Nerd Nite London

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.

Address: the Backyard Comedy Club, 231 Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 0EL

Details: Tuesday October 17th.

Tickets: Early nerd tickets £6, general admission £7.50. Tickets available here

Doors open 6.30pm, event starts 7.30pm

This month we’ll be learning why we forget, the story behind the ampersand (&)and all about the bad ass feminists of nature. Be there and be square.

#1 Why am I always forgetting where my keys are? How memory in the brain works

Are you typically forgetting where you put your keys? Which events do you remember well? What you had for lunch yesterday? The clothes you were wearing at your wedding? What you did three weeks ago? Clearly some memories stay and some don’t. Why? Let’s see what happens in your brain while you are memorizing…

Dr Claudia Clopath is a Lecturer  in the Bioengineering Department at Imperial College London. Her passion is to understand how the brain works. She loves computers, maths, and models. This is her second nerd nite talk.

#2 &?

Pedants argue over when it should and shouldn’t be used. Typographers wallow around for hours finding exactly the one they’re after. But how have ampersands evolved? What are the strangest ones? Lydia has been on a voyage of nerdery to find out.

On the unreliable evidence of an ad for paintbrushes, Lydia Thornley has been making images since she was in a high chair. Now a communication designer, Lydia’s decider for taking on projects is, “Is it interesting?”.

#3 Bad Ass Feminists* of Nature

Which creatures have the most bad ass females? Find out about sexual dimorphism in a variety of creatures and learn about the lizards that don’t even need a male.

Catherine Webb is writer, teacher, podcast maker and science enthusiast. She is currently studying for a science communication master’s degree at Imperial College London. She is also (of course!) a strident feminist.

All proceeds from Nerd Nite London go to charity. This year we are partnering with the Shine Trust to help foster a new generation of nerds. More information about Nerd Nite London can be found by following us on Twitter @nerdnitelondon, liking us on Facebook www.facebook.com/NerdNiteLondon or visiting www.london.nerdnite.com. For more information about the Shine Trust visit www.shinetrust.org.uk

*we can’t with 100% certainty claim that these animals understand the concepts of feminism, but you never know.

 

 

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.

Where: the Backyard Comedy Club, 231 Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 0EL

When: Tuesday September 19th.

Tickets: Early nerd tickets £6, general admission £7.50. Tickets will go on sale at the beginning of September.  Available here

Doors open 6.30pm, event starts 7.30pm

This month we’ll be launching at a new venue with one of our favourite speakers (Pete Brown) with one of our favourite topics (beer).  We’ll also be welcoming two new nerds to the stage talking about human history, DNA, and using stats to save lives.  Join us, be there and be square.

Miracle Brew: The Nature and Science of Beer

We’ve been brewing and drinking beer for thousands of years, without understanding how or why the brewing process works. In the Middle Ages, yeast was called ‘godisgoode’ because no one had any idea what fermentation was. From the birth of brewing (and civilization) in the Middle East, through an exploration of water’s unmurky depths and the surreal madness of drink-sodden hop-blessings in the Czech Republic, this talk will explain some of the nature and science of beer.

Pete Brown is a beer and ale lover and nerd nite favourite. He writes for newspapers and magazines around the world and is a regular contributor to BBC Radio 4’s Food Programme. He was named British Beer Writer of the Year in 2009, 2012 and 2016, and Fortnum & Mason Drink Book Winner in 2017.

Inferring Human History using DNA

We’ve all wondered at some point who are we, where did we come from and how did we get here? Whilst these questions have traditionally been addressed through oral traditions, written records, history and archaeology, DNA also contains a record of our past interactions and events. Using a method that compares the DNA of different people to make ancestry inference, this presentation will show how genetics can be used to uncover the stories of not only people alive today but also those who died thousands of years ago.

Lucy van Dorp is a population geneticist working at University College London Genetics Institute. She’s fascinated by what DNA can tell us about our own evolution and loves getting to tell people all about the science she does

.

Probably certain decision-making

Life is all about decisions- what to study, who to marry, what colour socks to wear- but how can we possibly make the ‘best’ decision? If we’re lucky we may even have some information, but it’s usually impossible take account of everything. In the context of health care, where scarce resources and people’s lives are at stake, the pressure to make the right decision is cranked up to 11. This talk will delve in to current decision-analytics to try and find the answers to a few life and death questions.

