Nerd Nite North Bay: Fish Schooling, Weird Genitals, Mini Satellites | Novato

Submitted by the Event Organizer

Cancelled – Nerd Nite North Bay | Novato

Please Note: After two full and fun years of shows, Nerd Nite North Bay have decided to stop doing monthly presentations.

Hang out with smart people and learn some stuff while drinking beer at the Nerd Nite North Bay held on the first Tuesday of the month at Hopmonk Tavern in Novato.

Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Cancelled – Nerd Nite North Bay | Novato

Finding Your Shoal-mate

Fishy Experiments Figuring Out Human Behavior

Nearly everything we do as humans is some form of social behavior (even talking to ourselves in the mirror or playing Neko Atsume), but ethics prevent the coolest experiments from being done. Learn how fish model systems are taking us to school and answering surprisingly complex questions about our own human social systems.

Ray Engeszer is a high school science teacher and has worked as a field biologist in behavioral ecology and the evolution of social behavior. His nerd cred beyond research includes decades of D&D, comics, and Sandman, with a dash of Jane Austen and a deep seated belief that life would be better with elves and unicorns.

Beasts, Y’all A Tease
Weird Sex and Strange Genitals in the Animal Kingdom

Freaky animal species educate and titillate. Learn how sexual reproduction first evolved and about the wild correlations between unique genital shapes and the different ways animals have sex. Also discover which animals have sex simply for reproduction and which are, like, totally into it. Plus, pornos. (Of insects.)

Becky Jaffe is a photographer, naturalist and educator. Her photography fuses an artist’s sensibility with a biologist’s curiosity to communicate reverence for the natural world. Her qualifications as an animal reproduction lecturer include watching endless hours of kangaroo masturbation videos on YouTube.

Pics In Spaaaace.

Imaging The Entire Earth Every Day

The way we design for outer space experiments is changing, taking advantage of improvements in miniaturization, off-the-shelf components, and agile practices in manufacturing, design and deployment. Picture a gargantuan Dalek-like fleet of imaging satellites designed from the ground up as an agile response to space access, and now picture the pictures these satellites provide: fresh daily images of the Earth transforming science and markets that rely on observational data. Learn how miniature satellites went from an idea in a garage to a flock of Doves in the skies in only two short years.

Ben Haldeman works on rockets, launching large numbers of Planet Labs’ “Dove” satellites to space. He led the design of Planet’s instrument payload to image the Earth daily and has flown over a hundred satellites in space. Ben specializes in bringing an agile approach to hardware and space and believes this approach will be the catalyst to humanity becoming a spacefaring species.

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.