Date: Wednesday, December 6th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon
Get your final Nerd Nite fix before the year ends!
First speaker is Ben O’Connell, with “The Map to Your Heart: How Wisconsin was Gerrymandered”. In the 2022 elections, Wisconsin’s Democratic Governor Tony Evers won with 51% of the vote, while at the same time Republicans held a 2/3 majority in the State Senate and nearly a 2/3 majority in the State Assembly. The reason? Wisconsin is one of the most gerrymandered states in the United States. In this presentation you’ll hear how Wisconsin was gerrymandered, how it relates to the movie Flubber, and some extraordinarily silly theories on what happened in closed door meetings on redistricting.
Next, we have Shea Topel, to teach us about animals! Drinking! Shea will be citing evidence and cases of how animals seek out and consume alcoholic substances for various reasons. Some examples include monkeys forming social circles of different kinds of drinkers, Russian bears huffing jet fuel and the amazing alcohol tolerance of the tiny pen-tailed tree shrew.
Lastly, we have NERD NITE AFTER DARK. This one will be a wild ride! ARJ will be discussing comparative phallology, or….animal genitals.
Join us for the least stressful holiday season event you’ll attend! Kick back, relax, and be nerdy with us!
Date: Wednesday, November 8th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon
First is Celeste Huff with All the Single Ladies: Let’s Celebrate Solitary Bees! “Solitary bees… these little ladies are everywhere. With over 20,000 species of bees worldwide, most of them (over 90%) actually fly solo. Celeste Huff, a graduate student in the UW Madison Department of Entomology, will be talking about the fascinating lives of solitary bees and ways you can help them thrive!”
Second is Bartje Wakker presenting Tantalizing Trees: Convergent Evolution, Naming, and Taxonomy in Trees! “What we call certain trees can be misleading – especially within the name ‘Cedar’. In reality, many trees that you might think are closely related, or even call the same name – are quite distant, and more closely related to other familiar plants including common vegetables or ornamental flowers. In this talk I – Bartje Wakker – will be trying to put how well known plants are (or aren’t) related to each other by covering some examples of this phenomenon, as well as what ‘convergent evolution’ is and why it leads to all of this – as well as a couple… personal gripes… on the naming of certain types of conifer trees.”
Last but not least, we welcome Ashleigh Gradel to the stage for A Qualitative Analysis of the Taco Bell Menu. “Do you like Taco Bell but struggle to figure out which form factor of beef, cheese, tortilla, and lettuce is the best for a given scenario? This presentation is for you: my name is Ashleigh Gradel, and I have three goals: (1) to provide a comprehensive, analytical, and fair review of the Taco Bell menu, (2) to abolish the Mexican Pizza, and (3) to get you ready for your next Taco Bell encounter. I’ve used my own expertise (and several expensable meals on work trips) to develop the Live:Más ratio to evaluate, definitively, the best (and worst!) of Taco Bell.”
Date: Wednesday, October 4th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon
First up, we have Leslie Schroeder and Karen Kendrick-Hands tag teaming to teach us about textiles! “The current plastic-based textile industry harms our health and our climate. Growing the ancient fiber plant, flax for linen in the Midwest is a solution. Learn about our plan to support farmers in profitably growing flax, a low-input, soil-friendly crop!”
Next is FORMER NERD NITE CO-HOST EXTRAORDINAIRE Julie Collins with cat genetics! “Let’s genotype my cats! As a proud cat mom of 4 with some knowledge of genetics, I assumed that figuring out the inheritance patterns of my bebe’s markings would be pretty easy. I thought wrong. Come for the cute cat pics, stay for the bonkers biology.”
Last but not least, we have researcher/comedian Sasha Rosser to teach us about brains and music: “The left-brain vs. right-brain debate comes to a head when it comes to music processing. After hundreds of millions of years of evolution, humans have developed unique dispositions with regards to the informational and emotional content of music — in turn influencing culture, religion, language acquisition, and more.”
Date: Wednesday, September 13th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon
Join us for an extra exciting Nerd Nite this month! We are THRILLED to invite some new speakers to the High Noon stage!
First, get ready to leap from the top rope with Jason Werner and women’s wrestling! “From the circus to Wrestlemania, we will explore women’s origins in professional wrestling, how they got started, and their struggle to be accepted at the same levels as their male counterparts.”
Next we have Nick Hein to tell us about a strange and awesome form of transportation: the velomobile! “Private autos are the world’s single largest source of air pollution, mainly because they are inappropriate for the short, single-occupant trips where we use them most. What if I told you that there’s a vehicle that could eliminate most of those trips that is healthy and fun, affordable to buy and maintain, and available. It’s called a velomobile, and you’ll learn more about them in this talk.”
Last we have WORLD RECORD HOLDER Gabriella Gerhardt to talk about her passion: hunting for 4 leaf clovers! “4 leaf clovers are a mutation of the white clover plant, generally considered to be lucky charms. Gabriella has 145,000 4+ leaf clovers and 5 related world records. She will share her love for these mutants and give some tips on how you can find your own.”
