Nerd Nite Philly

Posts Tagged ‘ANSP’

Nerd Nite No. 39: Taphophobia! Drunk Science! Entomogaphy!

Hey-Yo Nerds!

Ready for Nerd Nite Number 39 on Wednesday, July 9? Here’s what’s in store:

“The Dead Alive: The Victorian Fear of Premature Burial” by Megan Rosenbloom

Librarian Megan Rosenbloom, director of Death Salon, takes you on an exploration of the Victorian obsession with premature burial based on books from the era, and how those hilariously lurid books inspired the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Megan will delve into some of the purported tales of live burial, the entrepreneurs who made safety coffins, the societies formed to protect against this primal fear, and how this fear trickles down into our modern culture.

Bio: Megan Rosenbloom is a medical librarian at the University of Southern California, where she manages the medical rare book collection. Megan is the director of Death Salon, an event that brings together intellectuals, artists, and death professionals to share their work in the culture of mortality and mourning. Death Salon New York will be held at Morbid Anatomy Museum in October 2015. Megan is currently traveling and doing research for her first book in medical library special collections.

“Alcohol Induced Science” by Cole Smith

Alcoholic beverages aren’t only good for drinking, in fact they’ve lead to some interesting science. I’ll be discussing three discoveries during this talk: the use of beer foam to model atomic motion, making diamonds out of tequila, and which wine makes the best superconductor. I’m hoping this talk will not only entertain but inform people on the benefits of these experiments, and maybe make some home-brewed atomic modelers in the crowd. Please clean up your beer if you decide to do so.

Bio: Cole received his B.S. at Boise State University in Materials Science and moved to Philadelphia to work on my Ph.D. in the same field at Drexel. He’s planning on graduating in January. His recent work focuses on the creation of new materials by stacking atoms one layer at a time. He also gets to characterize these new materials using a decent arsenal of equipment. Before his work on new materials, he was studying corrosion of aerospace alloys and had the opportunity to work on the F-22 project.

“Eat Bugs, What?” By Isa Betancourt

A year ago the United Nations stated that we ought to be munching and crunching on more 6 legged critters. Say what? For many people, the FDA limit of 4 insect larvae per 1lb of frozen berries adds more than enough bugs to their diet. We’ll explore why we should increase the number of bugs in our diet. Let’s flip that around… Why aren’t we eating bugs? About 2 billion people on the planet eat bugs normally and our primate relatives chow down bugs. So what happened to us?

Bio: Isa Betancourt has been a Curatorial Assistant of Entomology at the Academy of Natural Sciences since receiving her Entomology degree from Cornell University. When she is not in the depths of the Academy’s collection, caring and organizing the 4 million dead insect specimens, you can find her wading around in Swann Fountain collecting insects with her fish net.

Plus! Local singer-songwriter Kerry Justine will provide the musical interludes.

Wednesday, July 9
Show starts at 7:30pm
**Seats are first come first serve. Standing room available after the tables fill up!**
Frankford Hall, 1210 Frankford Avenue
$5 cover gets you admission and happy hour specials all evening

Be there and be square!

Posted in Uncategorized |

Tags: ANSP, beer, bugs, burial, entomagophy, fears, weird science |

Comments Closed

Nerd Nite No. 38: Grey Matter– Plastinated Brains, Morton’s Skulls, and Cerebral Supervillans

Greetings Nerds!

Are you ready for an extra-brainy Nerd Nite? Join us on Wednesday, June 11 for our next edition of Nerd Nite, featuring talks on that very special super computer we all have inside our heads. This special Nerd Nite in collaboration with the Franklin Institute’s Science After Hours program features a little something for everyone: software to visualize the brain, skull collecting, and a review of brainy characters in popular culture. Want more? We’ll have local video game developers Cipher Prime on hand for some brain games for your entertainment.

Check back soon for more details, but in the meantime…

The line up:

Brandon Zimmerman: Confessions of a 19th- Century Skull Collector

When it comes to collecting skulls, no one did it better than Philadelphia’s own, Dr. Samuel George Morton. Aided by a fiercely loyal and tireless network of skull collectors, Morton amassed the world’s largest collection of skulls and redefined Philadelphia’s relationship with the dead. Featuring stories about some of Morton’s most famous skulls and infamous skull collectors – from medical dissections to bloodthirsty pirates, from raided Egyptian tombs to Philadelphia’s own serial killers – it’s bound to be the best 20 minutes of entertainment involving a disembodied head since Pee-Wee’s Playhouse. Say it with me… Meka Leka Hi Meka Hiney Ho!!

Bio: Brandon Zimmerman is an award-winning illustrator, museum exhibition designer, historian, and photographer. He has worked as a consultant for a national forensic firm, a vaccine manufacturer, and several local museums. He also has an unhealthy fascination with tapeworms and an even unhealthier love of Chinese buffets and bad 80s comedies. Over the past 5 years, most of his time has been spent researching shrunken heads, books bound in human skin, and the history of the Samuel George Morton Cranial Collection, so yeah… pity his social life. You can contact him and see more of his work at www.brandozim.com

Jayatri Das: Your Brain Creates Your World

What is reality? Your brain creates a reality for you that’s different from anyone else’s, and scientists are still trying to figure out how your brain does it. Test your brain in a series of minds-on activities that investigate memory, attention, and language to discover how you perceive a unique world around you. What questions emerge from these “brain tricks” that will shape the future of brain science?

