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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Anxiety disorders are among the most common mental health diagnosis in the United States. This talk will outline how anxiety is manifested in our bodies, common medications used to treat disorders, and therapeutic techniques used to manage (or alleviate) symptoms.

About Elizabeth Block: Elizabeth is a third year psychiatry resident at the University of Michigan, set to begin a fellowship in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in July. In addition to anxiety disorders, her professional interests include psychotic disorders and increasing mental health awareness.

We encounter measurements every day, from the moment our alarm clock wakes us up and we adjust the water temperature for our shower, get dressed in clothes that fit, take doses of medicine, cook our meals & coffee, drive to work, buy gas & groceries, turn on a light switch, pay our bills, use gas/electricity, watch TV, build anything, pay for anything. How do we know these measurements are correct? What happens when these measurements happen in another country? How do we know the measurements “translate” from country to country & language to language? International System of Units and metrological traceability are the backbone of measurements. What does that mean? What are examples of non-traceable measurements? What happens when measurements go wrong? Proper measurements bring confidence & peace-of-mind to our lives. Understanding what measurements are help to ensure better measurements happen and life goes more smoothly.

About Heather Wade: UM grad and Calibration Officer at NSF International, headquartered here in Ann Arbor, Heather is an ASQ-Certified Calibration Technician (www.asq.org). She is a co-author of The Metrology Handbook, 2nd Edition, edited by Jay Bucher and has been published in Cal Lab Magazine: The International Journal of Metrology. She just completed her terms as Chair of ASQ’s Measurement Quality Division and also as Chair of ASQ’s Certification Board subcommittee for the ASQ-CCT. She has presented and published at national and international conferences. She also does outreach as a Metrology Ambassador. She has worked as a microbiologist, extraction and analytical chemist, and as a physical test engineer prior to embarking on her career in metrology and calibration.

Planting a rain garden is a fun way for people to make a difference in the quality of the water in our rivers, lakes, and streams, starting in our own backyards. You don’t need any special equipment – just some space, a spade, compost, and a few plants. This talk covers the benefits of Rain Gardens and how to build and plant one.

Susan Bryan is the Rain Garden Coordinator for the Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner’s Office, working with plants and people to protect the water quality in the Huron River. She has designed many residential gardens, rain gardens, and bio-infiltration areas. She is a past president of Wild Ones, has a master’s degree in landscape architecture from the University of Michigan, and is an Advanced Master Gardener in Washtenaw County.

Roger Moon is a Master Rain Gardener, trained in the Washtenaw County program, and a Traverwood neighborhood resident with four rain gardens on his property. He has given numerous talks on rain gardens, media appearances, and designed six rain gardens himself. Roger has adopted rain gardens in Huron Hills and Gallup parks, and takes care of them throughout the year. Roger received the Washtenaw County Rain Garden Leadership Award in Education in 2015.

Both common wisdom and findings from multiple areas of research suggest that it is helpful to understand and make meaning out of negative experiences. However, people’s attempts to do so often backfire, leading them to ruminate and feel worse. In this talk, Ethan Kross attempts to shed light on these seemingly contradictory sets of findings by examining the role that self-distancing plays in facilitating adaptive self-reflection. After briefly describing the “self-reflection paradox” and defining self-distancing, he presents evidence from multiple levels of analysis that illustrate how this process facilitates adaptive self-reflection, and discuss the basic science and practical implications of this research.

Ethan Kross, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Psychology Department at the U-M and the Director of the U-M Emotion and Self-Control Laboratory. He is also a Faculty Associate at the U-M’s Research Center for Group Dynamics, Center for Cultural Neuroscience, and Depression Research Center. The goal of his research is to shed light on the psychological and physiological processes that allow people to control emotions that undermine their goals and compromise their health. He uses a variety of tools (e.g., behavioral, diary, physiological, neuroscience-fMRI methods) to address this issue and focuses on both normal-healthy and clinical populations. Ethan received his B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.A. and Ph.D. from Columbia University. This program was co-sponsored by the U-M Department of Psychology.

Basically as soon as agriculture began, humans started messing with plants, controlling their sex lives in order to transform the weeds around them into the grains and vegetables we depend on today. And while the crazy origin stories of things like corn and broccoli are in the distant past, I still use the exact same traditional methods to indulge my inner mad scientist and create new varieties of plants in my garden. The results are fun (and sometimes delicious) and will make you see the produce section of the grocery store in an entirely new way.

About Joseph Tychonievich: A life long gardener and lover of plants, Joseph has been a repeated guest on public radio’s food show The Splendid Table, wrote a book, Plant Breeding for the Home Gardener (Timber Press, 2013), spent two years working at the famed rare plants nursery Arrowhead Alpines and was named by Organic Gardening Magazine as one of “…six young horticulturists who are helping to shape how America gardens.” Joseph lives and gardens with his husband and an adorable black cat in Ypsilanti. You can find him on Twitter at @gsgardens, read his blog posts at gardenprofessors.com or http://www.facebook.com/TheGardenProfessors/