Itching to get out of the house? Feeling a little moonstruck? Ever wished our lecture-in-a-bar catchphrase were “the History Channel with beer” instead? Well, you’re in luck, ’cause we have a NNSF grab-bag to fit almost any predilection, with a biologist’s personal account of ectoparasite hell, a history buff’s tales of SF’s WWII weirdness, and an ensemble performance-presentation on Schoenberg’s moon-crazed mime. Be there and be square!
Wednesday, 9/19
Doors at 7 pm, show at 8
Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell St @Van Ness
$8, advance tix here
All ages
FB event
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“The Year of the Mite: A Scientific Detective Story” by Jane Ishka
Jane Ishka’s family decided to keep a couple of cute, fuzzy baby chicks in the family room for a few weeks, until they were big enough to live in the backyard coop with the laying hens. Baby chicks are so adorable when they scratch their ectoparasites! But it turns out a chicken can host up to 10,000 D. gallinae, translucent mites, each the size of the point of a pin. They bite people, crawl in and out of human pores, carry some really nasty diseases, and reproduce so quickly they have out-evolved most pesticides. Jane the biologist was their favorite host. They were not so popular with her. How did she get rid of them…or did she? Join us for a talk that will make your skin crawl.
Jane Ishka has been a technical writer for various Bay Area biotech companies for the past 20 years (except for a couple years in the early aughts when she taught middle school science, worked twice as hard, and made half the money). She holds an MBA from a somewhat prominent Eastern school, and an MS in molecular biology from a nondescript Western school. She no longer has any pets.
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“Prowling Subs and Panic Attacks: Ten Bizarre Stories From World War II San Francisco” by Carl Nicolari
Ever wonder if your granddad’s zany war stories might actually be true? One thing is for sure: World War II-era San Francisco was ground zero for many a bizarre episode that you were never taught in history class. Tonight, we declassify the files of wartime weirdness and reveal ten true stories of riots and racism, POWs and panic attacks, and the real reason the United Nations was founded here. You don’t have to be a military history geek to enjoy this presentation!
Carl Nicolari is a San Francisco native who began exploring and mapping old military fortifications in the Presidio and Marin while still in elementary school. This led to an equally nerdy career in IT project management and a couple of related teaching and book projects.
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“Pierrot Lunaire, Cabaret for a Crazed Clown: A Performance-Presentation on Arnold Schoenberg’s Expressionist Chamber Music Masterpiece” by Nonsemble 6
Nonsemble 6 gives a performance-presentation of Arnold Schoenberg’s epic masterpiece Pierrot Lunaire. Scored for voice, piano, violin, cello, flute, and clarinet, this melodrama is about Pierrot, the original melancholy, moon-drunk clown and mime from Italy’s commedia dell’arte. The music ranges in fits of hyperactive expressionism–Schoenberg’s “atonal” music was and still is reviled by many. But in the hands of the competent, this music sings with delicious romanticism, dances the waltzes of Vienna, and claws at the psyche with frightful hallucinations. This presentation will outline the history of the commedia dell’arte, the wildness of Pierrot Lunaire’s poetry, Schoenberg’s use of instruments and voice in his musical storytelling, and the cabaret style of pantomime and costume–and is a special preview for an October 4th performance at the SF Conservatory of Music. (For more information and for tickets, click here.)
Nonsemble 6 is a San Francisco-based sextet committed to pushing the boundaries of the traditional concert experience and engaging audiences with multi-genre collaborations. Their current season focuses on Pierrot Lunaire and on expanding monodrama repertoire, with upcoming commissions by composers including Luciano Chessa, Danny Clay, and Adrian Knight. Nonsemble 6 is a fiscally sponsored affiliate of the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music, a nonprofit dedicated to the service of chamber music in California.
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DJ Alpha Bravo mans the decks, spinning vinyl and tweeting along to the presentations’ themes. Find out what you’re listening to by following @djalphabravo.