Nathan Green is a statistician and mathematical modeller. He has modelled mathematically and statistic’ed things like hospital-acquired infections, TB, chlamydia and pandemic flu. He works at Imperial College London

All proceeds from Nerd Nite London go to charity. This year we are partnering with the Shine Trust to help foster a new generation of nerds. More information about Nerd Nite London can be found by following us on Twitter @nerdnitelondon, liking us on Facebook www.facebook.com/NerdNiteLondon or visiting www.london.nerdnite.com. For more information about the Shine Trust visit www.shinetrust.org.uk

Do you have some nerdery that London needs to know about?  We are currently recruiting speakers for our autumn/winter line up.  Would you like to speak at one of our events?

If so, here’s what you need to do

1) Concoct a fun, yet descriptive, title of your presentation.

2) Write a 3-5 sentence fun, yet intelligent, description of your presentation.

3) Write a 1-3 sentence fun, yet informative, bio.

4) Check your diary to see which date(s) you are available.

5) Email us (london@nerdnite.com) with points 1-4, and we’ll be in touch to schedule you in.

Here are the dates we’re recruiting for:

If you haven’t been to a nerd nite before, we suggest you come to one or two to get a feel for the style of the event before you volunteer*.  If you have been to an event, but still have more questions before you volunteer, feel free to drop us a line.

We look forward to hearing from you.

Louise and the nerd nite london team.

*Please note, we do not pay our speakers. Sorry about that.

Nerd Nite London- June 3^rd

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.

Address: Library Gallery, 184 Stoke Newington Church Street, N160JS

Details: Saturday June 3rd.

Tickets: General admission £6, Tickets available here

Doors open 7.30pm, event starts 8pm

Nerd Nite London returns to Stoke Newington Literary Festival with myths, legends, spiders, corpses, and an explanation of the origins of the dollar sign.  Be there and be square.

The Corpse on the Tube and other Urban Legends
Just as fairy tales warn of the dangers of going into the woods alone and explain strange things in the rural landscape, London’s urban legends are often horror stories about going alone down into the London underground, and the folklore of strange things in the cityscape. Plague pits seethe beneath your feet, corpses ride on the tube and secret tunnels lead to…..? Some of these urban legends are older than they appear; others are new stories posing as history. Scott will tell these contemporary folktales, map them across London and then show how they may have come to be.

Scott Wood is the author of London Urban Legends: The Corpse on the Tube and the (occasional) Fortean London column for Londonist, co-host of the Forteana Podcast and host of the London Fortean Society.

Gossamer Days: Spiders, humans and their threads
What happens when one making animal meets another? This presentation will look at the human uses of spider silk, from gun sights to sticky tunics via acoustic lures, royal underwear and the mystery of the disappearing spider goats, examining the strange, centuries long entanglement between humans and spiders.

Eleanor Morgan is an artist living in London. She uses printmaking, sculpture, video and drawing to explore materials and processes of making. This has included serenading a spider, making a diamond from the dead creatures of the River Thames and embracing a giant green sea anemone. Eleanor is the author of the illustrated book ‘Gossamer Days: Spiders, Humans and Their Threads’ (Strange Attractor Press)

Why Australia is called Australia
From Nike trainers to Trident Gum, Dan Walker Smith traces the contemporary world around us back to ancient myths. And in the sometimes tradition of nerd nite presenters keeping to topic, he will explain why Australia is called Australia.

Dan Walker Smith has tried his hand at stand up & radio presenting, break dancing and improv.  He is a regular speaker at Nerd Nite London. He likes myths and folklore, travel and snowboarding.

All proceeds from Nerd Nite London go to charity. For Stoke Newington Literary Festival, proceeds go to support literacy projects in Hackney. More information about Nerd Nite London can be found by following us on Twitter @nerdnitelondon, liking us on Facebook www.facebook.com/NerdNiteLondon or visiting www.london.nerdnite.com. For more information about the Stoke Newington Literary Festival, visit: http://stokenewingtonliteraryfestival.com/the-programme/

 

 

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.

Address: V&A Museum of Childhood, Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 9PA

Details: Wednesday 17^th May.

Tickets: Early nerd tickets £6, general admission £7.50. Tickets available here

Doors open 6.30pm, event starts 7.30pm

This month we’ll be celebrating our 4^th birthday with our favourite things: facts and beer. We’ll be learning if maths can help you fall in love? Why do they teach maths in school, and how did they decide to teach it as they do? And is Asgard bacteria the ‘missing link’ between microbes and our ancestors? Be there and be square.

1+1 always equals 2. So why does maths education keep changing?

