This month’s amusing and occasionally immodest show promises mud, machines, and mites. So put on your tallest boots to walk along the Thames, accompanied by walking PVC construct companions, and perhaps arachnids walking on your skin! Fortify yourself with drinks while our presenters take us on this journey, along with our bartenders, deejay, librarians, and food-slingers. Be there and be square!
Wednesday, 6/15/2016
Doors at 7pm, Show at 8pm
Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell St @Van Ness
$8, all ages
Tickets here
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“Mudlarking and Material Culture” by Laura Rubin
The River Thames has a long memory. The river and its tributaries have shaped and informed the daily life of Londoners from lithic times all the way to the present, and preserve the material culture of their daily lives. In this lecture Laura Rubin will give a brief overview of the Thames, a short methodology, and talk about her personal finds from the summer of 2015.
Laura is a costumer, writer, and interdisciplinary scholar. When not writing software manuals for money, she researches and interprets Western clothing, foodways, and culture from the 16th through the 20th centuries.
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“The Blind Watchmaker: Theo Jansen and the Art of Creating Life” by Paul Dancstep
“Strandbeest: The Dream Machines of Theo Jansen” is a new exhibit at the Exploratorium. It features the work of a Dutch artist who creates elaborate walking structures out of PVC tube. These “strandbeests” are made up of many interesting organs. They have legs that take elegant strides. They have stomachs to store energy, allowing them to walk even when there’s no wind. They can even detect water and count their steps. Explore strandbeest anatomy and what it reveals about living creatures and the process of natural selection.
Paul grew up in San Diego but has never been on a surfboard. He studied physics in college but is still baffled by things like zippers. He’s been at the Exploratorium for over a decade, building boxes, changing lightbulbs and occasionally speaking to the public.
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“Mite-y Sexy: The Scandalous Sex Lives of Mites” by Jane Ishka
There are more species of mites than anything else on earth, and almost as many weird ways that they have sex. Some male mites carry immature females until they grown up and are ready to mate, while certain females mate once and carry the sperm for their whole lives, impregnating themselves at any time. Hear these and more Barely Safe For Nerd Nite sex stories about the mighty mite!
Jane is the author of The Year of the Mite and a biotechnology professional living in Berkeley. Her technical writing supports approval of new medical products. Her first book, The Year of the Mite, chronicles a year-long infestation of her home and skin by the parasite Dermanyssus gallinae. Visit Jane at www.yearofthemite.com
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With: Alpha Bravo, who’ll be spinning tunes specially selected to match the presenters’ themes. Follow the setlist on Twitter @djalphabravo.
Plus: The San Francisco Public Library will be on hand to dole out library cards, reading lists, and the hottest branch gossip.
Wednesday, 5/18/2016
Doors at 7pm, Show at 8pm
Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell St @Van Ness
$8, all ages
Tickets here
This month we’re dealing in the UNBELIEVABLE: wonderful weirdos of the ocean, nano-building blocks of DNA, and–the farthest of the fetched–affordable housing in San Francisco. So, take a deep breath and a big sip of your drink as our expert presenters, bartenders, deejay, librarians, and the Grilled Cheese Guy help us come to terms with it all. But only if you do this in the first place: Be there and be square!
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“Submarine in the Abyss: Exploring the Ocean from a Tiny Metal Tube” by Erika Bergman
We hope you are wearing clean socks, because you are about to kick off your boat shoes and climb into a deep-sea submersible! Explore an underwater world dominated by giant tube worms, heat-tolerant shrimpies, vast bioluminescent networks, shipwrecks, and…beer bottles? The ocean makes up 90% of the living space on the planet, and we’re not the only weirdos down there.
Erika is a mechanic, tech enthusiast, and explorer for National Geographic. She founded theGEECs.com, whose first program is Girls Underwater Robot Camps, and hopes to hire all the little girls who don’t yet realize they are destined to be engineers and explorers.
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“Tiny Tools: A 40-year Quest to Build with DNA” by Shawn Douglas
Nearly four decades ago, a young scientist named Ned Seeman had a Eureka moment. He realized that DNA molecules might be repurposed as nano-sized “Lego” blocks in order to build tools to solve one of the most fundamental challenges in molecular biology: determining atomic structures of proteins. Ned went on to pioneer an entirely new area of research: DNA nanotechnology. I’ll share an update from the field, including how we may be tantalizingly close to realizing Ned’s vision, albeit with a new spin on his original approach.
