Gobble up some knowledge and a side of laughter at Nerd Nite DC’s pre-Thanksgiving feast of facts! We’re serving up lectures on the Vagus Nerve, Frogs, and crafting a space board game that’s the stuffing of dreams!
“The Fantastic and Freaky World of Frogs!” by Angela Trenkle
Talk Description: Join us in a deep dive into the weird, wacky, and wonderful world of frogs!
Bio: Angela is a scientific technical writer and herpetology enthusiast who was born and raised in Maryland. She is a certified Master Herpetologist and is an active volunteer with several environmental organizations that work to preserve the natural world. When she is not working or volunteering, she enjoys reading, writing, traveling, running, weightlifting, and spending as much time outdoors as possible.
“I Made a Space Board Game Instead of Doing my Post-Doc” by Mickey McDonald
Talk Description: We humans have visited a lot of worlds in our Solar System, and not just the 8 (plus Pluto!) you usually learn about in school. To date, the robots we’ve sent out to explore the Solar System have returned high-res, close-up pictures of more than 70 unique worlds including comets, asteroids, moonlets, and dwarf planets. I think this is pretty cool! So I made a board game about it, found a factory to make it for me, wrote a book on astronomy (despite not reallllly being an astronomer), and now I want to tell you how that whole deal went.
Bio: Mickey McDonald got his PhD in physics at Columbia back in 2016 learning how to make molecules wiggle in just the right way when hit with just the right kind of light, but his secret passion has always been learning about the universe. He currently lives in Colorado working for a company trying hard to build quantum computers, and spends his evenings making music and hanging out with his lovely wife and his three almost-as-lovely cats.
“The Polyvagal Theory: The Vagus Nerve And How Everything Around Us Transforms Our Body—Including, But Not Just, Trauma” by Seth Porges
Talk Description: What is the vagus nerve? Could simply feeling safe allow us to live healthy and happy lives? Why do pets make us happy? What does any of this have to do with trauma? Will somebody turn down that loud noise? Why is everything so overwhelming? Why does everything suck? What can I do about it?
Bio: Seth Porges is a journalist, author, and filmmaker. He wrote, produced, and directed the hit movie Class Action Park on (HBO) Max, as well as an upcoming stranger-than-fiction doc coming soon to Netflix. Previously, he was an editor at Popular Mechanics and Maxim magazines, and a columnist for Bloomberg Businessweek. He currently holds the world record for most unique Nerd Nite talks given, and is pretty good at pinball. His book Our Polyvagal World: How Safety and Trauma Change Us is available now.
Date: Saturday, Nov. 18th
Time: Doors at 6, show at 6:30
Where: DC9 Nightclub