Let’s celebrate International Women’s Month with our friends at 500 Women Scientists who will turn Nerd Nite into a Spring Science Salon! Topics will range from Hurricanes to the communication of Climate Change, to spooking Parrots in South America. Part of the proceeds for the night will support Ciencia Puerto Rico in their efforts to transform STEM education in the wake of Hurricanes Irma and Maria. As always, we encourage you to be there and be square on Saturday, March 10, 2018.
Buy your tickets here. And learn more about Ciencia Puerto Rico: https://www.cienciapr.org/
Climate Communications: Stop talking, start listening by Kimberly Duong
All too often, environmental stewardship surrounding climate change calls upon society’s moral obligation to give a damn about polar bears. The rhetoric of sacrifice for the sake of conservation leads to “green fatigue.” I’m here to teach you how to have a productive conversation about climate change with just about anyone. And it starts with listening.
Bio: Kimberly Duong is a PhD student in civil engineering at UC Irvine. She is currently in Washington DC as a science and technology policy fellow at the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. Her nerdy interests include urban drought management, meteorology, climate change communications, and STEM outreach. Fun fact: she doesn’t drink any caffeine or alcohol. Yes, you heard that right.
Scaring birds to save them: Behavior-based management and reintroduction science by Jess Roberts
Did you know that Halloween costumes play a part in endangered species conservation? This talk will focus on the lengths reintroduction scientists go to create natural environments in captivity. These efforts are to ensure the animals released into the wild have the behaviors required for survival.
Bio: Jess is an Environmental Science and Policy PhD student at George Mason University researching the effectiveness of captive breeding and reintroducing threatened avian species back into the wild. Previously she has worked on the Red-browed Amazon Recovery Project with Tampa’s Lowry Park Zoo and the Rare Species Conservatory Foundation. Jess has been pooped on by over 50 endangered species.
Hunting for Exoplanets: Can we find another planet to call home? by Junellie Gonzalez Quiles
Have you ever looked up at the sky at night and wondered about what is out there? Have you ever asked yourself if we are alone in the universe? If you have answered yes to any of these questions, this talk will give an insight about what astronomers have found in the universe! More specifically, I will be talking about the possibility of finding planets similar to ours outside of our Solar System, and how we can possibly even start to understand such planets.
Bio: Junellie is an astronomy and physics undergraduate student at University of Maryland, College Park pursuing research in the field of exoplanets. She aims to fully understand these planets by connecting atmospheric data with our current knowledge of planetary interiors. She has done research at NASA GSFC, Carnegie Institution for Science, Cornell University and Humboldt University of Berlin in Germany, and is currently doing research at Johns Hopkins University. She also enjoys playing the trombone in her university’s marching band, and the trombone was once bigger than she was.
Eight Years of Nerd Nite DC!
Where: DC9 Nightclub at 1940 9th St NW, Washington, DC 20001
When: Saturday, December 2nd – Doors at 6PM, Show Starts at 6:30 PM
Tickets: $10 – Buy them here!
December is the 8th anniversary of Nerd Nite DC. That’s eight awesome years of being there and being square with all of you. Come join us for a special night of great talks, spirits and the sounds of science as we ring in another year of Nerd Nite DC!
Prospects for Life & Habitability Around Nearby Stars: Many Possible Homes for Our Elder(?) Race, But the Neighbors Are Likely Bacteria by Carey M. Lisse
What do we know about the current “big picture” for the formation and evolution of life on Earth, from the standpoint of its astronomical, geological, and chemical requirements? Multi-cellular life on Earth has gone through at least 4 huge upheavals due to giant impacts. Without those upheavals, bug-eyed monsters, trilobites, or giant lizards would be ruling the Earth.
Bio: Carey M. Lisse is Senior Research Scientist in the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University. Prior to assuming his current position he held a variety of posts at APL and NASA. Currently a New Horizons (Pluto!!!) mission science team member, Casey has been focused primarily on comets, asteroids, X-rays from planets, and searches for asteroids and comets around other stars. The asteroid 12226 Caseylisse is named for him.
Dating as a Data Nerd in DC by Tristan Atwood
Dating is complicated and (sometimes) terrible! Tristan has used data and statistics to attempt to understand this, but mostly ended up with this talk.
Bio: Tristan Atwood moved to DC seven years ago from the Pacific Northwest, where he got tired of people not doing things. A compulsive cook, home improver, and Wikipedia spiraler, Tristan spends days with his beautiful wife Jessica, spoiled cat Peek, and dog-adjacent creature Arlo.
