Hello lovely London Nerds. Are you feeling literary? We are!
Nerd Nite London is a monthly event where three speakers give 18-21 minute fun-yet-informative talks across all disciplines, while the audience drinks along. On June 3rd we’re returning to Stoke Newington Literary Festival where we’ll be learning about bugs, fast fashion, and the history of spectacles.
Be there and be square.
Address: The Mildmay Club, 33-34 Newington Green, London, N16 9PR
Details: Saturday June 3rd, 8pm.
Tickets: £7 from https://stokenewingtonlitfest.eventcube.io/events/40323/nerd-nite
Bug talk – Insects communicate just as well as us
Yes we can write poetry, send messages across electromagnetic fields, and build a world wide web.. .. blah blah.. But insects can do most of that and more. They can talk to plants, send chemicals, dance, tap, recognize fellow bugs from 15000 miles away, coordinate a housebuilding exercise the size of England… And more. I’ll talk of some of very many ingenious ways bugs communicate with each other, other species, enemies, plants – often to organise themselves so much better than us …as scientists are beginning to realise.
Vicki Hird, MSC FRES, campaigner, author of “Rebugging the Planet- the remarkable things insects (and other invertebrates do) and why we need to love them more” and Fellow of the Royal Entomological society. She wrote the book to help everyone anywhere do some rebugging – helping the invertebrates back into our lives and to help them help us… She is also Head of Sustainable Farming for the Sustain Alliance, and has over 30 years’ experience working on environment, food and farming issues.
Tweets and insta @vickihird and occasionally blogs at www.rebuggingtheplanet.org
Two Eyes Good, Four Eyes Better
The humble pair of glasses might just be one the world’s greatest inventions, allowing millions to see a world that might otherwise appear a blur. And yet how much do many of us even really think about these things perched on the ends of our noses? Travis offers a peak into their spectacular history.
Described by The Guardian as “one of our finest pop culture historians”, Travis Elborough is an award-winning author whose books include Wish You Were Here: England on Sea, The Long-Player Goodbye, a hymn to vinyl records that inspired the BBC4 documentary When Albums Ruled the World, in which he also appeared, and Altas of Vanishing Places. His latest, Through the Looking Glasses: The Spectacular Life of Spectacles, has just been published in paperback. Saluted as ‘fascinating’ by The Observer, the New Statesman stated that ‘It will make you look at specs with fresh eyes.’ https://traviselborough.co.uk/
Where do all the odd socks go?
Nerds have never been known as dedicated followers of fashion, but even we can’t help but notice the abundance of cheap clothes in today’s world. In this presentation Lauren will explore the world of fast fashion and pre-loved clothing, how many new items we buy, re-sell and donate, and how the humble charity shop plays a vital role in re-homing our cast-offs.
Lauren Bravo is a novelist and freelance journalist who writes about sustainable fashion, popular culture, food, travel and feminism. She is the author of Preloved: a love story about things and two non-fiction books, What Would the Spice Girls Do? (2018) and How To Break Up With Fast Fashion (2020). She lives in East London
More information about Nerd Nite London can be found by following us on Twitter @nerdnitelondon, liking us on Facebook at nerdnitelondon or visiting london.nerdnite.com. See some of our past speakers on our YouTube channel