Date: Wednesday, August 9th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon
Nerd Nite is back for the fall season, but with a twist! We are collaborating with the Natural Resources Foundation’s Wayfarers Group to do a conservation themed night! The same shenanigans you’ve come to love at Nerd Nite, but this time we’re sharing the love!
Lisa Kitchel will be presenting “The Weird and Wonderful World of Our Native Mussels”. Our native mussels have a surprisingly complex life history for animals that pretend they are rocks on the riverbed. We will discuss why a mussel would want to have a fish on its posterior and other such oddities!
Ben Lam brings us “The Whooping Crane Story: The Power of Hard Work, Costumes, and Dance!” Whooping cranes are one of North America’s most endangered bird species with only about 830 remaining. We’ll take a look at the history of this species and some of the techniques used in bringing whooping cranes back from the brink of extinction.
Finally, Micah Kloppenberg will share “Dung Beetles: The Coffee Snobs of the Coprophagous World?” While pollinators get the press for filling our grocery aisles, dung beetles help break it down on (from?) the other end. We’ll find our what drives a dung beetle’s dietary attraction!
Date: Wednesday, May 31st
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon
Join us for another magical, nerdy evening! We have three excellent talks planned:
Lexy Spry with “Flax to the Future: Everything I know about Linen”
Alex Demers discussing the social perception of gender through vocal presentation (how are we biased around voices, and how to change your own!)
Emilee Martell will finish out the evening with prescribed fires! Is it good to set prairies on fire, and how do you do it?
(Note: this is a “rain date” for the cancelled February nite!)
Date: Wednesday, February 22nd
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon (map)
Stay safe and warm! Look for future information regarding Lexy, Alex, and Emilee’s presentations!
Date: Wednesday, January 18th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon (map)
Have you ever wondered what a cat is hearing, seeing, smelling, or feeling? Local veterinary professional Elycia Degenhardt will help you get a cat’s view of the world with her talk on Cat Senses. Learn about the meowvelous abilities and unique purrception of our feline friends while looking at a lot of cute cat pictures on a big screen.
Want the perfect gift for the cat in your life? The music Elycia discussed is available here.
Up next: Learn the salty facts!
All the salt applied to roads and sidewalks ends up in our lakes, streams, and drinking water. How salty is our water, what impacts does salt have, and what’s being done to protect freshwater resources.
Check out Wisconsin Salt Wise to stay in touch with what Allison is working on!
Date: Wednesday, December 14th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon (map)
Join us for the last Nerd Nite of 2022!
Our first speaker is experienced Nerd Niter Bob Baddeley: “Bob Baddeley will expose the mind-boggling world of “Intermodal Transport and Supply Chain Logistics.” As we all have consumerism heavily on our minds this season, we’ll take a look at all the things that have to happen to get your presents to you. We’ll blow your mind with a glimpse of the hundreds of steps it takes to get a simple product from raw materials to underneath your tree, and how everyone can coordinate across borders and trust each other to move billions of dollars worth of stuff around the globe every day.”
Next up is Nicholas Rogall with “Cult of the Classics: The Greco-Roman Mysteries”. He describes it thusly: “That’s right, the Greeks have been drinking the Koolaid since ancient times! Greco-Roman mystery cults were a personalized and secretive way to worship the gods & goddesses we know and love. We’ll dive into members-only revelries, raw meat feasts, and the mythical equivalent of Civil War reenactments.”
Finishing the evening is Emmy Hill. Emmy says: “I will briefly describe the geological and biological/paleontological history of the earth from the Big Bang to the present. We’ll discuss global climate change, dinosaurs, all the really weird animals we have had over the years, and all the weird rocks we have as a result.”
Date: Wednesday, November 30th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon (map)
We will start with Gigi Melone and a group of “Insect Ambassadors” from UW-Madison’s Entomology department. It’s about time we gave bugs some love!
Shawn Steffan and Jacki Whisenant are our two Insect Ambassadors. Shawn will be discussing the power of insect-microbe symbioses through deep evolutionary time, using bees, leaf-cutter ants, and bark beetles as examples! Jacki Whisenant will be taking us behind the scenes at the UW Zoology Museum and their flesh-eating beetle colony!
Next up is Whitney Thompson, giving a talk about the “Taylor Swift” of the 1800s: Under the nom de plume of Claribel, Charlotte Alington Barnard (1830-1869) published over 100 songs between 1859 and 1869, mostly in the sentimental- or drawing-room-ballad genre. Despite the domesticity suggested by the genre’s name, her songs were so popular that they escaped the drawing room and became staples not just of amateur music societies, but also of large public concerts. However, with her success came a fierce backlash from the trade press. Publications like The Orchestra and The Athenaeum decried the profusion of “Claribel-ware,” occasionally outright calling the music “trash” and particularly protesting the nascent royalty system in which Claribel took part. Her career may have only lasted a decade, but Claribel was nonetheless at the forefront of some massive changes in both the business and culture of music, and it’s that impact that I’ll attempt to sketch out here.
Last up is Kevin Bachhuber, who has a different angle on insect appreciation: food! He founded the US’s first FDA inspected human food grade insect farm, and continues to work in the industry today.
Check out our facebook page for more information referenced in tonight’s Nerd Nite including Kevin’s favorite cricket recipe and Whitney’s Claribel research site!