This month we traverse the depths of the ocean; journey to supernovae far, far away; and land back down in the gadgets and games that fascinate us in the here and now–all in a nite’s work at NNSF headquarters! So grab a friend and a drink and settle in for talks on diversity under the sea, the wild success of a global video game jam, and how heavy metals from long-dead stars help power the computers in your pockets. Be there and be square!
Wednesday, 8/15
Doors at 7pm, show at 8
Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell St @Van Ness
$8
All ages
NEW-ish! Buy your tickets in advance here!
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“Smells Like Fish Species: Evolution in the Marine Realm” by Moises Bernal
Sure, there’s plenty of fish in the sea–but did you ever wonder how they got there? Join us for some coral reef-er madness as we examine how these cute, cuddly, coldblooded vertebrates–from the slippery dick to the not-so-hilarious clownfish–diversify. What processes make for such a staggeringly sundry array of fishies (with an emphasis on reef-dwellers) and how do scientists tackle these piscine questions? Dive in with us!
Moises Bernal is a PhD candidate at the University of Texas at Austin and conducting research at the California Academy of Sciences. He is a great cook, decent salsa dancer, mediocre bass player–and hates long walks on the beach.
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“Molyjam: How a Twitter Joke Can Save Video Games” by Anna Kipnis
Famed game designer Peter Molyneux is as well known for his games as for his fantastically ambitious ideas that rarely see the light of code. A fake Twitter account, @PeterMolydeux, has been lovingly parodying him by tweeting ludicrous game ideas. But some Bay Area fans decided these ridiculous concepts were too excellent NOT to turn into actual games, and planned a fun get-together for local game developers to do just that. This local game jam quickly exploded into an international event, with at least 1,000 people participating in over 30 cities worldwide. We’ll see how Molyjam came to be–and go viral–and how the bizarre new games it birthed may help reinvigorate an industry.
Anna Kipnis is a senior gameplay programmer at Double Fine Productions; has been lucky enough to have worked on Psychonauts, Brütal Legend, Costume Quest, Once Upon a Monster, and The Cave; and is currently working on the successful Kickstarter project, Double Fine Adventure. It is her ardent belief that video games have a lot more potential than what we’ve seen up until now, if only more people would get involved in game development.
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“Stellar Evolution and Your iPhone” by Daniel Kocevski
Dude, did you know that without heavy metal, we wouldn’t have, like, iPhones and stuff? Dude!! Rock on!! Wait, ohhhh, not THAT heavy metal? Bummer. [Ahem.] Ever wonder how what we now use to build hardware–like silicon, gold, and lead–were created and deposited here on Earth? In this head-banging talk, we’ll explore the physics of stellar nucleosynthesis, and how stellar evolution creates heavier elements through the fusion of lighter elements in the fiery cores of stars. We’ll also look at how the death of these stars, in the form of supernovae explosions, create the heavy metals that we have become increasingly dependent on in our tech-driven world.
Daniel Kocevski is an astrophysicist at Stanford studying supernovae and other cosmic explosions with NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope. Like most nerds at Nerd Nite, he has become utterly dependent on the tech gadgetry that relies on the elements created in the cosmic explosions he studies.
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Alpha Bravo will be on hand, as per usual, spinning real-live records and live-tweeting his trademark sets of musique chosen to complement the themes of this evening’s particular nerdery.
Photo of Dumetella carolinensis courtesy Justin Benttinen
We live in a fascinating world, and sometimes you just need to sit back for a second and admire it. Even better, do it with a beer in hand at the monthly lecture-in-a-bar series, Nerd Nite SF! This month, bask in the inventions, the nitrogen, and the opportunities for DIY science that surround us every day.
Wednesday, 7/18
Doors at 7pm, show at 8
Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell St @ Van Ness
$8
All ages
NEW! Buy your ticket in advance!