Shawn Douglas earned a B.S. in Computer Science at Yale in 2003, and then a Ph.D. in Biophysics at Harvard in 2009, working in the laboratories of William Shih and George Church. He continued at Harvard as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, and recently started his own lab as an Assistant Professor at UCSF. He was named as one of Popular Science magazine’s “Brilliant 10” in 2012, and has presented for Google Solve for X and Bloomberg BusinessWeek Design conferences.
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“Hidden Histories of Affordability in San Francisco” by Michael Epstein
Remember when a housing upgrade was as simple as physically moving your house from one part of San Francisco to another? Or when you could just plop a house on a barge and pay a modest slip fee? Or when foraging tribes would spend their winters in the hills and summers by the Bay creating huge shell mounds from the remainders of seafood feasts? Affordable living has a rich history in San Francisco, and, if you know where to look, some vestiges still remain. This presentation will reveal several hidden landmarks of SF affordable housing and speculate on how they may inform current efforts to keep the city economically diverse.
Michael teaches location-based media courses at the California College of Art and produces apps for urban exploration with Walking Cinema.
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With: Alpha Bravo, who’ll be spinning tunes specially selected to match the presenters’ themes. Follow the setlist on Twitter @djalphabravo.
Food: Delicious hot goop between crispy slices of bread, brought to you by the scientist of the sammie, Grilled Cheese Guy.
Plus: The San Francisco Public Library will be on hand to dole out library cards, reading lists, and the hottest branch gossip.
Wednesday, 4/20/2016
Doors at 7, show at 8
Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell Street @Van Ness
$8, all ages
Tickets here
Toast to the double helix with the most at this month’s Nerd Nite SF! But that’s not all – we’ll learn what baseball analytics has to teach us about data science, and how vaping is changing the tobacco control game. Plus there’ll be science rhymes, bao, librarians, libations, and a whole lotta smart people in the audience. Get your start codon together, because it’s on!
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National DNA Day
DNA Day commemorates the completion of the Human Genome Project and the publication of DNA’s double helix structure in Aprils 2003 and 1953, respectively. We’re doing our part in a very Nerd Nite way with Tom McFadden kicking the night off with a science history rap battle of Rosalind Franklin vs Watson & Crick, and serving up DNAquiries – a strawberry + rum shot where the strawberry DNA precipitates out and forms a nice viscous layer in the drink. Yum!
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Guest MC: Tom McFadden
Tom is the host of “Science with Tom”, and he’ll be your MC for the evening. Tom works with middle school students to research, write, and perform their own science raps, and he has been known to spit hot lyrical fire of his own. Tom started science rapping in 7th grade, then at Stanford, then with kids around the world. He got a Masters in Science Rapping on a Fulbright Scholarship in New Zealand. He’s now teaching 8th-grade science at The Nueva School in Hillsborough.
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“The Science, Joy, and Heartache of Baseball Analytics” by Tracy Altman, PhD.
A beautiful thing about data science is that so-called outsiders can contribute meaningfully. Baseball analytics is a perfect example: An early version of citizen scientists recorded MLB play-by-plays for geeks everywhere – triggering lawsuits and fueling tech companies. Tracy will show how sports analytics parallel most applications of data science. ‘Inside baseball’ is a great place for anyone who wants to understand how data helps people make better decisions.
Tracy Altman, PhD, is the founder of Ugly Research in Oakland. She has wrangled data and created analytical content for decision makers in oil and gas investing, science publishing, pharmaceutical R&D, and baseball statistics.
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“Hot Aerosol: E-Cigs, Tobacco Control, and the Nicotine Endgame” by C.A.B. Fredericks
Cigarettes are SPECTACULARLY bad for you. There are few things you can do to reduce your chances of dying awfully more than quitting. E-cigarettes are Not Cigarettes, and this has generated lots of enthusiasm, confusion, and very decisive statements in the face of vast voids of knowledge. This presentation explores three big debates about e-cigs/vapes: do they help you quit, are they harm reduction, and what does nicotine addiction really mean?
C.A.B. Fredericks is a former smoker who now works for the UCSF Center for Tobacco Control Research and Education. His interests include addiction research, behavioral health in vulnerable populations, and fantasy baseball, which he probably should’ve lectured on instead.
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With: Alpha Bravo, who’ll be spinning tunes specially selected to match the presenters’ themes. Follow the setlist on Twitter @djalphabravo.
Food: Delicious pork belly bao and other bun-goodness from CrossHatch Eatery.
Plus: The San Francisco Public Library will be on hand to dole out library cards, reading lists, and the hottest branch gossip.