Bio: Jayatri Das is Chief Bioscientist at The Franklin Institute and a Fellow of the Center for Neuroscience & Society at the University of Pennsylvania. She has developed the science content for Your Brain, an exhibition about neuroscience and psychology of the human brain scheduled to open on June 14. When she’s not engaged in science outreach, she enjoys her ongoing at-home experiment with early childhood development, also known as her three-year-old twins.

Ben Leach: Brains Not Guaranteed: The Stupid Schemes of Supposedly Super Smart Supervillains

If you are a fictional character with an enlarged or exposed brain, chances are you’re going to eventually become a supervillain. Often, these clever creeps brag about how intelligent they are and how they are the masterminds behind the perfect plans to stop our favorite heroes and heroines. Thankfully, decades of pop culture have preserved many moments in which we’re able to catch these smart scoundrels with their pants down. From B-movie brain monsters to cartoon and comic supervillains, we’ll be highlighting some especially stupid moments involving fictional characters who should be in MENSA.

Bio: Ben Leach is a New Jersey-based science and medical writer. However, he is also a collector of the eclectic and unusual, especially if it’s something that relates to his childhood from the 1980s and 1990s. He has been a published author on collectibles since he was 19, with work appearing in Lee’s Toy Review, Toyfare, and about.com. Currently, he operates a website dedicated to antiques and collectibles with his family called The Collector Gene (www.collectorgene.com)

Plus: Interactive games from innovative local developer Cipher Prime will be available to try out between speakers!

The particulars:

Wednesday, June 11

Doors open at 4pm. Show starts at 7:30pm

$5 cover gets you happy hour specials all night plus admission to this fantastic night

Frankford Hall, 1210 Frankford Ave.

Philadelphia, PA 19125

Posted in Uncategorized |

Tags: ANSP, brains, skulls, supervillans |

Comments Closed

Nerd Nite 37: Presidential Hair, Bears on Flags, Spider-Man Weirdness

Yo nerds!

Wednesday, May 14th is our next Nerd Nite, and this time around we’ve got what is probably the most diverse lineup we have ever had. See for yourself!:

Jennifer Vess, “Presidential Hair: Collect Them All!”

The Academy of Natural Sciences has a unique collection in the archives that includes locks of hair from the first twelve Presidents of the United States. Why? For centuries locks of hair played a role in remembrance and mourning, and eventually science. The talk will (hopefully) take everyone beyond the ‘ew’ factor felt by most people today concerning human hair no longer attached to a human head and get into the weird and wonderful world of souvenirs, Victorian memorials and microscopes.

Bio: Jennifer Vess is the Brooke Dolan Archivist at the Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University. She has spent the last ten years in the world of museums moving from museum education to collections care and exhibition development.

Simon Joseph, “Bear Flags and Bad Puns”

From the man who brought you the the History of and behind the Flag(s) of Germany comes a new ill-advised venture into the world of Vexillology. In this talk, Simon Joseph will travel the world looking at interesting flags that you probably have never heard of. Well… at least travel Europe and North America. And maybe some boring flags. And maybe some that you have heard of. At the very least, there’ll be bears involved… somehow.

Bio: Simon M. “the Cannibal” Joseph has never invaded a country for profit or personal gain, and definitely did not start the Russo-Japanese War. A merry-maker and gregarious fellow, he’s wasted many bar napkins explaining what mixed-member proportional representation is, showing how to draw the flag of the UK, and creating terrible coats of arms (with blazon!) for unsuspecting victims.

Chris Cummins, “The Secret World of Spider-Man”

Spider-Man, Spider-Man, does whatever a spider can…which apparently sometimes involves using a giant robot to fight monsters and utilizing his super powers to help a Yeti who loves to steal ice cream return home. Confused? You aren’t the only one! In this speech, Chris Cummins will talk about some of Spider-Man’s weirdest adventures in comic books and on television. He will also take a look at some of the strangest Spidey merchandise you’ve never seen before.

Bio: Chris Cummins is a writer and comic book historian whose work regularly appears on Den of Geek US, Geekadelphia, and Topless Robot. He’s also the creator of the websites Hibernation Sickness and What’s Dave Kendall Wearing? and the host of the upcoming Sci-Fi Explosion event at PhilaMOCA. Most importantly, he’s also one of the Nerd Nite Philly co-bosses. Whee!

Plus music by Sidewalk Atlas!

Wednesday, May 14.

Doors open at 4pm. Show starts at 7:30pm. $5.

Frankford Hall

1210 Frankford Ave.

Philadelphia, PA 19125

215-634-3338

Posted in Uncategorized |

Tags: ANSP, comic books, geekadelphia, history, weird science |

3 Comments »