Nerd Nite #65 - A Tale of Two Lakes: Eutrophy in Western Lake Erie and Oligotrophy in Lake Michigan

In Western Lake Erie, massive mats of blue-green algae blossom every summer, stirring up memories of the 2014 Toledo Water Crisis with every reappearance. Meanwhile, in Lake Michigan, there are nearly as many invasive mussels in the lake as there are gallons of water. Each mussel is the size of a thumbnail and, under the right conditions, their combined force can filter the entire volume of water in Lake Michigan in less than a week. The resulting crystal clear waters are great for beachgoers but extremely problematic for the lake ecosystem.

Nerd Nite 1/17 MRI Magic

NNA2 #61 dives into MRIs and what we can and cannot learn about the brain with neuroscience researcher Sam Carpenter, exploring how protons are structured, inside and out, with physics grad student Nicole Lewis, and talking about why we play - or don’t play - video games with Mark Kazmierski.

Sam Carpenter – MRI: Magic Really-cool Images

Nerd Nite 1/17 Proton Power

NNA2 #61 dives into MRIs and what we can and cannot learn about the brain with neuroscience researcher Sam Carpenter, exploring how protons are structured, inside and out, with physics grad student Nicole Lewis, and talking about why we play - or don’t play - video games with Mark Kazmierski.

Nicole Lewis – Unpacking the Proton

Nerd Nite #58 - The Search for Drugs Within: A Multi-Scale Journey from Organs to Organelles

Did you know that many FDA-approved drugs accumulate inside organs and tissues of our bodies, sometimes so much so that they actually form crystals inside cells? Have you ever wondered where drugs go when we consume them? This talk explores routes of administration, the fate of drugs inside our bodies (the ways they distribute throughout different organs and cell organelles), and the use of laser-scanning microscopy for the measurement of drug accumulation inside immune cells.

Nerd Nite #57 - Stand Back, We’re All Going To Do Science!

Learn about the many ways you can join people across the world in addressing some of the biggest social and scientific challenges in the world today through community and citizen science apps, websites, hikes, photos, and more!

About Justin: 

Justin Schell directs the Shapiro Design Lab at the University of Michigan Library, where he facilitates, among other things, a variety of citizen and community science projects. In addition to this work, he has a background as a documentary filmmaker, community archivist, and reformed trombonist.