This moderated discussion featured a panel of UC Berkeley experts will pore over the myriad ways modern civilization interacts with fungi. The panel will speak to our millennia-long appetite for them in cuisines throughout the world, as well as their evolving presence in commerce, medicine (including the use of psilocybin in modern mental health treatments), public health (including indoor air quality and the spread of opportunistic disease), as well as the impact climate change is having on the mushroom season.
Watch videoVideos and Virtual
Upcoming virtual events with live Q&A, and videos from previous events.
Fungi and Friends
Serving (Up) Science: Tools, Trust and Twitter
Our panel of social media super users shared their insights, addressing how, why and by whom these new communications tools are being shaped. The panel also probed how changes in access to a broader online audience impacts the in-person world—both intended and unintended—and invited viewers to consider the opportunities and challenges for the PMB community as it enters its fourth decade.
Watch videoThe Future of Food: Genetic Improvement Meets Sustainable Agriculture
How do we feed a growing population and engineer crops that are resilient to climate change? How do we increase crop yields and fight crop diseases and pests while preserving our soils and water sources? The rapid advance of gene editing and other technologies has provided a new tool kit to address these questions and more, and they have already made an impact at a global scale, just at the moment when global-scale solutions are needed most. Brian Staskawicz (UC Berkeley) and Pam Ronald (UC Davis) discuss the latest advances in using genome editing and other genetic technologies to promote sustainable agriculture at scale, both promises and potential pitfalls, and how we move from lab to field safely and equitably.
Watch videoOutside For All: Investing in Parks to Build Community Power
Join Diane Regas, President and CEO of The Trust for Public Land, Teresa Bendito, co-founder of Parque Padrinos, and Taylor Toynes, Executive Director of For Oak Cliff, in a discussion on parks and community power.
Watch videoOf Virulent Viruses and Reservoir Hosts
Join professor Britt Glaunsinger and postdoc Cara Brook in a Berkeley Conversation webinar on lethal viruses, pathogen transfers to humans, and more.
Watch videoHalf-Earth: How to Save the Natural World
Half-Earth is a clarion call to protect half the land and sea in order to safeguard the bulk of biodiversity, and ourselves. At this critical moment for our planet, the Half-Earth Project is bringing together the unique expertise and experience of scientists and thought leaders from around to world to achieve this important moonshot and solve the current environmental crisis. Renowned biologist and naturalist E.O. Wilson joined former U.S. secretary of the interior Sally Jewell for a discussion as part of the Albright Lecture in Conservation.
Watch video2019 Spring Albright Lecture in Conservation
Ana M. Alvarez serves as the Deputy General Manager of the East Bay Regional Park District, the largest local park agency in the United States. Ana’s professional accomplishments demonstrate a strong acumen for proactive and meaningful civic engagement, community building based on public trust and sustainability planning based on science, which she believes are paramount for the vibrancy of healthy communities.
Watch videoPlanet Vision
Dr. Foley, Executive Director of the California Academy of Sciences, will speak on why we need to build a shared, positive vision of the future to address our environmental challenges.
Watch videoCan Nature Save Us? Stories from the Natural World
At a time when humanity’s demands on the natural world have never been greater, Dr. M. Sanjayan’s keynote address highlights nature’s essential role in creating a livable future for people everywhere.
Watch videoActivism in Business
Rose Marcario, President and CEO of Patagonia, and Robert Strand discussed the role of progressive business leaders in the current era.
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