School maths, love it or hate, you had to do it! Maths is a core subject in UK schools that every student has to study until they are 16 years old. But who decided this and why? How did maths become such an important subject? Was it always this important? This talk will look at the history of maths education and the many changes that have led to its high standing in the English education system. The talk will also discuss what the future looks like for maths education in England

Susan-Louise Okereke has been teaching maths for over 11 years. In that time she had taught a wide variety of people, from primary children to NEET (Not in employment, education or training) young people to pensioners. She currently teaches maths in a south London inner city secondary academy, while also working with organisation like the Museum of London to design contextual maths resources that aim to bring maths to life.

The mathematics of love: a combination of the sensual and the statistical

Want to save yourself from the pain of one-sided love? Maybe a mathematical model can help? Worried that your love isn’t going to last? There’s another mathematical model with a 90% success rate for predicting divorces, based simply on a 15 minute video of the couple. This talk combines the sensual and the statistical, the arousing and the analytical, the titillating and the trigonometric, the X-rated and the exact. Learn to look at love from a mathematician’s point of view.

Tim Bush became interested in the mathematical modelling of romantic love while studying for his PhD in Physics at the University of Edinburgh. He has also worked on mathematical models of bacteria, honeybees, geology and astrobiology, and now works as a Data Scientist in London. Previously, he worked on mathematical models of lakes at the University of Amsterdam. In his free time he enjoys board games, video games and boxing

Asgard bacteria of Loki’s castle

The origin of advanced life such as plants and animals has long been as mysterious as the origin of life itself: how could invisibly small microbes evolve to become as complex as trees, humans, cats, or dogs? Recent discoveries in “Loki’s Castle”, a network of hydrothermal vents a mile deep in the North Atlantic have revealed a startling clue: the vents were inhabited by a family of unusual microbes that suggest a “missing link” between microbes and complex life. In this talk I’ll describe the fascinating story behind our developing understanding of where we came from, and how

Dr. Morgan Beeby leads a research lab at Imperial College, London, focusing on the evolution of the wide diversity found in the biology of bacteria. Prior to Imperial College he studied at Caltech, UCLA, and the University of Birmingham.

All proceeds from Nerd Nite London go to charity. This year we are partnering with the Shine Trust to help foster a new generation of nerds. More information about Nerd Nite London can be found by following us on Twitter @nerdnitelondon, liking us on Facebook www.facebook.com/NerdNiteLondon or visiting www.london.nerdnite.com. For more information about the Shine Trust visit www.shinetrust.org.uk

 

 

Nerd Nite London- April 19th

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.

Address: V&A Museum of Childhood, Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 9PA

Details: Wednesday 19^th April.

Tickets: Early nerd tickets £6, general admission £7.50. Tickets available here

Doors open 6.30pm, event starts 7.30pm

What makes us so different from monkeys? Why should pandas get all the praise? Is the Tour de France getting easier?  Join us to answer these, and other not really so important questions as we present another excellent night of learning and drinking.  Be there and be square.

Why should pandas get all the praise?

Why should the panda get all the praise? The Ugly Animal Preservation Society is dedicated to raising the profile of the world’s most aesthetically challenged endangered species.   Join biologist and presenter Simon Watt as we explore the incredible biology of the animal kingdom’s most monstrous.

Simon Watt is Head of The Ugly Animal Preservation Society, host of the podcast LevelUpHuman and co-presenter of Inside Nature’s Giants

 Monkeys to Man –  How Human is Human?

Whilst the classic line up of chimp to man is widely used to illustrate evolutionary theory, at what point along that queue of primates did we become people? How are we really any different to other large primates in our family tree? What is it exactly that makes us human, and is it necessarily something we should be happy about?

Els Merry Price has degrees in archaeology, anthropology and human evolution & behaviour. Having spent almost a decade at university she’s slightly concerned that she now finds people more bewildering than ever, and can only hope that people remain distracted enough by her hair and tattoos not to notice this fact

Sport: what the eye can’t see

It’s easy to be fooled in sport by prevailing wisdom and predictable punditry. But what happens when we use data to test out a few theories? Here are three sporting questions with surprising answers. Do basketball teams lose on purpose? Is the Tour de France getting easier? And what happens in tennis when the loser wins more points than the winner?

Rob Minto is a journalist and the author of Sports Geek: a visual tour of sporting myths, debate and data. He was most recently at the Financial Times for 12 years, editing and writing about markets, technology and other stuff. This is his second Nerd Nite talk.

 All proceeds from Nerd Nite London go to charity. This year we are partnering with the Shine Trust to help foster a new generation of nerds. More information about Nerd Nite London can be found by following us on Twitter or liking us on Facebook or visiting www.london.nerdnite.com. For more information about the Shine Trust visit www.shinetrust.org.uk

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.  