Purchase Tickets
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“The pleasure pit, ancient iPods, and other San Francisco inventions” by Robin Marks
San Francisco was a hotbed of innovation way before Sili Valley put us on the patent map. What else would you expect from a city built on impossible hills and dreams of gold dust? Some SF tinkerers put their can-do spirit into practical inventions, but thankfully plenty of other idea-generators sought to improve life’s more entertaining pursuits. Enjoy an Invented-in-SF cocktail and let these surprising stories of innovation inspire your own DIY greatness!
Robin Marks is a recovering-biochemist-turned-science-writer and owner of Discovery Street Tours, a walking tour company offering science-themed strolls of San Francisco.
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“Et tu, N2?” by Nick Bouskill
Our lives are completely at the mercy of an unseen, silent majority of microorganisms that wield the Mighty Power of Nitrogen! In this talk we’ll explore how they capture nitrogen from the atmosphere and use it up or share it with other living organisms before returning it to the atmosphere in the same form, ready to be used again. We’ll also look at how mankind’s use of nitrogen has saved billions of lives, contributed to chemical warfare, fueled the Nazis, poisoned rivers and coastlines and may even be destroying the planet.
Nick Bouskill is a research scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Typical for a scientist, he only has two topics of dinner table conversation: nitrogen and rugby. He doesn’t get invited to dinner parties very often.
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“Birds, Wasps, and How to Get Published in a Peer Reviewed Journal Without Really Trying” by Justin Benttinen
Sometimes a lazy summer day by the pool can turn into a…peer reviewed journal article? This talk tells the story of how a hookah and a couple of casual observations of the birds and the bees went from summer idyll to “Avian kleptoparasitism of the digger wasp Sphex pensylvanicus”. It turns out that there really are things left in this world to discover as long as you take the time to look.
Justin Benttinen is a photographer, dreamer, nerd, and badass dancer now located in Oakland, CA. This paper helped inspire him to pursue photography, and his portfolio can be seen at www.justinbenttinen.com. (Ed: The catbird photo on this month’s poster is courtesy Justin. Thank you!)
Cap off the longest day of the year with a night’s worth of bacchic nerdery! Our speakers will set their laser pointers on “stun” as they teach us about disaster-proof megalopolises, the urban planning of video games, and the real science of Futurama. Be there and be square!
Wednesday, 6/20
Doors at 7:30, show at 8
Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell St @ Van Ness
$8
All ages
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“How to Build a Death-Proof City” by Annalee Newitz
More than half of humanity lives in cities, and that number is only going to grow over the next century. In a sense, the future of our species is tied to the future of urban life. But historically, cities have been deadly hives of disease and famine — not to mention death-traps in natural disasters. How can we change our cities to protect them from destruction? Using science, of course! In this talk, learn how surveillance, simulated earthquakes, and synthetic biology will keep the Grim Reaper at bay in tomorrow’s megalopolis!
Annalee Newitz is a journalist, author, and editor-in-chief of io9.com. She has a book coming out from Doubleday next year, tentatively titled “Scatter, Adapt and Remember: How Humans Will Survive the Next Mass Extinction”.
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“An Open World: Playing in the Intersection of Video Games and Urban Design” by Lou Huang
Grand Theft Auto: Car chases, prostitution, shootings… and urban design? Yes! Artists have always been fascinated with recreating the city, but the advent of video games has allowed people to create virtual environments experienced in much the same way as real life: through your own eyes, as you walk through a space. Some game designers strive to model real-world spaces in excruciating detail (L.A. Noire), others pay homage to them in facsimile (GTA), while still others invent entirely new cities. Yet they all share a goal with modern urban designers: improving the pedestrian experience. After everything video games have done to mimic the real world, what can the real world learn from video games?
Lou Huang is a 21st-century digital boy and urban designer. He knows way too much about video games. You can follow his work at louhuang.com and other shenanigans with the art collective Human Fiction at humanfiction.com.
