

 

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Upcoming Programs

There's always something interesting happening here—check out our ongoing events.

Past Programs
Lab and Lunch: Common Sensing

Thursday, January 31, 2019 • Noon

Join historian Paul Edwards and artist Rosten Woo in a discussion of the politics of sensing, the construction of large datasets, climate modeling, epistemology, how shared data realities are constructed and maintained, and how we understand the impacts of climate change today. 

Spectrogram of hydrophone recording
Lab and Lunch: Listening for Change

Wednesday, December 19, 2018 • Noon–1:00 p.m.

Bring your lunch and listen to the sounds of life beneath the Exploratorium piers, as a bioacoustics researcher discusses what scientists learn when listening for environmental changes.

Lab and Lunch: Rising—Dispatches from the New American Shore

Thursday, August 2, 2018 • Noon–1:00 p.m.

Join Elizabeth Rush, author of Rising: Dispatches from the New American Shore, for a discussion about coastal communities undergoing dramatic transformation due to climate change.

Lab and Lunch: Learning from Venice

Tuesday, June 5, 2018 • Noon–1:30 p.m.

Join a discussion that compares how two iconic port cities—Venice and San Francisco—are developing infrastructure to help them cope with sea level rise.

Nalini Nadkarni examines a plant while climbing in the forest canopy in Costa Rica.
Lab and Lunch: Conserving the Canopy

Wednesday, May 23, 2018 • Noon–1 p.m.

Join ecologist Nalini Nadkarni to hear about her experiences bringing science and conservation projects to diverse audiences.

Lab and Lunch: California's Goldilocks Weather

Thursday, May 17, 2018 • 12:00–1:00 p.m.

Come hear from a NOAA meteorologist why California is known for its great weather and why that might be changing. 
Lab and Lunch: Climate Garden 2085

October 5, 2017 • Noon–1 p.m.

Climate Garden 2085 at the swissnex Gallery is a public science experiment offering visitors a sensory experience to help visualize and imagine effects of future climates on San Francisco’s forests, agriculture, and landscapes.
Lab and Lunch: Following in Rickett’s Footsteps

Friday, September 22, 2017 • Noon–1:00 p.m.

Join marine biologist John Pearse as he traces his long career studying the ecology and natural history of tide pools in California. Inspired by Ed Ricketts of Cannery Row fame, Dr. Pearse will discuss how individual organisms fit into complex communities. 

Lab and Lunch: Common Sensing

Thursday, July 20, 2017 • Noon–1:00 p.m.

Artist Rosten Woo will share sketches and footage from Common Sensing, a series of short films about sensors and the people who build them, maintain them, and use what they produce.
Lab and Lunch: The Fight for a Healthy Bay and Ocean

Thursday, April 20, 2017 • 11:30 a.m.–1:30 p.m.

Join a lunchtime presentation by two lawyers from the public interest legal organization Earthjustice, exploring how ongoing legal cases about the California coast fit into broader strategies to combat the effects of climate change.
King Tide Walk, Plus Lab and Lunch Discussion

Thursday, January 12, 2017 • 10:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

See the highest tides of the year, learn what causes high and low tides, and hear about the California King Tides Project.
Field Lab: Tidelands

Thursday, October 27 • Noon–3:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m.

Visit the Field Lab and explore the dynamics of the San Francisco Bay. From the critters that live in the tidelands to the impacts of rising seas to the regional policies and projects that will help us adapt to the effects of climate change, the Field Lab will engage the public in understanding our tidelands.

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