Wednesday, 3/16/2016
Doors at 7, show at 8
Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell Street @Van Ness
$8, all ages
Tickets here
Is all the rain making you feel like a prisoner in your own historically notable home? Well, March 16th is the first day of the bacchanalia, so why dontcha make like Bacchus and get all ecstatic and inebriated at our celebration of smarts, obsession, and the surprising complexity of our world. The librarius and grilled-cheeseus cults will initiate you into their ways, wine and music will flow, and a scientist, an attorney, and an architectural historian will spark off the intellectual revelry. Be there and be square!
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“A Walk Through the Stem Cellar: Sampling the Many Different Flavors and Vintages of Stem Cells” by Dr. Julie Mangada
Take a tour of the Stem Cellar with the Buck Institute for Research on Aging as your guide! Stem cell breakthroughs lead to a better understanding of cancer and to the development of therapies for Parkinson’s disease. Julie will take you through an exploration of the different types of stem cells, along with the myths and misconceptions of stem cell research.
Dr. Julie Mangada is the Education Outreach Coordinator for the Buck Institute and a local girl originally from Petaluma. Also roller derby addict, Julie is passionate about bringing research out of the lab and into the communities where she grew up, usually while wearing skates and elbow pads.
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“Tantalizing Stories and Technical Stuff in Architectural History” by Christina Dikas
The Parthenon, the Cliff Palace of Mesa Verde, the Paramount Theatre of Oakland–there’s no question these are important structures, design-wise. But architectural historians aren’t just interested in how they were built, they care about who lived in and used them, too. Find out how architectural history factors into California’s city planning, the basics of evaluating buildings for historic significance, and how fame, murder, and particle accelerators figure into all of this.
Christina is an architectural historian in San Francisco. During her free time, she is a photographer and inadvertent tour guide, spouting historical trivia to anyone who happens to accompany her around the city.
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“Bodies and Bondage: History of California’s Prisons” by Jared Rudolph
California’s prison system started as a privately-run barge anchored in the Bay, and was embroiled in corruption, political scandal, and violence. Since then, our system has grown to incarcerate more people than the population of Berkeley. Prisons represent the power of the state in its most raw and basic form, and 165 years later Californians are still confronting the same fundamental questions: Why do we incarcerate people, what happens when they leave, and can we do better?
Jared Rudolph is a criminal defense attorney and the founder of Prisoner Reentry Network (
prisonerreentrynetwork.org), a non-profit that supports successful transitions from incarceration to the community. If you’re arrested, he suggests you shut up so you don’t talk yourself into prison.
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With: Alpha Bravo, who’ll be spinning tunes specially selected to match the presenters’ themes. Follow the setlist on Twitter @djalphabravo.
Food: Delicious hot goop between crispy slices of bread, brought to you by the scientist of the sammie, Grilled Cheese Guy.
Plus: The San Francisco Public Library will be on hand to dole out library cards, reading lists, and the hottest branch gossip.
SOLD OUT! There is usually some number of no-shows so we will release limited tickets at the door shortly before showtime.
Wednesday, 2/17/2016
Doors at 7 pm, show at 8
Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell Street @Van Ness
$8, all ages
Tickets here
Remember the legendary PSA with the egg and the frying pan? We’ll find out what our brains REALLY look like when they’re on drugs, and we’ll also swim back in time to the saltwater pools of the Sutro Baths and thrill to some Texan bridge demolition porn. This is your brain on Nerd Nite. Any questions? Well, that’s what the Q&A section is for, silly! With grilled cheese, librarians, and the Rickshaw bar staff to help you wet your whistle: Be there and be square!
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“Sutro’s Glass Palace” by John A. Martini
Like a majestic ocean liner or a grand hotel, the Victorian-era Sutro Baths dazzled visitors with over-the-top opulence. Today, only broken concrete ruins remain at Land’s End, but still draw hundreds of visitors daily. Marvel at many never-before-seen photographs of Adolph Sutro’s legendary glass palace.
John is a native San Franciscan and lifelong researcher into the history of California and the American West. He worked as a ranger for more than 25 years at national parks around the country, including the Marin Headlands and the Presidio. Now an independent consultant specializing in historical research, he appears regularly on PBS, History Channel, A&E Network, and National Geographic Channel.
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“Psychedelic Data Science: Mapping the Drug Experience” by Jessica Nielson
Can you imagine what psychedelic experiences look like? Ever wondered if illegal drugs are actually better for you than legal ones? (Some of you may have even performed copious independent studies!) With the increase in data about the harmful effects of prescription drugs and the therapeutic benefits of psychedelics, big-data machine learning technologies are helping us answer those questions. Come trip balls—ahem!—observe a psychedelic data visualization journey through various drug experiences.
