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!

Date: Wednesday, October 26th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon (map)

Hilary Stohs-Krause will be, appropriately for Halloween, talking about fear! “Let’s dive into why modern humans are generally so terrible at risk assessment. Our world is increasingly complicated, and our fear response has been left behind (it’s like current threats are displayed via hologram, but our brain is trying to play them with a gramophone). We’ll explore threat pathways in our brains, risk amplifiers and the established “types” of fears. Enter the Halloween season ready to face all the goblins, ghouls and men’s rights activists with confidence!”

Lili Luxe will be discussing “Scintillating Stories of Stenography” “Courtroom drama is a popular form of entertainment and dominates headlines around the world every day. This talk will introduce you to the person who is front and center of every proceeding, the stenographer. Learn how that weird little machine works and some history behind this fascinating — and surprisingly lucrative! — profession.”

Our final presentation is by Finn Kuusisto, sharing the lore of the popular first-person shooter video game Hunt: Showdown. “Hunt monsters in the bayous of late 19th century Louisiana for fun and profit. We’ll briefly review the lore of Crytek’s popular horror-themed shooter game that almost never saw the light of day. From the Louisiana event to the emissaries of the Sculptor, we’ll
cover all the basic story you need to know to be a real hunter.”

Date: Wednesday, September 7th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon (map)

Mark your calendars! The Nerd Nite Madison season opener after our summer break is 8:00pm September 7th at the High Noon Saloon. As always, Nerd Nite is free and 18+ admitted. (21+ to drink).

Speakers are Jessica Schmitz, talking about her life raising jumping spiders, and Tyler Wintermute with a tale from Hoosier history and the Indiana Gas Boom! Your host Haley will close out the night with a round up of interesting nerd news that you might have missed this summer, plus some exciting announcements for Nerd Nite you won’t want to miss!

Date: Wednesday, May 25th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon (map)

This event was canceled – see you all after the summer hiatus!

Date: Wednesday, April 27th
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon (map)

The order of the night’s line-up will be announced on the Facebook event the day of the show.

Why we worry about all the wrong things: Modern humans are pretty terrible at risk assessment. Our world is increasingly complicated, and our fear response hasn’t kept up. By exploring what contributes to our sense of risk and how we process fear, we can learn to recognize and retrain our instincts to feel safer, happier and less stressed!

It’s Not Rocket Science: Well it is….but only the fun parts! You’ll never believe these three propellants they tried! 5 ways you can keep your engine from MELTING! The secret to orbital rendezvous that they don’t want you to know! EXPOSED secrets from the Apollo program! Is the flow staged combustion cycle going to be bigger than BITCOIN? Why Elon Musk’s new engine will DESTROY Jeff Bezos! These are the 10 best space acronyms that will make you seem smarter! WATCH NOW the biggest rocket explosions of all time! Maybe a little too much hype but I still think rockets are out of this world.

An Introduction to K-Pop: The small nation of South Korea has been producing waves of insanely catchy pop earworms for three decades. Now everyone and their grandmother has at least heard of the K-pop superstar boy group, BTS. How did K-Pop become such a global music phenomenon? What even is K-Pop? Why are K-Pop fans so obsessive? Who is LOONA? And why do we have no choice but to stan? Fall down the rabbit hole and learn more about the musical universe of Korean pop music.

As always, this High Noon event is free, and we encourage you to wear a mask.

Date: Wednesday, March 23
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon (map)

Get ready for another exciting, nerd-tastic night at the High Noon Saloon! We’d love you to join us as we learn about three new topics– The history of medical forceps, maritime archaeology, and why the rent is so damn high. As always, this event is free, but wear a mask and bring proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test

Date: Wednesday, Feb 16
Time: 8pm
Location: High Noon Saloon (map)

The order of the night’s line-up will be announced on the Facebook event the day of the show.

Pop(ulus)-Culture of Dane County and surrounding areas

There are many seasons and reasons to appreciate the plant genus Populus. Poplars, cottonwoods, and aspens were the first trees to have their genome sequenced, are some of the largest single organisms in the world, and have been used by humans for millennia. However, you don’t need to be a walking encyclopedia of modern Pop-culture to appreciate what are ultimately just a group of honkin’ good trees! The Popurazzi have been at it this past year, snapping photos of ramets, genets, and all-around great trees of the genus you can find in southern Wisconsin. While we’re sure there are plenty of ortets keeping a low-profile, you won’t want to miss this salicaceous tour highlighting the best that Populus has to offer in our area.

Tyler Wintermute

Presenter bio: Tyler is a PhD student in the Department of Botany at UW-Madison, studying the chemical ecology of the genus Populus, a surprise to no one. While using complicated instruments to analyze small metabolites that have broad impacts on ecosystem processes really gets him going, he recognizes a need for digestible, translational ecology and general science communication to larger audiences who might not care how many 1-hydroxy-6-oxocyclohex-2-en-1-carboxylic acid units are attached to a glucose molecule. Plus, his favorite Populus species was extirpated from Wisconsin by the Pabst Brewing Company in 1889, so he’s had to make do with more resilient trees. When not botanizing, Tyler enjoys sports, and has recently started cross-country skiing, a mythical activity in his native Northern Virginia.

What’s So Great About Flying Small Planes?

If you have a friend or acquaintance who is a pilot, you may have heard (many times) about how great flying is, or even been offered a ride in a small plane. If not, you have probably seen or heard planes flying around the local airports – Dane County Regional Airport in Madison or Morey Field in Middleton. In this talk, I’m going to give an overview of what flying general aviation (GA) planes is all about: Why do people love to fly (and love to talk about it)? How does one go about learning to fly? How safe is it to say yes to a ride in a small plane? What are the advantages and disadvantages of flying yourself somewhere vs. buying an airline ticket?

Sam Hurley

Presenter bio: Sam a Scientist in Radiology at the University of Wisconsin, and an MRI Physicist for UW Health. He received a PhD in Medical Physics, also from Wisconsin. In his professional life, he works on methods to make medical imaging using MRI and PET/MR more quantitatively accurate and less sensitive to patient motion. In his free time, he enjoys attending concerts, playing bass guitar, travel, scuba diving, and working on electronics and software projects. Sam has been flying for about three years, holds an FAA private pilot’s license (aka an “airmen’s certificate”), and owns a partnership in a single-engine four-seat Cessna 172.

Spiders and Friends: When it Comes to Legs- Eight is Great!

Explore the world wide web of arachnids! Learn about some fascinating eight-legged animals from all over the world-and your back yard. Be able to answer questions such as: is the Daddy-Long-Legs a spider? Do spiders breathe? Are arachnids hell-bent on forever terrorizing humans, or are they just misunderstood, or both? Hardcore arachnophobes should sit this one out, but if you’re just creeped, experience the benefits of “knowing thy enemy.”

Danielle Ellen

Presenter Bio: A self-proclaimed “Renaissance Person,” Danielle doesn’t just pursue her interests – she chases them and tackles them to the ground! Some of those interests include: music (she fronts two bands), painting and fiber arts, psychology, religion, philosophy, entomology, and memes. She has been a teacher, a clothes-folder, a nursing home activities assistant, a project manager, and for three years ran a wacky-wild-inflatable-arm-flailing-tube-man costume company with two-time Nerd Nite favorite, Bob Baddeley. She currently works as an actuarial analyst and is learning embroidery in her spare time.