Nerd Nite #38 - Bonkers Borders: Crazy Ex(clav)es, Drunken Surveyors, and Uzbeki Seas

Borders are all around us, literally! These days, too many people struggle to place Poland on a map and even have trouble identifying West Virginia. If we paid more attention to our geopolitical frontiers, we’d find not only fascinating shapes but also rich histories behind them! Was moonshine consumption involved in delineating the Carolinas? Could poker have been a driving factor in demarcating India? Is there still unclaimed land out in the world? Let’s explore these and other intriguing cases of bonkers borders!

About Alex: Alex is a Michigan alum from New York and Bulgaria who loves the borders of all three. He looks to be a neuroscientist by day and a geography hobbyist by night, a sort of “Doctor With Borders”.

Nerd Nite #38 - S3 Safe Sex Store Trivia and Talk

Pop quiz, hot shot! Bring your sexual health A game and we’ll see what you really know about sex. Be the first to answer correctly and win a sexy prize.

About Beth: Beth is the founder of S3 Safe Sex Store and has a Master’s of Public Health specializing in sexual health awareness and prevention of STDs and unintended pregnancies. She has been educating about and promoting sexual health to normalize sex for over 20 years.

Nerd Nite #37 - The Use of Leitmotif in Wagner’s Ring Cycle: A Boring Musicology Talk

The original “never-ending story,” (okay, so it’s actually 15 hours) Wagner’s epic opera cycle Der Ring des Niebelungen is widely regarded as the best way to thoroughly convince people that they hate opera. But it need not be so! As we cruise through a “brief” synopsis of the plot, we will explore how Wagner’s use of musical motifs neatly ties the storyline together, and how this compositional style has influenced the development of film scores.

About Carl: Carl had many, varied interests throughout the years, and he still sometimes wonders what he wants to do when (if) he grows up. He studied trumpet performance in college at Indiana University and the Royal Academy of Music in London, and performed with the Civic Orchestra of Chicago upon graduation. Currently, as a completely logical next step, he is an MD/PhD student at the University of Michigan Medical School, where he studies how chromatin dynamics influence the development and progression of prostate cancer.

Nerd Nite #35 - Un-sticking your Brain: OCD and its Treatment

Obsessions are “sticky” thoughts, images or impulses that occur over and over again and feel uncontrollable. Compulsions are repetitive behaviors or rituals that someone uses to get rid of the obsessions. Together they make up obsessive compulsive disorder, or OCD. Hear about OCD and exposure and response prevention (ERP), an evidence-based treatment for the mental health disorder that affects approximately 3.3 million people in the United States.

About Sara: Sara is a clinical social worker in the department of outpatient psychiatry at the University of Michigan Health System. She has a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Michigan State University (Go Green! Sorry, Ann Arbor) and a Master’s in Social Work from the University of Michigan. She completed her internship and fellowship at the University of Michigan Child and Adolescent Outpatient Psychiatry clinic, where she is now a staff social worker. She provides psychotherapy for children of all ages and their families. Besides OCD, her clinical interests include anxiety disorders, autism spectrum disorder, depression, and trauma/grief. She was born and raised in Southeast Michigan and lives with her partner, Alex. Together they have two beautiful (furry) “children” — Phoebe the dog and Bu the cat, whom she talks about constantly.

Nerd Nite #35 - Improv is Life: History & Facts About Improv Beyond “Whose Line is it Anyway?”

We use improv our entire lives, even we don’t realize it. One could say that humans started doing improv when we started using the spoken language. But how did improv as art form get started? And what does it look like now? Most importantly–how and why should YOU try it? Patti Smith will talk about the history of the art form, examples of improv, and local opportunities to try it yourself.

About Patti: Patti Smith is a special education teacher and writer who lives in Ann Arbor with her husband and cats. Patti is the author of two books about history in Ann Arbor, the most recent of which is The History of Ann Arbor’s People’s Food Co-op. She loves storytelling, most forms of public speaking, especially improv! She believes that improv is for everyone!