Jessica is a UCSF neuroscientist focused on finding better treatments for complex neurological disorders. In her free time, she is an advocate of cognitive liberty and studying the therapeutic potential of psychedelics for mental health.
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“The State of Texas Paid Me to Break a Bridge” by Bryce Neuman
Keen on saving money on inspections, TXDoT funded a research project to determine how “fracture-critical” their 10,000+ highway bridges really were. So a team from UT Austin’s structures lab rebuilt a 120’-long, decommissioned bridge and set out to break it. Yep, they used explosives—but it still took three tries! Come hear about this four-year effort, the engineering basics of the bridge, how they pushed it to its limits, and the results that surprised even the state’s (well, it’s Texas, after all) experts.
Just coming out of his third fractional-life crisis (in the form of a 14-month trip to Asia), Bryce loves planning and building, earth and life sciences, the great outdoors, and plain-old riding his bike.
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With: Alpha Bravo, who’ll be spinning tunes specially selected to match the presenters’ themes. Follow the setlist on Twitter @djalphabravo.
Food: Delicious hot goop between crispy slices of bread, brought to you by the scientist of the sammie, Grilled Cheese Guy.
Plus: The San Francisco Public Library will be on hand to dole out library cards, reading lists, and the hottest branch gossip.
Wednesday, 1/20/16
Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell Street @Van Ness
$8, all ages
Tickets available here
With Auld Lang Syne still reverberating in our ears, the first Nerd Nite SF of 2016 draws nigh. If your New Year’s resolution was to learn new things, meet interesting people, or kill more brain cells with beer then we have the event for you! A scientist will tell you how to replace those brain cells, an insider dishes on D.C., and a third talk to be announced. Plus special guest: The SF Department of Elections! After hearing about behind the scenes of D.C. politics, you’re probably going to want to vote, and these folks will get you registered. Come out for three fascinating talks, plus music, drinks, food, voter registration, and your fellow nerds. Be there and be square!
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“Hype, Hyperbole, and Human Nature: An insider’s tale of working on the front lines of politics” by Jill Stracko
Is working in politics as goosebump-inducing as the West Wing, as dark as House of Cards portrays, or as hormone-laced as Scandal? People come from all kinds of backgrounds to work for elected officials, and their motivations and experiences run the gamut. Come throw back a few and hear about working in the eye of the storm of politics in Washington, D.C.
Jill has worked at Google in Communications since 2011, and before that was in Washington DC where she worked at the White House and in the United States Senate. Jill also owns a (working!) Nintendo 64, loves 80s music, and is a grammar nerd whose love for the Oxford comma will never die.
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“BYOSC: Bring Your Own Stem Cells” by Ramsey Najm
Have you ever wondered how your years of partying and general debauchery have damaged your organs? What if we can do something about all of the damage we have done—and might continue to do—to our brain, liver, and other organs? What if we can extend human life indefinitely? With recent research into stem cell technology and regenerative medicine, we can start asking these kinds of questions. This talk will give you a glimpse into the potential of stem cell based therapies to repair the brain and other tissues damaged by disease, lifestyle, and aging in general—and hopefully by the end you’ll feel slightly more immortal.
Ramsey Najm is a graduate student at the Gladstone Institutes and UCSF. He is studying how to utilize stem cell technology to regenerate cognitive function in Alzheimer’s disease. He suggests that you not waste time trying to save your existing neurons. Just put new ones in.
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“The Fate of the Universe (spoiler: everyone is going to die)” by Jessica Kirkpatrick
Will the universe end in a fiery implosion or expand forever until even the nearest star is too far away for us to see? We’ll learn how cosmologists are determining the fate of the universe using telescope data.
Dr. Jessica Kirkpatrick earned a PhD in Astrophysics from UC Berkeley where she studied some of the most distant and brightest known objects in the universe, quasars, and worked with large and complex data sets. She now works as a Data Scientist for Hired.com. Instead of spending her days finding patterns in the structure of the universe, she spends them finding patterns in the behaviors of people in order to help everyone find the job they love.
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With: Alpha Bravo, who’ll be spinning tunes specially selected to match the presenters’ themes. Follow the setlist on Twitter @djalphabravo.
Food: Cross Hatch Eatery serves up delicious hot bao buns!
Plus: The San Francisco Department of Elections will get get you registered to vote, sign up poll workers, and answer all your queries about voting.