Fantastic Beasts and What to Feed Them by Kali Holder and Rachel Pendergrass
Preturnatural pet-keeping! Mythic menagerie management! Xenobiotic zoology! We are here to answer your questions about your dragon’s dietary needs, how to rid your fields of vampires, and the appropriate age to spay your tribble. Brought to you by the real science and drunken bar rants of wild nerds.
Kali Holder is a Veterinary pathologist, making her a master in the fine art of Poking Dead Things with Sticks. Trained in dragon dissection, zombie prevention, and Nazi punching. Handy to have on your apocalypse survival team. Makes a mean bread pudding. Rachel Pendergrass is a writer, humorist, and science communicator. She also hosts/produces the nationally touring Solve for X Science Variety show. Her writing can be seen on McSweeneys, HowStuffWorks, Eater, Martha Stewart Living. She is a three-city Nerd Niter and also hosts the quarterly writing show Scribe Night at the Pinch in Columbia Heights and the annual Science Town Hall. She has touched many sharks and been incredibly drunk with many esteemed scientists.
Music by Sarah Stardust
Sarah Stardust is a comical music project dedicated to spreading enthusiasm for science. Favorable mentions can be found by ‘I F*cking Love Space’ and scientist-turned-comedian Tim Lee. Reviews of Stardust’s tracks can also be found on podcasts ‘Too Many People’ and D.C.’s very own ‘Hometown Sounds’. In 2016 WAMU listed Stardust’s video ‘Water Bears’ in their top 10 picks out from 5K district-wide submissions to the NPR Tiny Desk Music Contest. The Sarah Stardust EP is available now on your favorite download or streaming platform.
Nerd Nite DC is partnering with the DC Podfest to bring you the best of nerdy audio entertainment, including two live shows and a brain-warping exploration of foreign accents. It’s Nerd Nite LIVE, a very special audio-visual podcast-tastic experience, with special host Ben Taylor, formerly Nerd Nite’s Madison, Wisconsin boss and now one of our rocking DC guest hosts!
Where: DC9 Nightclub at 1940 9th St NW, Washington, DC 20001
When: Saturday, November 11th – Doors at 6PM, Show Starts at 6:30 PM
Tickets: $10 – Buy them here!
America is adapting: Stories from the front lines of climate change by Doug Parsons
America Adapts – The Climate Change Podcast will host a panel to discuss what adaptation means for society and some useful examples of what’s happening today, including how our very own home town is adapting to climate change!
Doug Parsons has been working on climate adaptation for many years, starting in Queensland, Australia. Later, he worked at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, where he developed a first-of-its-kind climate change course that’s used by California and federal agencies. He carried on his adaptation work at the National Park Service and the Society for Conservation Biology and nowadays, he’s running his podcast as a fully fledged non-profit, reporting on climate adaptation in Africa and the United States and hosting interesting – and provocative – conversations around our future climate.
Don’t trust your brain: why foreign accents are all in your head by Mari Sakai
We all have the same lips, tongue, throat, and larynx…so why is it really difficult to hear and pronounce some sounds in a foreign language? Our brains are masters at statistically tracking every linguistic sound we hear, but usually only for our own native language. When we try to add a new or foreign sound in, ours brain may or may not open the door. Instead, they dump acoustic information that seems unimportant, and – here’s the cool part! – our brains will warp what we hear. This talk will focus on how the brain really rules what we hear and how we pronounce it. And we’ll get some tips on how we can train ourselves to learn difficult foreign language sounds.
Mari Sakai has a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Georgetown University and is currently a Fellow at Georgetown Law, working with international lawyers on their English pronunciation and oral communication skills. Mari loves watching standup, sewing, her fifteen houseplants, and hiking.
How to be a space advocate: the Ad Astra Guide to Aiming for the Stars by Jack Kiraly and Newton Campbell
Space…it’s awesome. But getting there can be a hell of a job, both for NASA and the private companies that run launches. There are plenty of people who want us to go back to the Moon and Mars and beyond. The Ad Astra podcast team will talk to us about what space advocates are up to and what they think the future holds in store for space exploration.
Jack Kiraly is a Michigander, living and working in the nation’s capital. He has a Master’s in Space Policy, and currently works in and around advocacy for science and space policy issues. Alongside hosting the Ad Astra podcast, Jack is an aspiring amateur musician and has recorded a number of to-be-released songs.