Address: V&A Museum of Childhood, Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 9PA

Details: Wednesday 15th march.

Tickets: Early nerd tickets £6, general admission £7.50.   Tickets available here

Doors open 6.30pm, event starts 7.30pm

Join us for a line up to fulfil every nerd’s dreams: engineering, artificial intelligence, and zombies. What engineering secrets are hidden inside our houses? What can chess teach us about AI? Why are zombies so hangry? Be there and be square- Wednesday March 15^th.

Revenge of The Mechanical Turk: How computers simultaneously killed and saved Chess – and what it means for the rest of us

Chess at the highest level has almost become a memory competition – who can better recall the moves their computer recommended tends to win. However, accurately computing positions dozens of moves deep has revealed hidden beauty, and more possibilities lying in the 64 squares than we thought possible. So, how do humans still take on our silicon counterparts?

This talk will explore the links between human and artificial intelligence through the wonder of Chess. Exploring whether education needs to be reshaped in the face of AI and deep machine learning, if intuition and idea generation are more valuable than being able to recall facts in the online age.

Henry C. Blanchard is an undefeated ChessBoxer, philosophy/physics grad, start up mentor and all round amateur geek.

Brain Food: dishing on zombie neuroscience

Mary applies neuroscience to help explain some classic zombie behaviours such as undying hunger, out of control rage, and their less than graceful movements. After this talk you will definitely be in the mood for more… dare we say it… brains.

During her ten years as a San Jose State University biology lecturer, Mary Poffenroth has made innovation in science education and communication a priority. Whether through video, popular writing, or live science events, her goals are always the same: make science accessible for all. She has created videos with TEDed and Wiley & Sons, hosted live shows with Nerd Nite Silicon Valley, written for Science Magazine, and Cognella published her first solo title, “Write, Present, Create: Science Communication for Undergraduates” in 2015. Leveraging her specialty in large lectures, she created an outdoor environmental student volunteer program, which has donated over 15,000 work hours to local non-profit organizations in the San Francisco Bay Area and is still going strong, now in its ninth year.

Don’t Judge a Building by Its Facade: Why infrastructure is cool

Infrastructure is all around you! (But not in a creepy way.) It works 24/7, 365 days a year to keep people around the world moving, toilets flushing and light switches turned on. Let’s explore some of the amazing ways engineers achieve this and how they are planning for the future.

Kate Ward is a Senior Transport Planner at WSP. This means she works on all the aspects of infrastructure projects before they go to construction: planning, building traffic models, design review and project management. In her own time she is obsessed with transportation and has been known to take time out on vacations to go look at train stations. Nevertheless she can’t explain why your tube was delayed this morning or when Southern will get their act together.

All proceeds from Nerd Nite London go to charity. This year we are partnering with the Shine Trust to help foster a new generation of nerds. More information about Nerd Nite London can be found by following us on Twitter @nerdnitelondon, liking us on Facebook  or visiting our website. For more information about the Shine Trust visit www.shinetrust.org.uk

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.

Address: V&A Museum of Childhood, Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 9PA

Details: Wednesday 18^th January.

Tickets: Early nerd tickets £6, general admission £7.50. Tickets available here

Doors open 6.30pm, event starts 7.30pm

Looking for a reason to ditch dry January early?  Here’s your chance with Nerd Nite’s return to the drinking and thinking scene.  We’ll be teaching you how to be creative, exploring the intersection of dance and digital technology, and learning the theories and methodologies of studying the paranormal.

How to be creative

Artist Marc Smith takes a look at different theories that explain how we can encourage people to be creative.  He’ll describe some of the triggers to creativity he’s used personally and as an art teacher, alongside theories of how to promote creative thinking in organisations and society as a whole.

Marc Smith is an Art Teacher & Artist who has spent almost 20 years teaching Art in London, Hong Kong and Beijing as well as running art history workshops for European Art tours.  Marc’s own artwork explores play and automatic drawing.

Weird Science: A (Very Brief) Introduction to Anomalistic Psychology

Ever since records began, people across the world have reported unusual experiences which we would today label as “paranormal”. Opinion polls show that the majority of the general public accepts that paranormal phenomena do occur. Such widespread experience of and belief in the paranormal can only mean one of two things. Either the paranormal is real, in which case this should be accepted by the wider scientific community which currently rejects such claims; or else belief in and experience of ostensibly paranormal phenomena can be fully explained in terms of psychological factors. This presentation will provide an introduction to the sub-discipline of anomalistic psychology, which may be defined as the study of extraordinary phenomena of behaviour and experience, in an attempt to provide non-paranormal explanations in terms of known psychological and physical factors. This approach will be illustrated with examples relating to a range of ostensibly paranormal phenomena.

