annarbor.nerdnite.comNerd Nite Ann Arbor

Nerd Nite Ann Arbor Be There and Be Square about speak @ NNA2! NNA2 videos connect Nerd Nite Global Cities Videos Sponsorships Nerd Nite Ann Arbor about speak @ NNA2! NNA2 videos connect Nerd Nite Global Cities Videos Sponsorships Nerd Nite A2 #88: DNA in Pop Culture, Saving Snow Leopards, and Mind Control It’s time to celebrate the start of spring the way any good nerd does: by gathering at a nightclub, grabbing a drink, and listening to the always educational, always entertaining lectures on tap! You know, that CLASSIC spring tradition? (Okay, we’re making that tradition up, but give us another couple years and it will be a nationwide phenomena.) Let’s all make this a thing by meeting at LIVE (102 S. First Street) on Thursday, April 11 . Doors open at 6:30 pm, talks start at 7 pm and as always, there’s no cover charge! Nathalie Catchings will kick things off with Science fact or science fiction? talking about DNA in pop culture and whether we should trust what TV and movies tell us about science (spoiler alert: kinda but not really). Following in the footsteps of many NNA2 presenters, Nathalie has been doing science her whole career. She is an expert at taking DNA out of things (the weirder, the better) and pulling out useful information from it: from crime scenes, to wooly mammoths, to COVID samples (in the very early days of the pandemic). Recently relocated from California to Michigan, she is currently taking a well-earned break from work, while her family settles in. Next up is a trip to Nepal with Paul Buzzard to answer the question Can We Save the Snow Leopards?: How Climate Change, Construction, and Covid are threatening these great cats . Snow leopards are iconic species of the Himalayas and other Asian highlands, but they are facing increasing threats to their conservation. Paul will look at some of these threats specifically focusing on the Gaurishankar Conservation Area in Nepal Paul got his PhD from Columbia University studying the behavioral ecology of monkeys in West Africa. His snow leopard work began with the China Exploration and Research Society, continued as Director of Conservation with the Detroit Zoo, and continues as a regenerative farmer at Detroit Flight Path Farm and as a Conservation Technician with the Washtenaw County Conservation District. Katie Furman will close out the night with Mouse Mind Control: How Neuroscientists Use Lasers to Activate Brain Cells, and Solve Science Mysteries. What if she told us that she could flip a switch and change how we feel? That it could make us hungry, thirsty, or even sexually aroused? Well she can’t. But in neuroscience labs across the globe, researchers have developed a technique which allows them to do just that in their laboratory animals. Katie will tell you all about how this works and why it’s a pivotal tool in understanding how the brain works. Katie is a PhD student in Neuroscience at the University of Michigan where she uses optogenetics and mouse behavior techniques to study the neural circuits involved in food-consumption decisions. In her free time, you can find her picking up an impossible amount of sci-fi/fantasy books from the library, or going on long walks with her chihuahua, Edison. And if you know of any job opportunities in science communication… you should totally hit her up. Nerd Nite A2 #87: Lasers, Light, and Llamas! Oh, hey there Nerds, fancy meeting you here! We really had a great time last month when we met up at LIVE. Do you think you might want to do it again? How about Thursday, March 14 back at LIVE (102. S. First St)? Oh good, it’s a date! See you there! Doors open at 6:30 pm, talks start at 7 pm and as always, there’s no cover charge! We’ll kick things off with Mike Gould and go Through Time and Space with Illuminatus Lasers ! Mike will explore the last decade of laser shows in Ann Arbor at FoolMOON. Get an up-close look at these interactive laser displays be they against the wall of science or various buildings downtown. You *might* even have the chance to play with a laser or two in the breaks throughout the evening’s Nerd Nite! A victim of his own artistic tendencies, Mike is a Michigan-based laser, graphics, video, and electronics artist. Mike has been gleefully working with lasers, wacky electro-optic gizmos, assorted digital arts, and odd industrial design since 1972. He is still trying to get it right. You can find him at https://illuminatuslasers.com/ Keeping it on the light side (get it? GET IT?), we have Saaj Chattopadhyay with How I ask molecules what their political leanings are (with the help of gold echo chambers ). Do molecules have political tendencies? Okay, no, they don’t, but just like people’s politics, molecules handedness” leans to either the right or the left. When they interact with twisted light near gold nanoparticles, their leaning” is amplified and scientists like Saaj are studying individual molecules to understand their leaning to make bio-sensors! Saaj is a graduate student at the University of Michigan who is fascinated by how much we can understand about the world by looking at how light interacts with it. She spends a lot of time in a dark room hoping that the small gold particles she is looking at will do something cool and interesting. We hope you’ve still got small things on the brain because it’s time for Nerd Nite on Nanobodies: Llamas + Science + Tech! Oh My! What are these tiny little proteins called nanobodies and what do llamas have to do with it? Mary Skinner from the Taubman Nanobody Initiative at the University of Michigan will be discussing this promising new field of research and the potential it brings for new tools in therapeutics and research. Mary is the Research Lead at the Taubman Nanobody Initiative and has been working in the molecular biology field for 15 years, managing laboratories at the University of Michigan since 2012. She was the first ever winner of the Best Lab Manager Award throughout North America and Europe in 2016. Nerd Nite A2 #86: Safety, Solar Eclipses, and Super-Thin Material! February blues got you down? Well, your pal Nerd Nite A2 is here and ready to pump you back up! Come out out on THURSDAY, February 8 at LIVE at 102. S. First St!! Doors open at 6:30 pm, talks start at 7 pm and as always, there’s no cover charge! Don’t learn safety by accident: Safety from a Safety Manager’s Perspective ! What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, except for workplace accidents which can leave you with a lifelong disability. Join Samuel Friedman for a short and quick overview about safety and what you can do to be more aware! Samuel is a two time graduate of the University of Michigan and currently works as the Safety and Occupational Health Manager at the Department of Veterans Affairs in Ann Arbor. His hobbies include ceasing to exist when you’re not paying attention. Total Eclipse: Is it really that big of a deal? We all get it right? The Moon is going to move in front of the Sun and block the light for a few minutes, and everyone makes a big fuss about it. This talk by Buddy Stark will try to convince you that it’s worth driving two hours and spending a day of your life to go see it happen. Buddy manages the planetarium at the University of Michigan’s Museum of Natural History. He has been working in the planetarium field educating school groups and the public about astronomy since 2008. He holds a master’s degree in science education and is working on his Ph.D. at Western Michigan University. Two-dimensional Materials, or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Do Physics Like A Third Grader . In the last 20 years, 2D materials – the thinnest substances in the world – have gone from a niche theory to a full, vibrant field in physics, chemistry, and materials science. Joseph Essman is going to dive into the shockingly simple way they were discovered and the dizzying array of new experiments and technologies they make possible. Joseph is a PhD Candidate in Applied Physics at...