Nerd Nite #34 - The Science of Beer

Beer has been there from the beginning of the scientific revolution. From providing sanitary nourishment to the development of modern medicine and pasteurization, beer has been an integral influence on the development of science. Join Certified Cicerone® Ryan Engemann and explore this fascinating topic–over a pint, of course.

About Ryan: A nerd by nature, Ryan started working in the craft beer industry in Northern Michigan in 2011. He became the first Certified Cicerone in Northern Michigan and now can be found selling beers and talking science at Brewery Vivant in Grand Rapids. Check out what the brewery is up to on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter @breweryvivant.

Nerd Nite #34 - The Body’s Electricity: From Cockroaches to You!

Have you ever had the desire to lose your free will? Or, alternatively, have you ever had the desire to take someone’s free will? This talk will discuss how Backyard Brains uses DIY-style neuroscience to bring to you direct control, via your muscle electricity, over cockroaches, machines, and even other humans!

About Dylan: Dylan Miller came to Backyard Brains as an undergraduate in neuroscience. He has since graduated from Michigan State University, and now works at BYB as a research scientist and on marketing. He initially joined in order to apply the RoboRoach setup to controlling scorpions, and moved on to manage several other undergraduate DIY-neuroscience projects. He also studies the behavior of scorpions in a separate research lab at MSU. Follow him on Twitter @BraconidaeBaron.

Nerd Nite #34 - Predator vs. Prey: A Micro Tail

Bacteria are feared by humans for their ability to cause diseases that can’t always be treated with antibiotics. But do bacteria have a predator of their own? Come learn about the virus that uses its “tail” to prey on bacteria, turning them into zombies. Predator versus prey may be a familiar story, but hear it with some new “micro” characters.

About Ada: Ada Hagan is a doctoral student at the University of Michigan in the department of Microbiology and Immunology. She does recon on the sneaky ways bacteria find nutrients (like iron!) when they are invading our bodies. Ada is a co-founder of the graduate student science communication blog MiSciWriters. Originally hailing from the mountains of East Tennessee, Ada spends her spare time writing, walking her dogs, cooking, and comparing strollers. Follow her on Twitter @adahagan.

Nerd Nite #33 - 50 Shades of Sweet: How Sugar Dominates the Brain

We like to think we can resist life’s temptations, but ever tried saying no to a cookie? It whispers to you, it calls to you. Sugar is a powerful force: it hijacks your brain and wins nearly all the time … I’ll talk about how this happens and also how, even if your mouth is fooled by fake sugar, your brain is not.

About Monica Dus: I got my first microscope at age 7 and had an idyllic childhood in Italy pulling hair off Barbies and legs off bugs and looking at them under the microscope. What really drew me to science, however, was the pervasive beauty of the natural world. I still remember my first encounters with molecular biology: I was awed by its beauty and complexity. Nearly twenty years later, I still haven’t found something that is man-made and more beautiful than the natural world, not even a Dolce&Gabbana dress. I am currently a professor at University of Michigan where I head a research lab and teach genetics and neuroscience. My favorite things in life are dogs, desserts, philosophy and post-modern literature, pastel colors, unicorns, and of course, teaching.

Find her on Twitter as @Hardkandy000

Nerd Nite #33 - Journey to the Center of the Earth

From the guy who brought you acoustic waves in the air and ocean a few Nerd Nites ago comes another talk about the inner layers of the Earth. Many of us learned in high school (or earlier!) that the Earth is composed of a crust, mantle, outer core and inner core. But how do we know that? The easy answer is “well, smart scientists said so”. But assuming you consider that an unsatisfactory explanation, Brian will talk about some feats of science and engineering used in the last hundred years or so to explore what lies beneath our feet.

About Brian: A graduate student at the University of Michigan in the Applied Physics Department, Brian spends his not-free time researching acoustics and talking about science with whoever wants to listen. And he spends his free time nerding out pretty hard about physics, math and engineering, and binge-watching House of Cards Season 4. Brian is a 2015 RELATE alum, and also one of the newest members of the RELATE coordinator team.