Chris French is a regular nerd nite speaker, previously explaining to us the science behind Satanic messages in death metal records, ghost sightings, and séances. Chris is a professor of psychology and head of the anomalistic psychology research unit at Goldsmiths, University of London.

Dance and Digital Technology

What happens when you bring thermal cameras, 3D printing, and interactive LED technology to the world of dance? From 2015-16, Leila was the inaugural digital artist in residence at the UK’s leading contemporary dance company, Rambert. While there she interviewed, worked and played with some of the world’s best dancers. In this presentation Leila will talk about her experience during the residency, and the current imbalance in the dance-digital relationship. Is it already too late to change the way dance and technology interact?

Leila Johnston is a technology artist, journalist and comedy writer who has authored three humour books, contributed to the magazines including WIRED UK, Creative Review and the New Scientist, and completed a number of residencies. From 2013-2016 she ran Hack Circus, a creative collective producing a magazine and immersive live show exploring speculative and important ideas across the arts and sciences.

All proceeds from Nerd Nite London go to charity. This year we are partnering with the Shine Trust to help foster a new generation of nerds. More information about Nerd Nite London can be found by following us on Twitter @nerdnitelondon, liking us on Facebook www.facebook.com/NerdNiteLondon or visiting www.london.nerdnite.com. For more information about the Shine Trust visit www.shinetrust.org.uk

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.

Address: V&A Museum of Childhood, Cambridge Heath Road, London E2 9PA

Date: Wednesday 19th October.

Tickets: Early nerd tickets £6, general admission £7.50. Tickets available here

Time: Doors open 6.30pm, event starts 7.30pm

This month’s Nerd Nite’s speakers will show you that everything you think you know about London is wrong, prove that knitting is good for your emotional wellbeing, and explain what happens to language when people from 40 different cultures on an island the size of the Isle of Wight are asked to pick a language they would all like to speak and trade in. Featuring guest host Dan Walker-Smith, and an introductory presentation from Nerd Nite Miami boss, Melissa Blundell Osario

It all sounds like double Dutch to me.

What happens to language when people from 40 different cultures on an island the size of the Isle of Wight are asked to pick a language they would all like to speak and trade in? That’s what happened in Curacao in the Dutch Caribbean.  This presentation will chart the history of Curacao and the evolution of the language of Papiamentu.

Sarina was born on the island of Curacao, formerly part of the Netherlands Antilles, still part of the Dutch Kingdom) and is fascinated by languages because she grew up speaking such an absurd one.  She works as a designer for an exhibition agency in London and can be caught checking out architecture and eavesdropping on your conversations on the tube

Everything You Know About London Is Wrong

Do you think the Queen is at home when the Union Flag is over Buckingham Palace? You probably don’t, because you’re clever, and you know that it should be the Royal Standard. But you might be surprised by some of the other popular misconceptions about London. That statue of Eros isn’t actually Eros. The tower everyone calls Big Ben was never officially called St Stephen’s Tower either. It isn’t illegal to die in the Houses of Parliament. Having a London postcode does not mean you live in London. And Jimi Hendrix was definitively not responsible for the flocks of parrots that now bedevil the capital. While we’re at it, it’s quite possible that London doesn’t exist at all. Find out why in this entertaining talk by Londonist Editor-at-Large Matt Brown, whose new book ‘Everything You Know About London Is Wrong’ turns a skeptical eye on the capital.

Knitting to Ninety- how knitting needles help you live longer

Nana knows what’s up. Knitting and crochet can be good for your mental – and physical – health. I’ll run through the science on why knitting a sweater can help you live a longer, happier life (and also keep you warm).

Rachel Rayner is a crocheter and a knitter, not a doctor or a scientist. During the day, she works in an office, and during the evening, she plays with yarn and writes about it on www.amiguru.me.

This month’s Nerd Nite will be presented by Dan Walker-Smith, and feature an introductory presentation by Nerd Nite Miami’s boss, Melissa Blundell Osario

All proceeds from Nerd Nite London go to charity. This year we are partnering with the Shine Trust to help foster a new generation of nerds. More information about Nerd Nite London can be found by following us on Twitter @nerdnitelondon, or liking us on Facebook . For more information about the Shine Trust visit www.shinetrust.org.uk