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“Science in Futurama” by Kishore Hari
Good news, everyone! We’re going to explore some of the real science in Futurama, including splanchnic ganglion, bonitis, alcohol-fueled robots, and my personal favorite: hardcore MATH. Come enjoy 6 great seasons, 2 cancellations, and a forgettable 7th season’s worth of legitimate science–and with none of that razzle-dazzle hippie Globetrotter science. Your primitive 21st-century brains will be overflowing with grey goo in the first 5 minutes. Oh my, yes.
Kishore Hari is the Director of the Bay Area Science Festival, led by UCSF. In a former life, he was an environmental chemist, but currently spends a majority of his time researching the combined impact of late-night cartoons and beer on the human brain and his marriage.
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Music by the esteemed DJ Alpha Bravo, curated especially for our speakers’ topics!
Happy birthday to us! Nerd Nite SF turns two! Two awesome years of not-quite-sober education (inebrication? drunkademics?) and meeting great people. The tradition continues with talks on exploiting cuteness for fun and profit, why the English language is so fucked up, and how atomic magnetometry is the coolest form of measurement. Be there and be square!
Wednesday, 5/16
Doors at 7:30, show at 8
Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell Street @Van Ness
$8
All ages
Facebook Event Page
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“Kawaii: The Art of the Super-Cute” by Megan Carlsen
Behold the power of pandas, penguins, and Pikachu! Kawaii is the Japanese word for the quality of cuteness. Cute things stimulate the same area of the brain as arousal, a good meal, or cocaine does. We connect and respond to cute-cues in a visceral way, strongly influenced by our culture, and this behavior affects our actions and, consequently, marketing, medical research, and evolution. We’ll explore what creates cuteness, including the “so ugly it’s cute” phenomena. Corgis, otters, and flying rainbow ponies will abound!
Megan Carlsen makes art so cute it hurts your face for TinyCo. You can check out examples of Megan’s work at www.meganillustration.com, or play Tiny Pets and Tiny Zoo, available free in the App Store! * plug plug *
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“Ghoti Spells ‘Fish’ (and Other Vagaries of the English Language)” by Logan Hesse
Why are “beard,” “read,” and “heard,” pronounced differently? Why do sympathy and empathy have nothing to do with places to walk? Exactly how much of this can be blamed on the Dutch? What’s so great about the Great Vowel Shift? Samuel Johnson or Noah Webster? So many questions! These mysteries and more will be explained as a jaded ESL teacher shares stuff he had to learn the hard way: by telling his students to memorize it.
Logan Hesse is an American who studied English in Australia, a fact that makes Brits cry. He has spent the last 8 years in the trenches of the English Language classroom teaching at vocational colleges in Thailand, universities in Australia, and private language colleges in San Francisco. When not teaching his students the correct pronunciation of “fer sheezy” he also has been known to write stuff down.
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“A Boy and His Atoms: A Tale of Rubidium, Magnetic Fields, Lasers, Helicopters, and a Giant Corpse Flower” by Brian “Ishy” Patton
Much as atomic clocks measure time to mind-boggling precision, atomic magnetometers can measure magnetic fields better than just about anything. This isn’t just a useless stunt; precision magnetic measurements can help map the interior of the planet, determine what you’re thinking, detect land mines, and maybe even spy on plant sex. This talk will address the basics of atomic magnetometry through a combination of anecdotes and demonstrations (with a conspicuous amount of hand-waving thrown in).
Ishy, a.k.a. Brian Patton, is a postdoctoral researcher in the Physics Dept. at UC Berkeley. His research interests include nuclear magnetic resonance, hyperpolarization of stuff, hot-vapor atomic physics, and anything involving the word “spin.” He spends his free time watching videos of people throwing alkali metals in water.
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All this and DJ Alpha Bravo spinning tunes specially selected for our speakers’ topics!
Another month, and another awesome lineup at your favorite lecture-in-a-bar series! Get ready to eat bugs, to be seduced by Mary Jane, and learn what your period might have to do with hooking up. Be there and be square!
