Zombies, the Apocalypse, and Alton Brown: The Motherboard Guide to the Bay Area Science Festival

If you’re in the SF area and would be down to party like the undead, take a night hike for stargazing, or debate the fantastic ways the world might end, then you’ll be over the moon to hear that this week marks the start of the annual Bay Area Science Festival! Between now and Nov. 3rd, there’ll be tons of stuff happening to honor of the profound awesomeness of science. Frak yeah! Some highlights include:

The Cal Academy of Sciences hosts weekly themed Thursday Nightlife events for those who like their science and natural history with a cocktail or two. This month they’re getting into the Halloween spirit with an evening fit for the living dead complete with braaaaaiiins you can touch (no snacking!), makeup artists who’ll give you the season’s hottest look: decay. And, of course there will be the requisite drinks, music, and a Zombie Drag show. Because, you know, San Francisco.

For tickets, hit the Academy’s site.

For those fond of epicurean experimentation and culinary derring-do, check out Brown’s part-variety show/part demonstration at the Castro Theater on Saturday night. Think comedy/cooking mashup, hosted by a mad-science foodie storyteller. Nom!

Tickets are $35, plenty available the event’s Eventbrite page.

Disaster movie aficianados and end-of-the-world theorists can get their fix on Saturday the 27th at Doomsday Live!, a show dedicated to the apocalypse. The folks from Big Picture Science, SETI’s own radio show, are putting on a live-taping of their weekly program down at the Computer History Museum in San Jose. So if you’ve ever considered if we’ll meet our end in fire vs. ice, astroid vs. comet, plague vs. nuclear winter, aliens vs. dinosaurs (JK, no one thinks the world is going to end with dinosaurs…unless the dinosaurs are all raptors) or live your life according to the Mayan calendar, you need to see Doomsday Live!

More info at the Big Picture Science blog.

If you’re lucky, you can still score tickets to this science cruise around the bay, hosted by the SF Aquarium next Thursday. The party starts at the Aquarium itself on Pier 39, where you can check out the sharks, jellies, and all the creatures of the sea before the party sets sail. A few aquarium scientists will be onboard to talk shop with all those willing to be there and be square. (Also, DJ Alpha Bravo!)

Ticket are were available on Eventbrite, but hey, maybe Craigslist?

“Beauty is truth; truth, beauty,” said Keats, both of which can be found in the luminous, bizarre, and extraordinary intersections of design and science. Stop by the Berkeley Arts Festival on November 1st to wander the photography, sculpture, and video installations, and as a bonus it’s kid-friendly. Panel discussions will take place, and you can try your own hand at crafting genius at the an origami workshop. Or probably just make a paper crane to take home.

Head to Berkeley’s site for more info.

There’s a ton more going on as well, so go check out the festival lineup for more details on events like night hikes, star parties, superhero science, futurism Friday, and the mathematics of Pixar movies. Events, some events throughout the festival are free, and most are reasonably priced, so you can get your geek on for about $10-$20.