Wednesday, 4/18
Doors at 7:30, show at 8
Rickshaw Stop, 155 Fell Street @Van Ness
$8
All ages
FB Event Page
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“Edible Insects: Finger-lickin’ Grub” with KQED’s QUEST, Don Bugito, and Girl Meets Bug
A plate of roasted crickets, pan-fried bee larvae or caramelized mealworms would be a tough swallow for most, but not for a few Bay Area residents who are encouraging people to open their minds and mouths to edible insects. Explore why they think edible insects are a smarter alternative to more traditional kinds of meat with KQED’s QUEST Science Series Producers, Amy Miller and Sheraz Sadiq who hatched the idea to report on the topic. They’ll be joined by two people featured in QUEST’s edible insects report premiering at 7:30pm on Wednesday, April 25 on KQED 9 Public Television: Monica Martinez (of Don Bugito, the nation’s first edible insect food cart) and Daniella Martin (AKA “Girl Meets Bug”, an edible insect enthusiast). Plus, if your stomach is up for it, select members of the audience will have a chance to try edible insects!
Amy Miller is the TV Series Producer of QUEST and has had the opportunity to produce stories on a great range of science and environment topics including NASA’s hunt for killer asteroids, the alarming increase in premature births in the U.S. and the causes of sewage spills in San Francisco Bay.
Sheraz Sadiq has been at KQED since 2000, when he was hired to work on “No Turning Back”, a National Emmy Award-winning documentary about political asylum. In addition to producing TV segments for QUEST on topics ranging from synthetic biology to astronomy, Sheraz has also reported on breaking science stories for KQED News.
Monica Martinez is a San Francisco artist and chef with an unusual culinary specialty: edible insects. She launched Don Bugito, the nation’s first edible insect food cart, at the 2011 San Francisco Street Food Festival, and recently joined the food truck extravaganza “Off the Grid”.
Daniella Martin is the host of Girl Meets Bug, the insect cooking/travel show. She also blogs about bugs for the Huffington Post (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/daniella-martin). You can watch her cooking demos on her YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/user/GirlMeetsBug).
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“What the Girls Want: Thoughts on Desire and the Cultivation of Cannabis” by Heather Donahue
In this talk, we’ll be exploring the light illicit botany has to shed on female sexuality. Humans and Cannabis have been co-evolving for thousands of years. This relationship has been fueled by desire and has been powerful enough that marijuana plants have adapted to thrive in places far from their origins. The cannabis plants commonly used for medicine and recreation are typically female. Heather Donahue, a former medical marijuana grower and permanent human lady, has some unexpected insights to share from the synthesis of these two experiences.
Heather Donahue started life telling stories and hasn’t stopped. A brief foray into acting brought the freakish experience of partaking in The Blair Witch Project. Other roles were played in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Seven and a Match, New Suit, Without a Trace, Steven Spielberg’s Taken, and of course there was that alien impregnation in the Outer Limits. Her memoir Growgirl was recently published by Gotham/Penguin. She has written for The Huffington Post, Los Angeles Magazine, and was the winner of the one and only Bust/Good Vibrations erotica contest. There is more at www.heatherdonahue.com
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“The Calculus of Attraction: the Female Cycle and Human Evolution” by Jason Whitaker
Why is the peacock’s tail so extravagant? Why are men’s voices deeper than women’s? Why do only male stag beetle possess a horn? These questions can’t be answered by Natural Selection — differential survival; but instead, many traits’ origins are best explained by Sexual Selection — differential reproductive success. And humans are not exempt from this process. This talk will survey some instances of Sexual Selection in human evolution, how these hypotheses are inferred from behavioral data, and -oddly enough- how the female cycle figures into all of it.
Jason is currently earning his BS in Psyc-Neuroscience, with minors in Biology and Biological Anthropology from the University of California, San Diego. He is excited about giving this talk, as it provides him with a larger than normal audience to whom he can somewhat drunkenly ramble at on the finer points of niche evolutionary biology.
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Music by the always awesome DJ Alpha Bravo, who plays tunes specially themed around the presenters’ topics! I’m very curious what he’ll come up with for this month.